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March 9, 2013 - No. 10 Hands Off Korea! An Appeal to People of Conscience Regarding the DPRK's
Just Response to U.S. Preparations for a
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The DPRK has repeatedly demanded
that the ceasefire be
turned into a
peace treaty and its security protected by the international community.
The
country cannot countenance the damage caused to the Korean people and
the
Korean nation from a repeat of the Korean War and nor should the
international community. However, the official circles of the Western
world
and the UN refuse to recognise the devastation caused by the U.S.
imperialists
despite these crimes being well known with proof supplied by the Korean
government and facts established in official inquiries. Countless U.S.
soldiers,
who participated in the first Korean War, have also attested to the
depths of
depravity to which the U.S. sank in Korea. Why then do the official
circles of
the Western world and the UN remain silent about these crimes? Knowing
the
history of the U.S. in Korea and what it has done since the Korean War,
why
do governments and international agencies, which claim to act in
defence of
Peace, Freedom and Democracy, not sympathize with the well-founded
concerns expressed by the DPRK? Why do they blame the victim for
causing
tensions on the Korean Peninsula, not the victimizer who continues to
occupy
the south of the Peninsula and engage in countless military
provocations? Who
is to protect the right of the Korean people to live free of the threat
of war and
aggression by the U.S.? If the UN will not protect their right to live
free from
aggression and the constant threat of aggression coming from U.S.
military
bases established on their own Peninsula and from U.S. nuclear armed
warships prowling their waters, U.S. warplanes constantly flying in
their skies
and U.S. space satellites spying and directing its military from above,
how can
the DPRK be expected to rely on the UN? The UN did not stop U.S. and
other
Western powers in their aggression against the former Yugoslavia, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and Mali, and from Obama's drone warfare
against
Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere. Seoul, March 7, 2013. Signs read: "Stop the war exercises"; "The Start of War = The End of Everything" |
As concerns the nuclear issue, the big powers that
control the veto in the
Security Council - the U.S., Russia, China, France and Britain - have
always
declared themselves an exclusive nuclear club where they possess a
nuclear
monopoly and decide who else can and cannot have nuclear weapons as
well
as use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. On this basis, they
permitted
their allies, the apartheid South African regime and Israel to produce
nuclear
weapons and have since tolerated India and Pakistan. They denounce as
rogues
those countries seeking to fashion their own way of life and do not
tolerate
them engaging in the development of nuclear technology for peaceful
purposes, or participating in space ventures such as the launching of
satellites
for purposes of communications or monitoring the weather, which greatly
affects their economic planning and life. Those countries, specifically
at this
time the DPRK and Iran are constantly threatened with annihilation.
It is the sovereign right of every nation to determine its own way of life and affirm its right to be. The major concern of defending the sacred cause of peace cannot be sorted out if this right is not recognized. If this right has no practical defence, and the big powers are given free rein to usurp the decision-making power on a world scale, maraud the seven seas and the entire earth's surface and outer space deploying military forces at will, it is they, not countries such as the DPRK, that are the cause of tensions everywhere, including on the Korean Peninsula.
The issue that all people of conscience have to answer for themselves is the following: If the rights of the Korean nation were recognized, if they were not being pushed to the brink of what they have clearly said means their extinction, would they be taking such measures as declaring their right to wage pre-emptive nuclear strikes to defend their sovereignty and right to be? The history of the past more than 60 years, not only their history but also that of all peoples everywhere, is proof of what they are saying at this time, "Justice can be defended only when strength is met with strength." They have now drawn another conclusion: "Justice can be defended only when nuclear weapons are met with nuclear weapons."
Will the world now listen? Who will join the Korean nation in its hour of need? Who will take responsibility for the sacred cause of world peace if not the peoples of the world who have sacrificed their lives time and again to hoist the banner of Peace, Freedom and Democracy, only to have it seized by their enemies and trampled it in the mud, bringing the world to the brink of calamity?
According to imperialist disinformation, the DPRK is the cause of tension on the Korean Peninsula and it must be stopped no matter what the cost. According to the imperialist disinformation, if only the leadership in the DPRK were not hysterical, making rhetorical threats to seek irrational advantage and dictatorial powers, there would be no problem on the Korean peninsula.
Perhaps the adage has come true, according to which
"desperate times
require desperate measures." People should think about this seriously
and
ponder what the truth of the matter is. Whatever one understands to be
the
various sides in this dangerous conflict, or their motivations, what is
certain
is that all women and men of conscience everywhere are called upon by
history to take a just stand. The problems left over by history demand
that
defenders of the sacred cause of Peace, Freedom and Democracy must come
forward. The situation calls forth champions whose actions prove
capable of
leading the peoples to prevail over the dangers that exist and are
becoming
imminent with every passing day.
 Korean seniors rally to demand north-south dialogue, Seoul, March 7, 2013. |
To find where justice lies, TML calls on
everyone to
participate actively in a serious inquiry, for such an inquiry has been
blocked
and the truth obscured by the big powers that control the UN Security
Council
and by the imperialist mass media. The people participating in such an
inquiry
should set their own parameters and the questions they must ask and
answer
to determine the truth of this life and death matter. This includes
honestly
answering questions such as whether the DPRK would be taking these
measures if it were permitted to participate in world trade on the same
terms
as all countries are entitled to do, as is their right; if it were
permitted to
pursue its own way of life, as is its right and the right of all human
beings to
do, and to determine its own institutions and their fate, leaving it up
to the
wisdom of the Korean people to sort out the problems they face in
moving
their society forward, questions which face every society as an ongoing
concern of how to establish decision-making processes that most
effectively
gauge the popular will and turn it into the legal will and put the
state power
in its service.
People should look into the history of the Korean nation and their institutions. What happened to the peoples' striving for Peace, Freedom and Democracy after the Second World War? What threatens the sacred cause of peace at this time? What is the state of Freedom and Democracy in Europe, in the United States of America and in countries such as Canada and Mexico and the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean? Can there be Peace, Freedom and Democracy today without opposing the U.S. imperialist's striving for world domination and the contention that this brings from the other big powers?
TML urges the working class in this country and all its allies to take a serious stand that does not trivialize or dismiss the claims of the DPRK. Such a stand should start by rejecting attempts to blame the DPRK for the tension on the Korean peninsula. Workers know what it means to bear the burden for a society that deprives them of their jobs, their benefits and pensions and then blames them for their plight and makes them pay for an austerity agenda that benefits only the rich and powerful. Women know what it means to be blamed for sexual assault and domestic violence, and then to be criminalized when they stand up to defend their rights. Children know what it means to bear the brunt of systemic social, economic, cultural and political problems. Our prisons are filled with young people, especially those whose only crime is to be born poor or into an indigenous nation whose existence and territories stand in the way of marauding monopolies that have usurped the state power to further their own mania for privilege and power. TML calls on all persons of conscience to investigate who is to blame for the tension on the Korean Peninsula, to investigate who is the abused and who is the abuser.
To whom should we entrust the fate of the sacred cause of peace if not ourselves? What precisely is the United States doing in the Korean Peninsula with its nuclear stockpiles, continuous military occupation and war games? Is it there to safeguard peace? Is it there to uphold the banner of Peace, Freedom and Democracy? What arguments does it provide in its favour?
The Editorial Board of TML Weekly Information
Project thinks
these are important matters of conscience. We appeal to all men and
women
of conscience to take a just stand that favours the sacred cause of
Peace,
Freedom and Democracy. Since the position of the United States, Canada
and
other big powers fills the airwaves and newspapers, in this issue of TML
Weekly we are providing arguments that the DPRK presents to
substantiate its case and other pertinent views, comments and analysis.
