Dispute on Site Puts Liberation Event in Doubt

The joint inter-Korean event in commemoration of Liberation Day planned in Pyongyang on Wednesday may be canceled due to the two governments' disagreement on the site of the event.

"We cannot permit our civic groups to visit the North as long as the North insists on holding the event at the Memorial Tower of Three Principles," an official at the Unification Ministry said Monday. "Given the time required to prepare for the event, it would be difficult to hold the joint event," he added.

This is the first time that the South Korean government is not sanctioning an inter-Korean civic event since the Joint Declaration was adopted at last year's Korean summit.

"We took into consideration the discomfort people would feel and the government's position should the joint event be held at the tower," a government official explained.

The ceremony for the completion of the Memorial Tower of Three Principles will be held Tuesday in downtown Pyongyang to publicize North Korea's reunification directives that include the creation of a Korean federation, a Ten Point Program of the Great Unity of the Whole Nation and Three Principles of National Reunification.

The civilian task force responsible for the organization of joint inter-Korean events announced that it would protest the Seoul government's decision at the airport Tuesday.

by Lee Young-jong