Above photo: Kymone Freeman, Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers (back row from left to right) with members of a peace delegation from South Korea at We Act Radio.
Today on Clearing the FOG (Forces of Greed) Radio, we spoke with Tim Shorrock, a journalist who grew up in Japan and South Korea and who’s been writing about US military and economic ties to Japan and Korea for over 30 years, and Hyun Lee, a New York City-based writer and activist who is a member of the Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea.
Mainstream media in the US are complicit in drumming up support for US aggression against North Korea. They fail to place North Korea’s actions in the context of the long history of US hostility and interference in North and South Korea. As both the US and North Korea prepare for war, and a successful sociopolitical movement in South Korea has ousted President Park Geun-hye, there is a critical need for clarity about North and South Korea. In the interview, we discuss this history, current events and a pathway to peace in the region as well as what people in the US can do to support it.
Listen to the interview here:
A major issue at present is the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that the United States is rushing to complete against the will of South Koreans. An occupation is going on by local farmers and Buddhist monks in protest. The defense system violates a Buddhist sacred site.
Sunghye Kim, a Won Buddhist monk from Seongju, South Korea will be on a speaking tour in the United States from April 4 to 17 as part of the Stop THAAD in Korea and Militarism in Asia and the Pacific, a coalition of U.S.-based organizations working to build a movement to stop its deployment in South Korea, and pressing for diplomatic engagement to reduce militarization and tensions throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
Click here for more information about the dates and locations of her events.
The demands of the coalition are as follows:
* We urge the U.S. government to rescind its decision on THAAD deployment in South Korea.
* We urge the U.S. government to pursue all possible avenues for reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula by re-engaging in diplomacy with North Korea.
* We urge the U.S. government to resolve conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region peacefully, through diplomacy and dialogue.
Please share this widely. Let’s finally end the Korean War and bring greater peace and stability to the region.