South Korea Statement from Global Network

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space/U.S.A / Bruce K. Gagnon

 It is no coincidence that the U.S. is aggressively expanding its military operations in the Asian-Pacific at the same time that NATO is expanding eastward and encircling Russia.

 In a world where vital resources are increasingly becoming scarce, and at the same time world population is growing, the Pentagon has determined that America’s role in the world will be “security export” on behalf of corporate dominated globalization of the world economy.

 Thus U.S. military expansion in South Korea at Pyeongteak and Mugeonri, and in Okinawa, Guam, Australia and throughout the Asian-Pacific region is all part of a larger military strategy to surround and control China.  As the Chinese economy grows the U.S. understands they cannot compete with it but has made the decision to militarily dominate China. Most importantly the U.S. wants to control China’s access to oil and other dwindling natural resources as a way to keep the American hands on the keys to the worlds economic engine.

 Recently the Global Network asked our members in the U.S. to contact the South Korean embassy in Washington DC to protest the ROK’s plan to build a controversial Navy base for Aegis destroyers in the village of Gangjeong on Jeju Island.  Two of our members immediately contacted our office after they had called the ROK Embassy and were told by embassy staff to “call your own government – they are the ones pushing us to build the Navy base on Jeju Island.”

 All one has to do is look at a map of the Yellow Sea region just beyond Jeju Island to see that this area is a vital shipping lane for China as they import 80% of their oil through this waterway.  How can anyone not clearly see that the U.S. will be using the Navy base on Jeju Island as part of its grand chess game to militarily surround China in order to develop the ability to “choke off” China’s importation of oil and other vital resources?

 The South Korean Navy has recently tested their Aegis destroyer, Sejong the Great, just off the coast of Hawaii and we know that this ship, and the “missile defense” systems on-board, are being fully integrated into the command structure of the U.S. Navy. The Aegis destroyers that would be deployed at the proposed base on Jeju Island will in fact be a part of the larger U.S. military strategy of controlling China.

 The U.S. recently tested a nuclear missile by firing it from Vandenberg AFB in California toward Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.  When North Korea tests missiles the U.S., South Korea, and Japan scream in protest.  When the U.S. tests nuclear missiles nothing is said about this display of nuclear hypocrisy.  The rest of the world understands this double standard and is loosing faith in the moral authority of the United States.

 South Korea is poised to make a historic decision to put its national will and resources under the complete control of the U.S. military empire.  South Korea is now entering a dangerous and provocative alliance with Japan and the U.S. in a deadly game of control.  The recent decision to send ROK forces to Afghanistan makes it clear that an expanding NATO alliance is now absorbing South Korea in its drive to “control” Russia and China.

 This is a game the U.S. cannot win and South Korea will ultimately suffer for having played ball with the declining and out of control U.S. government.  The American economy is now in a freefall state of collapse as 50% of every tax dollar goes into military spending.  The American people are increasingly angry as our nation moves closer to becoming a Third World economy and our social system declines under the weight of advancing militarism.

 During WW II the Korean people heroically struggled against Japanese imperialism.  But today the ROK is forging a historically mistaken alliance with U.S. and Japanese imperial designs that can only end badly as they attempt to control and dominate China.  China’s economy will be dominant in the Asian-Pacific and throughout the world.  It is unwise for South Korea to become a junior partner with the declining U.S. Empire.

 The South Korean people must wake up from this deep sleep and realize that they cannot prosper by taking such a foolish path.