“미주한인의 파워로 힘의 균형을 바꿉시다”

한미합동군사훈련 중단을 요구하는 용감한 미국내 평화시민들의 목소리를 전합니다. 그럼에도 불구하고 미국은 군사훈련을 강행하기로 한 듯 합니다. 일제 강점기 35년 전쟁상태, 71년 동안 미국은 한반도에서 전쟁연습을 하고 있습니다. 이제는 우리의 힘으로 막아야 합니다.

7세기 분단 역사상 처음으로 미국내 한국인, 코리언 어메리칸의 파워가 제국의 힘의 균형을 바꿀 만큼 성장했습니다. 20년, 30년후 우리 아이들이 이런 전쟁상태에서 신음하는 미래를 물려 줄 순 없습니다. 부족하나마 카운터펀치에 실린 저의 기고문을 공유합니다.

--시몬천 드림

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/08/12/time-to-suspend-the-us-rok-joint-military-exercises/

Korea Update 159

Americans and Korean-Americans: Suspend the US-ROK Joint Military Exercises!

Americans and Korean-Americans:

Suspend the US-ROK Joint Military Exercises!

Fight Militarism:

The Heroic Works

Americans and Korean-Americans:

End Militarism on the Korean Peninsula

Fight Militarism:

Dear esteemed friend,

Ahead of the National Liberation Day in Korea this Sunday on August 15, which liberated Korea from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule, one is reminded of those 35 years that were incredibly harsh for Koreans as well as their heroic spirits that resisted militarism. Korean political organizations, Korean culture, Korean newspapers and public gatherings were all prohibited; Koreans were forced to speak Japanese, adopt Japanese names, serve as conscripted and indentured laborers (Koreans accounted for one-third of industrial workers in Japan); more than 200,000 Korean girls were forced to serve as military sex slaves; Japanese consumed more Korean rice per capital as the Koreans did; and in the final stage of the brutal colonialism, the entire Korean peninsula and Korean nation were forced to fight against America--then Japan’s enemy. Included in the warmongering colonization were the constant military drills which involved the entire nation.

Here is the picture of schoolgirls in Jeju Island on one of those drills where they are being forced by the Japanese to fight Americans.

But what inspiration there was to be had comes from the heroic efforts of ordinary Koreans who endured, resisted and fought militarism and earned their National Liberation!

The Korean nation has been on military drills for almost a century. It’s time to stop, it’s time to end this hyper-militarism.

And, here we are, more than 8 decades later, are still fighting against militarism in the Korean peninsula and seeking our true National Liberation and Independence!

In solidarity with inspiring Americans and Korean-Americans all over the United States who are participating in this great global movement for peace in Korea this month, Stop US -ROK Joint Military Exercises, I drafted a short piece. Unlike Washington security elites, this work does not have access to mainstream outlets but relies solely on your goodwill, charity and solidarity. Please help spread the word!

This history of peace and people’s unity for peace can’t be stopped. Just like German unity and also European unity, Korean unity and Northeast Asian unity for peace will come.

Time to Suspend the US-ROK Joint Military Exercises? Counterpunch

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/08/12/time-to-suspend-the-us-rok-joint-military-exercises/

While the resumption of regular communications between the two Koreas might be thought to signal potential progress toward regional reconciliation, perennial US dominance of inter-Korean relations makes this far from a foregone conclusion. After three rounds of US-North Korea summits, the Trump administration intensified rather than softened its maximum pressure campaign against the North and blocked Seoul’s attempts to implement inter-Korean agreements on exchange and cooperation. The new Biden administration, in spite of promising a more “practical and calibrated” policy toward the North, has made it clear that peace negotiations are not a top priority.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing cycle of US - North Korea tensions, experts warn that the intensifying regional rivalry in East Asia between the US and China is increasing the risk of conflict between the US and the nuclear-armed North. American dominance of South Korea, which has remained under virtual US military occupation for seven decades, guarantees that Seoul would be on the front line of any such conflict.

Washington has historically dismissed inter-Korean engagement as a sideshow, derided by US hawks and their conservative collaborators in South Korea, who react to any signs of progress with maximalist aggressiveness. Inter-Korean reconciliation is perceived as a threat to the network of interconnected US interests that works to perpetuate the permanent state of war in the Korean peninsula, which in turn rationalizes the ongoing military occupation of the South as a forward US base against China. ...

Adding fuel to the fire are the impending annual ROK-U.S. joint military exercises planned for August 16th, a frequent flashpoint with the North. South Korea’s Unification Ministry has advised delaying the exercises in order to avoid dampening renewed inter-Korean engagement, while the Defence Ministry has announced that a decision will be made after considering COVID - 19 risks, the planned transfer of wartime operational control, and the need to “support diplomatic efforts for establishing peace on the Korean peninsula”. While the US and South Korea nominally share responsibility for the joint military exercises, actual decision-making authority for this issue--as with anything within the realm of South Korean military or foreign affairs--rests with the United States, which has thus far rejected the notion of a delay.

For their part, US conservative commentators have roundly condemned the notion of suspending the military exercises as a sign of submission to the North’s “bullying tactics”, in spite of the fact that the North has strictly abided by the inter-Korean military agreement signed in September 2019, and has not carried out a nuclear or intercontinental ballistic missile test since the failure of the Hanoi Summit that same year. US conservatives also claim that the drills are necessary to maintain readiness in the event of a North Korean attack, glossing over the indisputable overwhelming practical military capability fielded by the US, which undermines the veracity of any such claim.

