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

According to a report from the Korean Central News Agency, “Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, inspected the test-fire of the super-large multiple launch rocket system conducted by the Academy of Defense Science.”

In a related development, Kim Kye Gwan, advisor to the Foreign Ministry of the DPRK, commented on past meetings with the Trump administration, stating, “Three rounds of DPRK-U.S. summit meetings and talks were held since June last year, but no particular improvement has been achieved in the DPRK-U.S. relations. And the U.S. only seeks to earn time, pretending it has made progress in settling the issue of the Korean peninsula.”

Kim Kye Gwan continued, “We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us.”

#WashingtonDC #AntiwarMovement #OppressedNationalities #Korea #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #NorthKorea #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Socialism #DonaldTrump #DPRKUSSummitMeetings

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

Minnesota says no war threats on Korea

By Kent Mori

Minneapolis, MN — 80 people attended a forum on U.S. war threats and aggression against north Korea, Oct. 24. The event was organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and took place at the University of Minnesota. One of the speakers, Sharon Chung, emphasized the U.S. role of aggression and war on the Korean peninsula when she reminded the audience, “the Korean War begins and ends here in the U.S.” As would become clear from all of the speakers, and the discussion that followed, the Korean War has never ended because the U.S. continues its aggression and provocations against north Korea, and refuses to sign a peace treaty.

Highlights of the forum included three outstanding speakers who all have significant experience in addressing U.S. aggression on the Korean peninsula. Sharon Chung moved to Minnesota a year ago and is a supporting member of Nodutdol for Korean Community Development and on the Korean Education and Exposure Planning Team. Roy Wolff is a member of Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 and a U.S. Army veteran who was stationed in South Korea for 16 months (1955‐57). Wolf has traveled to both north and south Korea in the years since he was in the U.S. Army. Lastly, the panel included Christine Ahn, who video conferenced in from Hawaii. Ahn is a founder and International Coordinator of Women Cross the DMZ, and a co‐founder of Korea Policy Institute, Korea Peace Network and Korean Americans for Fair Trade. She is a policy analyst with expertise on Korea, globalization, militarism and women's rights.

Beginning the forum, Sharon Chung stated Western news media regularly spews distorted information about a “crazy north Korean dictator trying to blow up the world with nuclear weapons,” while ignoring the truly provocative actions coming from the U.S. government. She condemned actions like the U.S. and south Korean joint war exercises which simulate a nuclear war and assassination strikes on north Korea, and the forced and undemocratic deployment of the THAAD missile system.

Chung condemned the hypocrisy of some media’s portrayal of the U.S. government as peaceful when the U.S. puts its strategic bombing fleet on 24-hour alert status and sends three U.S. carrier groups to concurrent deployment off the Korean peninsula. The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) will be joined by the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) coming from the east, as the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) comes from the west in a move that escalates tension in the region.

These actions and others match with the rabid words coming from various quarters in the U.S. government. For example, Sen. Lindsey Graham stated in August, “if thousands die, they're going to die over there,” and continuing, Graham showed where he meant by “over there”: “Japan, South Korea, China will all be in the crosshairs of a war if we started one with North Korea.” Even more menacing have been Trump's own “fire and fury” comments threatening nuclear annihilation and holocaust on North Korea.

Roy Wolff presented next. He emphasized the genocidal history of U.S. aggression on the Korean peninsula. He stated facts that are generally unknown about the Korean War (1950-1953) like, “every village and town in north Korea was destroyed! Every one!” and he repeated that “30% of the population of north Korea were killed, that's 3 million out of the 1950 population of 9 million.” By way of example Wolf talked about the north Korean city of Wonsan, “a city of 70,000 people (in 1950) was shelled for 800 days in a row. At the end of those 800 days, only one wall of one building was left standing....and there were no people...many had fled, but thousands were killed.” Wolf also showed that while the 1953 Armistice temporarily ended the 'hot' hostilities, it did not end the brutality of the continuing U.S. occupation of south Korea, which meant that U.S. military personnel committed 100,000 assaults, rapes and murders between 1953 and 1995.

