February 5, 2005 (Los Angeles)
-Won Suk Kim, Minjok Tongshin Staff Writer

Speaking to a gathering of many of the most politically engaged and committed lifelong activists working in Southern California today, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark emphasized the critical need to address the tri-polar problems of US militarism, global poverty and continuing environmental desolation.

<##IMAGE##> Sponsored by the International Action Center (which Clark himself founded in 1998) and KPFK Independent Community Radio, his speech also brought together representatives from numerous national liberation struggles from Palestine to Haiti to Iraq to West Papua on hand to provide and build solidarity. Speaking on Korea"s national liberation struggle, Hyonchong Kim of One Korea LA Forum began her talk by noting that the very first US intervention in the Korean peninsula was military in nature, and was actively and violently rebuffed by the Korean people. After outlining a brief history of US military occupation and political manipulation, Ms. Kim emphasized the North Korean position that the Bush Administration is attempting to manipulate human rights discourse in an effort to justify imperialist efforts to overthrow governments and deny national self-determination. (Ms. Kim"s entire speech is also posted at Minjok Tongshin.)

The headliner of the event was Mr. Clark, who has spent most of his 77 years actively fighting in various political and legal arenas for a progressive vision of social justice. Mr. Clark was nominated as the nation"s top lawyer by both President John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, serving under President Johnson until January of 1969. As Attorney General, he left behind a storied record of fighting for basic human rights, and was particular known for his stalwart defense of civil liberties and a willingness to take on unpopular causes that he believed in, such as his passionate support of Miranda rights for those arrested by police officers. Mr. Clark"s willingness to support civil liberties and unpopular causes was recently manifested in his publicly announced decision to work in support of the legal defense of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

<##IMAGE##>In his speech, Mr. Clark avoided the specifics of any one national liberation struggle and instead emphasized the shared agendas and responsibilities facing political activists today. Invoking the legacy and courage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."s indictment of the US government as the greatest purveyor of violence on the earth, Mr. Clark remarked that the first priority in halting US militarism required a concerted and coordinated effort to influence the US military budget. After noting that the US military budget dwarfs all other nations"s budgets (US President George W. Bush recently proposed that the next fiscal year budget include over $491 billion dollars for military purposes), Mr. Clark hammered home the critical need to oppose the creation and continuance of US military programs that enabled the US government to engage in violent military assaults that minimized the loss of American life while exacting maximum loss of those being attacked. Mr. Clark also pointed out the hypocrisy inherent in the American position to oppose the development of nuclear weapons programs for defense purposes by other countries when the US is actively engaged in two new nuclear weapons programs designed to produce tactical, usable nuclear missiles that could be deployed to obliterate a significant portion of a major city.

Mr. Clark also noted the ways in which the claim of bringing freedom had been used by the Bush Administration to justify the use of force to invade or overturn sovereign nations, and argued that freedom compelled us to end rather than justify the use of force. Decrying the Bush Administration"s illegal use of force and its deprivation of freedom, he argued that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld should be impeached through the will and power of the people.

The close of Mr. Clark"s speech brought thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
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Hyongchong Kim Delivers Speech on the Korean Liberation Struggle
at the Ramsey Clark Event

Hello, everyone.

<##IMAGE##>I"d like to first thank International Action Center for having this great event and inviting me to talk about peace in Korean peninsula. On behalf of Korean peace activists, I would like to thank Mr. Clark for your leadership in challenging US foreign policies and being our inspiration.

First of all, let me briefly mention the history of United States and Korea relations.

1. The very first contact between the United States and Korea was in 1866 when the US merchant marine ship GENERAL SHERMAN invaded Korea. It defied Korean authorities, the ship was burned, and the invaders were killed.
2. Five years later, US navy and marines numbering 1000 mostly civil war veterans again invaded Korea in 1871. Koreans again resisted.
3. In 1882, a Korea-US treaty of commerce was signed. In it, the US promised that it would keep any other foreign forces from taking over Korea.
4. In 1905, the Taft -- Katsura Agreement resulted in Japan taking over Korea in exchange for Japan"s acceptance of US military conquest of the Philippines. Not surprising.
5. 1945, in Yalta, the US agrees with the Soviet Union to divide Korea into half, and subsequently the US occupied the southern half of Korea.
6. 1950, the US enters the Korean War.
7. 1953, the US signs an armistice treaty with NK, stopping armed violence of the Korean War but not establishing true peace.
8. 1994, the Clinton administration reaches the Geneva Agreement (Agreed Framework) with the North Korean government in order to resolve nuclear issues.
9. 2002, Bush names NK as a member of the axis of evil.

