According to the report, people in a number of provinces are no longer being held in quarantine following medical observation.

The report states, “The emergency anti-epidemic headquarters at all levels encourage all the people to keep streets, villages and worksites more tidy and clean and carry on disinfection on a regular basis during hygienic months, March and April, thus turning the hygienic work into a mass campaign for preventing the viral epidemic.”

#WashingtonDC #Korea #Asia #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Socialism #COVID19 #KoreanCentralNewsAgency

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 commentary went on to state, “We can not but take a serious note of the double-dealing attitudes of the U.S. as it is busy staging secret drills involving man-killing special units while having a dialogue with a smile on its face.”

#WashingtonDC #Korea #Pyongyang #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #koreaDprk

The people of Korea and the peace-loving peoples of the world are celebrating the four-point peace pledge between President Trump of the U.S. and the Chairman Kim Jong Un of the socialist Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). It is a big victory for the people of Korea, who want an official end to the U.S. war in Korea, denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and the return home of U.S. troops. Koreans hope for the unity of their historic homeland, much like the Irish and Palestinian peoples do.

After World War II and the brutal Japanese military occupation, Koreans wanted a united country, as they had for 1000 years prior. Instead the U.S. army invaded and began a military occupation, dividing one nation into two states in 1945. The U.S. set up a military regime in the south. This southern military regime repressed and massacred anyone who opposed them, eventually provoking a war in the early 1950s. The U.S. promotes the myth that the north invaded the south, but the fact remains that Koreans cannot invade their own country.

The U.S. war in Korea killed one in five Koreans in the north, and one in ten Koreans total. The U.S. dropped more bombs on the north than were dropped by all sides in all of Europe in World War II. Low estimates say the U.S. war killed 3 million Koreans. Napalm death is a bad way to die, whether in the countryside or industrial centers. The horrific and deadly war ended quickly without a peace agreement and U.S. occupying troops remain in south Korea today. While the U.S. may have forgotten and buried the Korean War and the 37,000 U.S. troops who died there, it is still a living memory for all Koreans.

Despite what the corporate TV news is squawking about, peace in Korea is a good thing. The pledge for peace is due primarily to the strength and perseverance of the people and government in the socialist DPRK. The progressive, democratic, and workers’ movements in the south of Korea join them in their just national democratic demands. So do revolutionaries, anti-war and international solidarity movements around the world and here in the U.S. As the Korean people drive forward towards peace and unity, the U.S. empire and its supporters appear more isolated.

Part of this has to do with developments in the south of Korea. On May 9, Moon Jae-In was elected president of south Korea on a platform of restarting talks with the DPRK. President Moon and Chairman Kim Jong Un signed the Panmunjon Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Unification of the Korean Peninsula on April 27, 2018. Again, Koreans are driving this forward, not the U.S. The Panmunjon Declaration became the draft for the Kim Jong Un-Trump Peace Pledge.

There is a big lesson here: Anything Trump is able to accomplish with the DPRK simply exposes the complete failures of all prior U.S. administrations, Democrat and Republican. This shows how easy it could have been for any of them to make peace in Korea, if even Trump can fumble his way into this. This is a scathing indictment of the U.S. empire. It reveals the political and moral bankruptcy of decades of bipartisan U.S. foreign policy in Korea.

For decades the U.S. propped up brutal dictatorships in south Korea, making people endure murderous, undemocratic, corrupt right-wing governments with leaders doing the bidding of the U.S. Just last year President Park was impeached for corruption after stealing tens of millions of dollars. These governments violently repressed the student, labor and Korea unification movements, killing protesters and strike leaders in the streets. They denied democratic and labor rights whenever they could get away with it. The supporters of these right-wing governments were getting rich by exporting the natural resources of Korea to profit U.S. companies. Then Wall Street changed tact in the 1960s, and invested heavily in the electronics, auto and steel industries in the south of Korea, profiting from repressed wages, while shutting down the same industries in the U.S.

There are three big opponents of Korean peace and unity, and they are working overtime to stop any more DPRK-U.S. talks. Wall Street is howling about falling stock prices in weapons and other industries, the U.S. corporate media is screaming about Trump calling off U.S. war games, and then there are the ugly and offensive pro-war Democrats and Republicans making all sorts of American jingoistic statements, many of them American chauvinist against Koreans and Asians.

