[LETTERS to the editor]An unneeded alliance

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[LETTERS to the editor]An unneeded alliance

The agenda of the 6th Korea-U.S. Security Policy Initiative meeting, held February 13-15 on Guam, includes an analysis of the future vision of the Korea-U.S. alliance, the clean-up of contaminated bases that will be returned to Korea, the redeployment of the U.S forces in Korea (USFK) and the return of wartime operational control to Korean forces. I am especially concerned about this meeting because I know that the Korea-U.S. authorities will agree on the first draft of the future vision of the Korea-U.S. alliance. I am firmly opposed to it because it will justify the permanent stationing of U.S. forces in Korea.
The Korea-U.S. alliance is in danger of collapsing because of the end of the Cold War and the accelerating improvement of inter-Korean relations. For this reason, the Korea-U.S. authorities are attempting to find a justification for the permanent stationing of U.S. forces on the peninsula. For example, the Korea-U.S. alliance is said to be necessary to support such values as the market economy, improvement of democracy and human rights. They also want to expand the scope of the alliance’s mission to combating terrorism and stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to extend the geographical range of the alliances operations, calling it a “regional alliance” and a “comprehensive alliance.”
I am deeply concerned that through these changes the U.S. will try to prolong the life of the alliance and station its forces in Korea permanently. By stationing its forces in Korea permanently, the U.S. intends to maintain control over the establishment of a peace regime on the peninsula and the reunification process.
The U.S. intends to make the Korean peninsula a staging base from which it can exercise military hegemony over the Asia-Pacific region. The USFK have seriously damaged the political-military independence of South Korea and have endangered peace on the peninsula through the threat of war with North Korea. Therefore I strongly urge the authorities concerned to cancel the agreement. I am also absolutely opposed to the agreement because it violates the peace article of the Korean constitution and the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty, and will legalize the aggressive realignment of the alliance.
The Korea-U.S. military authorities have been planning the realignment of the alliance for a long time. The alliance, which was established on the basis of the cease-fire regime after the end of the Korean War, is a defensive alliance against North Korea, according to the Korea-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty. Therefore the alliance should have been abolished after the end of the Cold War and the development of the inter-Korean relationship.


by Oh Hye-ran
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