June 25, 1950
74th Anniversary of Start of the Korean War by the U.S.
Koreans in the South Launch Stepped Up Campaign for Peace on Korean Peninsula
On June 25, the day that marked the 74th anniversary of the start of the Korean War by the U.S. and its allies including Canada, “Peace Action for the Korean Peninsula” (Peace Action) launched a renewed campaign for peace on the Korean Peninsula on the steps of the Sejong Cultural Center in Seoul. Peace Action is made up of 608 domestic religious and civil society organizations and more than 80 international partner organizations that have been campaigning for peace on the Korean Peninsula for the past three years. The launch of the stepped-up campaign comes amidst ongoing provocations by the U.S. imperialists in the region, including war exercises and the formation of a military alliance with the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan, all of which target the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The actions by the U.S. and the reactionary ROK government of Yoon Suk Yeol have led to an unprecedented breakdown in inter-Korean relations leading to the present crisis.
At the launch ceremony, Peace Action declared that it will engage in actions at home and abroad to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and prevent armed conflict. The group has called for: a stop all to military actions and hostilities that threaten war; restoration of dialogue channels to prevent armed conflict; an end to the Korean War and the signing of a peace agreement; and the Korea Peace Action Plan, which calls for a Korean Peninsula and the world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear threats.
The plan includes regular peace actions, a peace declaration and a policy proposal to the ROK 22nd National Assembly to resolve the Korean Peninsula crisis. It also includes international networking and advocacy and emergency actions in case of armed conflict. Upcoming actions include the “7.27 Korean Peninsula Peace Action Day” on July 27, the day of the signing of the armistice agreement that ended fighting in the Korean War. In August, during the U.S.-ROK joint military exercises, actions will be held to call for an end to the drills. Peace Action is calling for the formation of a Special Committee on Korean Peninsula Peace of the National Assembly to resolve the Korean Peninsula crisis, and proposing the amendment of the North Korea Leaflet Prohibition Act and the adoption of the Korean Peninsula Peace Resolution.
Kim Jong-saeng, director of the civic movement of the YWCA Federation of Korea and General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Korea (NCCK), said at the event, “What is needed now is not demonization and provocations against each other, but a round table for dialogue and to share practical and feasible talks for peace,” and called for the restoration of inter-Korean dialogue channels. “Only courageous and dedicated acts of commitment to oppose war and call for peace across ideologies, religions, and nations can stop the madness of this horrific war. Let us all start taking courageous actions for peace together right now,” he said.
Yoon Jeong-sook, co-president of the Citizens’ Peace Forum, pointed out that “Even a single moment of accidental armed conflict is something that should never happen,” adding, “We must continue to fight for a peaceful world that cannot be destroyed for any reason,” calling on everyone to realize this.
Yang Dae-eun, Team Leader of the University International Division of the Korea YMCA National Federation, decried U.S. belligerence, noting that “Peace through strength, great power confrontation, digging deep into old wounds, constantly stimulating the idol of anti-communism […] triggers arms races and conflicts, and reinforces the vicious cycle of division.” He said, “The will for peace is more important and clear than ever, but it is rarely expressed because it is ‘unrepresented.’ We will work to mobilize the will of citizens for peace, cultivate the imagination of peace, and encourage parliaments and the international community to respond and create opportunities for change.”
“President Yoon hasn’t said a word in the past two years that war shouldn’t happen on the Korean Peninsula,” said Kim Jun-hyung, a lawmaker from the Homeland Innovation Party. He noted that President Yoon, instead of engaging with the DPRK would rather strengthen trilateral cooperation between the U.S., ROK and Japan. Yoon’s claim that “if you want peace, prepare for war,” which he repeats like a golden rule, is a “ridiculous claim” based on a “wrong world view,” he said.
Kwon Young-guk, leader of the Justice Party, said, “President Yoon is not trying to protect the life, safety and property of the people and communities, but rather to show off the little power he has. It is indeed unfortunate that the war-mongers are now in power and are wielding it [in this way].”
Regarding the use of balloons by the ROK and DPRK to antagonize one another, sending leaflets toward the north and refuse toward the south, Lee Ju-sung, Secretary General of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Council of Civilian Organizations, called for an end to the use of balloons, which are children’s toys, “to convey antipathy and distrust,” and start a dialogue. He urged the ROK government to immediately initiate dialogue and allow civil society organizations to resume inter-Korean exchange and cooperation.