We stand with the Koreans who want peace, prosperity and security, the very ideas the four-point peace pledge talks about.

It is time for peace! No to U.S. war! No more U.S. war games! Bring the troops home now! Lift the sanctions on DPRK!

#UnitedStates #Korea #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Socialism #Asia

Minneapolis, MN – On Feb. 22, the snow fell as Minnesotans stood outside the offices of Senator Klobuchar to oppose the U.S. war threats against Korea. A statement from protest organizers, the Anti-War Committee, said, “Korea has a right to self-determination. The Trump regime needs to stand down, end U.S. war preparations on the Korean peninsula and not add the deaths of millions of Koreans to the administration’s already bloody tally.”

The world has been focused on the Korean peninsula this month for the Olympic Games. North and south Korea are struggling to honor the tradition of the Olympics as a time of truce by taking steps towards reconciliation through a unified Olympics team and flag, and towards a thawing of hostilities. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to do everything it can to block potential peace by maintaining and expanding threats of war against north Korea.

Rhea Smykalski, speaking for the MN Anti-War Committee, addressed the crowd first, “It may be cold outside, but we’re bringing the heat to Amy Klobuchar. In the last few months, Trump has been ramping up the attacks on Korea. Throughout his presidency, he has proven over and over that he knows nothing about diplomacy, and his impetuous behavior is about to cause a nuclear war.”

Smykalski continued, “Recently, bombers that can carry nuclear weapons are now positioned in Guam only 2200 miles away, several ships that carry advanced attack planes are headed to the region, and Japan is preparing to evacuate its citizens from north Korea. Our ‘shithole’ president is trying to take credit for the peace talks while carrying out endless dangerous and aggressive military maneuvers that are provoking nuclear war. We need to act now to oppose the U.S. government and its senseless threats of war against north Korea. Korea has a right to self-determination. We need to demand the U.S. stop threatening millions of Koreans with obliteration. It is our duty as U.S. citizens to put pressure on him and Congress to stop impeding peace efforts in the region, and to do everything we can to stop Trump from starting a world war!”

Sarah Martin, from Women Against Military Madness, also spoke. She said, “It’s important to be here today to call for ‘Hands off Korea!’ We’ve breathed a little easier over past two weeks during this Olympic break when the Trump administration was forced to back off. Imagine the relief the Koreans have felt who have been in the cross hairs of the U.S. war machine for decades.”

Martin concluded, “Almost 70 years ago, we entered into a war with north Korea that has never ended. At the time, only a handful of Americans raised their voices in opposition. We will not be silent this time. It is so important we are here once again in front of Senator Klobuchar’s office to say ‘End the sanctions,’ ‘Stop the military exercises’, ‘No more demonization,’ and ‘Hands off Korea!’ The stakes are catastrophically high.”

The protest follows up on call-in day to the senator earlier in February. Senator Klobuchar was unwilling to meet with the Anti-War Committee on Feb. 22 and the committee plans to continue to pressure their senators to play a role in opposing U.S. war threats on Korea.

The MN Peace Action Coalition has initiated a call for a march on April 15 with the slogan of “No U.S. War on North Korea”. The protest will start at 1:30 p.m. at Hennepin and Lagoon Avenues in Minneapolis.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #SenatorAmyKlobuchar #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea

According to the statement, “The gang of Trump, being terrified by our accomplishment of the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force, is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula more and more close to the brink of war, acting recklessly without any sense of reason.”

The statement concluded, “A naval blockade is an act of wanton violation of the sovereignty and dignity of an independent state and an act of war of aggression which cannot be tolerated.”

Since the conclusion of the Korean war, the U.S. has carried out a military occupation of the southern part of the Korean peninsula while the socialist north, the DPRK, has actively worked to reunify the country.

#WashingtonDC #Korea #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #KoreaCentralNewsAgency #Asia

Doral, FL- On Nov. 11, fifteen protesters gathered outside of Trump National Golf Resort in Doral to demand no military action against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (north Korea). Activists called on Trump to end his warmongering, close the bases, remove U.S troops from along the Korean border, and stop all U.S military exercises taking place in and around the Korean peninsula.

