From Veterans For Peace- People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea

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People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea

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Alarmed by the threat of a nuclear war between the U.S. and North Korea, Veterans For Peace, joined by other U.S. peace groups have come together to send an open message to Washington and Pyongyang that we are strongly opposed to any resumption of the horrific Korean War. What we want is a peace treaty to finally end the lingering Korean War!

Inspired by the Vietnam-era People’s Peace Treaty, we have initiated a People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea, to raise awareness about the past U.S. policy toward North Korea, and to send a clear message that we, the people of the U.S., do not want another war with North Korea. This is not an actual treaty, but rather a declaration of peace from the people of the United States.  

Our goal is to collect as many signatures as possible by the end of 2017, and to publicize the People's Peace Treaty in conjunction with nationally coordinated peace actions on Armistice Day, November 11.  The People's Peace Treaty will be sent to the governments and peoples of Korea, as well as to the U.S. Government. 

Please add your voice for peace by signing the People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea.

People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea

A Message of Peace from the People of the United States

      Deeply concerned with the increasing danger of the current military tensions and threats between the Governments of the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea), which may re-ignite the horrendous fighting in the Korean War by design, mistake or accident,

     Recalling that the United States currently possesses about 6,800  nuclear weapons, and has threatened the use of nuclear weapons against North Korea in the past, including the most recent threat made by the U.S. President in his terrifying speech to the United Nations (“totally destroy North Korea”),

     Regretting that the U.S. Government has so far refused to negotiate a peace treaty to replace the temporary Korean War Armistice Agreement of 1953, although such a peace treaty has been proposed by DPRK many times from 1974 on, 

     Convinced that ending the Korean War officially is an urgent, essential step for the establishment of enduring peace and mutual respect between the U.S. and DPRK, as well as for the North Korean people’s full enjoyment of their basic human rights to life, peace and development – ending their long sufferings from the harsh economic sanctions imposed on them by the U.S. Government since 1950,

NOW, THEREFORE, as a Concerned Person of the United States of America(or on behalf of a civil society organization), I hereby sign this People’s Peace Treaty with North Korea, dated November 11, 2017, Armistice Day (also Veterans Day in the U.S.), and

1)  Declare to the world that the Korean War is over as far as I am concerned, and that I will live in “permanent peace and friendship” with the North Korean people (as promised in the 1882 U.S.-Korea Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation that opened the diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Korea for the first time);

2) Express my deep apology to the North Korean people for the U.S. Government’s long, cruel and unjust hostility against them, including the near total destruction of North Korea due to the heavy U.S. bombings during the Korean War;

3)  Urge Washington and Pyongyang to immediately stop their preemptive (or preventive) conventional/nuclear attack threats against each other and to sign the new UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons;

4) Call upon the U.S. Government to stop its large-scale, joint war drills with the armed forces of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Japan, and commence a gradual withdrawal of the U.S. troops and weapons from South Korea;

5) Call upon the U.S. Government to officially end the lingering and costly Korean War by concluding a peace treaty with the DPRK without further delay, to lift all sanctions against the country, and to join the 164 nations that have normal diplomatic relations with the DPRK;

6)  Pledge that I will do my best to end the Korean War, and to reach out to the North Korean people – in order to foster greater understanding, reconciliation and friendship.

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Initial signers: 
Christine Ahn, Women Cross DMZ
Medea Benjamin, Code Pink
Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies
Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, UFPJ
Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
Gerry Condon, Veterans For Peace
Noam Chomsky, Emeritus Professor, M.I.T.
Blanch Weisen Cook, Professor of History and Women's Studies, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Clare Coss, Playwright and librettist
Joe Essertier, World Beyond War - Japan
Bill Fletcher, Jr., former president of TransAfrica Forum
Irene Gendzier, Emeritus Professor, Boston University
Joseph Gerson, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security
Matthew P. Hoh, Senior Fellow, Center For International Policy
Louis Kampf, Emeritus Professor, M.I.T.
Asaf Kfoury, Professor of Mathematics, Boston University
John Kim, Veterans For Peace
David Krieger, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
John Lamperti, Emeritus Professor, Dartmouth College
Kevin Martin, Peace Action
Emanuel Pastreich, Kyung Hee University
Sophie Quinn-Judge, Temple University (retired)
Steve Rabson, Emeritus Professor, Brown University
Alice Slater, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Gar Smith, Environmentalists Against War
David Swanson, World Beyond War, RootsAction
Ann Wright, Women Cross DMZ, Code Pink, VFP

Background: 
> President Jimmy Carter, “What I’ve Learned from North Korea’s Leaders,” Washington Post, Oct. 4, 2017
> Col. Ann Wright (Ret.), “A Path Forward on North Korea, “ Consortiumnews, March 5, 2017
> Leon V. Sigal, “Bad History,” 38 North, Aug. 22, 2017
> Prof. Bruce Cumings, “A Murderous History of Korea,“ London Review of Books, May 18, 2017
> Joseph Essertier, "Let's Put to Rest These Myths About U.S.-North Korea Relations, World Beyond War, Sep. 27, 2017