After the action on June 25, Peace Action submitted a petition signed online by 2,677 citizens to the Ministry of Unification and the National Police Agency, calling for a crackdown and restriction on the spreading of anti-DPRK leaflets that threaten the right to peaceful existence of residents in the border region between the two Koreas.
U.S.-ROK Negotiations for Defence Cost-Sharing Denounced
The fourth round of negotiations to conclude the 12th ROK-U.S. Special Defense Cost-Sharing Agreement are taking place June 25 to 27. Anti-war activists held an action outside the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis, where the negotiations are being held.
Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea (SPARK) informs that since negotiations first began in April, an unprecedented four meetings have been held in just two months. “Nevertheless, the Korean and U.S. authorities are keeping the details discussed during the negotiation process completely secret. In short, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the Biden administration are consistently engaged in unprecedented behind-the-scenes and hasty negotiations,” SPARK informs. It explains:
“The United States is putting strong pressure on Korea to significantly increase its defence cost-sharing and to shoulder the costs of keeping China in check and carrying out its global hegemony strategy. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration is talking about a ‘reasonable level of sharing’ and is making a significant increase in defence cost-sharing a fait accompli, and furthermore, it is known that he spoke of the ‘Trump risk’ and requested the U.S. to conclude the 12th Agreement early before the U.S. presidential election in November. It can be said that the Yoon Suk Yeol regime is showing itself as a servile regime that is anxious to please the United States and is subservient to the United States.” The “Trump risk” refers to the likelihood that should Donald Trump return to office as U.S. president he will demand that ROK’s funding for U.S. troops on its territory go up from about U.S.$1 billion per year, to U.S.$5 billion, as he did when he was first in office.
“Accordingly, the fourth round of negotiations will be a negotiation that deceives the Korean people and listens to the United States’ illegal and unfair demands for the diversion of defence cost-sharing to overseas U.S. military operation costs under the pretext of a significant increase in defence cost-sharing and strengthening extended deterrence [the stationing of U.S. nuclear weapons in the ROK]. As this was clearly expected, a press conference and peace action were held to strongly urge an end to the hasty closed-door negotiations and the abolition of the defence cost-sharing agreement.”
During a press conference, researcher Oh Mi-jeong pointed out, “If defence cost-sharing is automatically increased every year by linking the rate of increase in defence spending like in the 11th Agreement, considering that the defence spending increase rate in the mid-term national defense plan (2024-2028) is seven per cent and the period of the 12th Agreement can be set to five years, the cost that Korea must bear during that period is well over 8 trillion won [U.S.$5.75 billion],” he said. “It is an absolutely unacceptable tyranny for such a huge amount of national finance to be decided through closed-door negotiations while covering the eyes and ears of our people.”
Oh criticized the Yoon administration’s stance of “reasonable sharing of burden for the stable stationing of U.S. forces in Korea” and said, “This position of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration reflects the framework of ‘abandonment by the alliance,’ as if the U.S. forces stationed in Korea [are] stationed for the benefit of Korea, not the U.S. itself, and that defence cost-sharing is a natural compensation.”
Another speaker, Cho Seung-hyeon, head of the Peace and Disarmament Team, raised the possibility that the United States would force Korea to bear the costs of providing extended deterrence in these negotiations, saying, “In the past, the Korean government used strategic assets that were not related to the stationing of U.S. troops in Korea.” Cho said, “The United States will argue that the deployment of strategic assets is intended to threaten north Korea so that it cannot attack south Korea, so it is natural for the south Korean government to bear the cost.” However, he pointed out that the purpose of strengthening extended deterrence and deploying U.S. strategic assets is not to defend South Korea, but to protect the United States from north Korea’s nuclear missiles, and to carry out the U.S. strategy of global hegemony targeting China and Russia. He emphasized that paying for extended deterrence through defence cost-sharing is illegal and absolutely unacceptable.
Cho concluded by saying, “The more the Yoon Suk Yeol government clings to extended deterrence, the more the risk of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula will continue to increase, the path to independence and peaceful unification will inevitably become further distant, and [the ROK] will even have to bear the cost burden of a significant increase in defence cost-sharing.” He said, “Even now, the Yoon Suk Yeol government must abolish extended deterrence, stop the current defence cost-sharing negotiations, which are being reduced to a [means] for strengthening extended deterrence, and immediately abolish the defence cost-sharing agreement.”
(Tongil News, SPARK)
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