Join the
discussion!
Banner at recent peace rally in Seoul reads: "Stop south Korea-U.S. Joint War Exercises!";
"Stop Sanction against north Korea!"; "Demand north Korea-U.S. Peace Negotiations!";
"Restart the north-south Dialogue!"; "U.S. Army Out!"
News and Views
Harper Government Beats the Drums of War
No sooner the United Nations
Security Council passed Resolution 2094
strengthening sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea
(DPRK), Foreign Minister John Baird announced Canada would enforce the
UN Security Council sanctions and started making boorish statements
against
the DPRK. Baird sought to justify the resolution and sanctions by
declaring
that "it is high time" the DPRK "reverse this dangerous course, abandon
it
nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and focus its scarce resources
on the
living conditions of its people." He made no mention of the nuclear
arsenals
of the big powers which outstrip those of the DPRK by many orders of
magnitude. Nor did Baird see fit to mention the brutal and longstanding
blockade of the DPRK, led by the U.S., which profoundly affects the
well-
being of the Korean people. All the actions of the government of Canada
show
that its sole interest is to make sure regime change takes place in the
DPRK.
On March 8, during proceedings in the House of Commons, Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister Deepak Obhrai asked for the unanimous consent of the House of Commons to move a nefarious motion attempting to promote all kinds of lies and disinformation about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.[1] The motion was not moved and thus no debate proceeded as it did not receive the required unanimous consent from all those present. The government may now consider other ways of having the motion put on the agenda of the House of Commons through negotiations with the other parties when the House resumes sitting on March 18.
The motion comes right at a time that the threat of a new Korean War breaking out is a real possibility due to U.S. provocations and attempts to use the United Nations Security Council to bully and isolate the DPRK. One can only conclude that the aim in introducing the motion is to contribute to a lynching atmosphere in the Parliament and across the country where anything can be justified including a genocidal nuclear strike against the people of the DPRK.
The motion deliberately makes wild claims about the situation of human rights in the DPRK and intertwines this with further disinformation deliberately confusing the latter's nuclear energy program, satellite delivery programs and ballistic missile programs. The motion was tabled right as the world's people want a situation of calm so they can adequately assess what is taking place and how to take a stand for peace internationally which affirms the right of all nations to their independence and sovereignty.
Canada must atone for its crimes against the people of Asia by ending its interference and provocative actions, including its participation in U.S. led war drills aimed at preparing for an attack against Korea.[2]
Canada participated in the first Korean war under a UN flag which resulted in the deaths of some 3 million Korean civilians, not to mention dividing the Korean people in two. Canada also participated in providing the facilities, processed uranium and plutonium and political support for the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands and untold suffering. Enough is enough!
Oppose
the
Government
of
Canada's
Support
for
War
Crimes Against the
Korean People!
Hands Off Korea!
Notes
1. Motion tabled by Deepak
Obhrai in the House of Commons on March
8, 2013: "that the House reaffirm Canada's commitment to the treaty on
the
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and unequivocally condemn North
Korea's recent nuclear test in violation of its international
obligations;
"that the House express its grave concern
regarding the widespread
violations of basic rights in North Korea, including torture and other
cruel
inhumane punishment, arbitrary detentions, absence of due process and
the rule
of law, collective punishments extending up to three generations and
the
existence of political prison camps;
"that the House express its grave concern
regarding the government of
North Korea's continued pursuit of its nuclear weapons program despite
the
humanitarian crisis in the country, including mass starvation and
prolonged
food deprivation, reject North Korean's increasing aggressive actions,
including
ballistic missile launches and attacks against South Korea, which
represents a
threat to regional and international peace and security;
"and urge the regime in Pyongyang to abandon
its reckless weapons
program and instead focus its resources on meeting its citizens' basic
humanitarian needs, respecting its citizens' fundamental freedoms and
abiding
by the United Nations Security Council resolution."
2. The same day that the motion was
tabled in the House of Commons, it
was reported that a Canadian Navy frigate, the HMCS Algonquin
had engine troubles during "training exercises" it was participating in
from
February 7-21 with a U.S. Task Force Group based out of Hawaii. The Algonquin
was participating in the exercises along
with the HMCS Ottawa no doubt under U.S. command. The Ottawa
is a Navy destroyer with submarine hunting,
and
surface-to-surface weapons systems for hitting other ships, while the Algonquin is an
air defence destroyer, also equipped with Sea King
helicopters
for submarine hunting and is considered an ideal "command and control
platform."
According to the Canadian Navy the ships were
participating in a training
course for U.S. submarine captains. Both the Ottawa and Victoria
participated in the U.S. RIMPAC massive
war exercises
based out of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii which are widely seen as exercises
for
war with China and/or north Korea.
Another Unjust Resolution Against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
On March 7, the 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 2094 against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in response to the DPRK's third nuclear test, carried out February 12. Resolution 2094 imposes additional sanctions against the DPRK by targeting what the UNSC claims are "the illicit activities of diplomatic personnel, transfers of bulk cash and the country's banking relationships."
The UNSC, in which the U.S. carries the
biggest stick,
has always been
used as an instrument of big power politics. Currently the 15-member
UNSC
consists of the permanent members China, United States, Russia, France
and
Britain. The non-permanent members now serving their two-year term are
Argentina, Azerbaijan, Australia, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Morocco,
Pakistan,
Republic of Korea (south Korea), Rwanda and Togo.
The UNSC has passed many resolutions against the DPRK, including Resolution 825 (1993), Resolution 1540 (2004), Resolution 1695 (2006), Resolution 1718 (2008), Resolution 1874 (2009), Resolution 1887 (2009) and Resolution 2087 (January 2013). These resolutions have been passed to criminalize the DPRK for exercising it right to be, and in particular its right to develop nuclear energy for its domestic needs and, in the face on U.S. nuclear pre-emptive strikes and war-mongering on the Korean peninsula, to develop its "nuclear deterrent power" to protect its sovereignty. As such, these resolutions do not contribute to peace but have only increased tensions and the danger of war.
Resolution 2094 gives the U.S. and its allies the veneer of legality to apply additional economic and political pressure on the DPRK and create hysteria against the DPRK's militant stand in defence of its independence and sovereignty.
For example, member states are expected to spy on DPRK diplomatic personnel and other nations who "may" undertake activity "that could contribute to the country's weapons programs, or which violate prohibited activities." These prohibited activities include assisting DPRK banks or financial institutions to transact business and money transfers (especially bulk cash transfers) that are aimed at evading sanctions and thus "may contribute" to the DPRK's alleged nuclear weapons program. Persons who are suspected of such activities are to be expelled from the territories of member nations.
In addition, three individuals connected with the Korea Mining Development Trading Company are prohibited from travelling abroad. The company's foreign assets are to be frozen because of alleged involvement in nuclear weapons and missile development. The assets of the Second Academy of Natural Sciences which is engaged in research and development and which could "obtain technology" through its subsidiaries is also targeted.
Resolution 2094 also legalizes piracy against DPRK ships and aircraft. The resolution deems that member states "shall inspect all cargo within or transiting through their territory that has originated in the DPRK or that is destined for the DPRK, or has been brokered or facilitated by the DPRK or its nations" if the state has "credible information" that the cargo contains materials that are restricted. In the case of objection to these high-handed tactics, the vessels in question are to be refused docking rights or, in the case of aircraft, landing rights.
