AFSC Works for Peace with North Korea
The Path of Peace in Korea
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| Statement of Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee |
When President Kim Dae Jung and Chairman Kim Jong Il shook hands on the Pyongyang tarmac on June 15, 2000, it inspired hope not just among the Korean people, but in all of us who have worked and prayed for peace on the Korea peninsula.
I am honored to join all of you here today to celebrate that historic moment and to reaffirm our commitment to their vision for a peaceful, united, and non-nuclear Korea.
Despite numerous obstacles and reversals over the past six years, Koreans on both sides of the peninsula have demonstrated their steadfast determination to continue to walk together down the path of peace.
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In his 1962 poem, “The Challenge of Korea,” the famous Korean philosopher and Quaker, Ham Sok Hon, called Korea the “Queen of Suffering.”
Teacher Ham was referring to the invasion and occupation by Japan, the brutal war between North and South, and the long struggle for democracy in the South. He wrote:
How long it was, the tedious winter night?
While I was waiting in the dark corner of the dressing room,
Many nations came and went without heeding me;
They trampled me under their feet, and pushed me aside.
My own country, the United States, bears a heavy responsibility for this deep sadness in Korean history.
When two U.S. military planners in 1945 drew a line on a map dividing Korea at the 38th parallel, hardly anyone imagined that this temporary division would survive a major war on the peninsula, foster the establishment of two separate states, and maintain their division even beyond the end of the Cold War.
* * *
Just as in 1945 and throughout the Cold War, today U.S. policies continue to destabilize and divide Korea.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the United States had an historic opportunity to revisit U.S. policies which for decades had sown anger and alienation in the Middle East and around the world.
Instead, the so called “war on terror,” the invasion of Iraq, and the U.S. policy of pursuing global “full spectrum dominance” combines an aggressive military policy with unstinted attack upon the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. It also has cost us the goodwill of the citizens of the world.
The Non-Proliferation Treaty was shaped around a historic compromise: nuclear states would halt their nuclear weapons development and take steps toward full disarmament while non-nuclear states would forgo the pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The Bush administration has turned its back on the NPT. It acquiesces to the possession of nuclear weapons by some states while threatening military attack against others.
Meanwhile, U.S. military planners continue to pursue the development of “usable” nuclear weapons, raising the terrifying possibility that nuclear weapons may again be used against human beings.
In a world such as this,
- Where international norms are not respected
- Where international institutions are undermined
- And where there are no constraints against powerful states using military force,
It is hardly surprising that leaders of states targeted as threats by the U.S. military often turn to military means of defense.
The roots of the current danger of the spread of nuclear weapons around the world, including to the Korean peninsula, are thus deeply embedded within U.S. policy.
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Perhaps nowhere in the world has the shift in U.S. policy been so dramatic and destructive as on the Korean peninsula.
In 1994, the intervention of former President Jimmy Carter and the subsequent “Perry process” under President Clinton made notable progress toward reducing the possibility of cataclysmic war in Korea.
Since coming into office, the Bush administration has instead undermined South Korea’s policy of engagement while isolating and demonizing the North.
Massive shows of military force, ideological attacks, diplomatic obstructionism, and military buildups over the past few years have returned U.S.-North Korean relations to their most tense state in decades.
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Yet strikingly, the Korean people have not been deterred by the U.S. policy of “malign neglect.”
Since the June 15, 2000 meeting, Koreans from North and South have been steadily knitting together the ties torn asunder by the half-century of violence and division on the peninsula.
Roads and railroads now thread their way north, transgressing the most heavily mined piece of land on the planet.
Tourist facilities, telephone lines, and video linkups allow divided families to see and even embrace long-lost loved ones.
Koreans have come together for youth exchanges and sporting events; and on projects of economic development, environmental protection, and military confidence-building.
Though always subject to setbacks and uncertainty, these efforts have reduced distrust and built common interests and understanding.
The Korean people have been able to step back from the precipice of war, and instead begun planning for their shared future.
The process of engagement begun under President Kim Dae Jung’s “sunshine policy” has opened the eyes of the world to a potential for a peaceful, united, and non-nuclear Korea.
* * *
As international peace organizations and influential leaders, what can we do to support this process?
Perhaps the most pressing need is to reverse current U.S. policies.
Millions of Americans are deeply opposed to the Bush administration’s policies of nuclear buildup and military aggression abroad.
We need and welcome support from our friends around the world.
Unfortunately, U.S. policy toward the Korean peninsula has received less attention by U.S. peace groups.
AFSC works with our Korean partners and with international organizations to build support within the U.S. for an engagement policy toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Many people in the United States and elsewhere have opposed a policy of engagement and dialogue with the DPRK because of their desire to promote human rights and democracy.
I personally am a firm believer in the universal nature of human rights which respect human dignity and I support the strengthening of democracy around the world, including in the U.S.
But such change cannot come about through military invasion and occupation.
It cannot be imposed by the use of force. History teaches us, over and over again, that sustainable change for peace comes through engagement, dialogue, and cooperation.
* * *
Quakers believe there is something of the divine—that of God—in everyone.
This faith has long guided us in our work in Korea.
Since 1953, the American Friends Service Committee has been actively engaged on the Korean peninsula, beginning with the provision of relief supplies and medical assistance to refugees in the South after the Korean War.
AFSC was an active supporter of the democracy movement in South Korea, including advocacy for the release of President Kim Dae Jung from prison, and nominating Ham Sook Hon for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the early 1980s, AFSC also began to facilitate exchanges between the U.S. and the DPRK. In recent years, we have brought North Korean doctors to the U.S. and helped US musicians perform in Pyongyang.
Since 1997, AFSC has been working with scientists and farmers in the DPRK to promote agricultural rehabilitation and the use of organic farming. In recent years, we have also expanded our capacity building programs with North Korean partners.
Knitting together the Korean peninsula, a land so long divided by war and ideology, will take time.
It will be led by Koreans, but also requires a reversal of current U.S. policy.
It will take the efforts of many peace groups and individual leaders, including the ones gathered here today. And it will take love.
* * *
William Penn, who founded Philadelphia, my home city, once told his followers, “let us see what love can do.”
Over the past six years, the Korean people have demonstrated their determination to end the suffering and division on the Korean peninsula.
Let us support them, as they continue to follow the path of engagement and dialogue, with open minds and open hearts.
Let us see what love can do.
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