Joint Korea-Japan Statement for the June 22 International Action Day against War and for Peace
On "the June 22nd International Action Day Against War and For Peace", which Korea and Japan, co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup Tournament, proposed and in which peace-loving people around the world have joined
Source : Committee for June 22 International Solidarity
We want Peace!
The right to a life of peace is the most precious and inviolable right of all people, and war and violence are the most serious common enemy of humankind. The terrible disaster and suffering of wars endured by humankind in the past century have engraved an ardent longing for peace on our hearts. However, just at the very moment when the 2002 World Cup Tournament, which is called the "Festival of Harmony" or "Ceremony of Peace," is proceeding, the world is crying out in the pain of brutal war.
Stop the War!
Since the 9.11 attack, the people of Afghanistan have been brutally massacred and their life totally destroyed by the invasive war of the US, the only superpower in the world. The world is seized by the fear of war in the face of the US war-oriented policies carried out under the name of 'the war against terrorism' stretching to Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Furthermore, in declaring 2002 as 'the year of war', and naming North Korea, Iraq, and Iran as an "axis of evil" and preparing itself for a total military attack against Iraq, the Bush administration is relentlessly pushing its endless hegemonic war policies. One war generates another: Israel has waged total war against Palestine, making the most of the opportunity of the war against terrorism. The massacre of children, elderly people and women in Jenin revealed the inhumane reality of war and drove the world's people into panic and anger.
We demand that Bush and Israel stop the war, which is destroying world peace and making a mockery of human destiny!
Arms will never guarantee peace!
Bush's unilateral hegemonic and armament policies including the building up the Missile Defense (MD) System, the unilateral breaking of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, the nullifying of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the withdrawal from the posture to ban nuclear tests, the expansion of overseas US military bases, and the largest increase of military budget since World War II are driving the world into limitless confrontation and an escalating arms race. The ruthless pursuit of profit by the military industrial complex is the driving force behind the destruction of world peace and the suffering of innocent war victims.
We demand: "Stop the wasteful and anti-peace military expansion! Return the funds spent on war to people suffering starvation and diseases! This is the only way to just peace!"
War is the enemy of human rights and democracy!
The post-9.11 anti-terror laws and other such extreme measures are destroying the universal and absolute values of human rights and peace that human beings have established in the last century. Sexism and racism are increasing; freedom of assembly and demonstration and of expression and association is seriously violated; social welfare is deteriorating and the environment and ecosystems are being degraded. It is extremely troubling that in some European countries right-wing extremist groups and parties are reviving and those countries are becoming more and more conservative and right-wing in the situation of the war against terrorism.
We believe that the true value we must uphold is not 'state/military-oriented security' but human security. Stop all attacks on human rights, democracy, social welfare and the environment, carried out under the pretext of anti-terrorism!
Neo-liberal globalization generates the globalization of war!
The 'war against terrorism' is another face of neo-liberalism. The policies of neo-liberalism are deepening social inequality by seriously ruining the social welfare and rights of labor. Exploitation of women and child labor, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation are increasing and the protection of the socially weak is gradually losing ground. Today, about 2 billion people around the globe are living on less than US$1 a day, and every war-torn region like Afghanistan and Palestine suffers miserable poverty and diseases. All these grim realities show that the fundamental cause of global conflicts and wars is the expansion of poverty and deepening inequality.
We declare: There is no peace without justice! Therefore, our efforts for the true harmony and peace of humankind must go beyond opposing war toward realizing peace, with strong renunciation of social oppression and injustice.
Peace in the Korean Peninsula and Asia is the road to world peace!
The Korean peninsula and Asia are under the threat of becoming the most dangerous war region in the world because of Bush's hegemonic war-oriented policy in this region. This policy includes the plan for war on the Korean peninsula; the expansion of military intervention to Taiwan; and military operations in Indonesia and the Philippines under the pretext of the 'war against terrorism'. This threat is exacerbated by Japanese military expansion and the concomitant Chinese response to the arms race.
The war policy of the Bush administration is particularly serious in relation to the Korean peninsula. After branding North Korea as part of an 'axis of evil', the Bush administration submitted to Congress a report on Nuclear Posture Review which could open up the possibility of nuclear war in the Korean peninsula. All these actions are purposely nullifying the US-North Korea Agreed Framework of 1994 as well as the North Korea-US Joint Communiqu� of 2000 which laid the foundation for peace on the Korean peninsula, and the rumor of the threat of war is openly circulating in Korea.
In addition, the dangerous rearmament of Japan pushed by warmongers under the support of the US-Japan Military Alliance is intensifying the military tension in North East Asia. To the Asian people's demand for official apology and compensation for Japan's invasion and colonial rule during World War II, the Koizumi administration and militant groups responded with the distortion of history textbooks which beautify its past aggression, and Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine. And the rearmament of Japan is being actualized by the dispatch of the Self-Defense Forces abroad, the plan to enact the Contingency Registration, and a plan to revise the Japanese Constitution. The most serious danger is that the aim of the Contingency Registration is to provide legitimacy for immediate military intervention in the Korean peninsula in case of emergency.
We urge: There must be no more war on the Korean peninsula! To prevent war and bring peace to the Korean peninsula, which is the site of the most militarized zone in the world and which affects the vital interest of the Bush administration's world hegemonic strategy, is one of the strongest imperatives for world peace.
The solidarity of human conscience is the only hope for peace!!
The powerful wave of peace and anti-war movements arising out of Afghanistan, the Middle East, Europe, South and North America, and Asia gives hope for the future of people recently living under the shadow of war. On "the June 22nd International Action Day Against War and For Peace", which Korea and Japan, co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup Tournament, proposed and in which peace-loving people around the world have joined, we declare the following:
� We oppose the US war policies, which are a means of consolidating US hegemony, and the invasive war against terrorism threatening world peace!
� We will not tolerate the worldwide abuse of human rights and destruction of democracy, social welfare, and environment caused by war!
� We say "No!" to the enactment of the Contingency Registration and rearmament of Japan!
� We oppose the Missile Defense System and other military armament policies!
� We denounce any establishment or expansion of foreign US military bases!
� We demand that foreign US military bases be returned to their rightful owners!
� We oppose neo-liberalism and globalization, which result in poverty and social inequality!
� We demand that the Japanese government and Emperor take full responsibility for Japan's past imperialistic aggression!
June 22, 2002
Seoul, Tokyo
Participants in
"The June 22 International Action Day against War and for Peace"
Send June 22 endorsements, messages, and action announcements care of:
Committee for June 22 International Solidarity
Telephone (USA) 011-1-201-451-7377 011-1-347-528-1680
Email: june22peace@yahoo.com
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Send June 22 endorsements, messages, and action announcements care of:
Committee for June 22 International Solidarity
Telephone (USA) 011-1-201-451-7377 011-1-347-528-1680
Email: june22peace@yahoo.com
2002 / -0 / 6-
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