60th Anniversary of U.S. Occupation of South Korea

On the 60th anniversary of the United States Occupation of the Korean Peninsula, which began on September 8, 1945, people of conscience around the world demand the immediate removal of U.S. military forces from South Korea (Republic of Korea).

The six-decade U.S. military occupation, and past U.S. government support of military dictatorships in South Korea, has unjustly denied the Korean people independence, sovereignty, and self-determination. The legal mechanism governing U.S. occupation--the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)--is an unequal treaty that enables U.S. soldiers to act with impunity against Korean civilians. The U.S. military commander continues to have operational control of the South Korean military during wartime, which technically is the case even today between the U.S. and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Armistice signed at the end of the Korean War was a temporary ceasefire, not a peace treaty. Since that time, the U.S. military has been a constant threat to the stability and peace of not only Korea, but also the entire Asia Pacific region. The existence of 37,000 U.S. troops has produced the most-heavily militarized area in the world a significant barrier to peace and unification.

Evidence of numerous atrocities committed against the Korean people by the U.S. military during the 1950-53 Korean War continues to surface to this day, yet the U.S. government has offered no formal apology or reparations to the victims or their families. Furthermore, U.S. servicemen today continue to commit numerous crimes against Korean civilians, including hundreds of cases of murder, rape, and robbery. The most infamous examples include the June 13, 2002 killing of two students (thirteen-year old Shim Hyo-soon and Shin Mi-sun) who were run over by U.S. armored vehicles during military exercises near their village, and the brutal October 28, 1992 rape and murder of Yoon Geum Hee by a U.S. serviceman outside a military base. Because of SOFA, many soldiers never face justice; the murderers of Shim Hyo-soon and Shin Mi-sun walked free and the murderer of Yoon Geum Hee only received a token sentence.

While the Pentagon has announced a reduction of ground troops as part of its global reorganization of U.S. forces, this is only a smokescreen for a new phase in U.S. domination of the Asia Pacific region in which the Korean Peninsula will become a staging area for U.S. confrontation against China. This new phase includes the deployment of Patriot Missile bases along the Western coastline of Korea and the strategic threat of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons of mass destruction.

We do not want a renewed buildup of U.S. military forces on the Korean Peninsula. In poll after poll, the majority of South Koreas population have stated their objection to continued U.S. intervention in the internal affairs of South Korea, U.S. obstruction of inter-Korean unification efforts and self-determination, the continued existence of foreign troops on Korean soil. As long as the U.S. military occupies South Korea, there will never be peace and stability, or a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Our demands to the U.S. government are: (1) Immediate withdrawal of U.S. military forces from the Korean Peninsula; (2) End of U.S. obstruction and interference to inter-Korean unification and cooperation; (3) Normalization of U.S. relations with North Korea by signing a peace treaty and non-aggression pact ending all threats of pre-emptive military attacks and war.

We call on all people of conscience from around the world to support this campaign on the 60th anniversary of the arrival of U.S. occupation troops in South Korea by taking this appeal far and wide so that we can bring the weight of all humanity to support our just demands.

In solidarity,