On August 15th 1945, 75 years ago Japan’s thirty-five year colonization of the Korean Peninsula ended leaving thirty million Koreans rejoicing on the streets celebrating their freedom. Those Koreans proclaimed that they would build a strong, autonomous country where the people lived prosperously together.
However, this was an incomplete liberation. The Korean Peninsula, which had been unable to achieve independence through its own agency, was divided at the hands of the great powers. The war that followed division led compatriots to turn weapons upon one another. This tragedy led to the further entrenchment of division.
Division has left the Korean people with as yet unhealed wounds. Divided families in the South and North have been left longing for one another. The South has become an island cut off from continental Asia, while the North toils alone in a struggle to overcome its economic difficulties.
South and North have made efforts to overcome the stalemate. The most recent result of such efforts was the summitry of 2018 including the Panmunjom Declaration. It seemed the winds of peace were finally ready to blow through the Korean Peninsula. However, sanctions and a lack of cooperation from international society have forced inter-Korean cooperation to another standstill.
The winds of peace have weakened and the symbol of South-North exchange, the Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Kaesong, has been destroyed. South Korean-US joint military exercises are proceeding. In this climate is it extremely difficult to engage in humanitarian cooperation to overcome damage caused by flooding.
Overcoming division and moving towards peace cannot be achieved through conflict. Discussions regarding exchange and cooperation are the first steps to overcoming division. We need to focus not on forcing one’s position on the other, but on acknowledging our differences and expanding the areas of cooperation between the two Koreas.
The Korean Sharing Movement has worked under the principles of mutual recognition and reciprocity to overcome the differences between South and North through sharing. Through civil society exchange we have built empathy with North Koreans on the ground and contribute to the restoration of a common pan-Korean identity.
Let us complete the incomplete liberation of the past and acknowledge one another. Let us resume civilian exchange, share our joys and sorrows together, and take steps towards peace through bold change. Let us build peace through reconciliation and cooperation with our own hands and allow South and North to strike a trail towards genuine liberation together.