Protesters held signs that read, “Trump, we won’t fight your wars,” and chanted slogans such as, “Korea ain’t done nothing to me, we don’t want no World War Three!” Despite a few belligerent encounters with verbally obnoxious drivers, most cars passing by honked and waved in enthusiastic agreement with the group’s message. Surprisingly, even those cars entering and leaving the resort were supportive.

“This demonstration is the first step in a public campaign to resist war with north Korea and elsewhere, and instead call for diplomacy to resolve the conflict,” said David Gibson, lead organizer with Peace, Justice, Sustainability Florida which called for the action. “The war may not come soon, but its likelihood increases exponentially as we initiate a dangerous and costly arms race in the Pacific. All this to line the pockets of defense contractors.”

The rally was part of a larger day-long event called the “Peace Train for Diplomacy,” in which peace activists hopped on the Tri-Rail train from West Palm Beach going south and got off at the various stops handing out informational flyers and petitions against war on the Korean peninsula. Once the train stopped in Miami, those activists joined up with others to rally outside Trump’s resort.

#DoralFL #AntiwarMovement #Korea #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea

Minneapolis, MN – Over 50 people braved sub-freezing temperatures to join a Minneapolis protest on, Nov. 9 to speak out against a U.S. war on north Korea.

The protest, called by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC), was held to coincide with a call for local anti-war events Nov. 6 – 11. The call for the national week of actions, which is supported by a broad range of organizations, was initiated by the National Mobilization to Stop Trump War on North Korea. The week of actions coincides with a trip to Asia by President Trump.

The Minneapolis protest was held in front of the offices of Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. The protest was planned to “send an anti-war message to the senator,” as the protest announcement stated.

“It is very important that there be an anti-war response to the war crisis in Korea, the danger of a new U.S. war in Korea is real,” said Sarah Martin, a member of Women Against Military Madness, one of the organizations that helped call and build the event.

A statement issued by organizers said, “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.”

The MPAC-initiated protest was 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 #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #DonaldTrump

The article goes on to note, “The present grave situation once again clearly shows that Trump's mad remarks of ‘total destruction’ and ‘annihilation’ of the DPRK have resulted in military gambling and that it is just the U.S. which poses a threat to the DPRK's existence and development – and brings disastrous nuclear war to the Korean peninsula.”

#DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Korea #Asia

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

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

Washington DC – On March 22, the U.S. military conducted the largest-ever military exercise with south Korea's armed forces, preparing for an invasion and military strike on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). These war games amassed 300,000 South Korean troops and 17,000 U.S. troops on the 38th parallel, which has formally divided Korea into 'north' and 'south' since 1945. U.S. stealth bombers and South Korean fighter jets simulated bombing Pyongyang, the capitol of the DPRK, along with other sites in anticipation of “a crisis situation” in the Korean Peninsula, according to U.S. Navy commanders.

This massive mobilization of the U.S. and south Korean war machines took place amid new threats of military aggression by the Trump administration. Speaking in Seoul, South Korea, on March 17, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson rejected the possibility of peace negotiations with the DPRK over its nuclear weapons program. Speaking on “military conflict,” he told reporters and South Korean officials, “that option's on the table.”

“The policy of strategic patience has ended,” said Tillerson during a press conference. “We are exploring a new range of security and diplomatic measures.” The unprecedented war games in the Korean peninsula last week make clear that these measures include outright war.

The U.S. called its joint military exercises with south Korea “purely defensive,” supposedly in response to a missile test by the DPRK. But considering the U.S. outspends the DPRK on its military in a big way – Trump's proposed budget raises U.S. military spending to $603 billion versus the DPRK's $10 billion – this claim is another example of Trump's ‘alternative facts’ at work.

Mass movement in south Korea topples corrupt U.S.-backed president

Despite its enormous military presence, the U.S. agenda in the Korean Peninsula is not going well. On March 10, South Korea's Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye on corruption charges. Park is the daughter of former military dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled the south of Korea from 1961 to 1979 when he was overthrown by a mass movement of workers, labor unions and students.

