On February 18, the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) issued a press statement warning, “The anachronistic and futile attempt to challenge the inviolable sovereignty and the prestige of the DPRK will entail self-destructive results.”

The statement continued, “The U.S. secretary of State held a confab with the diplomatic authorities of Japan and the ROK [Republic of Korea] on February 15 to cook up and make public a “joint statement” full of groundless mud-slinging and provocative rhetoric against the DPRK, talking about the “complete denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.””

The statement concluded, “The DPRK will as ever consistently adhere to the new line of bolstering up the nuclear force clarified by the head of state and thoroughly control the threat and blackmail of the U.S. and its vassal forces violating the former's sovereignty and security interests, by making use of all its own political and military tools, and perfectly attain its strategic goal.”

#International #Korea #DPRK

Aurora, CO – On October 26, community groups came together in Aurora, Colorado, for a conference supporting the “U.S. Out of Korea” campaign, launched by Nodutdol last June. The event took place at the Active Adult Center on Del Mar Circle in Aurora.

Aurora is home to a large Korean American community, ranking sixth in the U.S. for population size. Conservative estimates place the Korean American population in Colorado at over 30,000, with many residing in Aurora, known as Denver’s Koreatown. The presence of this community, and the launch of Notdutdol’s “U.S. Out of Korea” campaign, inspired this conference.

The conference opened with introductions from the attending groups, who expressed their solidarity with the campaign. Next, Korean Elder Subok Kim, a longtime supporter of Nodutdol and current member of Korean Americans for the Progressive Party, gave a speech. He spoke about his experience as a child in the Korean war and connected it to children in Gaza today.

Central to the event was a “Korea 101” presentation by Haruki Eda, a local educator and longtime member of Nodutdol, who stated, “Many civilians were massacred across the peninsula by both the South Korean and U.S. militaries.” They continued, “During the Korean War, 18 of the 22 major cities in the North were more than 50% destroyed. This included bombing dams and flooding whole areas of farmland, towns, and villages. That’s an act of genocide.”

Eda’s presentation was followed by a talk from Julia Sweezy, a founding member of Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA) who stated, “Our tax dollars are going to warfare instead of meeting the needs of the people here. In the end, only the war profiteers and the ruling class benefit.”

As recent tensions in the region have increased, conference organizers shared an update near the end of the event. “In early October, drones flown from South Korea were spotted over Pyongyang. Previously, there were balloons, but this is a significant escalation and blatant violation of North Korean airspace. The U.S. treated a stray Chinese weather balloon as a national security threat, yet it supports these provocations against North Korea. Shame!” said Paul Nelson, an organizer from DACAC.

Eda added to the update, stressing the risks of the U.S. military’s expanded presence in Asia, “If an Asian NATO gets involved in warfare, whether because of Russia and Ukraine or something else, the Korean Peninsula is very likely to become a battleground in this larger conflict.”

The conference included up with a plenary session, where attendees signed a resolution supporting the four demands of the “U.S. Out of Korea!” campaign. It called on everyone to “organize, participate in, and support actions against Imperialism, especially the U.S.-funded genocide in Palestine and broader U.S.-Israeli war in the Middle East.” Additionally, the resolution urged groups to join DAWA’s efforts against Lockheed Martin, a leading U.S. war manufacturer that supplies weapons used in U.S. wars and intervention, including in Palestine.

Organizations represented included Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA), Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and the Chicano Liberation Committee. Attendees also included members of the Denver Aurora Community Action Committee, Denver Students for a Democratic Society, the Colorado Springs People's Coalition and Nodutdol – the group leading the “U.S. Out of Korea” campaign. Veterans For Peace, the Mayday Club, and virtual participants like the SDS Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee were also present.

After the speakers, organizers thanked everyone for their participation and support, specifically recognizing the groups that made it possible, and the Denver DSA for providing equipment to allow remote attendees to join. The conference concluded with attendees chanting, “U.S. out of Korea now!” and “End the war economy!”

#DenverCO #CO #AntiWarMovement #International #NorthKorea #DPRK #SDS #Nodutdol #DAWA

New York, NY – Several hundred people gathered in midtown Manhattan at The People’s Forum to launch Nodutdol’s U.S. Out of Korea campaign. Hundreds more gathered at events in Oakland and Los Angeles for similar launch events.

