Speech by Mr. Ziad Shaker Eljishi, Chairman of the North American Committee against Zionism and Imperialism at the World Conference for Supporting Korea’s Independent and Peaceful Reunification

The “Security Walls” built by the Zionist entity have already been branded as illegal by a decision of the International Court of justice and a resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

There is something the world should be aware of.

Concrete walls which Zionist State’s “Security Walls” cannot stand comparison to wall that has already existed on earth for a long time.

They run along the southern edge of the military Demarcation Line, which cuts across the small Korean peninsula for 240 kilometers long.

They measure from 5 to 8meters in height, 10 to 19 meters wide at the bottom and 3 to 7 meters across at the top.

More than 800, 000 tons of cement, over 200, 000 tons of structural steel and upwards of 3.5 million cubic meters of mixture were used in building the walls.

Eight counties and 122 villages have been divided, and three railways three roads and over 220 minor roads have been cut off by the walls.

The construction of the concrete walls took several years from 1977. In those days the south Korean authorities advertised them as “barriers against tanks” in case of “southward invasion” from north Korea.

However, this allegation did not persuade people at the time, just as today.

According to the military manual, anti-tank barriers mostly average tow meters in height, but the concrete walls are several times higher.

The walls have been set up not only across roads and level ground, but also across places inaccessible to tanks.

It is an utter sophistry to call the walls anti-tank barriers in terms of structure and position.

Whom and for what were the colossal walls built for?

In those days the south Korean military dictator showed up at the construction site to press for the rapid completion of the walls, saying “We cannot live together with the communist in the north. They do not belong to our nation. I do not care whether the nation is split into two or three.”

Chun Doo Hwan, who won notoriety later as the dictator of the fifth Republic in south Korea, personally directed the construction projects in the capacity of a divisional commander at that time. He said to his soldiers, “Why do we construct this wall? We tell foreigners we do so to prevent ‘southward invasion’ from the north, but it is a camouflage tactics. Frankly speaking, these concrete walls will be of no use in a modern war to be fought in three dimensions on land, sea and in the air, without distinction between the frontline and the rear. To tell the truth, the walls are built for the sake of internal security. On other words, they are aimed at checking the popular feeling for and rising trend to reunification. By building high concrete walls, we seek to convince those who want reunification into giving up all their hopes for it.”

This eloquently shows that the concrete walls are a product of the desperate attempt of the separatists against reunification of Korea and that they serve the purpose of gaining the recognition of “two Koreas” at home and abroad and perpetuating Korea’s division.

With the end of the World War Ⅱ, Korea, which was not a defeated nation, suffered the tragedy of being divided into two by the big powers.

The Korean people have suffered a lot from national division and their aspirations for reunification grew stronger with every passing day.

As a consequence, in the early 1970s, high-level talks were held for the first time in the history of Korea’s division and the 3 principles for national reunification with independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity were as the main points that were agreed upon as a joint program for national reunification and proclaimed at home and abroad.

Frightened by the enthusiasm of the Korean people for reunification, the separatist forces in south Korea attempted in every possible way to stick to the “two Koreas” policy and keep the north and the south divided for ever.

This was how they contrived the scheme of building concrete walls south of the Military Demarcation Line.

Twenty-five years have passed since the construction of the concrete walls that divided the territory and homogeneous nation into two in the small Korean Peninsula.

The government changed many times in south Korea.

The zeal of all the Korean people at home and abroad for reunification has intensified without precedent.

While all the Korean compatriots raised their voices day after day in favor of inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation and national reunification, the meeting between the north and south Korean leaders took place in June, 2000 for the first time in the history of Korea’s division, a joint declaration which marked a milestone in Korean reunification was adopted to open up bright prospects for reunification.

This was followed by a sharp increase in many-ways: cooperation, interchange and mutual visits, the reconnection of railways and roads, which had remained cut off for a long time, and the removal of propaganda instruments along the Military Demarcation Line. As seen above, brisk affirmative efforts have been made to end confrontation and division and accomplish the historic cause of reunification.

But the problem is that while the south Korean authorities talk about “reconciliation,” the “improvement of north-south relations” and “reunification” by word of mouth, they keep silent about the demolition of the concrete walls, even about their existence.

In view of trend of the times towards the disintegration of the Cold War structure between the Koreas, and of the atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula heading for reconciliation, cooperation and reunification, there is no longer any justification for the concrete walls, the symbol of division and confrontation to continue to exist.

The south Korean authorities should not turn a deaf ear to the demand of the times and the nation but courageously decide to pull down the concrete walls, the symbol of the outdated concept of confrontation.

What we have seen under globalization is anything but peace only war invasion and destruction. The imperialist project for globalization came to destroy resisting nations that are either anti-imperialist or socialist. There were the case of Iraq and now targeting of the DPRK. There can never be coexistence with US imperialists. The very nature of US imperialist is contradictory to peace. It is an aggressive, hostile and reactionary expansionist in its very nature.

The DPRK should never agree to disarmament. It is a sovereign nation and must have the rights to bear arms to defend itself as well as develop its energy resources to counter economic besiegement by the US imperialists who sabotage its socialist construction.

   The moment the US imperialists feel a weakness in the DPRK, they will attack it because the US imperialists only understand the language of force. Disarmament of the DPRK contradicts the army first policies of Songun politics. If the US is truly interested in peace for the Korean region, it must first pull its troops and military bases from south Korea instead of asking the DPRK to disarm.