ANTI WAR PROTEST IN LOS ANGELES/KOREA TOWN!!

No New Korean War!
Stop the Provocations! U.S. Military Out of Asia Now!

Los Angeles Emergency Protest
Monday, Nov. 29, 5:00 pm
@ Wilshire & Western Metro Stop (Koreatown)

Show your support for the rally by signing this statement!





On the heels of protests in front of the White House and in other
U.S. cities, the ANSWER Coalition in Los Angeles is calling for an
emergency protest to say no new Korean war. All anti-war/peace activists
are encouraged to attend the LA action and make your voices heard.

The following is a statement by ANSWER:

The Obama administration and its South Korean client government led
by the rabidly anti-communist President Kim Myung-bak are blaming the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) for the latest
escalation of hostilities in the Korean Peninsula.

But in
reality the crisis there is the result of a policy of deliberate
provocation by the U.S. and South Korea over the past several months.
These provocations are targeting both the DPRK and the People’s Republic
of China, countries where the often-concealed but very real aim of U.S.
leaders -- Democrats and Republicans alike – is “regime change.” They
could also lead to a new Korean war, one that could expand to wider
regional, and potentially nuclear, conflict.

While hypocritically
calling for “calm” in words, Washington is escalating the crisis by its
actions. A U.S. naval group led by the nuclear “super-carrier” USS
George Washington is on its way to carry out joint military maneuvers
with South Korean warships in the Yellow Sea, menacing both China and
the DPRK. By moving this huge aircraft carrier into the Yellow Sea the
Pentagon and White House are sending a direct, threatening message of
escalation since China considers these waters to be part of its
sovereign territory.

On November 24, an unnamed “senior
administration official” confirmed that the U.S. is escalating pressure
on China: “China clearly does not like to see U.S aircraft carriers, for
example, in the Yellow Sea.” (NY Times, Nov. 25, 2010)

What's needed to resolve the crisis

The
DPRK wants direct talks with the United States, a formal Peace Treaty
ending the Korean War, and a normalization of relations with the United
States. This seemed like a realizable goal in the last months of the
Bill Clinton administration in 1999 and 2000. George W. Bush scuttled
these efforts shortly after taking office in 2001. The Obama
administration continued this policy with new sanctions and endless war
games simulating the invasion and bombing of North Korea.

The
anti-war movement and all progressive people and organizations should
stand against any new war, and demand an end to the U.S.-South Korean
provocations.

In the latest incident, the North and South Korean
armies exchanged artillery fire on November 23. Two South Korean
soldiers and two civilians were reported killed and others wounded.
Casualties on the North Korean side have not been reported. As in all
such previous incidents, U.S. and South Korean leaders condemned the
DPRK. But, as even a close reading of the universally anti-North
corporate media here reveals, the first shells were fired by the South
during military exercises staged in a disputed sea area close to the
west coast of North Korea.

The North Korean government stated that it was "reacting to the
military provocation of the puppet group with a prompt powerful physical
strike," and accused Seoul of starting the skirmish with its "reckless
military provocation as firing dozens of shells inside the territorial
waters of the" North.

The roots of the crisis

The
western sea border between the North and South is not recognized as
legitimate by the DPRK. It was unilaterally created by the United
States, using the mantle of the United Nations as a fig leaf and cover
for its actions, at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. The U.S. and
allied forces fought the DPRK under the UN flag, slaughtering millions
of Korean people and leveling the northern half of the country by
massive bombing. That war further divided a historically unified society
into competing states. While an armistice was signed in July 1953, the
U.S. has refused the demands of the DPRK to sign a Peace Treaty formally
bringing the war to an end.U.S.

“War Games” = Preparation for Real War

In
recent years there have been at least three clashes in the same area as
the November 23 incident. The DPRK had repeatedly warned South Korea
against carrying out the latest “war games” the area. In fact, the term
“war games” is a misnomer -- these maneuvers should correctly be called
dress rehearsals for war. No one knows, moreover, whether any particular
military exercises is practice or the real thing, until it is over and
done with. This is especially true when the “war games” take place in
extremely close proximity to an enemy state.

The U.S. and South
Korea annually stage such exercises close to both China and the DPRK.
The latest and largest joint drills were held this past summer despite
strong protests from both the PRC and DPRK. Those “games,” labeled
“Invincible Spirit,” included a simulated invasion of the North.

China’s
defense ministry especially objected to the presence of a U.S. aircraft
carrier close to its coast. In typical arrogant fashion, a U.S. Defense
Department spokesperson responded: “Where we exercise, when we
exercise, with whom and how, using what assets and so forth, are
determinations made by the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense, by the
United States government.” (Agence France Presse, July 15, 2010)

Imagine
for a moment the reaction in Washington if the Chinese navy announced
that it was planning to hold similar maneuvers right off-shore of New
York or Los Angeles.

The Number 1 Provocation – U.S. Military Presence

The
biggest provocation of all is the massive presence of U.S. military
bases, troop, nuclear and conventional weapons in the region. In 2010,
65 years after the end of World War II, there are scores of U.S. Army,
Air Force, Navy and Marine bases in Korea, Okinawa, and all across
Japan. The U.S. has provided high tech weaponry of all kinds to Taiwan.
Trident submarines, each of which can launch hundreds of nuclear
warheads, and nuclear-armed aircraft carriers prowl the eastern Pacific
round-the-clock.

This vast deployment of military power halfway
around the world far exceeds that of any other country. It and the tens
of billions of dollars it burns up every year is justified to the people
here as being for “defensive purposes.” But that is just another Big
Lie.

The real purpose of this monstrous military machine is to
secure and further the interests of the U.S. corporate power and
strategic domination in Asia and around the world. It is the enemy of
the people of Korea, China, Japan and the people of the United States.

There
will be an emergency anti-war rally in Los Angeles on Monday, Nov. 29,
5:00 pm at the corner of Wilshire and Western Ave. in the heart of
Koreatown. For more info call 213-251-1025 or email answerla@answerla.org.

If you live too far away or can't make it, please take a moment to sign an anti-war statement in support of the rally.

http://www.answercoalition.org/national ... o-new.html

 

BE THERE!