The event began with Nodutdol organizers presenting the background of the organization. Nodutdol (노듯돌, meaning stepping-stone) has roots in the 1990s when members of the Korean movement would travel to Korea to learn from the people in the South and North of the peninsula about their organizing against U.S. domination. They became fully established in 1999 in Queens, New York and in the early 2000s pivoted their focus to anti-war efforts in the Middle East. They continued their delegation trips to Korea and deepened their anti-imperialist resolve.

The organizers also gave a brief but in-depth review of the history of the Korean war. They began from when the Japan imperial flag was lowered in 1945 to how the U.S. military swept in immediately to quell any rising socialist sentiments. The Korean people were forced to trade from one brutal, imperialist force to another. The U.S. helped lead a murderous campaign against the Korean people to eliminate any opposition. At the time, it was estimated that 70% of the people of Korea were interested in socialism and the U.S. effectively eliminated close to 3 million of them.

With the U.S. still present in the peninsula, this makes it the longest running war in U.S. history.

In the last few years, the U.S. military activity has sharply increased in recent years. In 2023, U.S. forces conducted 200 days of military exercises. In mid-August, the U.S. and the Republic of Korea (ROK) will hold nuclear war exercises in Korea in joint military drills. These drills will occur during the Democratic National Convention in the U.S.

The escalation on behalf of the U.S. and the ROK has increased tensions with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). This led to the DPRK’s announcement earlier this year that they can’t see a future where peaceful reunification is possible with the ROK. As long as the ROK is not just under U.S. influence, but actively seeks to ally themselves with them, there can’t be a peaceful process.

Additionally, under President Biden's administration, the U.S., ROK and Japan have joined in an alliance called JAROKUS and are on the way to build the new “Asian NATO.”

Ju-Hyun Park, the Nodutdol lead organizer for the U.S. Out of Korea campaign, stated “We are just weeks away from the U.S. conduction nuclear war exercises in Korea. These drills do not keep Koreans safe—in fact, they are pushing the Korean Peninsula towards open warfare. For more than 70 years the U.S. government has pursued a failed strategy of aggression against North Korea. Now, the U.S. is escalating its aggression to try to turn Korea into a battlefield for the New Cold War.”

Once the attendees understood the history of the region, Nodutdol organizers presented the campaign demands to an enthusiastic crowd. The demands, reprinted here are:

• US OUT OF KOREA: the full and permanent withdrawal of US troops and weapons systems from Korea. We demand all Korean land, water, and airspace appropriated for the US military be returned to the Korean people.
• END THE U.S.-SOUTH KOREA ALLIANCE: an end to ALL US-South Korea alliances, including the JAKUS trilateral security cooperation. We demand an end to ALL US-South Korea joint command structures—the Combined Forces Command, and the UN Command. 
• END ALL AGGRESSION AGAINST NORTH KOREA: We demand an end to ALL US military exercises in Korea. We demand ALL sanctions against North Korea be lifted.
• END THE WAR ECONOMY: We demand the US government divert spending from war, prisons, and policing. We demand housing, education, healthcare, and climate justice for working people.

The crowd clapped as each demand was listed.

Park continued, “As Koreans in the diaspora, we refuse to stand by as the U.S. foments war in our homeland. We believe standing up to U.S. imperialism in Korea is not just in our interests as Korean people, but in the interests of the majority of people in the U.S. as well. It’s time to work together to stop U.S. warmongering in Korea and around the world.”

Over 30 organizations have endorsed the campaign, including: Black Alliance for Peace, Codepink, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Bayan USA.

The next event will be a rally on August 18 to protest the U.S. and ROK war games.

 #NewYorkNY #NYC #DPRK #USOutOfKorea #BlackAllianceforPeace #BAP #Codepink #FRSO #BayanUSA #ROK #RepublicOfKorea #Korea #Nudutdol #JAROKUS #Japan #ThePeoplesForum

The DPRK Foreign Ministry said, “The U.S. is coming out provocative again, finding fault with the DPRK's exercise of its right to self-defense. The DPRK's recent development of new-type weapon was just part of its efforts for modernizing its national defense capability. It did not target any specific country or force and it did not do any harm to the security of neighboring countries.”

