Canada Needs a Foreign Policy that Serves Peace, Not U.S. Hegemony
Canada Steps Up Interference on Korean Peninsula in the Name of Partnership and Cooperation
From April 13 to 15, Canada's Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly visited the Republic of Korea (ROK). The Global Affairs' press release about the visit noted that this is the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and the ROK and gave its purported aim as "reaffirm[ing] their strong and historic relations and steadfast friendship. The two countries also commit to supporting the rules-based international order and realizing the full potential of their relationship."
In fact, Canada has a long history of interference on the Korean Peninsula going back more than 70 years, in the service of U.S. imperialist aggression against the Korean people to block their unity and independence, starting with its participation in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. The ROK itself would not exist except for the division of Korea at the end of World War II by the U.S. and the propping up of their puppet government in the south. Thus, the "historic relations" and "friendship" that Canada claims to have with the ROK are built on this foundation of crimes against the Korean people.
Today, Canada is part of an illegal naval blockade against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), while collaborating with the government of the ROK in the service of U.S.-led war preparations in Asia, aimed at the DPRK and China. The ROK is itself being brought together with a remilitarizing Japan to form a NATO-like military alliance under the U.S.
The meeting between Minister Joly and her Korean counterpart Minister Park Jin thus further embroiled Canada in meddling and warmongering around the Korean Peninsula, namely "an expanded partnership in defence and security" and "the launch toward negotiations on a General Security of Information Agreement [that] will contribute to deepening Canada's security cooperation with Korea and will increase information sharing and defence collaboration."
The press release goes on to talk about both countries' Indo-Pacific strategies, a euphemism for taking up hostile relations with China without openly saying so, but instead speaking about how the two countries will "counter threats to the rules-based international order, to address regional and global challenges, and to strengthen peace, prosperity, resilience and sustainability in the region."
In a meeting with Cho Tae-yong, the ROK's National Security Advisor, both Cho and Joly spread the usual disinformation about missile launches by the DPRK as a threat to regional peace, to cover up the ongoing nuclear threats and war exercises by the U.S. targeting the DPRK, and the refusal of the U.S. to sign a peace treaty with the latter to formally end the Korean War. Joly used the occasion instead to announce that Canada is extending its role in the naval blockade of the DPRK, called Operation Neon, until April 2026.
Canada's nefarious aims in Korea were underscored by Joly's visit to the War Memorial of Korea, where, Global Affairs explained, "[S]he highlighted Canada's enduring contribution to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and paid tribute to the ultimate sacrifice of those Canadian soldiers who defended peace and freedom during the Korean War." Whether Minister Joly spoke out of ignorance or ill-intent does not matter. The peoples of the world, including Canadians and Quebeckers do not view imperialist war according to this inhuman method of accounting. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright infamously said that 500,000 deaths of Iraqi children due to U.S. war and sanctions were "worth it." Canada has never made amends for its contributions to the brutal crimes committed during the war, including the deaths of four million Koreans and the use of biological warfare. Such facts do not even merit a mention by Minister Joly. Are Canadians and Quebeckers to conclude that the killings of four million Koreans by the U.S., Canada and others were "worth it" to keep Korea divided and under constant threat by U.S. aggression?
Minister Joly's visit to the ROK underscores the need for Canadians and Quebeckers to get Canada out of the U.S. war machine in all of its manifestations -- whether they be NATO, NORAD or bogus partnerships with the ROK -- that do not represent their striving for relations of peace and friendship with all the peoples of the world.
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 5 - May 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/M530054.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca