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Korea
58th Anniversary of U.S. Defeat in Korean
War
and Signing of Korean
Armistice Agreement
U.S. Must Sign a Peace Treaty with
DPRK to End the Korean War!
 
Korean People's Army
celebrates victory; U.S. troops retreat in defeat.
On July 27, 2011, the Korean people, as well as
progressive and democratic forces around the world celebrate the
58th anniversary of the signing of the Korean
Armistice Agreement (KAA) between the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) and the United States which brought a ceasefire to the
Korean War -- a war of
aggression against the Korean people led by the U.S. imperialists and
their allies including Canada, and carried out under the fig-leaf of
the UN flag. The signing of the
Korean Armistice Agreement also signalled the first military defeat of
the U.S. following the Second World War -- a "humiliation" for which it
has yet to forgive
the DPRK and the Korean people. The U.S. and its allies had no business
intervening in the Korean War which began as a civil war fought between
Koreans to re-unify
their country that was divided by the U.S. by force following the
Second World War.
The armistice is
signed by U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William K. Harrison, Jr. (left), senior
delegate, on behalf of the UN Command Delegation and General Nam Il of
the DPRK, senior delegate, Delegation of the Korean
People's Army and the Chinese People's Volunteers, Panmunjom, Korea, July 27, 1953. The building shown above has been
preserved by the DPRK in the demilitarized zone to
inform future generations of the crimes committed by the U.S. and its
allies and the need to ensure Korea is peacefully reunified free from
outside interference. |
The ink was hardly dry on the KAA when the U.S.
began to violate it, signalling that it had no intention of upholding
its end of the Agreement, and since has carried
out one perfidy after another including refusing to conclude a Peace
Treaty with the DPRK, violating the provision not to introduce nuclear
weapons onto the Korean peninsula
or to threaten the DPRK and the Korean people in any way. Far from it,
the U.S. under the Barak Obama regime not only refuses to take
responsibility for the crimes against
the peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity that were committed
against the Korean people in that three-year war that began on June 25,
1950 which claimed the
lives of over 4 million Koreans, the vast majority of whom were
civilians, but continues to carry out ongoing military exercises with
its puppet Lee Myung Bak regime in
south Korea and also the Japanese militarists -- all aimed at invading
the DPRK. Currently, the Lee government in the south is going ahead
with plans to build a
deep water naval base on Jeju Island for the use of the U.S. and south
Korean navy. This would be a base from which to launch wars of
aggression in the region. The Jeju
Islanders and peace and reunification activists across Korea are
carrying out protests and demonstrations against this act of aggression
to build a naval base for war.
Premier Kim Il Sung
endorses the July 27, 1953
armistice agreement. |
The aim of the U.S. today is the same as it was
then -- to take over the entire Korean peninsula as a launching pad for
its takeover of Asia and then the world. The U.S.
justification for doing so remains as bankrupt as ever. All the
attempts of the U.S. to realize its domination of the region -- its
occupation of the Korean peninsula with almost
30,000 troops as well as its military bases, the ongoing attempts to
sabotage the Korean people's movement for national reunification, and
its engineering of one fascistic
puppet regime after another in the south, including the present regime
of Lee Myung Bak and its continuous disinformation and propaganda that
the "problem" in Korea
is the "threat" from the DPRK -- have failed to silence the 70 million
Koreans who are demanding with one voice the peaceful and independent
reunification of their
homeland, free from U.S. imperialist interference. The criminal role of
the U.S. imperialists in Korea, from 1945 to the present, has been
exposed for the whole world to
see, and the resolute struggle of the Korean people stands as an
example for all the peoples of the world fighting against imperialist
domination.
One of the main demands of the Korean people and
all peace and justice loving people around the world is for the U.S. to
sign a peace treaty with the DPRK to replace
the KAA and bring a formal end to the Korean War. This would be a first
step in stabilizing the political situation on the peninsula and easing
tensions that could at any
time ignite a nuclear war which would engulf the whole world. The DPRK
has proposed the signing of a formal peace treaty with the U.S. several
times. So far the U.S.,
which has even violated all the terms of the armistice agreement since
the time it was signed, has also rebuffed these proposals. This shows
who is for war and who is for
peace. The U.S. must be held accountable for its crimes on the Korean
peninsula and be forced to sign a formal peace treaty with the DPRK
The Canadian working class and people must
resolutely oppose the Harper Conservative war government's hostile
attitude towards
the DPRK. Earlier this month, on July 10, Foreign
Affairs Minister John Baird announced that Canada is boycotting the
United Nations Conference on Disarmament now taking place because the
DPRK is currently the chair
of this committee, adding further that the DPRK "is simply not a
credible chair of this UN body as its leaders are working in the exact
opposite direction" and that " Canada
will not be party to that ... Our government received a strong
mandate to advance Canada's values - freedom, democracy, human rights
and the rule of law -- on the world
stage." Besides being totally ignorant of the real history  of the
Korean peninsula, this backward and dangerous stand by Minister Baird
is disinformation
to justify aggression against the DPRK. Canadians must denounce these
boorish statements by Minister Baird which bring Canada no
honour on the world stage, and unite as one to ensure
that another Korean War does not
break out.
The occasion of the 58th anniversary of the
signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement is an opportunity for all
peace and justice-loving Canadians to demand that the
U.S. immediately sign a Peace Treaty with the DPRK to bring a formal
end to the Korean War, and also to vigorously support the people of
Korea in their just struggle
for self-determination, peace, independence and reunification.