The statement continued, “The U.S. accusation of the DPRK's legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense is an evident provocation and a gangster-like logic. This shows that though the present U.S. administration is trumpeting about diplomacy and dialogue, it is still engrossed in its policy for isolating and stifling the DPRK. To bolster up the national defense capability is a legitimate right of a sovereign state. The DPRK will not abandon its just right.”

#ForeignMinistryOfTheDemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKoreaDPRK #Korea #DPRK #KoreanCentralNewsAgency #Asia

The article also noted, “‘Democracy’ being advocated by the imperialist reactionaries is not for the toiling masses, and it is fake democracy for a handful of the exploiting classes.”

“The multi-party system is also deceptive. Various parties are said to take the reins of government by turns in capitalist countries, but those parties are all the bourgeois political ones representing the interests of business tycoons which have different names,” states the article.

The article concluded, “Capitalism is neither a prosperous democratic society nor everlasting one. It is a corrupt society rushing headlong into its doom.”

#WashingtonDC #DistrictOfColumbiaDC #Korea #Capitalism #DPRK #NorthKorea #Elections

Kim Jong Un also spoke about national defense, saying, “The test of a super-powerful thermo-nuclear weapon was conducted together with the tests of various type nukes delivery means, successfully attaining with flying colors our general ambition and strategic goal. Eventually, the Republic came to possess a powerful and reliable war deterrent, irreversible with any force.

“The United States can never fight a war against me and our state. It should properly know that the whole territory of the U.S. is within the range of our nuclear strike and a nuclear button is always on the desk of my office and this is just a reality, not a threat.”

#UnitedStates #Korea #Socialism #DPRK #KimJongUn #Asia

Minneapolis, MN – Planned to coincide with a call for nationally coordinated local actions, Nov. 6 – 11, against the growing danger of a U.S. war on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Twin Cities area peace groups will hold an anti-war protest in front of the Minneapolis office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The protest will be held Thursday, Nov. 9 from 4:30 – 5:30 pm at 1200 Washington Avenue South in Minneapolis.

The call for the national week of actions, which is supported by a broad range of organizations, has been initiated by the National Mobilization to Stop Trump’s War on North Korea. The week of actions coincides with a trip to Asia by President Trump.

“The danger of a new war in Korea is real,” said a statement issued by organizers.

“We are going to the office of Senator Klobuchar to call on her to speak out strongly against the growing war danger. All U.S. representatives and senators must speak out against a new war in Korea, a war that could cost millions of lives and could lead to global war,” the statement said.

The statement goes on to say, “The U.S. has three aircraft carriers in waters near the Korean Peninsula. There has been an unending series of U.S. military maneuvers, and the Trump administration has made more war-like talk threatening military action against North Korea.”

“During the Korean War, 1950-53, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs on Korea and 20% of the population of Korea was killed. That war was never formally ended with a peace treaty. Instead, the U.S. has maintained a hostile stance against North Korea, and carried out annual military exercises simulating an invasion of the north. The U.S. government must step back from the brink. After U.S. interventions and invasions of Iraq (twice), Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere around the world, it is the U.S. that needs to end its endless wars and war threats,” the statement concluded.

The protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and is endorsed by Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Immigrant Movement for Justice, Korean Quarterly, Mayday Books, Progressive Coalition Minnesota, St. Joan of Arc Peacemakers, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Socialist Action, SLAM – Sharp Left @ Mac (Macalester College), The New North, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness and others.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Korea #SenatorAmyKlobuchar #DPRK

Salt Lake City, UT — Demonstrators gathered in downtown Salt Lake City to protest Trump’s threats of war on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, August 19. They chanted, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!” as cars honked horns in support.

“We want people to know that the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] isn’t the aggressor here,” said Nick Godfrey, an activist with the Utah Anti-War Committee (UAWC). “We were never taught the real history of this conflict. The U.S. has been unjustly threatening this nation for decades.”

