The north and the south at the recent second round of the meeting of the north-south joint committee for the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) agreed to restart the operation in the zone after making trial operation at the enterprises in the zone from September 16. Meanwhile, diverse undertakings including the reunion of separated families and relatives are being pushed ahead.

This gives hope and expectation to all Koreans and progressive mankind desirous of an end to the national division and of durable peace on the Korean Peninsula.

The DPRK remains invariable in its will for peace and dialogue, maintaining utmost vigilance and exercising maximum self-restraint towards all hostile acts to create tension again on the peninsula. It is winning growing sympathy and support from the international community.

As seen above, it is the consistent and steadfast stand of the DPRK to achieve peace on the peninsula and the peaceful reunification of Korea.

The Koreans, a homogeneous nation, have been forced by outside forces to live separated into the north and the south for more than half a century with differing ideologies and social systems. But, this cannot be a ground for them to stand in confrontation. This is the position of the DPRK.

Escalating tension on the peninsula and confrontation between fellow countrymen are acts of treachery going against the desire and wishes of the nation as they lead the nation to ruin and help outside forces fish in troubled waters.

The Koreans have firm will to achieve peace and reunification of Korea and practical ways jointly agreed upon between the north and the south.

It is the DPRK's consistent principle for national reunification to achieve it through dialogue, negotiations and other peaceful means, not by use of force or war.

The DPRK government has made strenuous and patient efforts for national reconciliation, unity and peaceful reunification for a long period since the country's division.

The DPRK clarified principled stands for creating favorable environment for durable peace and peaceful reunification including the issue of replacing the ceasefire mechanism by a peace mechanism and advanced many realistic proposals for putting them into practice.

Each time the DPRK clarified its stand and proposal, it received full support and welcome from all Koreans as they were aimed to achieve the peaceful reunification of the country through national reconciliation and unity.

Its will for peaceful reunification is clearly proved by the July 4 Joint Statement agreed upon between the north and the south 41 years ago which regards independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity as main principles for national reunification.

The cause of national reunification would have made big progress had the agreed points of the July 4 Joint Statement which consists of seven provisions been sincerely implemented. They include the issues of stopping slandering the other side and taking positive measures to prevent sudden military conflicts and enforcing multifarious exchanges between the north and the south on the basis of the three principles of national reunification.

Thanks to the DPRK's positive efforts, the historic north-south summit, the first of its kind in the history of national division, took place before the beginning of the new century and the June 15 joint declaration the core of which is the idea of "by our nation itself" was adopted. This marked an event to be specially recorded in the nation's history of the movement for peaceful reunification.

The adoption of the October 4 declaration, a programme for implementing the June 15 joint declaration, paved a new wide avenue for the development of the north-south relations and peace and prosperity.

The adoption of the historic June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration laid a firm foundation for realizing the desire of the Koreans for peace and peaceful reunification of the peninsula.

It is a clear way of achieving peace, reunification and prosperity of the nation at present to respect and implement the declarations agreed upon between the top leaders of the north and the south.

Invariable is the will of the DPRK to defend peace on the peninsula and achieve the independent reunification of the country through reconciliation and unity of the north and the south in a peaceful environment.

Facts will go to prove this.