&#91EDITORIALS&#93Souls of war dead stir still

Today marks the 53d anniversary of the Korean War, but the scars still remain and we are suffering from new discord among South Koreans. We are also facing serious threat of another war because of the North Korea nuclear issue. The Korean War still affects our daily lives directly and indirectly, and we are troubled in face of this reality.
The war took 1.4 million lives, Korean and foreign, and 2.6 million were wounded. The number of missing, prisoners of war, forced relocations to the North and separated families are also immensely high. We are living on ground built by such great sacrifices, and the sacrifices make it clear why we must appreciate and pursue peace more than any other nations.
Maintaining peace is not cheap. We must know the enemy who attempts to destroy the peace and possess the military power to overcome this enemy. There should be no internal discord. Only then will the enemy make an overture for peace. The enemy is watching our every movement. It is also developing nuclear weapons at the same time it encourages discord among us.
But, let us look back. A significant number of promoters of peaceful unification is criticizing the Untied States, our ally of more than 50 years, for belligerence, but they never demand anything from the North. That is why the split among us is deepening day by day. Under such a condition, true peace cannot be established here. No one wants the nuclear situation to end up in a war. Only when we demand unanimously that the North scrap its nuclear weapons development will Pyeongyang make the right decision. That will also allow us to finally truly pray for the souls of the war dead.