The U.S. currently has 28,500 troops in south Korea near the demilitarized zone with north Korea. There are U.S. Navy ships off the coast, including two aircraft carriers, and the U.S. rushed to impose the THAAD missile system on south Korea, despite opposition from the incoming president. This week the U.S. will launch military exercises with at least 17,500 U.S. troops, and the possible threat of B1 bombers or aircraft carriers to simulate an invasion and all-out war on the DPRK.

The Saturday protest, organized by UAWC and held in front of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, drew about two dozen people with signs that read “Hands off the DPRK!” and “I won’t fight the rich man’s war!” The protest was in response to Trump’s recent provocations, wherein he threatened to bring “fire and fury” down on north Korea, later adding that U.S. military options were “locked and loaded.” U.S. provocations are likely to produce a defensive response from north Korea.

“The U.S. needs to keep manufacturing the supposed north Korean threat so it can control the region, said UAWC organizer Dave Newlin. “If north Korea didn’t exist, the U.S. would have to invent it in order to maintain dominance.”

Activist and former congressional candidate Ben Frank pointed to the immense economic forces at play around north Korea that go unacknowledged in the mainstream media.

“Basically, there are many incentives for the U.S to be aggressive towards north Korea outside of the pretenses given on corporate news,” Frank said. “Such as the fact that scientists estimate that north Korea is sitting on about $6 trillion worth of mineral resources.”

Cristobal Villegas, secretary for the Utah Democratic Party, spoke on how deeply the war mentality has penetrated U.S. society, and how getting involved with local politics can help break down the military-industrial system.

“War is not only an action by a nation, but rather it is a mindset. War has penetrated many sociological barriers. An example is how Salt Lake City and Utah treat people experiencing homelessness,” he said.

#SaltLakeCityUT #AntiwarMovement #Korea #US #PeoplesStruggles #DPRK #NorthKorea #Trump #DonaldTrump

Fort Lauderdale, FL – South Florida anti-war activists held protests in two locations on August 12. In Fort Lauderdale and North Miami Beach, protesters spoke out against the Trump administration’s threats toward the DPRK (north Korea).

The Fort Lauderdale protest was called for by POWIR (People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism and Racism). 15 people gathered in front of the Federal Building holding a banner that read, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation.” Some signs at the protest read, “Trump: We won’t fight your wars” and “World War III – shut it down!”

Henry Calway, an anti-war organizer from Boynton Beach, said after the protest, “It’s important for people in the imperialist countries to defend the sovereignty of oppressed peoples. Trump’s threats against the DPRK will be met with a wave of resistance at home and abroad. That’s what this demonstration was for.”

The organizers of the rallies in Fort Lauderdale and Miami agreed to hold a future event against possible war with the DPRK outside of Trump’s golf course and resort in Doral, Florida.

#FortLauderdaleFL #AntiwarMovement #Korea #DPRK #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Asia

The statement also notes, “Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”

According to the statement, the Korean People’s Army (KPA) is drawing up a plan to simultaneously fire off four Hwasong-12 intermediate-range strategic ballistic rockets into the ocean around the U.S.-occupied island of Guam, in order “to signal a crucial warning to the U.S.”

The statement continues, “The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi Prefectures of Japan. They will fly 3356.7 km for 1065 seconds and hit the waters 30 to 40 km away from Guam.”

The leadership of the DPRK is expected to decide on the plan in mid-August.

Meanwhile in the U.S., protests against a war on Korea are being organized in a number of cities.

#WashingtonDC #Korea #NuclearWeapons #DPRK #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Trump #Asia

On August 9, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) responded to the Trump administrations threats and war preparations, stating, “Should the U.S. finally opt for a reckless military adventure, defying the stern warning of our revolutionary armed forces, the tragic end of the American empire will be hastened.”

According the statement, the U.S. plans to bring huge naval forces, including its two nuclear aircraft carrier task forces and a nuclear sub to the waters off the Korean peninsula, and that strategic assets including B-52, B-1B, B-2A and F-22 aircraft formations to south Korea are in the pipeline. Additional military preparations are underway at California’s Edwards Air Force Base.

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #Korea #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #DPRK #Trump #DonaldTrump

The statement follows:

“On July 4, the DPRK successfully carried out the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic rocket Hwasong-14 which stands for the final gate to completing the state nuclear force.