Park won the 2012 presidential election in the south backed by a coalition of U.S. interests and giant corporations like Samsung. Her government launched a massive assault on unions and the working class, which was met with massive strikes that shut down production and transportation for days. In October 2016, 7000 truckers in south Korea went on strike opposing Park's plans to deregulate the industry and bust unions. The truckers' strike exploded into a widespread worker revolt when Park declared the work stoppage illegal and sent riot police to break the union by force. Rail workers, teachers, factory workers and others also struck and added fuel to the fire.

As president, Park followed the foreign policy line of the U.S. She cut off economic ties with the DPRK, antagonized the People's Republic of China, and defended the continued presence of U.S. military bases in Korea, despite popular protests. Of particular importance was her support for the Thermal High-Area Altitude Defense (THAAD) missile system pushed by the U.S. THAAD's stated purpose is to defend against attacks by the DPRK, but critics agree it would not successfully shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles if indeed they were fired. Its real purpose is conducting surveillance on China and advancing Washington's long-term plans for war.

Last year, Park's government came under intense fire over revelations of a web of corruption between her administration and major corporations like Samsung. Park's closest advisor – a Rasputin-like cult leader and childhood friend – traded political favors for big business in exchange for money. Massive protests by workers, unions and students forced the National Assembly to impeach Park on Dec. 9, 2016, which was upheld by the Constitutional Court on March 10.. Park and others now face criminal charges stemming from the corruption investigation.

Discredited by the impeachment and opposed by the militant Korean working class, Park's right-wing Saenuri Party stands to lose the upcoming presidential election. Moon Jae-in, the candidate for the liberal Democratic Party of Korea, has a comfortable lead in the polls. She promises re-engagement with the DPRK and has signaled deep skepticism towards the THAAD missile defense system, along with the overall role of the U.S. military in south Korea. Depending on the outcome, the May 9 presidential election could spell disaster for U.S. military plans in the Korean Peninsula.

The legacy of the Korean War

The U.S. media talks about 'north' and 'south' Korea as two separate countries. In reality, Korea is a single nation that was forcibly divided by the U.S. immediately after World War II. The DPRK, along with some progressive political parties, labor unions, and most working people living in the south, remain committed to an independent, reunified Korea to this day.

In World War II, Korea played a crucial rule in defeating the Japanese. An anti-colonial guerrilla army, led by communists like Kim Il Sung, overthrew Japan's bloodthirsty colonial system in 1945, but the U.S. moved in quickly to capture Japan's old empire for itself. U.S. military officers divided Korea in two along the 38th parallel and established a capitalist puppet government in the south made up of elites and former Japanese collaborators. Fearing the widespread popularity of the communists in the north and the left-wing people's committees in the south, the Truman administration launched a military campaign to violently crush the Korean revolution in 1950. Aided by the Soviet Union and socialist China, the Korean People’s Army (KPA) pushed the U.S led invasion back to the 38th parallel, which is now the southern border of the DPRK.

3 million Koreans died during the Korean War, 2 million from the north and a million in the south, according to University of Chicago professor Bruce Cumings. That means 1 in 10 Koreans, and 1 in 5 north Koreans – died as a direct result of the U.S./United Nations military action in Korea. In the three years of the Korean War, the U.S. dropped more bombs on this small East Asian nation than all sides dropped in Europe in six years of fighting during World War II. U.S. military personnel oversaw the execution of hundreds of thousands of suspected communist sympathizers by Syngman Rhee’s puppet government in the south.

Despite the destruction caused by the Korean War, the DPRK undertook an ambitious reconstruction effort that allowed them to enjoy a higher GDP and better standard of living than the U.S.-supported regime in the south, which consistently suffered from high unemployment and low wages brought on by Western sweatshops. It wasn’t until the 1980s and the eventual collapse of the DPRK’s largest trading partner, the Soviet Union, that the Republic of Korea would overtake the north in economic productivity.

