Whereas, in observance of the 70 th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice Agreement this July, it is timely for us to reflect on the Forgotten War and chart a new U.S. policy for Korea;
Whereas, in Paragraph 60, the military Commanders of both sides recommended to their governments to hold a political conference to negotiate “the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea, the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, etc. “within three months” of signing the Armistice;
Whereas, the U.S. government quickly undermined the Paragraph in October 1953 by signing a mutual defense treaty with the ROK government, which allowed the U.S. to station its “land, air and sea forces” in South Korea indefinitely; and
Whereas, all other foreign troops involved in the Korean War had been withdrawn from Korea by 1970s,while some 30,000 U.S. troops are still based in Korea today - although the ROK military is now ranked as the 6th most powerful in the world (globalfirepower.com);
Therefore, Be It Resolved, Veterans For Peace, voting by its members in 2023,
- Declares that Korean people are also entitled to enjoy their right to peace, human security, and self-determination without U.S. military domination and political interference in Korea;
- Calls upon U.S. government to end the forever U.S. War in Korea with a peace treaty or withdraw its troops from South Korea by 2025;
- Calls upon American people to support the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act (H.R. 1369) as a first step to ending the dangerous, costly Forgotten War finally; and
- Urges VFP members and local Chapters to send a copy of this resolution to their respective members of Congress.
Cosponsored by VFP's Korea Peace Campaign and VFP Chapters 34, 55, 113.