The last speaker, Christine Ahn pointed out that “if there was ever a need for a mass mobilization in opposition to Trump and prevent a war on north Korea, it is now!” She argued that conditions appear to be good for developing movements both in the U.S. and in south Korea, with 68 to 80% of people in the U.S. opposing military action against north Korea, and over 80% of the people in south Korea wanting peaceful reconciliation with north Korea.

There will be a nationally coordinated week of actions Nov. 6 – 11. This week of actions in the U.S. will mirror similar protests in south Korea. The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition will follow up on this forum with their No U.S. War on North Korea protest on Thursday, Nov. 9 at 4:30 p.m. in front of Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Interstate 35W in Minneapolis.

#MinneapolisMN #Korea #Imperialism #PeoplesStruggles #antiwar #NorthKorea #Asia

Minneapolis, MN – For the second week in a row, the organizers of a weekly peace vigil in the Twin Cities addressed the war crisis in Korea by holding a very visible anti-war event. The Sept. 6 event was attend by over 35 people who held signs against a U.S. war on north Korea.

The vigil, sponsored by the End War Committee of Women Against Military Madness and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign, is held every Wednesday on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “The war crisis in Korea remains at a boiling point, the Trump administration is making unhinged threats of war. There are reports that more U.S. military forces are being sent to Korea, including an additional aircraft carrier.”

The statement goes on to say, “There is a proposal to avert war and start talks, ‘freeze for freeze,’ in which north Korea suspends its nuclear and missile testing in exchange for halting or scaling back these massive U.S.-south Korean military exercises and for an a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.”

“There is a real danger of a new U.S. war, everyone opposed must speak out. The weekly vigil is one way to speak out against war,” the statement said.

A number of other peace and anti-war groups joined the event, including Veterans for Peace, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and the Anti-War Committee.

Misty Rowan, a member of the Anti-War Committee (AWC), said, “The Anti-War Committee supports the right of Korea to self-determination. The U.S. government waged a genocidal war in the early 1950s, and now threatens more of the same. The AWC opposes all threats by the U.S. government against the Korean people.”

Rowan went on to say, “The U.S. is the last country that should be telling others how to handle nuclear capability, seeing as we are the only country that has dropped, not one but two, atomic bombs on the civilian population of another country. We are in no position to call Koreans irresponsible, when we have enough nukes to destroy the entire planet several times over. We should be worried about our own bombs.”

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Korea #NorthKorea

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

Duterte has become a tool for US foreign aggression when he denounced North Korea for developing its nuclear weapons capability. He is echoing the line of the US imperialists demanding North Korea to stop testing its intercontinental ballistic missiles and satellite-launching rockets to deny it the capability to defend itself and deter US military aggression.

It is Duterte who looks like a clown when he, with his limited vocabulary of cuss words, called North Korea’s Kim Jong Un a “fool” for ardently defending their country’s sovereignty against the US imperialists. For all his bluster, Duterte, the strongman that he is, has no such balls, having revealed himself a pseudo-patriot who has now fully embraced his fellow buffoon Trump.

After having killed thousands of Filipinos in his wars of mass murder and destruction, Duterte has no right to condemn Kim Jong Un a “maniac”. Unlike Kim’s government which has provided all out support to scientific and technological development to modernize North Korean society, the Philippine government under Duterte has condemned the country to a state of non-industrial and agrarian backwardness.

The Party joins the North Korean people in condemning US threats of invasion against their country. American naval warships have been surrounding North Korea challenging its territorial waters. A few days ago, the US flew B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula.

The US government, which controls 6,970 warheads, second only to Russia’s 7,300. has no right to tell the North Korean, which has less than 15 warheads, to stop developing nuclear weapons.

The Party fully supports the right of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to develop its weapons system, including nuclear weapons, ICBMs and anti-drone technology, as a deterrent against US military aggression. The DPRK’s nuclear weapons and capability at striking back is its only assurance against suffering the same fate as Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and other countries which became victims of US aggression and transformed into a US colonial wasteland.