The success in the test-fire of Hwasong-14 at just one go is a brilliant victory achieved by the army and people of the DPRK in their more than half-a-century-long anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. showdown and a heroic deed that provided a reliable guarantee of peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.

However, the U.S. is condemning the DPRK's test-fire as a “global threat” and is scheming to increase the international sanctions and pressure on the country to the top notch.

The DPRK makes it clear once again that its development of inter-continental ballistic rocket is an option taken to defend itself by completely terminating the hostile policy and nuclear war threat of the U.S. which have lasted for decades over the century.

There are several nuclear weapons states in the world today, but the U.S. is the one and only country that makes it its daily business to impose constant nuclear threat upon the DPRK.

The issue of the DPRK's nukes and ballistic rocket is an issue confined to the DPRK and the U.S., and the test-fire of the inter-continental ballistic rocket conducted by the DPRK this time is a “gift package” addressed to none other than the U.S.

No other ICBM states had been more transparent than the DPRK in the development and test-fire of inter-continental ballistic rocket.

The DPRK officially announced that it would commence the development of inter-continental ballistic rocket as it was the inevitable choice for the country to cope with ever-increasing nuclear threat from the U.S. and opened to public the entire process of combustion test and static firing test of the engine and the actual test-fire of the rocket, and even sensitive information such as tactical and technical data and specifications.

That is because the DPRK's inter-continental ballistic rocket is an unquestionable nuclear war deterrent which is fundamentally different from the military equipment for aggressive war developed in strict confidence by the U.S. with the wild ambition to dominate the world by means of surprise attack on other nations.

Nevertheless, the U.S. is branding the DPRK's legitimate and righteous measure for self-defense as a “global threat” and calling for “global action” against it. This is an explicit illustration of Trump's “America First Policy” that seeks its own interests by sacrificing others.

The mugger's mentality that tries to engage the entire world in opposing a sovereign state for the reason that the state incurred its displeasure will never find acceptance among any sensible people and independent countries.

The complete success in the test-fire of inter-continental ballistic rocket Hwasong-14 significantly enhanced the efficiency of the DPRK's nuclear force as a war deterrent, thereby more reliably ensuring peace and security in and around the Korean peninsula.

Now that the DPRK's capability to strike the very heart of the U.S. at any given time has been physically proved, the U.S. would find it more difficult to dare attack the DPRK.”

#WashingtonDC #Korea #DPRK #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Asia

Washington, D.C. – The Trump administration has issued a series of threats against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK,) following a July 4 test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that greatly enhances the DPRK’s defense capacity.

On July 5, the U.S. conducted military drills with south Korean military forces that would simulate an attempt to kill the DPRK leadership, often referred to as “decapitation exercises.”

According to Pentagon spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis, “The exercise utilized the Eighth U.S. Army’s Tactical Missile System and south Korean Hyunmoo II missiles.”

“This is a system that can be rapidly deployed and engaged; [it] provides deep-strike precision capability and enables the [south] Korea-U.S. alliance to engage a full array of time-critical targets under all weather conditions,” he added

Speaking in Poland, July 6, President Trump said he was weighting some “severe things” following the launch, and a number of U.S. officials have stated the U.S. is considering military action.

The DPRK newspaper Minju Joson stated July 6, “the successful test-launch is an event of world historic significance in fundamentally terminating the U.S. threat and blackmail for a nuclear war and reliably guaranteeing the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and the region.”

#WashingtonDC #Korea #DPRK #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #DonaldTrump #Asia

The report states that the rocket was launched from the northwest part of the DPRK, making a “39-minute flight along its pre-set trajectory before accurately hitting the target waters in the open sea in the East Sea of Korea.”

Chairman of the Workers Party of Korea Kim Jong Un was present at the test site, and observed the launch.

The report concludes, “The DPRK will fundamentally put an end to the U.S. nuclear war threat and blackmail and reliably defend the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region.”

#WashingtonDC #WashingtonDCDC #AntiwarMovement #Korea #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #DPRK #NorthKorea

The spokesperson for the DPRK Foreign Ministry went on to condemn the U.S. for interfering in the affairs of other countries while carrying out human rights abuses at home.

#DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #PoliceBrutality #DPRK #NorthKorea #Ferguson #MikeBrown

St Paul, MN – On a cold and rainy April 10, several dozen people joined a Minneapolis-Saint Paul peace vigil to speak out against the danger of a new Korean war.

Every Wednesday, a peace vigil is held on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Due to the urgent situation in Korea, the organizers of the vigil designated April 10 as a day to focus on the crisis with an anti-war response.

Participants held signs as busy rush hour traffic went by. Many people waved and honked their car horns in support of the anti-war message.

Signs carried by participants included slogans such as: “No new Korean War,” No U.S. war in Korea,” and “Stop war games in Korea,” referring to the ongoing war games conducted by the U.S. and south Korea. Another sign read, “Say no to war – let DPRK live.” DPRK is the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the name of the northern Korean state.

Women Against Military Madness End War Committee and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign organize the weekly vigil.

On short notice, several other organizations signed on to the call for the April 10 vigil to respond to the Korea crisis and helped publicize the event. Groups endorsing the event included Anti-War Committee, Emergency Committee to Stop U.S. War in Korea, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and Veterans for Peace.

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “The Korean peninsula is at a flash point. U.S. war games, including sending nuclear bombers on a mission simulating the bombing of North Korea, only serve to bring Korea to the brink of a new war. We call for an end to the U.S. war games, for the U.S. to make a peace treaty to end the Korean War, and for an end to the sanctions on North Korea.”

At the end of the vigil participants gathered to hear brief remarks from organizers.

Chris Getowicz of the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society said, “The government and the media in the U.S. continue to beat the war drums of agitation on the Korean peninsula. The government and media are building and maintaining the myth of North Korean hostility, when it is in fact the U.S. military presence that has maintained a divided Korean peninsula for 60 years. It is U.S. imperialism that has provoked hostilities on the Korean peninsula and we must challenge the notion that anyone other than the U.S. is maintaining a militarized and divided Korea.”

#StPaulMinnesota #StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Korea #DPRK #Peace

I am an anti-war and Latin America solidarity activist in Chicago. I recently returned from a late March trip to north Korea [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)], along with 45 others, through Koryo Tours. On that tour I had the opportunity to discuss with the Korean tour guides their views on the current situation. I only recall the DPRK view mentioned here once in the corporate media, when Dennis Rodman returned with a message from new President Kim Jong. The message to President Obama was, “I don’t want war, call me.” Nobel Peace Prize winning President Obama refused to accept it, evidently preferring an escalating threat of a regional nuclear war to talking. I asked my Korean tour guides to be interviewed so I could present their views to U.S. people.

Has the DPRK made proposals for peaceful national reunification?

Yes, now we have options: the historic option of a federal republic, and the recent option. In our history we proposed three principles for reunification: that the north and south unite the country independently of foreign forces, that we reunify peacefully, and that we work together over the years to create the unity of the whole nation.

Our historic option is a federal republic: a central government concerned only with national defense and diplomacy, and two local governments, north and south, handling all other issues.

But recently the situation on the peninsula is deteriorating. There are no signs of resolving the issue. If south Korean provocations continue, war will break out and we are prepared to fight. Because the situation has deteriorated, that is why we invalidated the 1953 ceasefire agreement. What we need is a permanent peace treaty, so there will be no more war danger.

Now there is no contact between north and south. Now there are no phone lines between north and south, there is no hotline.

Now the U.S. and south Korea plan is that the DPRK will collapse. The situation continues to deteriorate. They are playing a dangerous game.

Japan is also very hostile. The present government is very right wing. It is trying to build a strong military using ‘dangerous’ DPRK as a pretext to justify turning its self-defense force into a regular army. Not only the DPRK, but many Asian countries are concerned with this right-wing Japanese resurgence.

The American people should ask the U.S. government to change its hostile policy. Make America aware of the real situation in the Korean peninsula. Ask the American government to sign a peace treaty and push for diplomatic ties with the DPRK.

Why did the DPRK feel the need to develop a nuclear bomb?

