ACTION ALERT: Call to Resolve
The Threat of War on the Korean Pennisula:
Suspend the ROK-US Military Exercises
Korea Peace Appeal Campaign, Korea Peace Now Grassroots Network
(March 4, 2023) — The ROK and US governments have given notice that they would carry out the most extensive field exercises in March by mobilizing the largest number of troops and strategic assets ever.
The situation is rapidly moving toward great power confrontation with no countermeasures to prevent conflict. War exercises that heighten the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula must stop. The suspension of the ROK-US combined military exercises will play a decisive role in re-establishing the forum for dialogue and diplomacy between the two Koreas and between the DPRK and the US.
Scroll down for the full statement. You will be joining many colleagues in the US, South Korea, and around the world to amplify our very urgent call. It will be sent to President Biden and President Yoon in March, 2023. NOTE: We are seeking organizational endorsements by no later than 10am EST, March 6 (Mon), 2023.
Call for Resolving the War Crisis in the
Korean Peninsula and Suspending ROK-US Combined Military Exercises
Joint Statement
As people who act for peace in South Korea, the US, and worldwide, we are deeply concerned about the elevating military tension in the Korean Peninsula. We must suspend all military actions, including ROK-US Combined Military Exercises.
Despite the emergence of peace through the Inter-Korean Summit and the DPRK-US Summit in 2018, the once-discontinued ROK-US Combined Military Exercises resumed in just a year. Following the aggravating relationship between the two Koreas and the DPRK-US. Last year, North Korea withdrew its four-year commitment to suspend nuclear tests and ICBM test launches because of the US hostile policy and military threats.
The situation is getting worse after the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol government. Both the US and South Korea announced to expand the scale of ROK-US Combined Military Exercises and enhance the Extended Deterrence Strategy, and for the first time in 5 years, military exercises with aircraft carriers and strategic bombers have resumed on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has also declared corresponding military operations and started military exercises.
Although it was in the open sea, North and South Korea exchanged missile launches close to the rivals’ sea border, causing tensions to ratchet up even further.
At that time, a failed missile launch from South Korea crashed in Gangneung, leaving the residents in the dark for hours, terrified. Moreover, North and South Korea have crossed the Military Demarcation Line by deploying unmanned aerial vehicles, thus violating the armistice. Marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice, the reality is that the armistice is even at stake.
The ROK and US authorities are claiming that the ROK-US Combined Military Exercises are an annual defense drill, but the truth is different. It appears that the drills are based on operation plans that reportedly include pre-emptive strikes and decapitation measures against North Korea, deployment of large-scale US troops and strategic assets assuming an all-out war, etc.
Over the last several decades, air force bombers like B-1B, B-2, and B-52 which are nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered submarines, large-scale US-ROK troops, etc. were mobilized. Due to its size and character, the ROK-US Combined Military Exercises have intensified the military and political tension in the Korean Peninsula.
The ROK and US governments have notified that they would carry out the most extensive practical exercises in March by mobilizing the largest number of troops and strategic assets ever, and have already started several ROK-US Combined Military Exercises since January. The ROK-US-Japan Military Cooperation has also developed into a level of a military alliance. North Korea is also taking military action, including missile drills, warning that “We will correspond at all times and take strong overwhelming actions”.
The situation is rapidly moving toward power-to-power confrontation with no countermeasures to prevent conflict. Large-scale military action mobilized with real weapons only increases the risk of accidental clashes. We are well informed that armed protests lead to war by the instances of several countries. It is only a matter of time before an unprecedented military and war crisis comes in the case of time.
War exercises that raise the war crisis in the Korean Peninsula must stop. We must acknowledge that isolation, military oppression, and sanctions have not accomplished Korea peace and denuclearization but only brought about resistance from North Korea, and put down the hostility.
Today, the entire world, including the Korean Peninsula, is facing complex crises such as climate, infectious disease, food, and economic crises. We cannot solve these crises unless we cooperate and stop blocization and military confrontations. In particular, the reality is that there is no information or control on the carbon emitted during large-scale military training and war preparations, such as deploying strategic bombers. Military drills, which are a threat to the Earth and human beings, must stop.
We must end the Korean war that has afflicted all members of the Korean Peninsula for over 70 years, and redirect the cost of destructive weapons to solving inequality and the climate crisis. It is time to end hostility and confrontation and strive for a peaceful and sustainable world through reconciliation and cooperation.
The suspension of the ROK-US combined military exercises will play a decisive role in re-establishing the forum for dialogue and diplomacy between the two Koreas and the DPRK-US. We call for the ROK and US governments’ resolution.