#Philippines #AntiwarMovement #Korea #US #PeoplesStruggles #NorthKorea #Duterte #Asia

Minneapolis, MN – President Trump signed a U.S. sanctions bill against Russia, Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on August 1. In a hostile move, both the U.S. House and Senate voted by large majorities to target the oil and gas industries of Russia, the space and nuclear industries of Iran, and the international banking and financial institutions dealing with the DPRK.

Steff Yorek of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said on August 2, “This is yet another provocative and warlike act by Trump and the U.S. Congress against sovereign countries. It is dangerous for the peoples of the world and for us here too. As the U.S. grows weaker and weaker in its ability to dictate to other countries, we are seeing more bullying, threats and possibility of new wars.”

Yorek continued, “The hypocrisy of Wall Street, Congress and the corporate media is plain for all to see. All they can talk about is how Russia interfered in the U.S. elections, while the U.S. interferes openly in the elections of Ukraine, Venezuela, Honduras and many other countries. The U.S. funds and arms far-right and even fascist groups, shares intelligence with rich politicians to overthrow elected leaders, and then lies about election results in those countries, while claiming to spread democracy and freedom.

“As every person in the Middle East knows, U.S. sanctions lead to war. Russia, Iran and the DPRK are responding by gathering their friends and allies, and preparing for self-defense. As Russia, China and others are working together more and more, many are welcoming the opportunity to end the poverty, misery and war the U.S. brings to their countries,” Yorek concluded.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Venezuela #PeoplesStruggles #Iran #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #sanctions #SteffYorek #NorthKorea #Antifascism #DonaldTrump #Trump

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

St Paul, MN – For the second week in a row a Twin Cities peace vigil focused on opposition to U.S. war on Korea. On May 3 over 25 people attended the weekly vigil to speak out against the danger of U.S. war in Korea. The vigil is held on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River between Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

The weekly vigil is sponsored by the End War Committee of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign.

People driving and walking by the demonstration opposing war gave many signs of support.

“The response to taking an anti-war message out to a public place like this bridge shows that people don't want yet another war,” said one participant.

Sue Ann Martinson, one of the people attending said, “It is outrageous that Trump wants to cut $54 billion dollars from social welfare spending to add to the war machine budget. Our tax dollars should be used to address the desperate needs in our communities instead of war and interventions. We should be spending money on education, housing and healthcare, not on bombs, drones and nuclear missiles.”

Sarah Martin, a member of WAMM said, “Trump and the government are once again flirting with war. The pivot to Asia is emphasized with direct military threats against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea [north Korea]. These threats to the DPRK, the Korean peninsula and Asia in general, include war games practicing nuclear war, installation of the THAAD missile system and increased sanctions being both extremely dangerous and provocative must be opposed.”

Leaflets for the event had been handed out earlier in the week at May Day protests in the Twin Cities to alert people on the need to speak out against the danger of a new U.S. war in Korea.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Korea #WAMM #NorthKorea #Asia

St. Paul, MN – The organizers of a weekly peace vigil in the Twin Cities issued an urgent last minute appeal for people to join their vigil on April 26 to make a statement against the growing danger of U.S. war in Korea.

The organizers responded to the news that the Trump administration had invited all 100 U.S. Senators to a White House briefing on Korea.

“It just sounds ominous, the White House bringing the U.S. Senate to hear from the generals and those threatening war, we just saw a need to make an anti-war statement,” said one of the organizers.

News reports have also said that the USS Vinson, a nuclear-armed aircraft carrier, is on the way to waters off Korea with a U.S. Navy strike force and two Japanese destroyers.

The weekly vigil, held on the Lake Street-Marshall Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River, speaks out against U.S. interventions around the world, and has been ongoing since the U.S. war in Yugoslavia. The vigil often provides a vehicle to respond to U.S. war threats around the world.

The vigil is sponsored by the End War Committee of Women Against Military Madness and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign.

