Statement on North Korea's Nuclear Test: A call for an Anti-war, Anti-U.S, Nuclear Disarmament Movement
Opposing war and violence on the Korean Peninsula and around the world, in the name of all people who wish for peace and democracy, we assert the following:
1. We condemn the hypocrisy of the United Nations’ sanctions against North Korea and the real threat posed by the United States’ nuclear hegemony.
The majority of UN Security Council members including the U.S. have carried out fearful and deadly nuclear tests and have thousands of nuclear weapons. To present, the U.S. has carried out 1,127 nuclear tests, of which 217 were ground tests. The USSR carried out 969 tests, France 210, the U.K and China, 45 each.
The sanctions imposed by UN resolution 1718 are based on a double standard which holds that the actions of the “great powers” are legitimate while those of other countries are not. Moreover, while Israel, which is under the U.S.'s protection, carried out a nuclear test in 1979 and has hundreds of nuclear missiles, the U.S. has never insisted on sanctions against it.
All these facts demonstrate that the UN sanctions resolution against North Korea is explicitly hypocritical and is only a device for reinforcing the great powers' nuclear hegemony. Indeed, it is these states who are the principal promoters of world-wide nuclear proliferation
2. We oppose all measures to strengthen sanctions against North Korea based on the UN resolution.
Economic sanctions might be called a 'silent air strike'. It is a fact that economic sanctions, which have become rapidly more prevalent after the Cold War, have caused more casualties than Weapons of Mass Destruction. For example, in Iraq, tens of thousands of people, most of whom were children, died from economic sanctions, which were imposed from 1991 to 2001.
It is clear that economic sanctions, which strike indiscriminately, are in fact an attack against civilians and use human suffering and starvation as weapons of war. We must oppose all economic sanctions that target everyday people. All economic sanctions imposed by imperialist countries, not only those targeting North Korea, but also those targeting the Middle East, Latin America and other countries around the world, should be stopped immediately.
3. We call for an immediate end to the exceedingly dangerous confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea and oppose nuclear armament throughout East Asia and the Pacific Rim, most especially the armament of U.S.
The possession of nuclear weapons, the ultimate goal of which is the indiscriminate extermination of life, is never justifiable. Further, the possession of nuclear weapons itself induces war and gives rise to cold war-like posturing and fanatical militarism.
Every attempt to further stimulate nuclear competition in East Asia on the ground of responding to North Korea's nuclear test must be stopped. We must send a clear message that nuclear armament is not justified or acceptable to all the powers in East Asia who are currently raising their voices about militarization, including conservative forces in South Korea, militaristic powers in Japan and warlike powers in China and Taiwan.
4. We must eliminate all potential causes of war from South Korea.
In the face of rapidly rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula it is South Korea who should be first to eliminate the factors pointing to war. Currently, the policies of South Korea’s Roh administration are objectively increasing the risk of war.
The Roh administration actively supports the U.S.'s attempt to increase its capacity to carry out war by accepting the U.S. plan for Strategic Flexibility and allowing the repositioning of U.S forces in South Korea and the U.S. base expansion in Pyeong-Taek.
The Roh government is using the transfer of wartime operational control from the U.S. as grounds to increases weapons build-up tremendously.
It is therefore moving forward with the plan to introduce the AEGIS warship and PAC-3 missile as part of Missile Defense(MD) System.
We assert the necessity of arms reduction in Korea, the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the dissolution of Korea-U.S warlike military alliance. We not only oppose South Korea’s participation in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation Security Initiative(PSI), which is currently inducing armed conflict with North Korea, but the whole initiative in its entirety.
We must use our heartfelt desire for peace and collective strength to end the U.S. war- threat and nuclear armament in East Asia.
- End the nuclear confrontation on the Korean Peninsula!
- No to the U.S.’s imperialistic nuclear hegemony!
- No to UN sanctions against North Korea! No to PSI!
- Withdraw the U.S forces from Korea! Dissolve the Korea-U.S. war alliance!
- Abolish Strategic Flexibility! Stop the expansion of the U.S base in Pyeong-Taek!
October 25, 2006
PSSP (People's Solidarity for Social Progress)
시대착오적 간첩단 사건이 웬말이냐.
구시대 유물 국가보안법을 철폐하라!
1. 국가정보원이 또 사고를 쳤다. 민주노동당 간부를 포함하여 간첩혐의로 5명을 연행하고, 그 가운데 3명을 구속한 것이다. 일부 보수언론은 ‘일부 386 운동권 출신들이 연루된 대형 간첩단’ 운운하며 대대적인 여론몰이에 나섰고 한나라당에서는 색깔공세를 더욱 강화하고 있다. 더욱이 구시대적 유물로 폐기되었어야 마땅할 국가보안법이 아직도 살아서 공안사건을 만들어내는 현실에 치를 떨며 분노하지 않을 수 없다.
2. 북 핵시험 이후 ‘전쟁불사론’ 등이 터져 나오고 반북 공세가 강화되는 등 보수 우익들이 준동하고 있는 시점이라는 점 역시 국정원의 의도를 의심할 수밖에 없게 만든다. 국정원은 과거에도 보수 세력의 발호에 발맞추어 각종 조작사건을 만들어내어 공안분위기를 조성하고 진보진영을 탄압하였다. 국정원은 벌써 그림표를 그리고 수사를 확대할 것이라고 한다. 그러나 이는 전형적인 끼워 맞추기식 조작이며 억지 수사를 예고하는 것이다.
3. 국정원은 회합 통신죄에 해당한다고 하지만 반인권, 반민중적인 국가보안법을 앞세워 범죄시하는 것은 있을 수 없는 것이다. 오히려 사상, 표현, 양심의 자유를 가로막는 국가보안법을 철폐하고 공안의 잣대로만 사회를 재단하는 국정원이 해체되어야 하는 것이다.
4. 보수정치권, 국정원, 수구언론, 극우단체 등이 앞서거니 뒷서거니 적당히 맞장구치면서 사건을 부풀리고 근거도 없이 사실인양 말하면서 반북, 반공이데올로기를 조장하고 공안몰이를 가속화하는 것은 즉각 중단되어야 한다. 아직도 그러한 철지난 공세로 국민여론을 현혹할 수 있다고 생각하면 한참 오산이다. 핵 실험을 빌미로 안보불안을 조장하여 호전적 군사주의를 강화시키려 하고 한미 군사동맹을 부르짖고 이와 더불어 공안분위기까지 조성하는 것은 한반도 평화와 민중의 안전에 어떠한 도움도 되지 않는다.
사회진보연대 2006년 10월 27일