SPECIAL NEWS UPDATE REGARDING KOREA, DECEMBER 1-31 issue Peoples Voice, 2010

SPECIAL NEWS UPDATE REGARDING KOREA, DECEMBER 1-31 issue Peoples Voice, 2010

http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/

Portion of June 22, 2009 resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada

The Communist Party of Canada warns that Resolution 1874, adopted by the United Nations Security Council on June 12, (2009), will not contribute to advancing the cause of peace and disarmament in the Korean peninsula. By continuing to focus blame on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for tensions in this region, Resolution 1874 increases rather than reduces the danger of military confrontation.

However, it is wrong to claim that Resolution 1874 allows open aggression against the DPRK, a falsehood which is being spread by imperialist forces and the right-wing media as part of a wider campaign to soften up public opinion for military action against North Korea.

The resolution condemns the nuclear test conducted on May 25 by the DPRK, and imposes new sanctions. However, as noted by Zhang Yesui, Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, the Security Council remains determined "to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue peacefully through dialogue and negotiations."

While Resolution 1874 creates a framework for states to inspect ships and aircraft suspected to be carrying "weapons of mass destruction" or other banned goods, this can be done only with the consent of the country under which the vessel or aircraft is registered. This means that if a vessel belonging to the DPRK refuses inspection, it would be an act of war to seize such a vessel. In the view of the Communist Party of Canada, the gravest danger to peace in the region remains the threat of such arbitrary action by the United States and the South Korean regime.

We also point out that while Resolution 1874 is explicitly phrased to avoid impacting on humanitarian objectives, many previous U.S. actions have violated such Security Council decisions. A serious confrontation could be triggered by bogus U.S. claims that it was compelled to seize vessels as part of the search for WMDs.

Our fears are based not on speculation, but on the wider pattern of U.S. policy in the region. For example, the United States has reneged on its commitments to provide food aid to a World Food Program in the DPRK, and as recently as April, the U.S. sponsored a Security Council resolution against the DPRK for launching a communications satellite.

The threat to peace in the Asia Pacific region arises from US imperialism, which was the first state to develop and use nuclear weapons against civilians, to deploy nuclear weapons outside its own borders. The United States deploys 250,000 military personnel in the Pacific region and regularly takes part in military rehearsals of ground invasions of the DPRK. For over half a century, the United States has refused to engage in serious dialogue with the DPRK, instead pursuing a path of military threats.

We call upon Prime Minister Harper to support an immediate halt to the economic sanctions against the DPRK, and an end to the military interference of the United States in the Korean Peninsula. Canada must instead begin to help normalize relations between the United States and the DPRK, based on the principles of non-interference, cooperation and peace. Canada must support proposals to begin the dismantling of all nuclear arsenals, which would dramatically reduce military tensions in the Korean Peninsula and in all other regions of the world.