Groups that responded to the appeal to speak out against war in Korea included Anti-War Committee, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and Veterans for Peace.

Organizers issued a statement that said, “President Trump has already demonstrated through the Tomahawk missile attack on Syria and the use of the massive MOAB bomb in Afghanistan, along with other escalations of military intervention in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere, that he is more than willing to use force.”

The statement went on to say, “For North Korea, the years of massive U.S. military maneuvers can only be seen as a threat. North Korea (DPRK), through its rocket and military development programs, has been acting in response to U.S. military exercises on its border that simulate nuclear attacks and assassination campaigns.

“North Korea has said it is willing to stop testing missiles if the U.S. stops its military exercises. The U.S. must negotiate, not escalate!” the statement concluded.

Kent Mori from the Anti-War Committee said, “The real problem is the warmongers in Washington like Trump. They are source and beneficiaries of conflicts all over the world, Korea is just one example. We need to stay focused on opposing Trump's agenda of war and intervention.”

Organizers announced that the vigil next week will also be focused on speaking out against U.S. war in Korea.

In addition, it was announced that there would be an anti-war contingent in the Minneapolis May Day march and rally. The contingent, initiated by the Anti-War Committee, will included opposition to U.S. policy in Korea.

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #Korea #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #NorthKorea #Antiracism

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

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

ILPS Chairperson

We, the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS), join the Korean people in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Victory Day in the Great Fatherland Liberation War against the US-led imperialist aggression. The signing of the Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953 marked the defeat of the US scheme to conquer the whole of Korea. This agreement ceased hostilities and established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

Since then, the termination of the agreement has long been overdue. We support the position of the Korean people and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that the agreement must be replaced by a peace treaty requiring the withdrawal of US military forces and nuclear weapons and paving the way for the peaceful reunification of Korea.

We are deeply pleased with the success of the worldwide signature campaign and the march from Pyongyang to the DMZ for the reunification of Korea. We are elated that the memorial stones of the Chairperson of the International League of Peoples Struggle and the Philippines- Korea Solidarity Committee for Peace and Reunification in the Korean Peninsula are permanently placed in the wall of the Memorial Tower of the 3 Charters of the National Reunification in a solemn ceremony on Victory Day.

The Armistice Agreement was designed as a transition measure to “insure a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement is achieved.“But the US has perpetuated the state of war and its occupation of south Korea and has violated said agreement by introducing new weapons, especially nuclear weapons. It has used military exercises and other provocative shows of force in collaboration with the south Korean puppet regime to create a volatile situation.

The US started the nuclearization of the Korean peninsula when in 1957 it unilaterally abrogated paragraph 13 (d) of the Armistice Agreement (which prohibited the introduction of atomic weapons among other weapons of mass destruction) and in 1958 proceeded to deploy in South Korea nuclear-armed Honest John missiles and 280 mm atomic cannons and in 1959 the nuclear armed Matador cruise missiles capable of reaching China and the Soviet Union then.

In military exercises with the south Korean puppet regime, the US has deployed ships and planes armed with nuclear weapons. Acting in the interest of the Korean people, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has therefore developed its nuclear and rocket capabilities for self-defense and peaceful use and has responded strongly to the war provocations and nuclear threats by the US.

A peace treaty is urgently needed to end the continuing state of war in the Korean Peninsula and to stop decisively the war provocations being made by the US in concert with Japan and the south Korean puppet regime. The war provocations and nuclear threats are being made in line with the so-called strategic shift of the US to East Asia and due to the drive of the US military-industrial complex to step up war production and superprofit-taking.

The peoples and countries of East Asia and the whole world condemn the continuing malicious practice of nuclear blackmail by the US against the Korean people and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Also, they deride the fact that the US does not provide nuclear umbrella to any country but in fact threatens all countries with nuclear rain. Nevertheless, the US nuclear blackmail has long been countered and rendered impotent by possession of nuclear weapons by other countries as a matter of self-defense.

