PSPD in English Peace/Disarmament 2011-03-01   3561

Stop the military exercise ‘Key Resolve’, Resume the dialogue with North Korea


The South Korea – US joint military exercise, ‘Key Resolve’ is being conducted between 28 February and 10 March on the West Sea of South Korea. More than 20 civil organizations, Democratic Labor Party and New Progressive Party jointly held a press conference for urging the governments to stop military drills.


These organizations called for a discontinuation of the Key Resolve military drills because it aims for contingencies of North Korea, which is offensive and provocative rather than defensive. They reminded that the Yeonpyong artillery incident, the armed conflicts between South and North Korea, had happened during the military drills of South Korea. They argued that it was time to reinitiate a dialogue between South and North Korea, not to push ahead with military exercises which would bring about military tension and even armed conflict on the Korean Peninsular.


The peace organizations announced that they would keep campaigning for ‘Stop military exercises, Resume dialogue’ during the Key Resolve.




 



[Joint Statement]


Stop the military exercise ‘Key Resolve’,
Resume the dialogue with North Korea



The governments of South Korea and the US are conducting the joint military exercise ‘Key Resolve’ between 28 Feb and 10 Mar. While they are namely justified for the security of the Korean Peninsular, it has been proved that the military drills rather cause resistance of North Korea and China, and endanger the peace on the Korean Peninsular and problem-solving with dialogue. We, the people who are concerned with peace on the Korean Peninsular, express great concern about the governments of South Korea and the US that have pushed ahead with the military drills despite the clear message left from the repeated failure.


The scale and profile of the Key Resolve military exercise this year are not as usual;  a US aircraft carrier is deployed again and a nuclear weapons and WMD(weapons of mass destruction) of North Korea exercise has been tightened up. The resolve forces are deployed on the front for this military exercise at the first time.


We show a deep concern over the more provocative Key Resolve military drill as a preemptive preparation against any contingency of North Korea. It is well known that the Conceptual Plan 5029 has developed Operation Plan 5029, which sends the joint military forces of South Korea and the US to North Korea in a contingent situation. This apparently violates the Inter-Korean Basic  Agreement (1991) and interprets as an invasion by the international law. It is not persuasive that the Key Resolve exercise serves its true purpose as a defensive measure against contingencies of North Korea.


We also raise a point of the double standard of the governments of South Korea and the US. While urging North Korea to show “faithfulness”, they pushed ahead with military drills that unnecessarily stimulated North Korea. Such duplicity is likely to trigger North Korea to take a military adventurism and thus, jeopardize a problem-solving through dialogue. The governments and the media of South Korea and the US should consider how the Key Resolve military exercise escalates military tension on the Korean Peninsular, not just publicize ‘a provocative action from North Korea’.


What the governments of South Korea and the US have to take is not a military drill but a dialogue. They also have to recall that one of the critical causes of the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement(1991) and the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula(1992) was the discontinuation of the ‘Team Spirit’ military exercise.


It is time to abandon a military drill that stimulates the opposition as well as a dissipation of resources, and resume a dialogue with mutual faithfulness. We strongly urge the governments of South Korea and the US to take a decisive action for abolishing the unstability of the Korean Peninsular and exert a leadership with dialogues and negotiations.


28 Feb 2011
The People who are concerned with Peace on the Korean Peninsular



Catholic Human Rights Committee
CCEJ KOREA REUNIFICATION SOCIETY
Democratic Labor Party
Good Friends – Center for Peace, Human Rights & Refugees
Green Korea United
Jeju Human Rights Center
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions
Korean Women’s Association United
MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society U.S. Military Issues Committee
NANUMMUNHWA (Global Peace Activities)
New Progressive Party
Nonviolent Peaceforce Corea
One Korea Action
Peace Ground
Peace Network
People Preparing for Peace Unification
People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
PyeongTaek Peace Center
The Frontiers
The National Campaign for Eradication of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea
WOMEN MAKING PEACE
World Without War


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