UNSC Resolution 2094 compels member nations -- without any provision for discussion in the General Assembly or for the DPRK to address its concerns to the UNSC -- to comply with these sanctions. While previous sanctions said member nations were "called on" to implement sanctions, these new sanctions say member nations "shall" implement them. Countries who do not face sanctions themselves or "non-military" pressure.
No country in the world has faced such unjust sanctions
for as long as the
DPRK has. UNSC Resolution 2094 is fundamentally unjust and is yet
another
bogus UNSC resolution aimed at criminalizing the DPRK and justifying
another Korean War. The Canadian working class and people must oppose
this
resolution and all other unjust sanctions against the DPRK and those
who
refuse to enforce the sanctions and call for their immediate repeal.
U.S. and South Korea Stage Provocative War Exercises
South Korean K-55 self-propelled howitzers participate in a joint live-fire drill in Pocheon, South Korea,
March 15, 2012, as part of last year's Foal Eagle military exercise.
As part of its longstanding hostile policy against the DPRK, the large scale Key Resolve Foal Eagle military exercises held by the U.S. and south Korea on and around the Korean Peninsula began on March 1 and run until the end of April. The exercises involve more than 200,000 troops, primarily from south Korea and the U.S., but also other countries.
The U.S. has held the Resolve and Foal Eagle War exercises every year since 1997. It is reported to be one of the largest military exercises in the world. A February 21 press release from the U.S. military states that "parts of forces from Denmark, United Kingdom, Australia, Colombia, and Canada (members of the United Nations Command) and supervisors from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will [also] participate." The U.S. claims that these exercises are merely defensive in nature and this is but the 2013 iteration of the war games. However, the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army points out that, "Unlike last year the current joint military exercises will be participated in by super-large nuclear-powered carrier task force carrying at least 100 nuclear warheads, B-52H strategic bombers and other means of the U.S. imperialist aggression forces for making ground, sea and air nuclear strikes and its allied forces including south Korea, U.K. and Australia."
The description of these
exercises on the website of the
U.S. 7th Airforce
states:
"KEY RESOLVE is a Combined Forces Command (CFC) operational plan-oriented Command Post Exercise driven by simulation and a master scenario events list.
"The primary focus of KEY RESOLVE is crisis management, maneuver and sustainment of forward forces within the context of operational planning warfighting.
"KEY RESOLVE is directed at maintaining the readiness of the CFC staff and components. It is executed in conjunction with Foal Eagle and involves more than 29,000 U.S. forces and more than 200,000 ROK forces."
"FOAL EAGLE is an annual large-scale ROK-wide joint combined/joint Field Training Exercise (FTX) that runs concurrently with the KEY RESOLVE exercise.
"It is focused on rear area security and stability operations, onward movement of critical assets to the forward area, special operations, ground maneuver, amphibious operations, combat air operations, maritime action group operations and counter special operations forces exercises (CSOFEX)."
Holding such war games is never acceptable. According to Article 6 (a) of the Nuremberg Declaration of 1945, these exercises constitute a "crime against peace" as they constitute "planning and preparing" for a war of aggression against another nation. Such activity is even more reprehensible when the U.S. has already racheted up the tension on the Korean Peninsula to such a high degree that it might cause the break out of an actual war.
In March 2010, the sinking of the south Korean warship Cheonan
was spuriously attributed to the DPRK by the U.S., south Korea and
their
allies in a failed attempt to isolate the DPRK at the UN Security
Council.[1]
Later that year, a live fire drill conducted within the DPRK's
territorial waters
by the south Korean navy elicited a vigorous military response from the
Korean People's Army. Disinformation about the Yeonpyong Island
incident
was used to suggest that the DPRK had carried out an unprovoked attack,
rather than defending its sovereignty.[2]
From the
Korean War to the present,
the U.S. and its allies have shown a pattern of deception and
aggression
against the DPRK at the risk of a new Korean War, which the latter does
not
taking lightly.
U.S. Marine Corps soldiers take part in a landing operation during the U.S.-South Korea live fire military exercise "Foal Eagle" at Pohang Beach, Gyeongsangbukdo province of South Korea, March 29, 2012.
Notes
1. "Truth Behind Cheonan
Incident: U.S. and Lee
Myung Bak Group
Fabricate Ugliest Conspiratorial Farce in DPRK's History," Inspection
Group,
DPRK National Defence Commission, October 2010, published in TML
Daily, November 5, 2010 - No. 187
2. "Korean People's Army Vows to Defend
Territorial Integrity of the
DPRK," TML Daily, November 24, 2010 - No. 201.
DPRK Denounces Security Council Resolution
On March 9, the Foreign Ministry
of the Democratic
People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) issued a statement denouncing UN Security Council (UNSC)
Resolution 2094 following its third nuclear test. The statement points
out that
the UNSC resolution is "clear proof" of the U.S.’s work and its hostile
policy
towards the DPRK aimed at regime change bringing down the ideology and
system chosen by the people of the DPRK by trying to disarm and
strangle it
economically.
The statement denounces the U.S. for wantonly violating "a sovereign state's right to launch a satellite" and escalating measures to "stifle the DPRK." It squarely puts the blame on the U.S. as the "arch criminal" which "compelled the DPRK to conduct an underground nuclear test for self-defence." If the UNSC had a shred of impartiality, the DPRK statement says, it would have taken issue with the hostile acts of the U.S. against the DPRK. The DPRK, which had planned to focus on economic construction and improving the people's living standard was forced to divert resources to conduct the nuclear test.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry’s statement condemns the UNSC for bowing to U.S. demands and disregarding the root cause of the hostility between the DPRK and the U.S. and the context of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula.
The statement underscores the fact that the UNSC has passed five resolutions imposing sanctions against the DPRK over the last eight years, which has only resulted in the DPRK bolstering its nuclear deterrent capability qualitatively and quantitatively. This is the the opposite result of what was expected. A nuclear deterrent force is the firm guarantee of the country’s defence of its sovereignty and vital rights and a "treasured sword" to defeat the moves of the U.S. to ignite a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula and hasten the day of the historic cause of national reunification, the statement points out.
The DPRK "vehemently denounces and totally rejects" the recent UNSC sanctions against it, the statement goes on to say. It warns the U.S. and its allies that attempts to adopt and implement these base sanctions, which aim to impede the DPRK from "conquering space" and building its nuclear deterrent capability, will only increase the resolve of the DPRK a thousand-fold.
The DPRK takes the UNSC to task for permitting the U.S. a free hand in preparing for a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula under the fraud of "nuclear non-proliferation" which has created a very tense situation on the Korean peninsula.
Finally, the DPRK Foreign Ministry statement notes that it has clarified many times that it will continue to take countermeasures to prepare for a great war of national reunification if the U.S. opts for war on the Korean peninsula.
Supreme Command of Korean People's Army Clarifies Important Measures to Defend National Sovereignty
Rally in Pyongyang, March 7, 2013, in support of DPRK's plan to withdraw from the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement. (KCNA)
On March 5, a spokesman for the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army (KPA) issued a statement in which the context for the current tense situation on the Korean peninsula was explained as well as the DPRK's response to the latest acts of aggression towards it.
He recounted the DPRK's satellite launch on December 12, 2012, which was carried out with transparency, fully in compliance with international law governing the use of space and at a time of relative calm. Despite this, "the U.S. and its allies deliberately negated the DPRK's sovereignty over its satellite launch. They finally prodded the UN Security Council into adopting a 'resolution on sanctions' before opting for high-handed hostile acts against the DPRK."