It is just for the Korean people and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to uphold national independence and the socialist cause and to strengthen their national defense and develop nuclear deterrence, while they seek a peace treaty to lay the ground for the immediate denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and for the peaceful reunification of Korea. An end must come to the perpetuation of the US aggressive military presence and occupation of south Korea.

#NorthKorea #Korea #InternationalLeagueOfPeoplesStruggle #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #antiimperialism #Asia

The DPRK spokesperson also noted, “This cargo is nothing but aging weapons which we are to send back to Cuba after overhauling them according to a legitimate contract. The Panamanian authorities should take a step to let the apprehended crewmen and ship leave without delay.”

#NorthKorea #Korea #Cuba #Panama #Asia

In the last several months, the U.S. has yet again ramped up tensions on the Korean peninsula, staging unnecessary and provocative war games; all while threatening north Korea with destruction. This comes after decades of similar threats and years of sanctions that have impoverished millions. The U.S. is clearly using lies, military threats including nuclear devastation, and economic bullying to get what it wants from both the north, the south, and indeed the world.

Students for a Democratic Society condemn the imperial actions of the United States toward north Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). We demand an end to the threats and lies that have helped divide the Korean people for more than fifty years, including war games.

We demand that the U.S. close military bases on the peninsula and withdraw troops from south Korea.

We demand an end to sanctions against the north that impoverish the Korean people.

We hold that peace is impossible so long as the United States continues to interfere with the affairs of sovereign states. The Korean people have a right to self-determination. The fate of reunification is for the Korean people to decide.

We say, “Hands off north Korea! Get off the peninsula!”

#NorthKorea #AntiwarMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Korea #USImperialism

Salt Lake City, UT – Anti-war activists and students in Utah took their message directly to the U.S. government's doorstep on April 11 with a rally in front of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building.

Roughly 30 people attended, calling for an end to U.S. occupation and military intervention, as well as an end to drone strikes like the one that killed 11 Afghan children on April 8.

“President Obama is the Drone Ranger,” said Utah Valley University professor Michael Minch. “The self-described 'Vulcans' who ran George W. Bush's White House must be green with envy, for Obama has killed far more people, personally authorizing their use, than Bush might have even imagined killing with this killing system.”

The crowd was adamant that the U.S. get out of Afghanistan and stay out of Syria and Iran. Many also voiced their opposition to ongoing threats and war rhetoric against Democratic Korea.

“People on both the right and the left have criticized north Korea for their military first policy,” said Dave Newlin, member of the October 7th Anti-War Committee, who organized the event. “I ask you, what about U.S. military first policy? What about U.S. endless hunger for weapons of mass destruction, for drones and for world dominance?”

Newlin pointed out that the U.S. spent almost $1.5 trillion on wars, military and defense support. That is more than any other U.S. expense and more than any other country. Those in attendance called for that money to be spent on things like education, jobs and health care, rather than war.

Organizer Tess Vandiver, who recently spent time in occupied Palestine, read a moving poem given to her by a Palestinian boy that read, “I feel like I am in a cemetery when I am in my own town.”

Vandiver condemned U.S. support for the Israeli occupation and called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel: “This issue isn’t about a group of people being better than another; this isn’t about whose land is whose, the Old Testament, or the Qur'an. It is about basic human rights and the suffocation of a society.”

The Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building houses both the offices of Utah Senator Mike Lee and the local FBI offices. Protesters took the opportunity to condemn the repression of anti-war activists throughout the U.S. by the FBI and called on Senator Lee to end his support for drone strikes and foreign intervention.

#SaltLakeCityUT #AntiwarMovement #Iran #AntiWarCommittee #Syria #USImperialism #NorthKorea #drones

The report states that Pak Rim Su, chief of the Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People's Army, sent the following message to James D. Sherman, commander of the U.S. forces in south Korea, on Feb. 23:

“As you know, a grave situation where a war may break out any moment prevails in Korea due to the brigandish moves of the U.S. and its allied forces to isolate and stifle the DPRK, taking issue with its just satellite launch and underground nuclear test for protecting its sovereignty.

