Korea
No War in Korea!
President Trump has threatened to “totally destroy North Korea,” a terrible threat to kill 25 million people. For its part North Korea has threatened to use nuclear weapons. These provocations have gone beyond incendiary language. There have been constant weapons’ tests, war games, fly-bys, arms build-ups, and shows of force. A nuclear war in Korea would kill millions of Koreans and it could rapidly spread to other areas. Even if such a war could somehow be confined to Korea, the radioactivity and the crop failures due to the massive number of particles thrown into the atmosphere would be fatal to untold numbers of people. It must not happen.
- We demand that U.S. leaders stop using the rhetoric of annihilation and genocide;
- We condemn criminal language like “nothing is off the table,” which implies first strikes and the extermination of civilians;
- We demand that the Trump administration announce that the U.S. will not launch a nuclear first strike against North Korea or any other country;
- We demand that the U.S. government immediately begin negotiations with Pyongyang and Seoul to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula. One possible beginning is the “Freeze for a Freeze” idea: No more North Korean nuclear and long range missile tests in exchange for a halt to U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises. Negotiations should aim to bring the Korean War of 1950-1953 – for which there has never been a formal peace treaty - to an end and prepare for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea.
- We demand that these negotiations be PUBLIC so we can really see what the parties are proposing;
- We demand that Washington clean its own house. This means engaging in good-faith efforts to achieve full nuclear disarmament, as required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty; admitting that its Israeli ally possesses nuclear weapons and calling for a true nuclear-free zone in the Middle East; and stopping its efforts to undermine the Iran nuclear deal;
- We demand that North Korea cease its provocative and illegal threats of pre-emptive attacks and its dangerous military tests;
- We demand the removal of the provocative Thaad missile defense system from South Korea ;
- We demand that Congress formally remind the president that under the U.S. Constitution only Congress can declare war and that going to war on his own say-so is an impeachable offense;
- We demand that the United States government end its massive military build-up and transfer funds to devastated Puerto Rico, to health care, to education, and to other social needs.
adopted 10/24/2017
.