He further explained that, "Under this situation the DPRK was compelled to take practical counteractions to defend the security and sovereignty of the country. On February 12 it successfully conducted the third underground nuclear test for self-defence at the highest level as part of those counteractions." Rather than taking heed of the gravity of the situation and the seriousness with which the DPRK defends its sovereignty, the U.S. and south Korea launched and expanded version of the Key Resolve Foal Eagle war games on March 1.
The spokesperson decried the activities of those in the south who undermined inter-Korean relations at the behest of their U.S. masters, failing to grasp consequences of their treachery for Korea and the countries of the region should the U.S. realize its aim to reignite a war.
The spokesman for the KPA Supreme Command declared several important measures the DPRK is taking to deal with the present situation. Firstly, that consequent to the February 12 nuclear test, the DPRK "will take the second and third strong practical counteractions in succession to cope with the high-handed war acts of the U.S. and all other hostile forces as it had already declared.
He gave assurances that the army and people of the DPRK are never ones to engage in empty talk and will do what they are determined to do. He cited the DPRK's victories in the two wars with the Japanese and U.S. imperialists and its great advances since then, overcoming many hardships in the process.
The KPA stands at the ready, he said. The army groups on the front, ground forces, the navy, air and anti-air units, strategic rocket units of the KPA, the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the Young Red Guards are fully mobilized according to the operational plan authorized by the Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un.
The KPA spokesperson made it crystal clear that should the U.S. use nuclear weapons against it, the DPRK will respond in kind with the means it has developed for diversified precision nuclear strikes.
He warned the U.S. imperialists that, "This land is neither the Balkans nor Iraq or Libya.
"The army and people of the DPRK have everything including lighter and smaller nukes unlike what they had in the past."
Secondly, the KPA Supreme Command will totally nullify the Korean Armistice Agreement (AA) as of March 11 when the U.S. and south Korean war games get fully underway. The spokesperson noted that the war manoeuvres are a vivid expression of their systematic violation of the AA. He added that once it is no longer bound by the AA, the DPRK will strike justly any target at anytime, as required to achieve national reunification.
Thirdly, the KPA Supreme Command will cease the activities of the Panmunjom mission of the KPA, located at the Demarcation Line which divides the two Koreas. The mission was tentatively established and operated by the DPRK as a negotiating body for establishing a peace-keeping mechanism on the Korean Peninsula. The measure will also include cutting off the Panmunjom DPRK-U.S. military hotline.
The declaration from the KPA Supreme Command concludes
by reiterating
that the situation is reaching a dangerous phase. The U.S. imperialists
and their
allies are warned once again that any aggression will be met in kind
with an
even greater response, and to engage the army and people of the DPRK,
who
will
go all out to protect their sovereignty, will be at the peril of their
lives.
Units of the Korean People's Army undertake training exercises, March 7, 2013. (KCNA)
(Korean Central News Agency)
Security Council Resolution Against DPRK Can Only Increase Tension on the Korean Peninsula
While there are rare instances of the UN Security Council acting in a way that welcomed the parties to a conflict to explain their views to the members of the Security Council so that the Security Council could be helpful toward a resolution, there are a number of examples of the Security Council acting in a way that intensifies or causes a conflict to become more serious. This is in direct contrast to the obligation of the Security Council according to the UN Charter. Such a failure on the part of the Security Council is particularly demonstrated by the treatment accorded the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by the Security Council, with the exception of the two examples described in the article, "Two Precedents for UN Security Council Action to Calm Tension in the Korean Peninsula."[1]
The DPRK has complained about the hostile acts of the US toward it.[2] Instead of the Security Council inviting the DPRK to explain its complaint, the Security Council has allowed the US to compile a set of punishments of the DPRK in the form of a proposed new security council resolution tabled on March 5. The resolution is to be voted on on Thursday, March 7.
To vote on such a resolution with no consideration of the DPRK view of the problem that exists is a serious abuse of the obligations of the Security Council under the UN Charter. An example of the illegitimacy and duplicity of action taken by the US against the DPRK is described in the article, "Behind the Blacklisting of Banco Delta Asia: Is the policy aimed at targeting China as well as North Korea?"[3]
The DPRK has made a convincing case that there is a long pattern of abuse by the US against its country and people and that it needs a means to defend itself.
For the Security Council to pass new sanctions to support the US pattern of abuse against the DPRK is an act that demonstrates the problem of the nature and functioning of the UN Security Council.
The first nuclear explosion by the DPRK was in response to the US government sanctions against the Banco Delta Asia, a bank in Macau, China, which had $25 million of DPRK funds. The US sanctions against this bank were taken with no proof ever provided of any actual abuse by the bank. To implement these sanctions the US government used a provision of the U.S. Patriot Act, Section 311. This section of the Patriot Act was inserted into the Act by the then Senator John Kerry. The US government abuse of the DPRK by this action was to interfere with the DPRK access to the use of the international banking system. The DPRK made many efforts to have this action of the US reversed via negotiation. It was only by carrying out its first nuclear test that the DPRK was able to get help via the Six Party Talks to have these sanctions reversed. And that was a difficult process taking multiple efforts on the part of Christopher Hill and others in the US State Department but also other countries as part of the Six Party Talks. (At that point while the US Treasury Department was enforcing the Banco Delta Asia sanctions, the US State Department was trying to have them removed.) An investigation into why the DPRK felt it needed a nuclear deterrent is critical if there is to be any solution to the current conflict between the US and the DPRK.
This short article is intended as an alert that the current resolution being considered at the Security Council demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the background of the role played by financial sanctions in fomenting this conflict in the past.
Notes
1."Two
Precedents for UN
Security Council Action to Calm Tension in the
Korean Peninsula."
2. "DPRK
Terms U.S. Hostile Policy Main
Obstacle in Resolving Nuclear
Issue", Memorandum by the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, August. 31, 2012. Also submitted by the DPRK to
the
Security Council to be listed as an official UN document.
3. "Behind
the Blacklisting of Banco
Delta Asia: Is the policy aimed at
targeting China as well as North Korea?"
See also: "What Should be the Role of the UN Regarding the Hostile US Policy toward North Korea?
(blogs.tag.de)
The U.S. in Korea -- A History of Criminality
Bridge at No Gun Ri: Korean civilians were instructed by U.S. troops to stand on the railroad tracks atop the bridge where the soldiers then searched them for weapons. The soldiers then radioed for an aerial bombardment and then fled. Of those who were not killed, many escaped to the tunnel beneath the bridge, where for the next four days, July 26-29, soldiers fired at them. U.S. medics visited the group, but did not offer help. (www.askasia.org)
TML Weekly Information Project interviewed Philip Fernandez on the grave situation on the Korean Peninsula. Fernandez is on the Commission of the Central Committee of CPC(M-L) which deals with the Asia-Pacific region as well as spokesperson for the Canadian Chapter of the Korea Truth Commission.
TMLW: Philip, you participated in the work of the Korea Truth Commission which held an international tribunal in New York in 2001. A 100-strong Canadian delegation participated in those proceedings along with delegations from the United States and the Republic of Korea. You also visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 2002 as a member of the Korea Truth Commission to investigate the war crimes committed by the U.S. during the Korean War. Can you tell us about the work of the Truth Commission and its findings?
Philip Fernandez: Yes, the Truth Commission carried out investigations into the massacres and other war crimes committed by the U.S. Army in Korea before, during and after the Korean War. It created conditions for people to come forward to tell of their own horrific experiences at the hand of the U.S. military during the war. To this day, the Korean people continue to feel the impact of the first arrival of U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula in September 1945, after Koreans had fought so long against the Japanese occupiers and had defeated them, thus contributing to the Allied victory over the Axis powers in the Second World War.
