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Provisional Translation
International Forum, 2019 March 1 Bikini Day Gensuikyo National Conference
Shizuoka, February 27, 2019

I am very pleased to meet you again. Especially, this year’s Bikini Day program is being held at the same time with the historic 2nd DPRK-US Summit Talk in Hanoi, Vietnam, so it will be remembered with special significance.

I sincerely hope that on March 1, as we hold the Bikini Day Rally in Yaizu, we will mark one step further in our effort to move the history forward.

It is an undeniable reality that we are witnessing a trend of new armament, including nuclear arms race, in the current international politics. The U.S. and Russia, the largest nuclear powers, are bent on developing more usable and next generation nuclear weapons. Further, they turn their back on the effort of the human race for nuclear disarmament and abolition by abandoning the INF Treaty. Trump’s bleach of the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCOPA) clearly demonstrated who are to blame as the main obstructing force to non-proliferation and nuclear abolition. We also note the growing elements of fear in the international political arena, such as promotion of nationalism, emerging rightist populism or frequent actions to agitate hatred both nationally and internationally.

On the other hand, the anti-nuclear peace movements of the world achieved a great result: the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and are making advancement for the entry into force of the treaty and move beyond the prohibition to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons. We must also pay attention to other examples of citizen solidarity confronting or overcoming the adverse currents of history, such as the “#MeToo” campaign, US students demanding gun control, young “socialists” successful in U.S. elections and global efforts against refusals to refugees and discrimination. They eloquently demonstrate that it is we the citizens that is moving the world forward.

We are also experiencing the phase of peace of the Korean Peninsula that has been in progress since last year. Nearly 30 years of history of the so-called “North Korea nuclear issue” has gone through many twists and turns. But I am confident of the fact that it was the strength of the anti-nuclear peace movements of the world upholding the “prevention of nuclear war and the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons (anti-war, anti-nuclear and peace)” that has built and maintained a consensus that peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is a historical agenda of the people of the peninsula, which would trigger the establishment of a new peace order in East Asia.

The current peace phase of the Korean Peninsula since January 2018 is a historic opportunity not only for achieving peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but also to dissolve the structure of the East Asian cold war still remaining in this region and to change the international order surrounding East Area. The division system of the Korean Peninsula was a product of colonialism/imperialism and the US-Soviet cold war, and the focal point of East Area. Since the end of the Cold War in the world, it has served as “fodder” for maintaining the vitality of the cold war structure in East Asia. The San Francisco Peace Treaty, which resulted in the East Asian cold war, was concluded in 1951 at the height of the Korean War, and on the same day, the Japan-US Security Treaty was signed. The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and Republic of Korea of 1965 was concluded under the San Francisco Treaty regime. Looking back, we can see that both the distorted ROK-Japan relations and DPRK-Japan relations have been created through the division system of the peninsula and the East Asian old war. Therefore, if the division system of the Korean Peninsula is shaken by the ongoing peace process, the East Asian international order cannot but change fundamentally.

Given the reality of the international politics, the progress in the Korean Peninsula’s peace process would certainly give a large impact on East Asia. North and South Korean leaders made a de facto declaration of the end of war on April 27, 2018 at Panmunjom, a symbol of the division. But they have not yet entered a system of peace by officially concluding the Korean War. In order to finally solve the 70 years of confrontation and hostile relationship between the North and South on the Korean Peninsula, it is necessary to conduct peace negotiations and conclude a peace treaty. For that purpose, at least a multilateral consultation should be held, involving the North and South sides on the peninsula, the U.S. and China. If we take into consideration future international measures that will guarantee a system to be established by the peace treaty, we can expect that a multilateral forum in East Asia will be formed by the peace process of the Korean Peninsula.

Moreover, the Panmunjom Declaration of the last year in its third item defined a system of peace on the Korean Peninsula as “non-aggression, military confidence-building, disarmament, a peace treaty and complete denuclearization”. According to the Panmunjom Declaration, the peace process of the Korean Peninsula includes military confidence-building and disarmament, in addition to denuclearization. It reflects the consideration that nuclear armament of North Korea has been for developing asymmetric force to recover from its inferiority in conventional armament. Securing deterrence against the threat from the U.S., US-ROK or ROK-US-Japan alliances has been given by North Korea as a reason for its nuclear development. Therefore, abandoning its nuclear weapons must proceed with the military confidence-building and disarmament.

Meanwhile, that item, along with the “agreement on the military sphere” included in the Pyongyang Declaration of September 2018 for the implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration, seems to indicate a future direction for spreading the peace process of the Korean Peninsula to the East Asian level. In short, in order to develop the progress of the Korean Peninsula peace process to the achievement of peace through confidence-building and disarmament in East Asia, we must link the effort with a vision and practice of multilateral common security consultation.

Here, we can affirm the validity of the argument by the peace movement and civil society of the ROK, in that they have maintained the crucial need of multilateral cooperation in East Asia for building peace system of the Korean Peninsula, and in that sense, building a system of peace on the Korean Peninsula is a task for East Asia. The peace movement organizations of ROK have also proposed that the establishment of a nuclear free zone in North East Asia would be an important stepping stone in the process of building a system of multilateral cooperation aiming at common security in East Asia.

The peace movement and civil society of Japan are confronting the right-leaning government and ruling parties in defiance of the peace constitution and the Three Non-nuclear Principles and demanding a “peace diplomacy befitting the A-bombed country”.  I believe that it would be a very significant initiative if they propose the establishment of a North East Asian nuclear-free zone in the ongoing process for peace and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

We have lost historic opportunities twice in the past: First, the period between the Framework Agreement of Geneva in 1994 and the first dramatic North-South Korean Summit in 2000 followed by the DPRK-US Communique; and the second was the period between the “September 11 Joint Statement” of 2005 and the 2nd North-South Korean Summit of 2007. While we commemorate the Bikini Day, I do not think any one of us can definitely predict how much longer the current peace phase of the Korean Peninsula would last, or whether a “system of peace” and “complete denuclearization” will actually be achieved. But I am confident that all of you gathered here, together with me, share the same feeling that we must never miss the current historic opportunity.

Some people see the current phase with skepticism. For example, in the U.S., it seems that skeptical view is dominant, due to conventional ideas, prejudice and hatred toward North Korea or Trump. Also, some forces inside and outside the Korean Peninsula are resistant to any possible change to the existing order. These establishments have a significant power.  International political situation involving the Korean Peninsula has been complexed, and historically, the Korean Peninsula has been a space where contradictions of East Asian politics concentrate and interests of big powers insect. Even now when we see the turbulent situation on the peninsula, we can observe the confluence of great power politics in the international situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

That is exactly why we are required to exert the power of citizen solidarity beyond national boundaries based on such universal value as opposition to nukes, protection of peace, human rights and environment. Especially, now that we are feeling a breeze of change from the Korean Peninsula to the East Asian international order, the citizens’ solidarity between the ROK and Japan must make a significant contribution jointly, based on the accumulated strength in a variety of fields and different historical phases.

Thank you.