There are in fact a number of practical reasons for the US to suspend or at least delay the ROK-U.S. joint military exercises at this juncture, not the least of which include the elevated risk of Covid-19 infection. Forcing thousands of military personnel into protracted close proximity with one another during a resurgence of the pandemic is patently unwise. Just last week, in response to a record number of infections among its members, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) implemented tougher antivirus rules, banning visits to bars and clubs and mandating the use of masks.

Moreover, the drills violate both the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration and the 2018 North Korea - United States Singapore Declaration, both of which Biden has expressed support for. The 2018 2018 Panmunjom Declaration states in part that: “The two sides agreed to completely cease all hostile acts against each other in every domain including land, sea and air that are the root cause of military tension and conflicts.”

Indeed, as 76 South Korean lawmakers pointed out last week, the annual joint military exercises “function as an obstacle to North Korea’s relations with South Korea and the US,” and should be suspended given the recent warming in inter-Korean relations in order to “bring North Korea to the table for dialogue.” As former USFK commander General Vincent Brooks noted, these drills are “not just a show like the parades in Pyongyang” but rather provocative shows of force with the potential to trigger open war on the Korean Peninsula. Suspending them at this crucial juncture would be a concrete step toward continuing the hard-won diplomatic momentum with North Korea, and in the words of South Korean National Intelligence Agency Director Park Ji-won would constitute a “flexible response toward the big picture of continuing the peace momentum and denuclearization.”

Call to Action! Sign Now! The June 15th South Korea Committee. Declaration for Implementation of Inter-Korean Agreements and the DPRK - US Joint Statement, and for Independence and Peace in the Korean Peninsula. The messages of peace will be delivered to the governments of South Korea, US, and the UN Secretariat during the UN General Assembly.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EdCtf5fuvLsnAY39H-7sz35oXL8rMUrYVSm-y9w9FQ4/viewform?edit_requested=true

Translation to Korean by Newspro: excerpt

이제는 한미 연합군사훈련을 중단할 시점인가?

세 번의 북미 정상회담 이후, 트럼프 행정부는 대북 최대 압박 작전을 완화시키는 대신 강화시켰으며 남북 간 교류와 협력에 관한 합의를 이행하려는 한국의 시도를 차단했다.신임 바이든 행정부는, 더 “실용적이고 조율된” 대북 정책을 약속했음에도 불구하고, 평화 협상이 최우선 사항이 아님을 명확히 해왔다. 한편, 북미 간 긴장상태가 진행 중인 와중에, 전문가들은 동아시아 지역에서의 미중 간의 지역적 대립 심화는 미국과 핵무장한 북한 간의 분쟁 위험을 증가시키고 있다고 경고한다. 70년간 미군이 주둔하고 있는 상태인 한국에서 미국의 우세한 영향력은 어떠한 분쟁에서도 한국이 최전선에 있을 것임을 보증한다.

미국은 역사적으로 남북 간의 교류를 부차적인 것으로 일축해왔으며, 미국의 매파와 한국의 보수적인 협력자들은 남북 관계 개선의 어떠한 징조에도 극단적인 공격성으로 이를 비웃어왔다. 남북 간 화해는 한반도의 전쟁 상태를 항구적으로 영속시키고, 결과적으로 중국을 향한 미국의 전진기지로서 현재 한국에 미군이 주둔하는 것을 합리화시키고자 하는 복잡하게 얽힌 미국의 이익에 위협으로 인식된다.

사실 미국이 이 시점에서 한-미 연합군사훈련을 중단하거나 혹은 최소한 연기해야 할 많은 실질적인 이유들이 있다. 코로나 19 감염의 증가된 위험성도 중요한 이유이다. 펜데믹이 재확산 되는 동안 수천 명의 군인을 강제로 오랜 기간 서로 가깝게 두는 것은 명백히 현명하지 못한 처사다. 지난주만 해도 미군의 감염이 최고 수치를 기록하자 주한미군은 술집과 클럽 방문을 금지하고 마스크 사용을 의무화하는 등 더욱 강력한 방역 규칙을 시행했다.

더군다나 한-미 훈련은 바이든 대통령이 지지한다고 한 2018년 판문점 선언 2018년 조-미 싱가포르 선언을 위반한다. 2018 판문점 선언의 한 부분에는 “양국이 군사적 긴장과 충돌의 근본적 원인인 영토, 영해 및 영공을 포함한 모든 지역에서 상호 적대적인 모든 행동을 완전히 중단한다”라고 명시되어 있다.

실제로 지난 주 한국 국회의원 76명은 매년 실시하는 연합군사훈련이 “한-북-미 관계의 장애물이 되고 있다”며, 최근 남북 관계가 다시 완화되는 것을 고려할 때 “북한을 대화의 장으로 불러들이기 위해” 중단되어야 한다고 말했다. 전 주한미군 사령관 빈센트 브룩스 장군 언급한 대로 한-미 연합훈련은 “평양에서의 군사퍼레이드와 같은 보여주기식 쇼”일 뿐만 아니라 한반도에서 전쟁을 촉발시킬 수 있는 도발적인 군대 쇼이다 현 중차대한 시점에서 군사훈련을 중단하는 것이야말로 북한과 힘겹게 얻은 외교적 모멘텀을 지속시키는 방향으로 나아가는 구체적인 단계가 될 것이다. 이는 또한 박지원 국가정보원장이 언급했듯이 “평화 모멘텀과 비핵화를 지속시키는 큰 그림으로 나아가는 유연한 대응”이 될 것이다.

글로벌웹진 NEWSROH 칼럼 ‘열린 기자’

http://www.newsroh.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=reporter