Socialism in the DPRK

In the U.S. media, the overwhelming image of the DPRK is a totalitarian hellhole. This image didn't come out of nowhere, nor does it reflect the actual reality of life in the DPRK. It's an idea intentionally cultivated through Hollywood films like The Interview, Netflix exploitation documentaries, fake news stories – like the now-discredited claim that Kim Jong Un was forcing all Koreans to get his same haircut – and sensationalist 'defector' stories, most of which are paid and written by South Korean intelligence offices.

The propaganda image of Kim Jong Un as a crazy dictator fuels the U.S. drive for war against the DPRK. After all, the only way you could believe the ludicrous idea of a tiny impoverished country firing first on the world's biggest and most armed military power is if you believe the leader (1) is totally insane, and (2) doesn't care about human life. Ironically, these characteristics apply to the billionaires in the Trump administration, which is playing with fire and risking war in east Asia.

Here are the facts: DPR Korea is a socialist country, meaning the working class and its party – the Workers Party of Korea – hold state and economic power. Its achievements in the face of sanctions and devastating warfare even impressed officials in the U.S. A declassified CIA report, written behind closed doors in 1990, explicitly recognizes that the DPRK administers outstanding social services for children, guarantees totally free housing to citizens, provides a highly successful country-wide public preventative medical program, oversees a police force with an extremely low level of corruption and has achieved high life expectancy and low infant mortality rates.

The same CIA report points out that there are more college-educated women than men in the DPRK, and admits that the Workers Party of Korea legitimately committed to ‘radical change’ in Korean gender relations. The facts support their conclusion: women are permitted to serve in the military, state child-care programs allow women to have independent careers outside of the house and a significant number of high level political positions are occupied by women, including representation in the Supreme People’s Assembly.

The DPRK’s remarkable public health care system – which provides unconditional universal coverage for citizens – continues to perform tremendously well, even in the midst of crippling U.S. sanctions. In 2010 report to the United Nations on the north Korean health care system, Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, called it “something which most other developing countries would envy.” She pointed out that the “DPRK has no lack of doctors and nurses,” and praised the system for its “very elaborate health infrastructure, starting from the central to the provincial to the district level.”

Learning from history: The DPRK's nuclear program in context

The DPRK has faced economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. since its inception and remains poor, having to dedicate a large amount of its resources to defend against the threat of invasion. Imperialist aggression against the DPRK continues to this day. More than 28,000 U.S. troops permanently stationed in South Korea and the overhanging threat of U.S. Navy freighters carrying nuclear missiles in the Korean Peninsula. War games, like these latest provocations by Trump, take place every year.

After the fall of the Soviet Union and most of the socialist bloc, the U.S. began targeting the remaining socialist and national democratic states for regime change. Colin Powell, serving as a general under George H.W. Bush, said in 1992 that he was “running out of demons” to justify military buildup, saying only “Kim Il Sung and Fidel Castro” were left. Facing economic hardships from the loss of its biggest trading partner and military ally (USSR), the DPRK began investing heavily in its national defense and launched a nuclear program – both for energy and military application.

Contrary to the hysterical claims in the U.S. media that the DPRK wants to “turn Los Angeles into a sea of fire” or “nuke Seoul,” the aim of the Korean nuclear program is to reduce the country's spending on the military and use it for economic development. In 2016 at the 13th Presidium, the Supreme People’s Assembly explicitly outlined the reasons for its nuclear program: deterrence.

According to the Korean Central News Agency, military spending accounts for 15.9% of the DPRK's budget, compared with 47.5% for the economy and 36.6% for social services like childcare, health care, sports and education. The DPRK spends such a large amount of its budget on its military for defense purposes, but it would prefer to spend more on developing socialism and improving living standards.

Two years after invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein's government, George W. Bush presented an ultimatum to both Libya and the DPRK: Shut down their nuclear programs, cooperate with the 'war on terror,” or risk regime change. Muammar Gaddafi of Libya agreed and abandoned its program, eventually facing regime change anyway when the U.S./NATO toppled his government in 2011. Kim Jong Il, on the other hand, pressed forward and announced its first successful nuclear test in 2006 – deterring U.S. military regime change to this day. The WPK hopes that the deterrence created by a fully stocked nuclear weapons arsenal will keep the U.S. and Japan at bay, allowing them to spend fewer resources on the military as a whole.

