The "May 24 step" was the anti-nation, anti-peace and anti-reunification one for escalating the confrontation with the compatriots in the north, an unprecedented one in light of the circumstances of its fabrication and the course of its implementation.

What matters is Park Geun Hye and her party's argument that if it is to be lifted, there must be such "responsible step" as the north's "admission", "apology" and "assurances for preventing recurrence". They went the lengths of blustering that their stand is immutable.

The Policy Department of the DPRK National Defence Commission in a statement on Sunday clarified its principled stand as regards the "May 24 step".

The statement said:

1. The "May 24 step" is an undisguised denial of the historic June 15 joint declaration, the achievement common to the nation, and its action program the October 4 declaration.

Traitor Lee Myung Bak and his party branded the June 15 era of reunification as a "lost decade" and blustered they will bring a "decade of confrontation" to freeze the compatriots' enthusiasm for reunification.

This blustering was proved by the Cheonan warship sinking case and the "May 24 step" that ensued.

Five years have passed since then and the chief of the Chongwadae has also changed.

But the May 24 step remains a cancer-like entity, blocking the improved relations between the north and the south, spoiling the national concord and unity and escalating the confrontation and tension.

This clearly shows that Park Geun Hye and her party are just as same as Lee Myung Bak.

2. The "May 24 step" is a measure for confrontation that was fabricated under the pretext of the sinking of warship "Cheonan".

The step based on fabrication can not but be a measure for confrontation.

Availing ourselves of this opportunity, we'd like to urge with courtesy Park and her party as follows:

If they have any ground with which they can prove the DPRK's responsibility for the sinking case, they should respond to its demand to jointly look into the case in the eyes of the whole nation and the world.

There would be no excuse whatsoever for them to decline our demand, if they are not afraid.

The investigation into the truth will be easier as the hull of Cheonan warship which had been broken into two parts was salvaged and placed on the land.

We still keep a powerful inspection group of the DPRK NDC ready to get down to joint investigation into the case.

If Park and her party turn down this just demand of the DPRK, that will only be their admission of the case as their own farce. The "May 24 step" should, therefore, be naturally lifted.

3. The ill-famed "May 24 step" is a product of political intrigues which should be thrown into a dumping ground of history.

The step is a product of political swindles against the nation, reunification and peace which no one wants, and the biggest trouble of all the Koreans.

Park Geun Hye and her party should admit before the whole nation the crimes against fellow countrymen they committed by clinging to the "May 24 step" and throw it away into a dumping ground of history.

They talk nonsense such as "dialogue first and lift of the step next", only revealing their cynical ploy to push the the north-south dialogue to another theatre of confrontation. But this is just a waste of time.

The people from all walks of life in south Korea should rise up as one in the nationwide struggle to have the "May 24 step" lifted.

The great turn and avenue to the improvement of the north-south relations depend on the lifting of the step.