Above: Protest outside the White House on August 25, 2017 against Korean war. Note the spelling Corea is the pre-US occupation spelling of Korea according to Corean peace activists.
Protest Against War In Korea At White House
A Korean US Peace Expedition organized a protest in front of the White House at noon, with peace groups and activists in the United States. The organizers of the rally included the Supporting Committee for Korean Prisoners of Conscience, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker DC, ANSWER Coalition, Popular Resistance, American Council for the Promotion of Peace and Confederation, Ham Suk Heon Thought Conference, and US Peace and Democratic Party.
Participants described the current dangers between the US and North Korea as the most dangerous situation since the Korean War. They criticized the US-South Korea for conducting the world’s largest military training in an area where nuclear weapons are held by multiple countries, including North Korea and the US. They urged the United States to stop the war and start peace negotiations with North Korea.
US participants expressed solidarity with the South Korean people and joined in opposing the massive war games. They pointed out that North Korea froze its nuclear program when it was negotiating with the United States in the 1990s. It was when President Bush declared North Korea as part of the ‘axis of Evil’ that North Korea re-started its nuclear program in order to defend itself from US threats.
The groups urged:
1. Cessation of military exercises by the United States and South Korea.
2. Removal of the THAAD missile system.
3. A peace treaty between the United States and North Korea to finally end the Korean war.
4. Diplomacy with North Korea to restore relationships and end aggression.
5. Bring US troops home and close US military bases in Korea.
6. Hold diplomatic negotiations to resolve differences between the US and North Korea.
Translated from Korean from Minzokilbo.
US, S Korea drills begin amid tensions with N Korea
Thousands of troops participate in largely computer simulated Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills despite warnings from North.
US and South Korean troops have begun annual military drills amid heated warnings by North Korea that the exercises will worsen tensions in the region.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills, which began on Monday, are largely computer-simulated war games.
The exercise brings together as many as 50,000 South Korean soldiers and approximately 17,500 US service members for a simulation of war on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said the drills are defensive in nature.
He said the exercises are held regularly because of repeated provocations by North Korea, including two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month.
Pyongyang called the 11-day operation a “reckless” invasion rehearsal that could trigger an “uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war”.
China and Russia last week urged the United States to suspend the drills in exchange for North Korea suspending its missile and nuclear tests.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump vowed to respond to North Korea’s actions with “fire and fury”.
North Korea, for its part, threatened to fire a salvo of missiles towards the US territory of Guam – a plan that its leader Kim Jong-un delayed last week.
Kim warned the plan could still go ahead depending on Washington’s next move.
![South Korean protesters hold placards that read 'stop war exercise' during a rally denouncing the military exercise [Jung Yeon-Je/AFP]](https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/08/South-Koreans-protest-US-war-exercises.-e1503885270763.jpg) |
| South Korean protesters hold placards that read ‘stop war exercise’ during a rally denouncing the military exercise [Jung Yeon-Je/AFP] |
The number of US soldiers in this year’s drill was reduced by a third, while media in South Korea reported that the US was considering scrapping a plan to bring two aircraft carriers to the peninsula.
But US Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Sunday that the smaller troop numbers were “by design to achieve the exercise objectives”, denying suggestions that Washington had cut them back to try to ease tensions with Pyongyang.
Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Seoul, said, “the crucial aspect will be how North Korea responds”.
In 2016, Pyongyang retaliated by firing a submarine launch missile, which ended up in the Sea of Japan.
“But this time around, given the recent tensions, many are saying the North will carefully calculate to these drills if the country is really serious about some room for negotiation,” our correspondent said.
On the eve of the UFG drills, North Korea said the US was “pouring gasoline on fire”.
In a commentary carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, North Korea said Washington was “mistaken” to think that a nuclear war would take place on “somebody else’s doorstep far away from them across the Pacific”