As you"ve just heard, the US relationship with Korea has been about invasion, domination, and violation of agreements. And we have to understand the current nuclear crisis springs out of this historical background.

The Bush administration insists that North Korea must give up its nuclear ambitions before it promises security to North Korea. North Korea insists a simultaneous agreement. What they"re saying is that, basically, I don"t trust you. Why?

During the Armistice Treaty, three things were agreed to: 1) withdrawal of all foreign troops out of Korea; 2) no increase of military forces by imported arms in Korea; and 3) to hold a political conference to discuss withdrawal of foreign troops within 3 months.

The United States broke all of these promises. A US ?South Korean Security Treaty was entered into only 2 months after the Armistice was signed. US troops never left South Korea and they still remain there to this date. South Korea has been importing weapons from the US in astronomic figures.

Speaking of nuclear crises, not to mention that US considered USING nuclear bombs in the Korean peninsula during the Korean War, it was the United States who first introduced nuclear weapons in Korea. The US admitted deploying nuclear weapon in South Korea in the beginning of 1958. And Bush openly declares the viability of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against North Korea.

To North Koreans, nuclear weapons are a defensive measure. They have no intention of attacking other nations, because if they do, they also know that they themselves cannot survive. Nuclear weapons are a deterrence measure. And you know what? It has worked.

North Korea wants the US to sign a peace treaty and lift economic sanctions. However, the United States still continues to threaten North Korea, conducting massive military exercises in cooperation with the South and Japan.

Let me briefly talk about human rights issues. Let me read you a quote: "Including the US, imperialist countries have always used human rights as an issue to justify intervention of other countries and to take away the right to self determination from its people. Human rights cannot be separated from the issue of independence and self determination. And the countries dominated by foreign powers cannot guarantee human rights."

During Japanese colonial periods, Koreans enjoyed no human rights. During the period of military dictatorship with the backing of US, South Korean government massively violated human rights of its own people. As we see in Iraq, innocent civilians are rampantly killed, raped and plundered.

US Imperialists have no authority to talk about human rights while invading other sovereign nations trampling people"s right to self-determination, at the same time, taking away basic human rights such as health care and education from their own people.

If you agree with this quote, please give me a big hand. Do you know whose quote this was? This is actually a recent statement from Kim Jung Il. The fact is, what he says is indeed true that human rights issue hyped by the right wing media is a weapon the United States is using against NK.

Bush and America have a choice

One thing US mainstream media does not talk about much is that North Korea is a little military giant. It has one of the largest standing army with 1.2 million regular army, 7.7 million reserved army, and 13,500 artillery guns of various sizes. It is estimated that just these guns with two hours of maximum fire will decimate Seoul.

Do you know how many people live in Seoul? Approximately 12 million. That means should a war break out in Korean peninsula, millions of people will lose their lives in the first day or two. Mass media does not talk about this. By hiding this fact, the media is misleading the American public to think that invasion against North Korea is an option. It is not an option. It took Clinton eight years to realize this, and Bush five. We are hopeful that despite the slow progress of the 6-party talks, it will resume soon.

Conclusion

One of the most important factors in all of this is, the Korean people"s desire for peaceful reunification and an end to US domination of Korea for over a century now. Since the summit meeting of 2000 June 15, South and North Koreans have been exchanging and visiting each other in many different spheres in massive scales, and the reunification efforts are growing higher than ever, in opposition to Bush"s Korean policy.

With the help of peace activists like you sitting here today, I see the day of peaceful reunification of two Koreas coming in the near future. Korea is One!

[Minjok-Tongshin Staff Writer Kim Wonsuk 2005.2.5]