elijahcraig
27th August 2003, 20:06
U.S. crimes in Korea
An International Tribunal on U.S. Crimes was held in Pyongyang, DPRK, on July 24-25. The following are excerpts from its final verdict. The full findings were sent to the U.S. Congress and non-governmental organizations at the United Nations. Go to www.iacenter.org to read the indictment and verdict in their entirety.
Democratic international organizations, progressive anti-war peace organizations and activists, and individual lawyers from different countries have examined the indictment brought by the International Joint Prosecution Team against all criminal acts committed in Korea since 1945 to 2003 by the United States...
On the basis of the thorough-going and detailed investigation of the criminal acts committed by the United States, the International Joint Prosecution Team accused presidents of the United States from the Truman administration to the present Bush administration; secretaries of the State Department; secretaries of the Defense Department; chairpersons of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force; directors of the Central Intelligence Agency; staff members of the National Security Council; national security advisers to U.S. presidents; commanders of U.S. forces in south Korea; and others under their command for the fact that they have interfered in the internal affairs of Korea, obstructed the unified democratic development of the Korean people and inflicted misfortune and suffering upon the Korean people, in violation of the UN Charter, international codes on war and other international instruments on humanitarianism, human rights and disarmament, as well as of the national laws of the U.S., the DPRK and other countries concerned. ...
On the basis of field visits and hearing of testimonies from victims and other witnesses on the atrocities committed by the United States;
Having reviewed the earlier reports made by the Commission of the International Asso ciation of Democratic Lawyers, the Commis sion of the Women's International Democratic Federation, the International Scientific Com mis sion on Biological Warfare in Korea;
Having perused the report of the Korean Truth Commission on U.S. War Crimes; documents presented by the Central Committee of the National Democratic Front for Reuni fication; the complaints, white papers and reports of different democratic organizations in both the north and the south of Korea;
Having analyzed the minutes, verbatim records and other documents, photos and films about the war declassified in different countries of the world; and
Taking into consideration the objective facts confirmed by the Korea International War Crimes Tribunal held in New York in 2001;
The Pyongyang International Tribunal on U.S. Crimes in Korea holds that the following crimes have been committed by the United States in Korea:
After World War II, the United States divided Korea into two, occupying the southern part of Korea against the will of the Korean people, and cracked down on the South Korean patriotic democratic forces, killing more than 1 million innocent people.
The United States provoked the Korean War, in which it leveled the towns and villages in Korea by dropping over 600,000 tons of bombs, including napalm, and murdered more than 3 million people in the north and about 1.2 million civilians in the south by using biochemical and other weapons of mass destruction.
Even after the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, they continued to deploy nuclear weapons and huge armed forces in south Korea in violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement and international law. It persistently committed crimes against peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula and ruthlessly encroached upon the democratic freedom and human rights of the south Korean people.
The United States, due to its hostility to the ideology and economic and political system of the DPRK, persistently imposed political and military pressure, economic sanctions and blockade upon the DPRK, and tried ideological and cultural infiltration into it. By doing so, the U.S. wantonly violated the internationally recognized basic rights of the Korean people, including their rights to self-determination, survival and development.
All these crimes were committed not accidentally by an individual citizen, or a civilian organization of the United States, but were planned and organized premeditatedly accord ing to the official will of the U.S. administrations.
Recognizing that the above-mentioned acts of the United States are grave violations of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter and the principles of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg, and the codes on crimes against human peace and security; and
Holding that the United States must take full responsibility for them;
The Pyongyang International Tribunal on U.S. Crimes in Korea has reached the following verdict:
1. The U.S. Government and the other accused mentioned in the indictment are guilty of the charges levelled by the prosecution and detailed in the indictment submitted to the Tribunal.
2. The U.S. Government must make an official apology for all its criminal acts in Korea, and make due compensation for physical, mental and material loss inflicted upon the Korean people. It is an obligation of the U.S., under international law, to make reparation to the Korean people for the damages inflicted on them.
3. The U.S. must find out all those involved in planning, preparation, organization, instruction, execution and backing of the crimes against the Korean people, and put them on trial and sentence them to criminal punishment.
4. It is obligatory for the U.S. to enact a relevant law for it to assume full responsibility for its crimes on the Korean peninsula, and establish a special institution in Con gress and the administration with the mandate to investigate and address this issue.
5. The U.S. Government must immediately abandon its hostile policy towards the DPRK, put an end to its military threat against it, sign a non-aggression treaty with it, and settle the issue of peace on the Korean peninsula in a peaceful way through DPRK-U.S. talks. It is only by doing so that further commission of such crimes against the Korean people can be eliminated.
6. The U.S. must immediately pull its troops and all nuclear weapons from the south of Korea, and end its political pressure, economic sanctions and blockade, and psychological warfare against the DPRK.
7. The U.S. Government must refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Korea contrary to the will of the Korean people to reunify the country by the Korean nation itself in a peaceful way, true to the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.
