Against joint military drills

 Against joint military drills

 Now all strata of south Korea people are raising their voice in connection with resumption of suspended U.S.-south Korea joint military rehearsals with the 23rd Winter Olympic Games as an occasion.

The People for Achieving Peace and Reunification held a rally outside the U.S. embassy in Seoul on Feb. 21 against the resumption of the joint military exercises against north Korea.

At the rally the speakers denounced the U.S. for calling for the resumption while not easing sanctions and pressure on north Korea.

The resumption of the drills would pose the danger of a nuclear war as last year, they deplored.

They denounced the double-faced attitude of the U.S. which outwardly calls for dialogue but inwardly applies sanctions against and puts pressures on north Korea. 

They urged the U.S. to stop at once sanctions and pressure and military action against the north, stressing that they would never help settle "north Korea's nuclear issue".

They called upon all citizens to launch a candlelight action for peace against war at the Gwanghwamun plaza on March 24. 

In the middle of the rally, they chanted slogans against the U.S. and war at the top of their voice to the U.S. embassy with hatred towards the U.S. which is about to provoke a new war on the Korean Peninsula.

On the same day, a spokesman for the People’s Democratic Party asserted that the joint military exercises destroying inter-Korean ties should not be resumed.

South Korean defense minister Song Young-moo on Feb. 20 said that Key Resolve and Foal Eagle would be resumed after the Winter Olympics, the spokesman noted.

The Trump administration has consistently pursued hostile policy toward north Korea to escalate the tension on the Korean Peninsula during the period of the Winter Olympics, he said.   

He showed concern at deterioration of inter-Korean relationship in case the joint military drills are resumed.

The south Korean authorities should never start the joint military games jeopardizing inter-Korean ties, he stressed. 

The détente and improvement of inter-Korean relations can never be realized if the U.S. and south Korean bellicose forces resort to the war games to dampen the atmosphere of hard-won inter-Korean ties and they should be held wholly accountable for it.