Korean Peninsula: Respect for sovereignty to face the tension

Sunday, March 18, 2018

CPPC has always considered that the problems of the Korean people would have to be resolved by the Korean people, without foreign interference. The events of the past week confirm this. After a period of particular military tension in the region, both parts of Korea restarted a dialogue, long interrupted, and maintain open communication on matters of common interest. The Winter Olympic Games are only the most visible aspect.

The United States, however, was not pleased with the approximation between the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea, to the north, and the Republic of Korea to the South. The US has been very committed to rekindling tensions in the region in order to justify a significant reinforcement of its military presence in the Korean Peninsula, in the Far East and the Pacific (near the China border). The US is, actually, mainly responsible for the division of Korea.

Between 1950 and 1953, the US waged a brutal war against Korea (with millions of Korean victims and destroying important infrastructures), and then impeded a definitive peace agreement and any initiative aimed towards the peaceful reunification of the country. The de facto division of Korea, the permanent installation (in the south) of powerful military contingents and sophisticated weaponry, the regular realization of provocatory military operations, the imposition of sanctions, and the constant threats and plans of direct attack upon the DPRK were (and are) a constant practice by the US in the Korean peninsula.

The withdrawal of US military forces from Korean is an essential condition for the Koreans to solve their problems peacefully and in full sovereignty, namely peace and reunification.

Easing and reunification

The steps taken recently between the two Koreans towards easing tension in the Peninsula don’t erase the recent worsening of the situation in the region. As CPPC has affirmed, while it is clear that the development of nuclear weapons by the DPRK is contrary to the non-proliferation of this type of weapon and that it was accompanied by a rhetoric that doesn’t contribute towards easing tensions, it is important to bear in mind who is the main responsible for the situation: the United States, who are not only who most gains from a climate of tension in the region but also who has for long threatened (with words and acts, including the threat of nuclear attack) a sovereign country such as the DPRK.

Regarding nuclear weapons, one need remember that the US was the first country to develop this type of weapon and the only to have used them upon populations, and that they spend on this type of armament as much or more that the remaining nuclear countries. The US as around seven thousand nuclear warheads, many of which spread globally, in military bases and naval fleets, while the DPRK has no more than 10 of these bombs. Furthermore, the US and NATO proclaim in their military doctrine the possibility of using nuclear weapons in a first strike, even against a country without nuclear weapons.

For CPPC, what is necessary is the adoption of measures that promote a decrease and easing of tension and the Korean peninsula and the whole Asia/Pacific region, in order to promote a climate of trust that paves the way to dialogue and lasting negotiations aimed towards the peaceful reunification of Korea and safeguarding the right of the Korean people to peace, sovereignty and independence.

in Notícias da Paz/Peace News - CPPC - February 2018