"Peace for Korea"

Translated "Avante!"article by Albano Nunes, Member of the International Department

Finally, the confrontation and war situation lived within Korea since World War II ending, when this country begun to be liberated from the Japanese occupation, by the patriotic forces, led by Kim IL Sung, was brought to an end, with the signing of a peace agreement. The 1950/53 war, that cost the lives of millions of Korean, ended with a simple armistice. The North-American troops never left South Korea. The USA always refused to sign a peace agreement to stop the war situation. Within its “ communism restraint” policy, it was convenient to hold a powerful military operative provision, in the region, targeted not but against the socialist North, but above all, against the Soviet Union and the Popular Republic of China. During the “cold war”, that was the very reason to maintain the Korea Peninsula as a highly dangerous tension focus, similar to the one round West Berlin.

It is important to bear in mind, that today, April 27th, in the moment Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, the presidents of the Popular Democratic Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, meet at Panmunjong and a meeting is announced to take place some weeks upon this date, between the RPDK and the USA presidents. A meeting that ought to take place amid a very different climate of the one, that recently, seemed to place the world at the brink of a nuclear war. In fact, there is no alternative on what concerns the negotiated political solution of the conflict. The major steps that already have taken place concerning the North / South relations and the détente climate, created when abandoning the dementia rhetoric of “fire and fury” leading unto legitimate expectations. More than speculate over the reasons that produced this turnaround on the Korean issue, in which, from the apparent imminence of a military confrontation unto the negotiations table - as if “Pyongyang was yielded” by the weight of imposed brutal sanctions or instead the USA was obliged to recognize the RPDK as a nuclear power - , what matters is to strongly grasp the opportunity opened up by the non-escalade of confrontation and endure courageous steps towards a peace agreement, that ought to end, at last, the current existent war situation.

The path is not compliant. It was launched, in former occasions and highly failed, mainly because North-American imperialism never gave up its purpose, together, in partnership with Japan, to dominate the whole region; it never gave up, as in Seoul, with Syngman Rhee, the fascist, to impose a titre regime on the people of the RPDK; never accepted to withdraw its powerful military forces nor end the military manoeuvres in the region, which are, in fact, rehearsals for an eventual North invasion; never accepted to give security guarantees, in order to put aside its nuclear programme, that the RPDK claimed for. It is clear that nobody ought to demand that both sides pursue to dialogue, and explicitly recognize their responsibilities, concerning the current highly dangerous situation. That ought to become history. At the moment, it is necessary to respect the UN Charter and international law, to respect the RPDK sovereignty, the recognition of the right of the sovereign and peaceful reunification of the people of the RPDK’s millenary homeland.

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