Special to PV
WHILE CONTINUING its campaign for war against Iraq, the Bush administration is whipping up new tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Accusing the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) of renewing its enriched uranium program and of attempting to produce a nuclear weapon arsenal, in violation the 1994 Agreed Framework treaty, Washington hopes to undercut growing peace sentiments in the South and consolidate its "permanent" military occupation there.
In fact, it is U.S. imperialism, and not the DPRK, that is responsible for stirring the "Korean pot." Under the terms of the Agreed Framework, the DPRK agreed to stop activities at its two nuclear facilities and provide for international monitoring to ensure compliance in return for increased supplies of oil shipments and the construction of lightwater nuclear plants by the U.S., to help North Korea meet its growing energy needs.
But successive U.S. administrations have failed to live up to these commitments, delivering less than promised oil supplies and continuously delaying the construction of the new nuclear energy projects. Most important however has been the reneging of the U.S pledge to normalize political and economic relations with the DPRK, including the conclusion of a non-aggression pact with North Korea.
Meanwhile, opposition to the continued U.S. military occupation is growing across South Korea. The recent acquittal by a U.S. military tribunal of American soldiers charged in the deaths of two South Korean girls who were crushed by a 50-ton armoured vehicle this past year has brought hundreds of thousands of South Koreans into the streets to demand justice and to call for the removal of U.S. forces from the peninsula.
The victory of Roh Mooh-hyun over a right-wing, pro-U.S. opponent in the presidential elections in December is a further reflection of a shift in public attitudes against the confrontational policies of Washington and in favour of the "sunshine policy" of engagement and cooperation with the DPRK started under former South Korean president Kim Dae?jung.
The Bush administration has been deeply disturbed by the rise of support for peaceful relations between North and South, and has been feverishly working to undermine the possibility of long-term reconciliation and peaceful reunification.
On assuming office, George W. Bush immediately froze the high-level negotiations with the DPRK. Then, after a lengthy "policy review," his administration issued a new set of demands to be addressed by Pyongyang. In his State of the Union speech in January 2002, Bush branded North Korea, along with Iraq and Iran, as part of an "axis of evil." In March, portions of the Pentagon's "Nuclear Posture Review," which were leaked to the press, revealed that the US was prepared to use nuclear weapons against North Korea.
While attention and action is currently riveted on preventing imperialist aggression and war against Iraq, the peace movement must also take urgent steps to oppose Washington's war mongering activities on the Korean peninsula, and demand that all U.S. troops be removed from the South and allow the budding process of reconciliation, cooperation and friendship between the two Koreas to develop.
This article taken from the PEOPLE'S VOICE - Issue of January 1-31/2003
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