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American Declaration of Peace with the Korean People

American Declaration of Peace with the Korean People


      Whereas, we are observing this year the 60th anniversary of the landing of the U.S. troops in South Korea and the 52nd anniversary of the Korean War Armistice Agreement;

      Whereas, the U.S. government bears the primary responsibility for the artificial division of Korea in 1945, which has inflicted much suffering to the Korean people, causing tragic separation of family members and even the civil war;

      Whereas, the Korean people, both in the South and North, desire to achieve a peaceful reunification of their country through mutual cooperation and on their own initiatives without foreign interference;

      Whereas, the continuing presence of some 34,000 U.S. troops in South Korea is neither necessary nor desirable for further promotion of peace, reconciliation, cooperation, and self-determination in Korea;

      Whereas, the continuing state of war between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the root cause for the current tensions and arms buildups on the Korean Peninsula;

      Whereas, the United States possesses more weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, than any other nation on earth, and has threatened North Korea with nuclear weapons in the past;

      Whereas, discussions concerning the nuclear weapons development or human rights issues in North Korea can be more useful and productive after the state of war is terminated between the U.S. and the DPRK;

      Whereas, the U.S. government has been dragging its feet in ending the Korean War officially with a peace treaty, which was first suggested by North Korea in the early 1970s, and such ending is consistent with the wishes of the people of both North and South Korea;

NOW, THEREFORE, the American people, participating in this historic National Conference for Ending the Korean War at Georgetown University Law Center, hereby

1)    Declare to the world that the Korean War is over as far as we are concerned, and that we shall live in “permanent peace and friendship”* with the Korean people, whether they are in the South or North;

2)  Express our deep apology and regrets to the Korean people for our government’s role in the tragic division of Korea, the great destruction and massacre of civilians during the Korean War, and the U.S. interference in the internal affairs of the Korean people for the past 60 years;

3)  Call upon our government to end finally the long, costly Korean War by concluding a permanent peace settlement with the DPRK, lift all economic sanctions against North Korea, and join the more than 155 other nations in establishing diplomatic relations with the DPRK;

4)   Call upon our government to end immediately the annual joint war games with the South Korean forces, stop relocating and expanding the U. S. military bases below Seoul, and commence a full withdrawal of the U.S. troops and weapons from South Korea immediately;

5)  Call upon our government to drop its dangerous, preemptive nuclear attack plans against North Korea and abide by  the disarmament obligations under Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by ending its efforts to develop new bunker buster nuclear weapons and by accelerating the full dismantlement of its nuclear weapons; and

6)  Urge the American people as a whole to reach out to the people of North Korea in order to foster greater understanding, reconciliation and friendship.

Dated: September 25, 2005

Washington, DC

 

  

*It is quoted from Article 1 of the 1882 U.S.-Korea Treaty of Peace,

Commerce and Navigation that opened the diplomatic relations

between the two nations for the first time.