Editor's Note: As we all know, the developments are the Korean peninsula are quite worrying as the Koreas seem to edge closer to war and those of us who want peace are quite worried as the prospects for such an outcome seem to be dimming.
I received an email just two weeks ago and was asked to share the following document with my audience to hopefully encourage support for this movement that calls for peace between the two Koreas. It was launched by Professor Kiyul Chung, a visiting professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University in Beijing and the editor of 4th Media.
The email stated that the following document "calls for Peace not for War in Korean peninsula and the Northeast Asia region" and "The 4th Media, with the support and solidarity from other global alternative, independent medias around the world, would like to launch a collective Global Campaign in order to support those tens of millions of Koreans who call for Peace." Thus, I encourage everyone to share this document far and wide to show that there are people around the world who not only support peace, but support the Korean people, no matter if they be in the North or the South.
The latest updates can be found here and here.
- Devon DB
A Global Campaign to Call for a
Peace Treaty:
No
to War on Korean Peninsula and in the whole Northeast Asian Region
by
Prof. Kiyul Chung
May
18, 2013
On
July 27, 1953, Korean War hostilities were ended only temporarily by
introducing the fragile Armistice Agreement which was signed by DRPK, China and
USA/UN. However, that “temporary cessation” of the deadly military conflicts
has not put an end to all hostilities as it was supposed to and as was clearly
stated as its intent in the 1953 document. Instead, a situation has continued
of the peaceful reunification of Korean peninsula being serially obstructed and
with the DPRK put under continual siege and even serial threats of nuclear
annihilation by the U.S. since November 1950.
The
result has been that critical and scarce resources in both the southern and
northern regions of Korea, resources needed to lift millions out of poverty in
both the north and south, have been diverted from development into military and
defense. This dangerous, unstable and development-damaging situation has been
forcibly continued against the will of the great majority of over 80 million
Korean populations in north, south and overseas.
The
hostilities, past, present and intended for the future have been purposefully
maintained on the Korean peninsula for several reasons: the
military-industrial-complex interests of the U.S. and its allies; the
prevention of the self-determined peaceful reunification of Korea under terms
and conditions not dictated by the U.S.; the use of portions of Korea for bases
and staging areas for imperial adventures with specific targets in mind such as
China, Russia and other potential rivals both in Northeast Asia and the
Eurasian continent; and so on.
Therefore,
countless “manufactured crises” have purposefully maintained the DPRK-USA
“semi-war status”. The crises have been unilaterally imposed against the much
weaker party by the much stronger. The “crises made by U.S.” have fundamentally
defined and maintained and structured a “forcibly divided” Korean Peninsula
over the last 60 some years.
The
unilaterally-imposed military confrontations have continued between the two
most incomparable parties: the DPRK and the U.S. There can be no comparison.
One side incomparably outweighs the other in everything in number, quality,
quantity, and size
of the territory and the population, especially the
military continuing until this very day.
There
has been also a unilaterally-employed global demonization campaign as “war
propaganda” or “psychological warfare,” by “the only global superpower” against
the incomparably much weaker side for several decades.
The
human suffering that has resulted from the forceful division of the Korean
people and from the continued economic blockade, military threats, political
isolation, financial sanctions and siege against the DPRK cannot be easily
measured or described. It is simply beyond description. Beyond imagination! The
waste of human resources, ecological-environmental devastation by the over 60
years of ongoing US-led (so-called) “military drills” and the continued
“nuclear war games,” and the Korean national wealth by the forcibly imposed
division cannot be easily described or measured either.
Today,
along with those numerous manufactured crises, the immeasurable sufferings, and
the life of already-disrespected, -discarded and –dismantled fragile Armistice
Agreement seems to be coming to an end.
In
the last 4 months, the Korean peninsula, the Northeast Asia region and the
whole world seem to have been thrown into a new reality, i.e., a real
possibility of the first-ever, Nuclear War.
Such
a war is now again deemed, as it was during the 1950-53 Korean War, a real
possibility to most, if not all, Koreans in north, south and overseas. It must
also seem so to many Japanese and US military troops stationed in Korea,
Japan, Guam, Hawaii, and other US military bases.
This
is the very reason why tens of millions of Koreans from all ends in north,
south and overseas, together with tens of millions of peace-loving peoples from
around the world, in unison and in solidarity, call for peace on the Korean
peninsula and the region and not for wars not only in the region but also anywhere
around the world.
Therefore,
WE the undersigned PEOPLE, from all ends, not only in the Korean Peninsula and
Northeast Asia region but also in the whole globe, join with the tens of
millions of Korean peoples in north, south and overseas to solemnly call for
the following demands:
I. The Armistice Agreement must be
replaced by a Permanent Peace Treaty signed by those responsible parties such
as DPRK, China and the US/UN-South Korea.
II. All those deadly destructive Weapons of
Mass Destruction (WMD) must be removed from the Korean peninsula and the
Northeast Asia region once for all.
III. The Asia-Pacific region must remain and
be saved for a new future of a peacefully-coexisting and mutually co-prosperous
region.
IV. The Korean Peninsula, the Asia-Pacific
region and indeed the whole world must not be manipulatively used for the sake
of global warmongers, military industrial complexes and/or hegemonic muscle
–wielding powers that are eager to continuously raise military tensions at the
expense of peace, security and prosperity for all.
Victory
to Peace not for War by Ending the Already Dismantled Armistice Agreement to Be
Replaced by a Permanent Peace Treaty for the Korean Peninsula!
On behalf of the tens of millions
of peace-loving Koreans in north, south and overseas, Mr. Oh, Jong Ryul and Mr.
Lee, Chang Bok, the two Standing Senior Chairs of the largest-ever nationwide
Anti-war Coalition in Seoul, Korea present this document on the day of May 18.