The number of civilian deaths that occurred during the period of the U.S. military occupation from the period since 1945 until the start of the war in 1950 has been estimated at close to one million people, mostly patriotic Koreans who were opposed to the division of their country and the U.S. military government that attempted to re-establish a colonial regime by force of arms over the Koreans.
During the Korean War itself -- initiated by the U.S. to take over Korea which it had already divided -- there were more than four million civilian deaths and millions of other causalities. In the northern part of Korea alone, there were more than three million casualties.
There is also evidence that U.S. armed forces personnel have committed well over 100,000 criminal offences against Koreans since 1953, since the Armistice Agreement was signed to end the Korean War. However, because of the notorious Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which the U.S. has with the south Korean regime, less than one per cent of these crimes have been brought before the Korean legal system.
The evidence brought forward during the Korea Truth
Commission
investigations and international tribunals that were held in New York
City in
2001, in Pyongyang in 2003 and also in Seoul, goes a long way to
explain to
the world why the People's Democratic Republic of Korea will go to any
lengths to avert a reoccupation of Korea by the United States and
foreign
imperialists.
U.S. Army photos depicting the summary execution of south Korean political prisoners by the south Korean military and police at Daejeon, south Korea, over several days in July 1950. Lt. Col. Bob E. Edwards, the U.S. Army Attaché in charge of documenting the executions, was quoted as saying, "General treatment of Prisoners of War after evacuation from front has been good." It is estimated that up to 7,000 were killed at Daejeon, and tens of thousands elsewhere. (Brian Willson)
TMLW: What do you say to the accusation that the DPRK is a "rogue state?"
PF: The U.S. considers those that stand up to its dictate to be "rogue states." In fact the U.S. is the worst "rogue state" in the world. While in power, the Bush administration proved the aggressive nature of the U.S. more clearly than ever before through its belligerence. Meanwhile President Obama subscribes to the Drone War Doctrine by which those who are considered enemies of the U.S. state, including American citizens, can be killed by remote controlled drones. These acts of murder and terror are considered legal by the U.S. state!
The accusation that the DPRK is rogue is specifically applied to its development of nuclear technology. A serious question arises: why were Israel and South Africa not accused of being rogue, or India and Pakistan and why were they not subjected to sanctions given that they possess nuclear weapons? Why is there a nuclear monopoly in the hands of the big powers, who can maraud the oceans as the U.S. is doing with nuclear powered submarines and carriers and they are permitted to do so with impunity? Who trusts them to be the world's gendarmes?
We deplore the double standards the United Nations Security Council uses. If you look at the Security Council's resolution 2094 that was just passed, it is hard to reconcile how the U.S. which is the biggest nuclear and ballistic missiles proliferator can point the finger at the DPRK, but it does! And that's a problem not only for the DPRK but for the rest of the world. For international law to have meaning, all nations big and small have to abide by the same laws.
TMLW: What about the accusations that the communications satellite launched by the DPRK was a ballistic missile?
PF: It is interesting to note that south Koreans had also launched a satellite, using a booster rocket from Russia, and nobody said anything. This shows that the double standards of the imperialist system of states know no bounds. The DPRK has been rightly incensed. Some estimates are that the space business for the south of Korea could gross $5 billion a year when it takes off, similar to other industries in which it competes.
Opposition to the peaceful use of communications and weather satellites by the DPRK hides the real intention to not only stifle the DPRK but also control what is called "the new space race." Recently, following satellite launches by the DPRK, the Republic of Korea, Iran, and Japan, the New York Times ran a series of items on the new space race. The following quote is indicative of the inter-imperialist competition involved and the desire to keep competitors out of the market:
"China is a fulcrum of the U.S. debate over international cooperation and competition in space. U.S. commercial and scientific space professionals want to cooperate with their Chinese peers, who will bring considerable economic and technical resources to the development of the global space industry and to international space science and exploration. But U.S. political and military leaders, concerned about China's attitudes and behavior, actively seek to limit Chinese participation in the international community of space-faring nations. China is not allowed to visit the International Space Station. U.S. export control laws constrain China's ability to compete in the international launch services market. Chinese experts are excluded from international scientific meetings. Officials at NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are not even allowed to talk to their Chinese counterparts about cooperation in space. [...] But the nascent cold war in space between China and the United States threatens our ability to develop such an environment [of cooperation]. It increases distrust and resentment that can reduce cooperation and increase the risk of conflict. China and the United States must find a way to work together in space, as they have in other domains here on earth. This can only happen through dialogue. Congressional restrictions preventing the United States and China from talking about cooperation in space lock both nations into a hostile relationship. Those restrictions should be lifted, and leaders in both countries should begin to work together to ensure our common interests -- in space and on the ground."
TMLW: You raised the issue of China. It would stand to reason that China is not favoured by a U.S. imperialist war on the Korean Peninsula. Why is it supporting this UN Resolution?
PF: Of course China does not want a war on the Korean Peninsula. On the face of it, China says that the DPRK should not violate the non-proliferation treaty and the ban on testing nuclear weapons. It also says it will work to bring the DPRK back into the Six Party talks. But none of the big powers in the Security Council seem to want a smaller country to have modern weapons and a sense of being that challenges the imperialist system of states. Nobody seems to want the DPRK acting as an independent state, even though a militant and powerful DPRK and its military standing firmly without fear serves the forces which favour peace in East Asia. The unfolding developments attest to the tensions which exist and how complex the situation has become. Finding a way forward and how to stop the adventurist path on which the U.S. has embarked in its attempt to impose its dictate over all others, is the challenge facing all those who are genuinely concerned. We sincerely hope that China will rise to the occasion and assist to provide this problem with a solution. We do not think that measures which serve to further isolate the just stand of the DPRK are helpful.
TMLW: What about the role of Japan?
PF: The TML Editorial board closely follows what is going in Japan. The role played by Japan contributes to the creation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, to this day it has refused to apologize for the crimes it committed during its occupation of Korea and during the Second World War.
In analyzing the unfolding events on the Korean Peninsula, the TML Editorial Board noted that China itself not only faces the direct danger from U.S. imperialism, but also from the military ally of U.S. imperialism, Japanese militarism.
China seems to be challenging U.S. imperialism in East Asia (and elsewhere such as Africa) by taking a very strong stand against Japanese provocations. Most of the Japanese leaders today (Prime Minister and deputy and other key cabinet members) are all direct descendants of the militarist families in power before and during the Second World War. They are also being egged on by U.S. imperialism to create a war atmosphere to try and undermine the movement to annul the U.S./Japan military alliance and drive all U.S. troops out of Japan starting with Okinawa. Also the Japanese economy has contracted for three quarters in a row. The Japanese provocations are also part of the repositioning of U.S. military power in East Asia to confront China in its backyard.
TMLW: The news media in Canada did not report much on a recent row between China and Japan over who owns the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.
PF: News coverage in Canada is very narrow in its scope. The sparring between Japan and China has turned serious. Of course U.S. imperialism eggs on the ruckus as it tries to isolate China. A remarkable development is Japan and China now publicly and routinely accuse each other of lying. Japan said a Chinese warship locked in its firing or shooting radar on a Japanese destroyer near the disputed islands. A locked-in radar guides a missile or artillery to a target. China after an internal investigation said Japan was lying, accusing it of trying to portray China as becoming aggressive. When two big powers cannot engage in diplomacy over such matters as territory and publicly call each other liars then a military clash is the next step. The U.S. State Department announced that it officially believed China was lying and Japan was not. China was very angry and told the U.S. to stay neutral and not to poke its nose into the dispute.
