100+ US organizations call on Trump to stop US war threats on Korea

In solidarity with the people of Korea, over 100 US organizations and political parties demand the Trump administration cancel the upcoming Freedom Shield military exercises in Korea and cease all future war threats against the Korean people.

We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Trump administration to cancel the Freedom Shield 25 war games and all future military exercises in Korea. We further express our solidarity with the mass organizations, trade unions, civil society groups, and political parties of the Republic of Korea (ROK) who are organizing to oppose Freedom Shield.

Each year in March, the militaries of the US and ROK host a massive series of war exercises on the Korean peninsula: Freedom Shield. From rehearsed occupations of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to nuclear drills that stage the use of weapons of mass destruction, these military exercises routinely practice war crimes against the Korean people. This year, Freedom Shield 25 is scheduled to take place from March 10-19, and will feature 17 combined firepower training exercises—a 70% increase from last year. This is an especially dangerous time in Korea when the peninsula swarms with armed soldiers and all militaries are on high alert. Even a slight misunderstanding could lead to full-blown war.

While President Trump has loudly proclaimed his desire to rekindle dialogue with the DPRK, his administration’s commitment to provocative war games like Freedom Shield tells a different story. We reject the Trump administration’s program of “peace through strength” as nothing more than an attempt to dominate other nations with military threats. As working class and progressive organizations in the US, we demand a new relationship with the Korean people based on nonaggression and respect for the Korean people’s sovereignty and humanity.

Since dividing the Korean peninsula in 1945, the US has committed countless atrocities against the Korean people and refuses to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. From 1950-1953, the US Air Force dropped over 635,000 tons of bombs and more than 32,000 tons of napalm on Korea, ultimately slaughtering at least 3 million people across the peninsula and destroying 85% of the buildings in the DPRK. Given this history, war games like Freedom Shield are fundamentally aggressive and escalatory acts that have no place in an agenda for genuine peace and reconciliation.

The people of South Korea have bravely risen to halt the coup attempt of President Yoon Suk Yeol, and are locked in a battle for the future of their democracy. We recognize President Yoon’s anti-democratic agenda was long encouraged by Washington. It was the US that heaped praise on President Yoon for his aggression against the DPRK and China and his participation in the Japan-Korea-US (JAKUS) trilateral security cooperation. As part of our demand for an end to US hostility against the Korean people, we also call for an end to the New Cold War and the dissolution of the JAKUS trilateral security cooperation.

We believe a different relationship with the Korean people is possible and that our demands ultimately benefit the people of the United States. The working class in the US faces multiple overlapping crises of housing, healthcare, unemployment, inflation, lack of labor rights, climate disasters, racism, and gender-based discrimination and violence. None of these problems can be fixed by more militarism, but many of them can be solved by diverting the massive US war budget towards fulfilling people’s needs. 

The working people of the US have much in common with the working people of Korea and the world: we want peaceful, dignified lives, and we want governments that will fight for these basic human interests. To those in Korea who continue to struggle for total social transformation, we send you our utmost solidarity and admiration. Your dedication is an example to us here in the US, and we will work to stop the US war machine in solidarity with the people of Korea and the world.

Signed,

Nodutdol