Reprinted from the Aug. 28, 2003, issue of Workers World newspaper
An International Tribunal on U.S. Crimes was held in Pyongyang, DPRK, on July 24-25. The following are excerpts from its final verdict. The full findings were sent to the U.S. Congress and non-governmental organizations at the United Nations. Go to www.iacenter.org to read the indictment and verdict in their entirety.
Democratic international organizations, progressive anti-war peace organizations and activists, and individual lawyers from different countries have examined the indictment brought by the International Joint Prosecution Team against all criminal acts committed in Korea since 1945 to 2003 by the United States...
On the basis of the thorough-going and detailed investigation of the criminal acts committed by the United States, the International Joint Prosecution Team accused presidents of the United States from the Truman administration to the present Bush administration; secretaries of the State Department; secretaries of the Defense Department; chairpersons of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force; directors of the Central Intelligence Agency; staff members of the National Security Council; national security advisers to U.S. presidents; commanders of U.S. forces in south Korea; and others under their command for the fact that they have interfered in the internal affairs of Korea, obstructed the unified democratic development of the Korean people and inflicted misfortune and suffering upon the Korean people, in violation of the UN Charter, international codes on war and other international instruments on humanitarianism, human rights and disarmament, as well as of the national laws of the U.S., the DPRK and other countries concerned. ...
On the basis of field visits and hearing of testimonies from victims and other witnesses on the atrocities committed by the United States;
Having reviewed the earlier reports made by the Commission of the International Asso ciation of Democratic Lawyers, the Commis sion of the Women's International Democratic Federation, the International Scientific Com mis sion on Biological Warfare in Korea;
Having perused the report of the Korean Truth Commission on U.S. War Crimes; documents presented by the Central Committee of the National Democratic Front for Reuni fication; the complaints, white papers and reports of different democratic organizations in both the north and the south of Korea;
Having analyzed the minutes, verbatim records and other documents, photos and films about the war declassified in different countries of the world; and
Taking into consideration the objective facts confirmed by the Korea International War Crimes Tribunal held in New York in 2001;
The Pyongyang International Tribunal on U.S. Crimes in Korea holds that the following crimes have been committed by the United States in Korea:
After World War II, the United States divided Korea into two, occupying the southern part of Korea against the will of the Korean people, and cracked down on the South Korean patriotic democratic forces, killing more than 1 million innocent people.
The United States provoked the Korean War, in which it leveled the towns and villages in Korea by dropping over 600,000 tons of bombs, including napalm, and murdered more than 3 million people in the north and about 1.2 million civilians in the south by using biochemical and other weapons of mass destruction.
Even after the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, they continued to deploy nuclear weapons and huge armed forces in south Korea in violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement and international law. It persistently committed crimes against peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula and ruthlessly encroached upon the democratic freedom and human rights of the south Korean people.
The United States, due to its hostility to the ideology and economic and political system of the DPRK, persistently imposed political and military pressure, economic sanctions and blockade upon the DPRK, and tried ideological and cultural infiltration into it. By doing so, the U.S. wantonly violated the internationally recognized basic rights of the Korean people, including their rights to self-determination, survival and development.
All these crimes were committed not accidentally by an individual citizen, or a civilian organization of the United States, but were planned and organized premeditatedly accord ing to the official will of the U.S. administrations.
Recognizing that the above-mentioned acts of the United States are grave violations of the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter and the principles of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg, and the codes on crimes against human peace and security; and
Holding that the United States must take full responsibility for them;
The Pyongyang International Tribunal on U.S. Crimes in Korea has reached the following verdict:
1. The U.S. Government and the other accused mentioned in the indictment are guilty of the charges levelled by the prosecution and detailed in the indictment submitted to the Tribunal.
2. The U.S. Government must make an official apology for all its criminal acts in Korea, and make due compensation for physical, mental and material loss inflicted upon the Korean people. It is an obligation of the U.S., under international law, to make reparation to the Korean people for the damages inflicted on them.
3. The U.S. must find out all those involved in planning, preparation, organization, instruction, execution and backing of the crimes against the Korean people, and put them on trial and sentence them to criminal punishment.
4. It is obligatory for the U.S. to enact a relevant law for it to assume full responsibility for its crimes on the Korean peninsula, and establish a special institution in Con gress and the administration with the mandate to investigate and address this issue.
5. The U.S. Government must immediately abandon its hostile policy towards the DPRK, put an end to its military threat against it, sign a non-aggression treaty with it, and settle the issue of peace on the Korean peninsula in a peaceful way through DPRK-U.S. talks. It is only by doing so that further commission of such crimes against the Korean people can be eliminated.
6. The U.S. must immediately pull its troops and all nuclear weapons from the south of Korea, and end its political pressure, economic sanctions and blockade, and psychological warfare against the DPRK.
7. The U.S. Government must refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Korea contrary to the will of the Korean people to reunify the country by the Korean nation itself in a peaceful way, true to the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.
Reprinted from the Aug. 28, 2003, issue of Workers World newspaper