TMLW: China is a big power and has some clout when it tells the U.S. to mind its own business. When big powers no longer use diplomatic channels to sort out problems it certainly sheds light on the plight of a country like the DPRK.
PF: Indeed. Japan pushed that recent fight with its farcical purchase of several of the uninhabited disputed islands. These islands have good fishing and possibly oil and gas in the surrounding sea. They are located about 380 kilometres south of Okinawa, about the same distance east from mainland China and around 250 kilometres northeast of Taiwan. They were mentioned in ancient Chinese records as administered by various Chinese dynasties. Japan annexed them in 1895 soon after annexing Okinawa. These events happened as Japan emerged as a powerful imperialist nation and China was disintegrating from colonial attacks and internal disputes. The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 ended in defeat for China. Japan forced China to cede control of Taiwan to Japan (known by imperialism as Formosa at the time), which it held until its defeat in WWII, and for China to recognize Japanese control of Korea, which in 1910 became full colonial control. Okinawa itself is 916 kilometres southwest of the nearest main Japanese island (Kyushu) and was itself an ancient separate kingdom (Ryukyu) with its own language, which came first under Chinese influence (circa 1400 or earlier) and then Japan in 1609. As Okinawa is in the middle of the East China Sea, it was a useful stopping point for Chinese, Korean and Japanese (and other) trading vessels for hundreds of years going way back. Ryukyu maintained a tributary but independent relationship with first China, and then both Japan and China after 1609, until 1879 when it was annexed by Japan.
TMLW: So these are problems left over by history which can be sorted out on a peaceful basis if the political will is channelled for that purpose.
PF: Yes. The DPRK has never attacked anyone, or threatened anyone. It has never had any troops occupying other countries. All it wants is the peaceful reunification of the Korean nation on the basis of the one state/two systems solution, as is its right and as has been applied by China vis à vis Hong Kong and Macao and as it proposes with Taiwan. What is wrong with that? Since the U.S. was forced to sign a ceasefire to end the Korean War in 1953, it has refused to sign a permanent peace treaty. It has violated the terms of the ceasefire from the outset, filling the south of Korea with nuclear weapons, building and maintaining some 40 military bases and using south Korea as a staging ground for war and aggression and constantly threatening the DPRK with a pre-emptive nuclear strike Who is rogue in this equation?
The Security Council has become an illegitimate authority when it comes to preserving the peace. This is a grave problem facing not just the DPRK but the world's people. Time and time again, the U.S. has manipulated events to get a UN Security Council green light to wage wars of aggression in violation of the principles of the right of all nations, big or small to self-determination and non interference in their internal affairs. The big powers do not take stands based on principles or considerations of ensuring peace under all conditions and circumstances. They align themselves in a manner that they can benefit from the wars of aggression which they consider inevitable.
TMLW: The Cold War is over but the calculations seem to be the same as during the Cold War. What is your view?
PF: Yes, in the case of the DPRK, anti-communism is the basis of rabid disinformation about the living conditions in that country and about the nature of the People's Power, called a murderous dictatorship while the people are treated as an enslaved mass. They are presented to us in the most racist way, as a faceless people, without their own thinking, identity, hearts and minds. According to the imperialists, when a people is willing to give their lives to preserve their freedom and right to be, it means they are inhuman. In fact the opposite is the case.
Everyone knows that the real tyrants are the billionaires who can justify selling their mothers if it makes them a buck. These are the accusers of the people of the DPRK, who would like to see the socialist system of the DPRK overturned and a dictatorship of the biggest monopolies and financiers established there. It is a vicious campaign which is not only anti-communist but racist and anti-worker. These are the ingredients of an obscurantist ideology espoused today by modern day Hitlerites. It is not the ideology of those who defend their right to be.
TMLW: In conclusion, what can you tell us about the stand of the Harper government?
PF: Its stand is unacceptable. It has diplomatic relations with the DPRK. Why does the Harper government engage in public displays of ignorance by accusing the DPRK of every crime in the book on the basis of anti-communism, instead of communicating through diplomatic channels and meanwhile working to build people to people and state to state friendship? The outlook of the Harper government towards the serious questions of war and peace can be clearly understood if one studies its attitude towards the DPRK.
It is noteworthy that in the wake of the UN Security Council's unjust resolution 2094, Foreign Minister Baird not only said that Canada "welcomed" the new and expanded sanctions against the DPRK but was "proud to have been a co-sponsor" and that "the true travesty is that the North Korean people continue to starve and are denied basic human rights while the regime in Pyongyang squanders limited resources." It demanded that the government of the DPRK should reverse its "dangerous course, abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and focus its scare resources on the living conditions of it people."
In his anti-communist mania, Minister Baird, who purports to speak for the Canadian people, should tell them that since the Korean War started in 1950, the DPRK has been subjected to increasingly harsh and inhumane U.S.-led sanctions and an economic embargo. It is the nation that has been sanctioned for the longest time. Despite this, the DPRK has completely rebuilt the infrastructure the imperialists shattered during the Korean war and its all-sided economy using the most advanced methods and technique. It has devoted all its resources to establishing modern industry and modern agriculture and feeding its people, providing them with a very advanced education and culture. It has done all this on the basis of self-reliance, while it has been prevented from engaging in developing normal relations with many countries or in trade for mutual benefit with countries such as Canada which has toed the U.S. line for 60 years vis à vis the DPRK. This has not benefited the Korean people or the Canadian people.
Furthermore, the Harper government has deemed this year, 2013, "Year of the Korean War Veteran" to "pay tribute" to the more than 26,000 Canadians who participated in the Korean War and of whom 516 were killed. This is being done by the Harper government to glorify war and occupation to spread "democracy and human rights" and justify Canada's participation in another U.S.-led Korean War. This must not pass! Canadians must be vigilant and ensure that another illegal Korean War does not break out which today will be a nuclear war with grave consequences to the Korean people and to humanity. Canadians must demand that the Harper government take the lead in normalizing relations with the DPRK so that trade and other links can be established between the two countries. It must stop egging on the U.S. to commit aggression on the Korean peninsula.
TMLW: Thank you very much.
Top: U.S. military officers overseeing South Korean executions of civilians "suspected of collaborating" with the "communists," near Taegu, south Korea, April 1951. Photo taken by U.S. Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG). Bottom: a south Korean investigation team conducts an excavation of bodies buried in a cobalt mine near Taegu, July 2007.
(Slightly edited for grammar and presentation).
North Korea or the United States:
Who Is a Threat to
Global
Security?
Most people in America consider North Korea as an inherently aggressive nation and a threat to global security.
Media disinformation sustains North Korea as a "rogue state".
The history of the Korean war and its devastating consequences are rarely mentioned. America is portrayed as the victim rather than the aggressor.
North Korea lost thirty percent of its population as a result of US led bombings in the 1950s.
US military sources confirm that 20 percent of North Korea's population was killed off over a three year period of intensive bombings:
"After destroying North Korea's 78 cities and thousands of her villages, and killing countless numbers of her civilians, [General] LeMay remarked, "Over a period of three years or so we killed off -- what -- twenty percent of the population."
"It is now believed that the population north of the imposed 38th Parallel lost nearly a third its population of 8 -- 9 million people during the 37-month long "hot" war, 1950 -- 1953, perhaps an unprecedented percentage of mortality suffered by one nation due to the belligerence of another." (See War Veteran Brian Willson. Korea and the Axis of Evil, Global Research, April, 2002)
Official South Korean government sources estimate North
Korean civilian
deaths at 1,550,000.
