The Anti-War Committee Demands an End to War Threats Against North Korea, and Self-Determination for the Korean People!
August/September 2017 – Twin Cities, MN
The Anti-War Committee stands against U.S. war provocation towards North Korea. Trump has proven throughout his tenure as President of the United States that he knows nothing about diplomacy and governance, and he is proving it here again, using Game of Thrones-esque language like “fire and fury” to describe his plans to do things to Korea “like they never thought possible.” Koreans, however, have a long memory, and they know full well what war and bloodshed look like – which is why Koreans on both sides of the border take the ongoing threats against them very seriously.
During the U.S.- Korean war, 4 to 5 million people (nearly 30% of the population) were killed due to the deliberate bombing of civilian centers by the U.S. Most of the north was leveled – to the point that U.S. bomber pilots complained that there was nothing left to bomb. From the U.S. point of view, this conflict is over, but to the average Korean, it has continued since 1953. This significant part of history has guided Korean actions, culture and foreign policy ever since.
The U.S. and North Korea never officially ended the war (nor was it ever officially declared or authorized by Congress), and the U.S. has never left the peninsula. The U.S. has maintained a standing occupation force of about 30,000 soldiers in South Korea and has menaced North Korea for over 60 years. Every year the U.S. conducts joint military exercises with South Korea on the border, in the supposedly Demilitarized Zone, brandishing military might at North Korea. This year, the U.S. military went even further, and held a nuclear bombing drill in which a U.S. strategic bomber flew right up to the border between North and South Korea, as practice for a possible nuclear attack on the North.
The U.S. persists in demonizing North Korea. The U.S. media continues to promotes a distorted mythology of a North Korean dictator who is unstable and a country hell-bent on getting nuclear weapons to blow up the world. This is a particularly hypocritical stance for the world’s first and most unrepentant nuclear power, headed by an unpredictable egotist, to take. Senator Lindsay Graham believes that only U.S. civilian lives matter, saying, “…If thousands die, they’re going to die over there. They’re not going to die here.” The Trump administration portrays itself as the “victim” of North Korean aggression, but at every turn the U.S. has increased hostility and tension on the peninsula. President Donald Trump declared on 8/29 “all options are on the table” a veiled reference to military force followed by “talking is not the answer” the next day.
It is key to look at North Korea’s missile tests within the context of the president’s increasing threats. Trump’s rhetoric is dangerous. The risk is not only a war between the US and North Korea but a regional or world war. The people of South Korea are also in danger and oppose US war threats. Even if the war is limited to the Korean peninsula, the lowest casualty estimates state that millions of Koreans on both sides of the border will perish. We need to be clear: threats of war on North Korea are not calls for liberation of a country – they are war drums seeking the very obliteration and annihilation of North Korea.
We need to act now to oppose the U.S. government and its senseless threats of war against North Korea. North Korea has not escalated these war threats, but rather the U.S. government has, for over 5 decades. Korea has a right to self-determination. The Trump regime needs to stand down, end U.S. war exercises on the Korean peninsula and not add the deaths of millions of Koreans to the administration’s already bloody global tally.
Take Action! Tell Senators Klobuchar & Smith – No More War Threats Against North Korea!
(202) 224-3121