Koreans had to deal with the reality of nuclear weapons twice before. Many thousands of Koreans were used as slave labor by the Japanese in World War II and many of these were forced labor workers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb.

Later, in the U.S. war in Korea, U.S. General MacArthur wanted to drop 50-70 atomic bombs along the China-Korea border to create a belt of land people cannot live on or cross.

Later in the Pueblo incident in 1968, when the DPRK captured a U.S. spy ship in our waters, President Johnson sent aircraft carriers with nuclear weapons to Korea. And in 1969 when the U.S. E-C spy plane was shot down over our territory, the U.S. again threatened us with a nuclear attack.

The “Team Spirit” U.S.-south Korea war exercises from the 1970s to the 1990s practiced with using nuclear bombs.

The DPRK joined the International Atomic Energy Agency and became a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty member in 1985. We wanted to develop cooperation in the field of nuclear energy. Our purpose for joining was to be safe from nuclear attack. But the threat has continued.

In 1994 with our agreement with the U.S., we froze our nuclear program. In exchange, President Clinton and the U.S. promised to supply us with a light water reactor. As we now know, Clinton only made those promises because the U.S. thought the DPRK would collapse, and so did not need to honor the agreement. We allowed nuclear inspections until 1999, to show that our nuclear power was only for peaceful purposes. The U.S. broke the agreement in 2002 under Bush and we resumed using our nuclear power plant.

The Yugoslav war showed us that we need to defend ourselves. We learned from the U.S. that the U.S. has no justice, no fairness. The U.S. respects only power. So the DPRK developed nuclear weapons to have power.

The DPRK needs to allocate resources to meet people’s needs but must spend money on nuclear weapons to protect and defend our country. We learned the lesson in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan: be strong.

The DPRK negotiated with the U.S., but the U.S. broke agreements and increased sanctions five times. When the DPRK would agree to some terms, the U.S. would raise the ante. The U.S. had said we cannot have nuclear power, because we could use it for bombs. We cannot have satellites because the missiles we send them into space with can be used as military missiles. These things can have dual purpose, one civilian, one military. They deny us food because they say it can be used to feed the military. If we kept going along with this, they would say we cannot have kitchen knives because we could use them for fighting.

There are slave states and noble states. Noble states develop their own technological infrastructure, GPS, weather reporting, etc., so need satellites. These days satellites are used for many things. If your country doesn’t have your own technology, you end up a slave state, dependent on other countries. Noble countries are in control of their own development and have a future.

Maybe without nuclear weapons we could already have been attacked by the U.S. in a war. Now our people can live more peacefully. The people of the DPRK are proud we have nuclear weapons; they are a guarantee of peace. Only we on our own, can safeguard the peace.

The U.S. has over 1000 nuclear weapons in south Korea – nuclear artillery, nuclear missiles, nuclear bombs, nuclear landmines.

The DPRK has called for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, but this call has been ignored. Now that we saw no choice but to develop nuclear weapons to defend ourselves, we are sanctioned. This is a double standard insulting to our people.

What do the people of the DPRK think of the U.S./UN sanctions? How do these sanctions affect the people here?

We have been used to coping with U.S. sanctions since 1945. Our people think the sanctions are a clear example of a double standard and a misuse of the UN Security Council. There is no justification for them. Sanctions were applied because of our nuclear bomb tests and satellite launches.

Since World War II there have been 9000 missile/satellite launches. Four were by the DPRK. There have been 2000 nuclear tests, three by the DPRK. But the UN never made a resolution or imposed sanctions against any country for doing that, only the DPRK.

This is a double standard by the UN. It is a misuse of the UN Security Council by the U.S. Other countries are like U.S. puppets to go along with this.

The sanctions affect every household, every individual in the DPRK. There are power cuts, a heating and energy shortage, a food problem. Even you visiting tourists are affected by the sanctions, as you see with your hotels. [in Pyongyang water and lights were only on certain hours of the day; in other towns it was even less]. There is a lack of oil and spare parts for machinery.

The sanctions threaten any country that trades with the DPRK, so that they must choose who they want to trade with, the DPRK or other countries. Our trade now is really only with China.

How is the food situation now and what role is the U.S. playing?

