Anonymous
14th January 2003, 17:21
Commentary
Trying to Justify an Unjustifiable War
Against the DPRK
- Philip Fernandez* -
The monopoly media has stepped up the U.S.-led disinformation campaign against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) citing that the DPRK has decided to re-activate its nuclear reactor plant at Yongbyon for the purpose of making nuclear weapons in order to threaten south Korea, Japan, East Asia and the rest of the world. The National Post on December 27 went so far as to suggest that the UN has accused "North Korea of 'nuclear brinkmanship'", noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization which is in the back pocket of the U.S., cannot see why the DPRK has decided to re-activate its Yongbyon nuclear plant, except to create nuclear weapons. In this way, the truth is conveniently kept hidden.
The fact is that the DPRK has decided to activate the Yongbyon plant because the United States has rendered the 1994 Agreed Framework (AF) between the United States and the DPRK null and void. It is the U.S. government which has not built the two light water reactors it said that it would by 2003 if the DPRK agreed to mothball the Yongbyon plant (which was built to guarantee the energy needs of the DPRK). It was the U.S. government which unilaterally accused the DPRK of having "nuclear weapons of mass destruction" as a justification for stopping the delivery of heavy oil to the DPRK as of December 2002, in violation of the AF. It is the U.S. which has not lifted a finger to normalize relations between it and the DPRK by removing the 50-year-old trade and economic embargo against the DPRK, as agreed in the AF. And it is the U.S. that has done nothing to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, keeping a large arsenal of conventional and nuclear weapons in south Korea, as well as a large military force of some 37,500 soldiers. To top it off, the U.S. has refused to sign a treaty of non-aggression proposed by the DPRK at the end of October 2002.
In light of this, what is the DPRK to do? As a sovereign nation, it has openly told the U.S. that it has the right to defend itself with whatever weapons it has at its disposal, nuclear and otherwise. Every nation on this earth has that right. Secondly, as per the Agreed Framework, if the U.S. has sabotaged the efforts of the DPRK to achieve fuel self-sufficiency, the DPRK has every right to re-activate the Yongbyon nuclear plant. It can do no less.
It is criminal that the mass media is taking the side of the U.S. warmongers, howling about the threat to the world posed by the DPRK. It is criminal that the National Post provides space for the likes of Barry Cooper, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, and David Bercuson, director of the University of Calgary's Centre of Military and Strategic Studies, to try and justify another war of aggression on the Korean peninsula. Noting that almost 30,000 Canadians were involved in the Korean War of 1950-53 of whom more than 500 died, they said, "Should war break out in Korea, Canada's interests, Canada's pride, and Canada's debt to the Korean War dead should commit this nation once again to battle."
No thanks, Messrs Bercuson and Cooper. It was unjust and illegal for Canada to participate in the Korean War against a people who wanted to re-unify their country and get on with their lives after the Second World War. The untold crimes committed against the Korean people -- the destruction of their cities and infrastructure, the killing of innocent civilians and the continued division of their country -- have not been redressed. Knowing all this, it would be doubly criminal, unjust and illegal for Canada to involve itself on the Korean peninsula again, against a sovereign nation which has not attacked us, has always upheld itself in accord with international laws and the UN Charter, and which has no designs upon any other nation.
Canadians want to be a force for peace in the world, not the instruments of unjust wars. Rather than go to war against the Korean people, we will bring honour to ourselves and help to correct our own past mistakes by preventing the U.S. from starting another war on the Korean peninsula.
* Philip Fernandez is the Ontario spokesperson for the People's Front and a member of the 8th International Fact Finding Mission of the Korea Truth Commission.
http://cpcml.ca/tmld/D33006.htm#2
Trying to Justify an Unjustifiable War
Against the DPRK
- Philip Fernandez* -
The monopoly media has stepped up the U.S.-led disinformation campaign against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) citing that the DPRK has decided to re-activate its nuclear reactor plant at Yongbyon for the purpose of making nuclear weapons in order to threaten south Korea, Japan, East Asia and the rest of the world. The National Post on December 27 went so far as to suggest that the UN has accused "North Korea of 'nuclear brinkmanship'", noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization which is in the back pocket of the U.S., cannot see why the DPRK has decided to re-activate its Yongbyon nuclear plant, except to create nuclear weapons. In this way, the truth is conveniently kept hidden.
The fact is that the DPRK has decided to activate the Yongbyon plant because the United States has rendered the 1994 Agreed Framework (AF) between the United States and the DPRK null and void. It is the U.S. government which has not built the two light water reactors it said that it would by 2003 if the DPRK agreed to mothball the Yongbyon plant (which was built to guarantee the energy needs of the DPRK). It was the U.S. government which unilaterally accused the DPRK of having "nuclear weapons of mass destruction" as a justification for stopping the delivery of heavy oil to the DPRK as of December 2002, in violation of the AF. It is the U.S. which has not lifted a finger to normalize relations between it and the DPRK by removing the 50-year-old trade and economic embargo against the DPRK, as agreed in the AF. And it is the U.S. that has done nothing to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, keeping a large arsenal of conventional and nuclear weapons in south Korea, as well as a large military force of some 37,500 soldiers. To top it off, the U.S. has refused to sign a treaty of non-aggression proposed by the DPRK at the end of October 2002.
In light of this, what is the DPRK to do? As a sovereign nation, it has openly told the U.S. that it has the right to defend itself with whatever weapons it has at its disposal, nuclear and otherwise. Every nation on this earth has that right. Secondly, as per the Agreed Framework, if the U.S. has sabotaged the efforts of the DPRK to achieve fuel self-sufficiency, the DPRK has every right to re-activate the Yongbyon nuclear plant. It can do no less.
It is criminal that the mass media is taking the side of the U.S. warmongers, howling about the threat to the world posed by the DPRK. It is criminal that the National Post provides space for the likes of Barry Cooper, a political scientist at the University of Calgary, and David Bercuson, director of the University of Calgary's Centre of Military and Strategic Studies, to try and justify another war of aggression on the Korean peninsula. Noting that almost 30,000 Canadians were involved in the Korean War of 1950-53 of whom more than 500 died, they said, "Should war break out in Korea, Canada's interests, Canada's pride, and Canada's debt to the Korean War dead should commit this nation once again to battle."
No thanks, Messrs Bercuson and Cooper. It was unjust and illegal for Canada to participate in the Korean War against a people who wanted to re-unify their country and get on with their lives after the Second World War. The untold crimes committed against the Korean people -- the destruction of their cities and infrastructure, the killing of innocent civilians and the continued division of their country -- have not been redressed. Knowing all this, it would be doubly criminal, unjust and illegal for Canada to involve itself on the Korean peninsula again, against a sovereign nation which has not attacked us, has always upheld itself in accord with international laws and the UN Charter, and which has no designs upon any other nation.
Canadians want to be a force for peace in the world, not the instruments of unjust wars. Rather than go to war against the Korean people, we will bring honour to ourselves and help to correct our own past mistakes by preventing the U.S. from starting another war on the Korean peninsula.
* Philip Fernandez is the Ontario spokesperson for the People's Front and a member of the 8th International Fact Finding Mission of the Korea Truth Commission.
http://cpcml.ca/tmld/D33006.htm#2