South and North Korea have been divided for 73 years, with the Korean Peninsula still remaining split to this day. But there have been constant efforts toward unification of Korea, just as water still flows below a sheet of ice in midwinter, as the two Koreas have walked the path of dialogue and cooperation even amid the long, dark tunnel of national division. From today’s edition of Korea, Today and Tomorrow, we’ll bright to light those efforts that South and North Korea have made thus far to improve their relations and build the future of a unified Korea, in this new corner “Moments towards Unification”. Today, we’ll talk about the July 4 Joint Statement of 1972.

At 10 a.m. on July 4, 1972, the Korean Peninsula was filled with emotion and excitement. Seoul and Pyongyang announced a joint statement at the same time on the same day. That was the moment when the hope of unification sprang afresh.

Hello, everyone. I’m Moon Jae-in. I’m also a son of a North Korean expat. My father was from Heungnam, South Hamgyeong Province. When the July 4 Joint Statement was announced, my father was overjoyed at the thought of visiting his hometown again. I can’t forget that moment.

In October last year, South Korean President Moon Jae-in reminisced about his late father at a sports festival for expats from North Korean provinces. Back in 1972, as he recalled, it seemed national division would come to an end immediately and North Korean expats were full of hope that they would be able to visit their hometowns again. There were also peace rallies supporting the July 4 Joint Statement.

Before announcing the joint statement, however, South and North Korea had been in continuous conflict. On August 15, 1945, Korea experienced the joy of liberation from Japanese colonial rule. But following Japan’s defeat in World War II, the U.S. and the Soviet Union divided the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel into two military occupation zones. Ideological confrontation led to the establishment of two different governments on the divided peninsula in 1948. The division gave rise to the Korean War in 1950. In January 1968, North Korean commandos crossed the Military Demarcation Line and infiltrated close to the presidential office in Seoul to heighten tension. It seemed inter-Korean hostility and confrontation would never end. But how did the two sides manage to announce the July 4 Joint Statement to break their Cold War standoff and raise expectations for unification?

I had been in charge of North Korean affairs at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency since the spy agency was set up in 1961. There was a major change in international diplomacy in 1972, when then-U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China to ease tensions in the region. South Korea had to adjust to the changing diplomatic environment. It decided to refrain from wasteful confrontation with North Korea but to maintain peace instead. So, on August 15, 1970, then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee proposed in his speech that South and North Korea compete to enable people to lead better lives. In 1971, North Korea came up with an eight-point unification plan. South Korea felt the need for a new countermeasure, which turned out to be Red Cross talks.

That was former South Korean Unification Minister Kang In-deok, who planned inter-Korean talks in 1972 as the director of the North Korean Bureau at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. In 1969, Nixon announced his doctrine calling on Asia to take care of its own military defense. It signaled the arrival of the era of “détente” to ease Cold War confrontation. During his China visit in 1972, Nixon said that the U.S. would reduce tension on the Korean Peninsula and promote exchanges. The new development led South and North Korea to dialogue. But the process was not smooth at all. Let’s listen again to Mr. Kang.

Preparing for the inter-Korean Red Cross talks was the hardest thing I had to do in my whole life. South and North Korea started preliminary talks, which didn’t move an inch. We suggested the talks in August 1971, but there was no progress until November. So we proposed closed-door contact. In May 1972, South Korea sent Lee Hu-rak, chief of the spy agency, on a secret mission to North Korea, while North Korean deputy prime minister Pak Song-chol came to Seoul. After Seoul and Pyongyang sent their respective officials to the other side, we first presented a draft for a joint statement. North Korea accepted it, and both sides announced it in the form for the July 4 Joint Statement.

Mr. Kang remembers that South Korea was in a nerve-racking tug-of-war with the North every day at the time. Seoul proposed Red Cross Talks in 1971 to discuss the issue of families separated by the Korean War to provide momentum for bilateral dialogue. As there was little progress, though, their meetings changed into political talks. Special envoys from Seoul and Pyongyang secretly visited the other side of the border to meet then-North Korean leader Kim Il-sung and then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee, respectively. After an intense coordination, the two sides finally announced the July 4 Joint Statement. Here again is Mr. Kang.

At the time, the South Korean side said that both sides should not rush unification and never wage war but move forward gradually, just like building a house with care, brick by brick. The joint statement outlines the three principles of independence, peace and national unity. To implement them, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed that they would not criticize each other and not launch armed provocations, but create a bilateral communication channel in case of emergencies.

Under the three principles of unification, the two Koreas agreed to stop mutual slander, prevent military clashes, start bilateral exchanges, hold Red Cross talks and establish a direct telephone line between Seoul and Pyongyang. Through the landmark joint statement, the two Koreas officially recognized the other side for the first time since division. The two sides were believed to pave the way for ending their hostility and moving toward peaceful co-existence. Unfortunately, events did not pan out as hoped.

There was a problem in the process of implementing each principle. For independence, for example, North Korea demanded and still demands the withdrawal of the U.S. military forces in South Korea. For peace, it requested a halt in the deployment of U.S. strategic assets to South Korea as well as arms reduction. And for national unity, it insisted that South Korea abolish its Anti-Communism Law and National Security Law. But South Korea could not accept those demands, since it advocates unification based on liberal democracy under the Constitution.

The July 4 Joint Statement is considered a cornerstone for basic guidelines for inter-Korean relations. It served as a root, on which the seed of unification began to grow.