The food situation is still not satisfactory, and we are still trying to cover our basic food needs with the help of food imports and foreign aid. Repeated U.S. sanctions have stopped food aid. The sanctions have made the food situation worse.

At present U.S. NGOs [non-governmental organizations] give only some, limited, token medical aid and no food aid. For a period of seven to eight years there was no food aid from the U.S. The U.S. sanctions are interfering with solving the food situation. It has cut its food aid and even interferes with other countries providing food aid.

What is the main emphasis in the DPRK’s economic plan now [for the last several years the country had a military first policy]?

The DPRK now emphasizes two points: agricultural production and light industry. Light industry is what you call textiles, food processing, toys, furniture, shoes and so on. We want to invest and develop more these two areas. We want to improve the living standard of people. We focus on these two even if the situation is dangerous. Even if war is coming, we will focus on agriculture and light industry until war starts. We must work harder on developing agriculture and light industry.

Now with the nuclear bomb, the DPRK is a little safer and can turn from self-defense spending to light industry and consumer goods investment. You saw in Pyongyang a big conference of 10,000 delegates from light industries all over the country. They are here to discuss and exchange ideas about how to improve light industry, what has worked in their factories, what has problems, and how to solve them.

How are relations with south Korea since the Sunshine Policy? [Started by south Korean President Kim Dae Jung and continued by President Roh Moo-hyun, from the years 1998-2008. In this period of less chilly relations between north and south, the heads of state of the two countries met in 2000 and again in 2007. The Kaesong Industrial Park in the DPRK was opened and several thousand south Korean tourists visited the north.]

Since 2008 south Korea has shown only confrontation. There has been no cooperation. South Korea has broken all agreements we have made during the Sunshine policy. There is no more cooperation, no tourism from the south, no engagement. Now relations are only negative, there are no positive signs. This is because of both U.S. pressure and a south Korean decision. South Korea President Lee Myung-bak is a right-wing businessman, who changed the situation, just like Bush reversed Clinton’s even moderate degree of cooperation.

The present South Korea president is Park Geun-hye, daughter of south Korean military dictator Park Chung-hee , who was an officer in the Japanese Imperial Army. Cooperation has changed to confrontation. South Korea thinks military pressure on the north, combined with sanctions, will make the DPRK collapse.

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A Dec. 1 statement from the Korean Committee for Space Technology notes, “Scientists and technicians of the DPRK analyzed the mistakes that were made during the previous April launch and deepened the work of improving the reliability and precision of the satellite and carrier rocket, thereby rounding off the preparations for launch.”

The statement continues, “The polar-orbiting earth observation satellite will blast off southward from the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province by carrier rocket Unha-3 in the period between December 10 and 22. A safe flight path has been chosen so that parts of the carrier rocket that might fall during the launch process would not affect neighboring countries.”

The statement also notes, “At the time of the April launch, the DPRK ensured utmost transparency of the peaceful scientific and technological satellite launch and promoted international trust in the fields of space science researches and satellite launch. The DPRK will fully comply with relevant international regulations and usage as regards the upcoming launch, too.”

On Dec. 4, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complained about the planned satellite launch at a meeting of NATO representatives. To the dismay of U.S. policy makers, the DPRK has made real strides in developing space technology and defends it right to do so.

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The report goes on to state, “After successfully launching two experimental satellites, DPRK scientists and technicians have steadily conducted scientific researches to develop and utilize working satellites indispensable for the country's economic development in line with the government's policy for space development and peaceful use.”

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A statement from the Worker’s Party of Korea and the government on Kim Jong Il death reads in part:

“In the whole period of his protracted revolutionary guidance, he valued and loved the people very much and always shared weal and woe with them. He continued to make difficult forced march for field guidance, making unremitting efforts and working heart and soul to build a thriving country and improve the standard of people's living. He died from repeated mental and physical fatigue on a train in that course.

He passed away to our regret before seeing the victory of the cause of building a thriving nation, the national reunification and the accomplishment of the revolutionary cause of Juche so ardently desired by him, but laid a strong political and military base for ensuring the steady advance of the Korean revolution through generations and provided a solid foundation for the eternal prosperity of the country and the nation.”

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