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South Korea and Japan Actions Against War to Coincide With World Cup

roberto | 12.06.2002 16:28

On June 22, the movements in South Korea and Japan are
hosting an International Action Day against War and for
Peace, with the 32 countries that are participating in the
World Cup and other countries actively joining.


A Call to support the
June 22 International Action Day against War and for Peace

From May 31 to June 30, South Korea and Japan are jointly
hosting the World Cup Games, which have become an embodiment of commercialism and corruption. The sporting event conceals the US's and Japan's war conspiracy. US supremacy based war policies are driving the world into a whirlwind of hostilities, declaring 2002 the year of the war on terrorism and naming North Korea, Iraq, and Iran as members of the "axis of evil."

Hosts of the International Action Day

On June 22, the movements in South Korea and Japan are
hosting an International Action Day against War and for
Peace, with the 32 countries that are participating in the
World Cup and other countries actively joining.

The sponsoring committees in Korea and Japan are composed
of anti-war and peace organizations that opposed the US
invasion into Afghanistan, labor, social democracy, civil
and religious organizations and individuals that protested
Bush's visit to Korea, and opponents of the enactment of
an Emergency Military Law in Japan.

Proposed Actions

§ Gather individual and organizational endorsements of the
June 22 Statement (see next page) and messages of support
and cooperation from all over the world. Each country and
organization may adjust the statement according to the
regional situation and conditions.

§ On June 22, all countries to organize actions, such as
forums and marches.

§ On June 22, Seoul will host an Int'l Conference against
War and for Peace

June 22 Demands

§ We oppose the US war policies, which are a means of
consolidating US hegemony, and the invasive war against
terrorism threatening world peace!

§ We will not tolerate the worldwide abuse of human rights
and destruction of democracy, social welfare, and
environment caused by war!

§ We say "No!" to the enactment of the Contingency
Registration and rearmament of Japan!

§ We oppose Missile Defense System and other military
armament policies!

§ We denounce any establishment or expansion of foreign US
military bases!

§ We demand foreign US military bases be returned to their
rightful owners!

§ We oppose neo-liberalism and globalization, which result
in poverty and social inequality!


SEND THE FOLLOWING FORM, AS WELL AS ALL ENDORSEMENTS,
SOLIDARITY MESSAGES AND ACTION ANNOUNCEMENTS TO:
 june22peace@yahoo.com

___ I endorse the June 22 Joint Statement
___ My organization endorses the June 22 Joint Statement
___ I/My organization will send a solidarity message to
June 22 International Conference in Seoul
___ I/My organization will attend the June 22
International Conference in Seoul.
___ My organization will hold an anti-war activity on or
near the June 22 date.

Name:
Address:
City/State/Zip:
Country:
Organization
Phone:
Cell Phone:
Fax:
Email:
Web:
--------------------------------------------------
Joint Korea-Japan Statement for the
June 22 International Action Day against War and for Peace

We want Peace!

The right to a life of peace is the most precious and
inviolable right of all people, and war and violence are
the most serious common enemy of humankind. The terrible
disaster and suffering of wars endured by humankind in the
past century have engraved an ardent longing for peace on
our hearts. However, just at the very moment when the
2002 World Cup Tournament, which is called the "Festival
of Harmony" or "Ceremony of Peace," is proceeding, the
world is crying out in the pain of brutal war.

Stop the War!

Since the 9.11 attack, the people of Afghanistan have
been brutally massacred and their life totally destroyed
by the invasive war of the US, the only superpower in the
world. The world is seized by the fear of war in the face
of the US war-oriented policies carried out under the name
of 'the war against terrorism' stretching to Somalia,
Yemen, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Furthermore, in
declaring 2002 as 'the year of war', and naming North
Korea, Iraq, and Iran as an "axis of evil" and preparing
itself for a total military attack against Iraq, the Bush
administration is relentlessly pushing its endless
hegemonic war policies. One war generates another: Israel
has waged total war against Palestine, making the most of
the opportunity of the war against terrorism. The
massacre of children, elderly people and women in Jenin
revealed the inhumane reality of war and drove the world's
people into panic and anger.

We demand that Bush and Israel stop the war, which is
destroying world peace and making a mockery of human
destiny!

Arms will never guarantee peace!

Bush's unilateral hegemonic and armament policies
including the building up the Missile Defense (MD) System,
the unilateral breaking of the Anti-Ballistic Missile
(ABM) treaty, the nullifying of the Biological Weapons
Convention (BWC), the withdrawal from the posture to ban
nuclear tests, the expansion of overseas US military
bases, and the largest increase of military budget since
World War II are driving the world into limitless
confrontation and an escalating arms race. The ruthless
pursuit of profit by the military industrial complex is
the driving force behind the destruction of world peace
and the suffering of innocent war victims.

We demand: "Stop the wasteful and anti-peace military
expansion! Return the funds spent on war to people
suffering starvation and diseases! This is the only way
to just peace!"

War is the enemy of human rights and democracy!