“If your side ignites a war of aggression by staging the reckless joint military exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle again under the cover of ‘defensive and annual ones’ at this dangerous time, from that moment your fate will be hung by a thread with every hour.

“You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction while a great victory is in store for the guardians of justice.”

#NorthKorea #Korea #KoreanWar #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #USImperialism #Asia

The report states, “The test was carried out as part of practical measures of counteraction to defend the country's security and sovereignty in the face of the ferocious hostile act of the U.S. which wantonly violated the DPRK's legitimate right to launch satellite for peaceful purposes.”

The U.S. occupies the southern portion of Korea, and is the barrier to Korea’s reunification.

In recent weeks, the U.S. military has dispatched more military forces to the region and conducted provocative military exercises.

#NorthKorea #Korea #NuclearWeapons #KoreanPeninsula #USOccupation #Asia

About 160 years ago, Karl Marx wrote that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” And speaking to his statement in 2012, it’s hard to think of any modern example better than the remake of the 1984 film, Red Dawn.

In the original Red Dawn, released in 1984, Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and a host of other actors play high school students from Small Town, USA, who become guerrilla fighters after the Soviet Union, Cuba and Nicaragua’s Sandinistas invade the U.S. Calling themselves “Wolverines” after their school mascot, the rag-tag insurgent force uses guerrilla warfare tactics to acquire weapons and begin launching small-scale attacks on the occupying army.

In 2012, with the Cold War more than 20 years in the past, MGM Studios has changed the enemy from the Soviet Union to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

It’s not that Red Dawn is unique as a right wing, pro-war action flick. In 2011, Hollywood foisted Battle Los Angeles onto audiences, which was just a multi-million dollar military recruitment video with aliens. In February, Hollywood released Act of Valor, a rabidly pro-war film financed by the U.S. Navy that took propaganda to a new level by casting actual Navy SEALS in the lead roles. Even the original Reagan-era Red Dawn was released as a fairly unremarkable Cold War propaganda film, designed at scaring audiences into supporting war with the Soviet Union.

And yet there’s something so much more sinister at work in the new remake of the 1984 film, Red Dawn. In this era of growing resistance to U.S. imperialism – an eleven-year U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, drone strikes from Pakistan to Yemen and the extra-judicial assassination of U.S. citizens suspected of being enemies – it’s downright bizarre and offensive to portray the U.S. as an occupied or oppressed country. Put simply, the only thing truly remarkable about Red Dawn is the sheer magnitude of its scandalous political distortions.

Red Dawn begins with a fast-paced flurry of news clips, speeches by U.S. politicians and pundits and brooding imagery of the North Korean military marching in lockstep. Immediately the film’s Tea Party worldview is clumsily thrust onto the audience as reporters tell us that the U.S. and Western Europe have taken on too much debt and over-extended their military, leaving their borders supposedly unprotected.

A barrage of voices begin fanatically screaming about the threat posed to the U.S. by North Korea, as if repeating it more loudly each time will make it true. At one point, the film even regurgitates the famed 2010 lie that the DPRK sank the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, in 2010. The Chinese and Russian Navy, along with the University of Manitoba, disproved this story in their own independent investigations. Indeed, the irony of the Cheonan incident’s inclusion in Red Dawn is lost on no one who read the Chinese report, which implicates a rising mine planted by the U.S. Navy in the sinking of the South Korean warship.

I completely dismiss the notion that anyone should write off Red Dawn as “just a movie.” Equally ridiculous is the idea that everyone leaving the theater will clearly recognize that the whole premise of a North Korean invasion of the U.S. is total baloney. This is the film that director Dan Bradley ostensibly wants audiences to think is set in the real world, evidenced by the opening montage of news clips and political speeches about the supposedly looming threat of the DPRK. By using real events at the start of the film, even if they are strung together in a ham-handed manner, the director is deliberately telling the audience that this story is set in the real world.