U.S. Troops Out of Korea!
Demand the U.S. Sign a Formal Peace Treaty with the DPRK Now!
Mass Opposition to U.S. War
Preparations on Jeju Island
Protest against construction of naval base on Jeju Island, July 2, 2011.
Jeju Island lies off the southern tip of the
Korean peninsula. Renowned for its picturesque vistas, Jeju is also
known for the historic April 3, 1948 democratic uprising. The
uprising opposed the U.S. Army Military Government in Korea and its
brutality, especially against the progressive and communist forces who
sought to unify the nation
and end foreign interference. As many as 80,000 were estimated to have
been massacred under orders from the U.S. military.
Today, once again, the people of Jeju, joined by
progressive forces across Korea and around the world, are opposing U.S.
military interference in their lives through
the planned naval base on their island after the Jeju and Lee Myung Bak
governments ignored the mass opposition and have embroiled the island
in
U.S. war preparations.
First announced five years ago, the base is being constructed under the
auspices of the so-called Republic of Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty.
Rather than acknowledging
the people's growing opposition, the Lee Myung Bak regime, in its
service of U.S. interests, is responding with increasing repression.
Activists on Jeju Island report that on July 15,
at the crack of dawn, "undercover police officers came to Gangjeong
village and arrested three major leaders of the peaceful
resistance: Village Chief Kang Dong-Kyun, renowned peace activist
Brother Song Kang-Ho, and base opposition leader Ko Kwon-Il." These
latest arrests follow those of
other peace activists earlier this year.
In calling for international support the activists
state, "We must not let the Lee Myung Bak regime repress democracy. We
must not let their attempts at intimidation
dampen the hope that has inspired so many people around the world to
act for peace. We must remain firm in our resolve to support the
courageous villagers in Gangjeong
who are standing up to their military and government. We must join them
in saying, ‘No Base on Jeju Island.'"
No Base on Jeju Island
Petition
Dear President Lee:
As concerned members of the international
community, we urge you to stop construction of the naval base on Jeju
Island, which Gangjeong residents have vehemently
opposed by protesting daily and risking their lives and personal
freedom. Since plans for the naval base were announced five years ago,
95% of Jeju residents have voted
against the base and used every possible democratic means to block its
construction. Yet their protests have fallen on deaf ears in your
government.
 We share the residents' outrage that the
South
Korean government is willing to sacrifice the safety of the island
residents in order to build this U.S. missile defense outpost
as part of a provocative strategy to surround China. Jeju residents
refute the claim that this naval base will improve the Korean peoples'
security; they know it will further
destabilize the Asia-Pacific region and make the island a prime target
for military retaliation. The Jeju people's resistance to the
militarization of their island stem from the
April 3, 1948 massacre when up to 80,000 civilians -- many of their
family -- were slaughtered by ROK troops during a democratic uprising.
In 2006, the late President
Roh Moo Hyun officially apologized for the massacre by designating Jeju
the "Island of Peace." This naval base violates your government's
commitment to the people of
Jeju and their desire for peace.
Citizens of other countries have visited Gangjeong
and are in steady communication with its residents. We are deeply
concerned about the health and safety of several
peace activists, including Professor Yang Yoon Mo and Sung Hee Cho, who
were on 60-day hunger strikes and arrested for nonviolent protest. The
elderly Professor Yang
is now hospitalized, and Ms. Cho remains behind bars, facing up to five
years in prison. We are alarmed that another activist, Brother Song,
was recently beaten unconscious
when he tried to prevent a construction vessel from pouring concrete
onto the coral reefs. By authorizing the use of violence against
nonviolent peace activists, you undermine
your government's reputation and give the world cause to question your
commitment to South Korea's hard-won democracy.
Famed for its extraordinary beauty and pristine
environment, Jeju is home to three designated UNESCO World Heritage
Sites and one of 28 finalists for the New 7
Wonders of Nature. It perplexes us that, despite First Lady Kim
Yoon-ok's efforts for the "Jeju, for New 7 Wonders Campaign," your
government is jeopardizing Jeju's
chances by allowing the construction of this naval base. By dredging
the Jeju coastline to accommodate U.S. Aegis destroyer warships, the
South Korean Navy and Samsung
Corporation are already threatening the island's soft coral habitat and
rich marine life.
Not only is Jeju's Joongduk coastline where
dolphins migrate to from Alaska in the summer, its waters are famed
because of the hundreds of Korean women, haenyeo, who dive
for seafood and
kelp, key staples of the Korean diet. In 2005, The New York
Times featured a story about these extraordinary
women divers. The naval base will destroy the waters that haenyeo
and fishermen depend upon for survival. It has already displaced
Gangjeong citrus growers
whose lands have been confiscated, greenhouses demolished, and fruit
trees uprooted. Gangjeong villagers are not deceived by the ROK Navy's
false claims that the base
would have minimal impact on the environment, and neither are we. They
know that the base imperils their community, their livelihoods, and
Jeju's natural ecology.
We stand with the residents of Jeju in their
nonviolent protest to protect not only Jeju's rich marine ecosystems
and their way of life, but also peace in this increasingly
fragile and militarized region in the world. We demand that you act
immediately to stop construction of the naval base on Jeju.
To sign the petition, click
here.
58th anniversary, 2011
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