The post-9.11 anti-terror laws and other such extreme
measures are destroying the universal and absolute values
of human rights and peace that human beings have
established in the last century. Sexism and racism are
increasing; freedom of assembly and demonstration and of
expression and association is seriously violated; social
welfare is deteriorating and the environment and
ecosystems are being degraded. It is extremely troubling
that in some European countries right-wing extremist
groups and parties are reviving and those countries are
becoming more and more conservative and right-wing in the
situation of the war against terrorism.

We believe that the true value we must uphold is not
'state/military-oriented security' but human security.

Stop all attacks on human rights, democracy, social
welfare and the environment, carried out under the pretext
of anti-terrorism!

Neo-liberal globalization generates the globalization of
war!

The 'war against terrorism' is another face of
neo-liberalism. The policies of neo-liberalism are
deepening social inequality by seriously ruining the
social welfare and rights of labor. Exploitation of women
and child labor, human trafficking, and sexual
exploitation are increasing and the protection of the
socially weak is gradually losing ground. Today, about 2
billion people around the globe are living on less than
US$1 a day, and every war-torn region like Afghanistan and
Palestine suffers miserable poverty and diseases. All
these grim realities show that the fundamental cause of
global conflicts and wars is the expansion of poverty and
deepening inequality.

We declare: There is no peace without justice!

Therefore, our efforts for the true harmony and peace of
humankind must go beyond opposing war toward realizing
peace, with strong renunciation of social oppression and
injustice.

Peace in the Korean Peninsula and Asia is the road to
world peace!

The Korean peninsula and Asia are under the threat of
becoming the most dangerous war region in the world
because of Bush's hegemonic war-oriented policy in this
region. This policy includes the plan for war on the
Korean peninsula; the expansion of military intervention
to Taiwan; and military operations in Indonesia and the
Philippines under the pretext of the 'war against
terrorism'. This threat is exacerbated by Japanese
military expansion and the concomitant Chinese response to
the arms race.

The war policy of the Bush administration is
particularly serious in relation to the Korean peninsula.

After branding North Korea as part of an 'axis of evil',
the Bush administration submitted to Congress a report on
Nuclear Posture Review which could open up the possibility
of nuclear war in the Korean peninsula. All these actions
are purposely nullifying the US-North Korea Agreed
Framework of 1994 as well as the North Korea-US Joint
Communiqué of 2000 which laid the foundation for peace on
the Korean peninsula, and the rumor of the threat of war
is openly circulating in Korea.

In addition, the dangerous rearmament of Japan pushed
by warmongers under the support of the US-Japan Military
Alliance is intensifying the military tension in North
East Asia. To the Asian people's demand for official
apology and compensation for Japan's invasion and colonial
rule during World War II, the Koizumi administration and
militant groups responded with the distortion of history
textbooks which beautify its past aggression, and
Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine. And the
rearmament of Japan is being actualized by the dispatch of
the Self-Defense Forces abroad, the plan to enact the
Contingency Registration, and a plan to revise the
Japanese Constitution. The most serious danger is that
the aim of the Contingency Registration is to provide
legitimacy for immediate military intervention in the
Korean peninsula in case of emergency.

We urge: There must be no more war on the Korean
peninsula! To prevent war and bring peace to the Korean
peninsula, which is the site of the most militarized zone
in the world and which affects the vital interest of the
Bush administration's world hegemonic strategy, is one of
the strongest imperatives for world peace.

The solidarity of human conscience is the only hope for
peace!!

The powerful wave of peace and anti-war movements
arising out of Afghanistan, the Middle East, Europe, South
and North America, and Asia gives hope for the future of
people recently living under the shadow of war. On "the
June 22nd International Action Day Against War and For
Peace", which Korea and Japan, co-hosts of the 2002 World
Cup Tournament, proposed and in which peace-loving people
around the world have joined, we declare the following:

§ We oppose the US war policies, which are a means of
consolidating US hegemony, and the invasive war against
terrorism threatening world peace!

§ We will not tolerate the worldwide abuse of human rights
and destruction of democracy, social welfare, and
environment caused by war!

§ We say "No!" to the enactment of the Contingency
Registration and rearmament of Japan!

§ We oppose the Missile Defense System and other military
armament policies!

§ We denounce any establishment or expansion of foreign US
military bases!

§ We demand that foreign US military bases be returned to
their rightful owners!

§ We oppose neo-liberalism and globalization, which result
in poverty and social inequality!

§ We demand that the Japanese government and Emperor take
full responsibility for Japan's past imperialistic
aggression!

June 22, 2002
Seoul, Tokyo
Participants in "The June 22 International Action Day against War and for Peace"

Send June 22 endorsements, messages, and action
announcements to:  june22peace@yahoo.com

Korea Truth Commission
39 West 14 Street #206, New York, NY 10011
Tel: 212-633-6646
Fax: 212-633-2889
Email:  june22peace@yahoo.com
Web: koreatruthcommission.org

roberto
- Homepage: http://www.koreatruthcommission.org