적재적소

Right talent, right place.

Kaesong, October 24th, 1947

Kim Il-Sung, in reflections on the events of the last month, made a speech to a gathered cadre of Korean Constabulary officers near to the border where five of their group were killed, and 10 injured by Korean soldiers affiliated with the United States Army Military Government in Korea last month.

"Bravery does not go unheeded in the minds of our people. And our worker-soldiers who fell here were nothing less than our most brave and capable, who went into battle against the perfidious Southern Traitors with nothing but fists, and yet repelled them. We will not forget their sacrifice.

"And yet, we must formally call again on the authorities in the South to come to the table of negotiation. This bloodshed between Koreans is on the hands of the Americans and their imperialists apparatchiks. We ask all Koreans in the south: is democracy not the way of freedom and liberty for all people? Korea belongs under a single flag, the flag of the Worker's Party. For once freedom exists in the south as it does in the north, all of Korea will be united towards the betterment of our country for all of its citizens."

To that end, he announced the Five Spirits of Unity program, intending for its collaboration with authorities in the south:

• Establishing a unified Korean State Railway, to create regular train services between the north and south, particularly along the Kyongui line between Seoul and Pyongyang. This would replace the current method of infrequent operation in the north and control by the US Army Transportation Corps in the south.
• Resuming regular ferry services between the north and the south, with a goal to purchase new ferries from Japanese shipbuilders for that purpose. The most notable route proposed is Nampo-Incheon-Jeju, credited as the "Korean Unity Route."
• Allowing civilian planes passage between the recently opened Sunan Airfield in Pyongyang and airfields in Seoul, Busan and Jeju.
• The ending of "origin-discrimination" particularly at southern farms and factories, which have been known to reject Koreans from the north.
• A joint dialogue on the possibility of democratic unification between the North and the South in the immediate future, with the approval of the Soviet and US authorities.