Left: A long line of refugees fled Yongdong, South Korea, on July 26, 1950. The same day, eight miles down the road at No Gun Ri, hundreds of refugees came under fire from U.S. troops. A letter has come to light indicating the killings were part of U.S. policy. Right: In this undated photo suspected communist collaborators were rounded up in Yongdong.
During The Second World War the United Kingdom lost 0.94% of its population, France lost 1.35%, China lost 1.89% and the US lost 0.32%.
During the Korean war, North Korea lost 30 % of its population. In the words of General Curtis Lemay:
"There are no innocent civilians. It is their government and you are fighting a people, you are not trying to fight an armed force anymore. So it doesn't bother me so much to be killing the so-called innocent bystanders." (emphasis added)
Reflect for a few minutes on these figures: If a foreign power had bombed the US and America had lost thirty percent of its population as result of foreign aggression, Americans across the land would certainly be aware of the threat to their national security emanating from this unnamed foreign power.
Now put yourself in the shoes of the North Koreans, who lost 30 percent of their population as a result of 37 months of relentless US bombings.
From their standpoint, the US is the threat to Global Security.
Their country was destroyed. Town and villages were bombed. General Curtis Lemay acknowledges that "[we] eventually burned down every town in North Korea anyway, someway or another, and some in South Korea too."
There is not a single family in North Korea which has
not lost a loved
one.
Pyongyang after the war.
Everyone I talked with, dozens and dozens of folks, lost one if not many more family members during the war, especially from the continuous bombing, much of it incendiary and napalm, deliberately dropped on virtually every space in the country. "Every means of communication, every installation, factory, city, and village" was ordered bombed by General MacArthur in the fall of 1950. It never stopped until the day of the armistice on July 27, 1953. (See War Veteran Brian Willson. Korea and the Axis of Evil, Global Research, April, 2002)
For the people of North Korea, in their inner consciousness as human beings, the aggressor, which inflicted more than two million deaths on a country of 8-9 million (1950s) is the United States of America.
These facts continue to be concealed by the Western media to sustain the "Axis of Evil" legend, which portrays North Korea as a threat and "rogue state", to be condemned by the "international community".
Genocide is defined under the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) as the
"the deliberate and systematic destruction of, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group". Article 2 of this convention defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."
What is at stake is an act of genocide committed by the US. During the Korean War an entire civilian population was the target of deliberate and relentless bombings, with a view to destroying and killing a national group, which constitutes an act of genocide under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Statement Opposing U.S.-South Korea Joint Military Exercises Key Resolve Foal Eagle
Stop War Games, Start Peace Talks
The Korean War, known in the United States as "The Forgotten War," has never ended. Every year, the United States stages a series of massive joint war games with its ally, South Korea (ROK). These coordinated exercises are both virtual and real. Among other things, they practice live fire drills and simulate the invasion of North Korea-including first-strike options.
While we -- peace, human rights, faith-based, environmental, and Korean solidarity activists -- are deeply concerned about North Korea's third nuclear weapons test, we also oppose the U.S.-ROK joint war games as adding to the dangerous cycle of escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea views these war games as an act of provocation and threat of invasion like that which we have witnessed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya and routinely condemns these maneuvers as aimed at "bring[ing] down the DPRK by force" and forcing it to"bolster up the war deterrent physically." South Korean activists also decry the role of these war games in the hostile perpetuation of the division of the Korean peninsula and are often persecuted for their protests under South Korea's draconian National Security Law.
The U.S.-ROK "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" annual war games, usually staged in March, and "Ulchi Freedom Guardian" in August, typically last for months and involve tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and deployed from the United States, as well as hundreds of thousands of their ROK counterparts. U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, and Space Command forces will participate in these exercises and practice scenarios including the removal of North Korea's leadership, occupation of Pyeongyang, and reunification of the peninsula under U.S. and South Korean control.
In South Korea, peace and reunification groups have long opposed these war games. They have called for peninsula-wide demilitarization entailing the eventual removal of U.S. troops. As one organization puts it, "Unless and until U.S. forces are completely and permanently withdrawn from South Korea, it will be impossible to establish peace on the Korean peninsula."
We call upon the U.S. and South Korean governments to stop the costly and provocative war games and take proactive steps to deescalate the current tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The Perils of the U.S. Pivot
In the past five years, hard-won efforts by the Korean people to ease North-South tensions have been reversed. Through its massive military buildup across the region, the United States has amplified regional tensions. Recent years have been witness to North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, increasing nationalism and militarism in Japan (the world's sixth greatest military spender), and a host of increasingly militarized territorial disputes. The global Cold War may have ended 20 years ago, but as the recent round of U.S.-led sanctions on the DPRK and threat of a third DPRK nuclear weapons "test" illustrate, the anachronism remains alive and well on the Korean peninsula.
Crisis on the Korean peninsula furnishes a rationale for U.S. militarization of the region, and the Pentagon has committed to deploy 60% of its air and naval forces to Asia and the Pacific to reinforce its air sea battle doctrine. Announced as the "pivot" of U.S. military resources to Asia and the Pacific, President Obama's policy, which necessitates more training areas, runways, ports of call, and barracks for the massive shift of U.S. military forces, disregards the impact of militarization on the lives of ordinary people in the region.
The disastrous ecological and human costs of this "pivot" are acutely apparent in the current construction of a naval base on Jeju, an "island of peace" in South Korea known for having the planet's densest concentration of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Once celebrated for its pristine beauty and sea-based culture, Gangjeong, a 450-year-old fishing and farming village is being torn to shreds by the South Korean government in collaboration with the United States, which can freely use any ROK military installation. Base construction crews are dredging acres of world-class, bio-diverse coral habitats and covering them with concrete. The obliteration of these coastal ecosystems also destroys the millennia-old livelihoods of the villagers, 94% of whom voted against the base in a local referendum. Gangjeong villagers are watching their heritage, economy, vibrant local culture, spiritual center, and very core of their identity collapse into rubble.
This same multi-facted people's struggle is being played out in many places across the Asia-Pacific. Within President Obama's "pivot" policy, U.S. bases in South Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii, and Guam are ever more important. Moreover, his administration has been pressing hard to open up previously closed U.S. bases in geostrategically vital nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the July 27, 1953 Armistice Agreement that brought the combat phase of the Korean War to a temporary halt but did not end the war. The Armistice Agreement stipulated that a peace agreement be realized within three months and that negotiations take place for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea. Over the past several decades, North Korea, often portrayed in mainstream media as an irrational rogue state, has repeatedly requested peace negotiations with the United States. Yet today, we station nearly 30,000 military personnel and operate over 40 military bases on the Korean peninsula. We have spent the past 60 years living not in a post-war era, but under a ceasefire whose consequences are borne most acutely by the Korean people. On this anniversary of the irresolution of the Korean War, the longest conflict the United States has been involved in, we as human rights, Korean solidarity, faith-based, peace, and environmental organizations call for attention to the human and ecological costs of permanent war as the modus vivendi of U.S.-Korean relations. Efforts that promote increased militarization and conflict and the destruction of the rich biodiversity in Korea are immoral and go against universally shared values of building peace, caring for Earth, and respecting the human dignity and worth of every person.
Resolution for Peace
We, the undersigned peace, human rights, faith-based, environmental, and Korean solidarity activists, call upon the U.S.-ROK governments to cancel their dangerous and costly war games against North Korea.