Let’s be clear about a few facts that completely flip Red Dawn on its head: It is the U.S. – not the DPRK – that forcibly partitioned Korea after the end of the World War II in 1945. It was the U.S. that fought a war of aggression against the Korean people, beginning in 1950, resulting in more than a million deaths. It was the U.S. that installed a puppet dictator in the occupied south of Korea, Syngman Rhee, who collaborated with imperialist powers to execute dissidents and activists. The U.S. is a foreign invader that currently occupies half of Korea, with 28,000 troops permanently stationed in the south. The DPRK has no missiles or rockets within striking distance of the continental U.S., but the U.S. perpetually has nuclear weapons pointed directly at the DPRK, itself a country slightly smaller than the state of Montana.

The only aspect of Red Dawn more absurd and offensive than its overall right-wing message was its production process. Originally, the film portrayed China, not North Korea, invading and occupying the U.S. Shortly before its release, MGM decided that antagonizing China in the story line would restrict their access to international audiences and result in the movie being less profitable. Revealing the inherent racism of the film’s producers, the studio spent about $1 million to make cosmetic changes, like inserting new flags and reworking small bits of dialogue, to recast North Korea as the occupying army.

Red Dawn is an explicitly anti-Asian film, but one of the less talked about aspects of the film’s racism is its treatment of Black characters. Stoking Tea Party racism, the film portrays an African-American mayor as a cowardly collaborator with the occupying army. In an early scene, his call for the Wolverines to surrender is contrasted with the defiant attitude of the white police sergeant, whose subsequent death at the hands of the ruthless Captain Cho is portrayed as self-sacrificial and heroic.

Beyond the disturbing right-wing messages, though, Red Dawn is a terrible film. The youth’s transition from high school jocks to guerrilla fighters takes place in a three-minute montage without exploring any of the everyday hardships of insurgency. The villains are just emotionless vessels rampaging relentlessly on-screen, further adding to the racist portrayal of Asians. None of the actors seem to get it right, with some over-acting (Josh Peck) and others giving wooden performances (Chris Hemsworth). And the story line is full of plot holes and inconsistencies, just as it was in the original film.

As ludicrous as Red Dawn was in the 1980s, the remake is downright disturbing. Rest assured, the U.S. was as much of an imperialist power in 1984 as it is today, but with the presence of a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, whose influence extended to popular governments and liberation movements around the world, U.S. military aggression towards oppressed nations back then was checked.

After witnessing two decade-long wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, expanding U.S. military intervention in Uganda and other African countries, a devastating global economic crisis caused by banks and corporations in the U.S, and greater repression against Arab-Americans, Muslims and anti-war activists at home, any doubt that the U.S. government is the chief aggressor in the world has vanished. Particularly on the economic question, viewers can find common ground with the ‘foreign propaganda’ posters plastered around Spokane in the film, which read “Repairing your economy” and “Fighting corporate corruption.”

As tempting as it is to call for a boycott of Red Dawn, the film’s poor opening on Thanksgiving weekend – finishing in seventh place at the box office behind Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph – combined with across-the-board panning by critics may have already achieved the goal. Progressive activists might catch the Red Dawn remake on a late-night cable channel, but the $10 ticket price is probably better spent on picket signs or paint for an anti-war rally.

Nevertheless, activists and organizers must recognize that Red Dawn is pro-war, anti-communist propaganda designed to reach a mass audience and demonize a country that simply is not a threat to the American people. The Red Dawn remake may be an embarrassing and laughable farce of a film, but the imperialist agenda it serves is very real. Instead of seeing Red Dawn in theaters, activists ought to use the film’s release as a starting point to talk with people about the nature of imperialism and propaganda.

With continued U.S. aggression in the Korean Peninsula, the time is now to continue strengthening resistance to war and occupation. And ironically, a film as appallingly bad as Red Dawn provides an opportunity to begin that process.

#UnitedStates #Korea #Movies #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #NorthKorea #RedDawn #anticommunism

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.”

#DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Korea #DPRK #NorthKorea #Asia