U.S. hands off Korea

Workers in the U.S. have zero to gain from a war with the DPRK and China, or the continued occupation of south Korea by the U.S. military. In a war, working class people from the U.S. – not 'fortunate sons' like the Trump brothers – would be sent to die for the profits of Wall Street. Pentagon estimates in 2013 noted the U.S. spends over $7 billion annually to maintain its military presence in south Korea – all while claiming that providing universal healthcare to workers in the U.S. is “too expensive.”

When we cut through the propaganda, workers in the U.S. have a lot more in common with the people of the DPRK and the workers in the south who toppled President Park than they do with Donald Trump or the 1% class of billionaires he represents. We should stand resolutely against a war against the DPRK or China, and demand a withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Korea’s south.

#WashingtonDC #WashingtonDCDC #AntiwarMovement #Korea #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #DonaldTrump

The article noted that “The south Korea-U.S. ‘mutual defense pact’ concluded 65 years ago is an unpardonable country-selling one as it has desperately blocked the independent development of the south Korean society, laid a stumbling block in the way of the Korean nation for peace and reunification of the country and brought a war disaster to Korea.”

The article also noted, “The south Korean people can neither get rid of misfortune and pain nor can the danger of war be defused on the Korean peninsula nor the north-south relations improve as long as the U.S. keeps south Korea under its military occupation and domination and sycophants and traitors are allowed to kowtow to the aggressors.”

The U.S. has about 30,000 troops stationed in south Korea and regularly partners with the south Korean authorities to stage provocative military exercises.

The U.S. recently upped the number of its troops on the Korean peninsula as a part of Washington’s “pivot towards Asia.” The “pivot” or “rebalancing towards Asia” as it has recently been rebranded, is the current U.S. strategy to dominate the Pacific region and contain socialist China by projecting military force, treaties and economic agreements.

#DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Korea #Asia #KoreanReunification #KoreanWar #USImperialism

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

The Korean News Agency reported Jan. 8 that Korean leader Kim Jong Un and other sports fans gathered at Pyongyang Indoor Stadium to watch a basketball game between a team of ex-NBA stars, including Dennis Rodman, and Korean players from the Hwaebul team.

According to the Korean News Agency report, “Kim Jong Un welcomed the American basketball players' visit to the DPRK and said that the game served as a good occasion in promoting the understanding between the peoples of the two countries.”

The Hwaebul Team beat the team of ex-NBA stars 47 to 39.

#DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #Korea #Sports #KimJongUn #DennisRodman #Asia

St. Paul, MN – 70 people gathered at Macalester Plymouth United Church here on July 27 to participate in a program called “60 Years After the End of the Korean War: Is the Korean War Really Over?”

The event opened with a performance by the Korean Drum Group. Christine Ahn spoke via video link on what is fueling the current crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Stan Smith, a veteran peace activist who recently visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), told the crowd, “Destroying the government of the DPRK would allow the U.S. to turn the entire Korean peninsula into an extension of U.S. power – right on the border with China and Russia. This is the ultimate motivation for U.S. policy towards North Korea.”

The event was organized by the July 27 Korea Forum Committee and co-sponsored by the Anti-War Committee, Korean Quarterly, Mayday Books, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Peacemaking Committee of Macalester Plymouth United Church, People of Faith Peacemakers, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Students for a Democratic Society, Veterans for Peace (Chapter 27) and Women Against Military Madness.

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #USImperialism #MacalesterPlymouthUnitedChurch

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

Minneapolis, MN – Organizers of the weekly peace vigil on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge between Minneapolis and Saint Paul have announced plans to dedicate the April 10 vigil to making an anti-war statement in response to the military crisis in Korea.

The vigil will be held Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

The event will call for an end to the ongoing U.S. military maneuvers in the region and an end to the economic sanctions imposed on north Korea.

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.”

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

The call for the April 10 vigil is endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Emergency Committee to Stop U.S. War in Korea, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Veterans for Peace and others.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #KoreanWar #DemocraticPeoplesRepublicOfKorea #USImperialism