We strongly urge the United States to turn to diplomacy for common and human security rather than militarization, which will only undermine regional and U.S. security. We further request that the Obama administration focus its strategic shift to the Asia region on finding diplomatic and peaceful solutions to conflict, and building cooperation with all nations in the region, including China, DPRK, and Russia.
On this anniversary of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Agreement, which several decades ago called for a peaceful resolution to the Korean War, we join with our peace-minded brothers and sisters in Korea and call on the Obama administration to deescalate the current tensions and do its part in realizing "Year One of Peace" on the Korean Peninsula.
Working Group for Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific
Christine Ahn, Gretchen Alther, Rev. Levi Bautista, Jackie Cabasso, Herbert Docena, John Feffer, Bruce Gagnon, Joseph Gerson, Subrata Goshoroy, Mark Harrison, Christine Hong, Kyle Kajihiro, Peter Kuznick, Hyun Lee, Ramsay Liem, Andrew Lichterman, John Lindsay-Poland, Ngo Vinh Long, Stephen McNeil, Nguyet Nguyen, Satoko Norimatsu, Koohan Paik, Mike Prokosh, Juyeon JC Rhee, Arnie Sakai, Tim Shorrock, Alice Slater, David Vine, Sofia Wolman, Kevin Martin
U.S. History of Nuclear Threats Against DPRK
On March 8, the National Peace Committee of Korea released a memorandum explaining how the nuclear issue was instigated on the Korean Peninsula by the U.S. and its hostile policy against the DPRK. This resulted in the DPRK having to avail itself of nuclear deterrence in order to defend its sovereignty.
1950: The memorandum recounts that the U.S. imperialists, which provoked the war of aggression in Korea in June 1950, shipped nuclear weapons to south Korea in August that year and at the end of the year openly disclosed its plan to drop 30 to 50 atomic bombs in Korea-China border areas.
1953: Eisenhower, U.S. president-elect at that time, blustered on May 13, 1953 that it would be more financially expedient to use an atomic bomb rather than conventional weapons in Korea.
Following its defeat in the Korean war, the U.S. resorted to nuclear threats against the DPRK. The U.S. set out for nuclear weaponization of its forces present in south Korea. It reorganized its forces' division into the Pentomic A-Bomb Division equipped with tactical nuclear weapons and introduced an "Honest John" nuclear missile battalion and a battalion of 280 mm atomic artillery pieces.
1958: the U.S. brought 588 tactical guided missile battalion of the U.S. air force and set up the 4th guided missile command of the U.S. forces.
1960s: The U.S. renamed Pentomic A-Bomb Division to the ROAD Division and introduced to south Korea atomic and guided weapons with various missions.
In January 1968 when the U.S. imperialists' armed spyship "Pueblo" was captured, the U.S. reviewed its nuclear attack plan. When the spy plane EC-121 was brought down from the sky above Korea in April 1969, the U.S. put tactical bombers mounted with nuclear weapons on standby and the then U.S President Nixon said that he approved the use of a nuclear bomb should Korea make a counterattack.
1970s: After its defeat in the Vietnam war in the mid-1970s, the U.S. declared south Korea a front of defence and pressed for the policy for turning south Korea into a nuclear base.
A member of the U.S. House of Representatives confessed that the U.S. had shipped more than 1,000 nuclear weapons to south Korea and deployed 54 airplanes for carrying nuclear bombs.
1980s: In the 1980s the U.S. modernized the nuclear hardware of its forces in south Korea.
Early in the 1980s the U.S. deployed thirty-one 155 mm nuclear shells, 133 nuclear bombs for air use, 63 nuclear shells for 8 inch howitzers and 21 nuclear land mines in south Korea before any other base of its forces overseas.
South Korea turned into the world's biggest nuclear outpost with a stockpile of nuclear weapons that included bombs, shells, warheads, land mines and delivery systems, as well as nuclear bases and arsenals.
In the 1980s, traitor Chun Doo Hwan in alignment with the U.S. brought a neutron bomb to south Korea.
2000s: When the Korean Peninsula was almost in the state of "emergency" in 2002, the U.S. made the preemptive nuclear attack on the DPRK a fait accompli by granting the U.S. forces' first strike nuclear weapons. It even asserted that it will develop smaller nuclear weapons for destroying underground facilities.
The present Obama administration has steadily increased nuclear threats, putting the DPRK in the U.S. list of preemptive nuclear attack targets.
At the 41st annual security consultative meeting in 2009 with the south Korean puppet forces, the U.S. made public a joint press release in which it promised to offer south Korea a nuclear umbrella, capacity for striking with conventional weapons, a missile shield and other extended deterrence.
The U.S. forces and the south Korean forces worked out a number of scenarios for invading the DPRK and pushed forward the moves to turn the large scale and annual joint military drills including Key Resolve, Foal Eagle and Ulji Freedom Guardian into an actual war every year.
Role of U.S. Denounced
The DPRK has constantly called for the withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons since their shipment to south Korea and always maintained that the Korean Peninsula be denuclearized while working hard for the solution to the nuclear issue.
Far from responding to the DPRK's sincere efforts, the U.S. prodded some circles of the International Atomic Energy Agency to create an artificial "discrepancy" of nuclear materials and forced the DPRK to receive special inspections. It also resumed Team Spirit joint military exercises and openly increased the danger of a nuclear war.
The DPRK has made sincere efforts for the settlement of the nuclear issue on the peninsula through direct talks with the U.S. which is directly responsible for the issue.
The DPRK's efforts for the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue through dialogue have faced a serious challenge after the George W. Bush administration took power in the U.S.
The U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK has remained unchanged under the present Obama government.
The Obama administration escalated the anti-DPRK nuclear
racket, calling the
DPRK's peaceful satellite launch that was recognized by international
law "a
long-range missile launch".
The situation eloquently proves that the DPRK was just when it decided to access nuclear deterrence for self-defence to cope with the U.S. nuclear provocations.
The memorandum warned that the U.S. and the south Korean puppet forces should know that they will achieve nothing but destruction and disaster for their provocative anti-DPRK nuclear racket.
Role of South Korean Puppet Regimes
The memorandum disclosed the south Korean puppet forces as collaborators who increased the danger of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula and hampered the solution to the nuclear issue in league with the U.S.
The successive puppet regimes of south Korea connived at and encouraged the U.S. shipment of nuclear weapons to south Korea and actively joined the U.S. in its moves for a nuclear war against the DPRK.
The puppet forces fully entrusted the U.S. with the right to use nuclear weapons deployed in south Korea.
They formed the extended deterrence policy committee with the U.S. and agreed to hold exercises for using these weapons. Since 2011 they have put them into practice.
They have pushed forward the development of nuclear weapons in secret while taking an active part in the U.S. moves for a nuclear war.
The memorandum recounts how the Park Chung Hee military dictatorial regime, in particular, laid out a nuclear weapons development plan and mulled processing nuclear fuel in 1969. It formed a nuclear and missile development team in 1974 and arranged nuclear fuel development area in 1976. In September 1978, it test-fired the ground-to-ground missile Paekgom capable of mounting nuclear warheads developed by the defence scientific research institute. In November 1985, it completed the construction of a facility for extracting plutonium and put it into full operation from 1987. Furthermore, south Korea directed efforts into the development of a nuclear weapons delivery system as evidenced by the development of 256km range ground to ground missile Hyonmu capable of carrying out nuclear warheads and their deployment for an actual war in 1987.
The memorandum denounces all the traitors to the Korean people for their role in fomenting nuclear war on the peninsula.
(Korean Central News Agency)
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