The International League of Peoples Struggle and the International Peoples Assembly, representing hundreds of anti-imperialist organizations across the world, join Nodutdol for Korean Community Development in demanding the cancellation of Freedom Shield, and urging UN Command member states not to participate in these war games.
In response to the bombing of South Korean civilians in Nogok-ri, Pocheon-si during recent US-ROK live-fire military drills, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle and the International Peoples’ Assembly join Nodutdol in calling on the governments of the US and Republic of Korea (ROK) to cancel the Freedom Shield 25 war games. We further call on the member states of the United Nations Command, which is not a legitimate UN agency, to reject the US and ROK’s invitation to participate in these provocative and dangerous war games. The 17 member states of the UN Command besides the US are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom.
War games like Freedom Shield are direct provocations and threats against the sovereign government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and part of an imperialist campaign of hostility and repression against the Korean people’s right to peace and self-determination that the US has waged since 1945. We condemn the US-led campaign of hostility against the DPRK, including the frequent use of war threats in the form of military exercises like 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 rehearse war crimes against the Korean people. In 2024, Freedom Shield was expanded through the participation of militaries from 11 additional member states of the UN Command. This year, UN Command member states have once again been invited to participate in Freedom Shield 25.
While the US and ROK claim that Freedom Shield and similar war games are defensive in character, the facts tell a different story. The US has violated the Korean people’s right to self-determination since 1945, when it partitioned Korea and established a military occupation in the southern peninsula. Since the 1953 armistice, the US has never agreed to sign a peace agreement to end the Korean War. All attempts by the DPRK to seek peace and normalization were ultimately rebuffed by the US. State Affairs Commission President Kim Jong Un has made clear that the DPRK has no interest in an unprovoked war with the US or ROK; in spite of this, US aggression continues to grow. Multilateral war games like Freedom Shield are now internationalizing military aggression against the DPRK, as participating governments join in the 80-year US campaign to subjugate the Korean people.
Freedom Shield 25 comes at a particularly dangerous time. The failed martial law coup by ROK President Yoon Suk-Yeol in December 2024 has left the country in an ongoing political crisis, and without an acting elected government. Simultaneously, relations between the DPRK, ROK, and US are at their worst point in decades. The high concentration of troops and weaponry from so many nations in Korea in a time of historic tension and disorder is a recipe for disaster. Any misunderstanding could easily trigger war, and the long-term effects will only increase the likelihood of future conflict.
The US has sharply escalated its war threats in Korea in recent years. The US military conducted over 200 days of war games in Korea in 2023, and 275 days of war games in 2024. US strategic assets such as aircraft carriers, heavy bombers, and nuclear submarines were deployed to Korea 22 times in 2024. Last summer, the US and ROK held their first ever joint tabletop nuclear exercise, known as Iron Mace 24, in which plans to conduct a joint nuclear strike on the Korean peninsula were rehearsed. Freedom Shield 25 is the latest escalation in a clear pattern of growing aggression that began under the Biden administration, and is now being expanded upon by the Trump administration—in spite of its claims to desire peace and dialogue with the DPRK.
Freedom Shield 25 has dire implications for regional and global peace and stability. As part of Washington’s New Cold War against China, the NATO bloc and its Asian and Oceanian partners are escalating in East Asia, using the Korean peninsula as a staging ground. Freedom Shield poses a most immediate threat to the stability of the region, but its effects also extend far beyond. The various governments involved in Freedom Shield 25, particularly the NATO and G7 member states, have a recent history of collusion in imperialist wars against the peoples of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Palestine. Individual participants like France, the UK, and Australia have a long track record of wars of aggression in Africa, West Asia, and the Pacific. Freedom Shield 25 provides another opportunity for these rogue actors to refine their interoperability, and therefore their capacity to wage war around the world.
In a time of escalating economic, ecological, and political crises across the world, international cooperation is desperately needed to seek solutions to the common dilemmas afflicting humanity. Destructive and wasteful war games like Freedom Shield squander these opportunities, directing resources that could be dedicated to improving the lives of the world’s peoples towards the cause of US imperialism. Working class and progressive organizations around the world must unite in solidarity against US imperialism, and generate the necessary political power to end their governments’ participation in threats against the DPRK, the Korean people, and the survival of humanity at large.