KCNA Commentary Demands Withdrawal of U.S. Forces from S. Korea

Pyongyang, September 7 (KCNA) -- 68 years have passed since the U.S. occupied south Korea.
    The U.S. occupation of south Korea became the starting point of the tragic division of the Korean nation, a nation that has lived as a homogenous nation sharing the same blood for centuries. This has dampened the desire and wishes of the nation for the unified development.
    To look around the world, no country and the nation has been exposed to such big misfortune and sufferings with its unified development curbed by the foreign occupiers for such a long time as the Korean nation.
    The U.S. forces presence in south Korea turned the Korean Peninsula into the world's biggest hotspot and posed grave threats to the world peace and stability, to say nothing of those in Northeast Asia.
    This notwithstanding, the U.S. misleads the public opinion as if the "UN Command" and the U.S. forces' presence in south Korea are essential for the peace and security on the Korean Peninsula although 38 years have passed since the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution on withdrawing all the foreign forces from the peninsula.
    The former U.S. forces' commanders in south Korea blustered that the "UN Command" now plays a buffer role and that it has played a big role in keeping the stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula along with the U.S.-south Korea "Combined Command" and the U.S. forces present in south Korea.
    This is brigandish sophism aimed to cover up the U.S. crime as the chieftain who harassed peace and stability on the peninsula, and to seek the U.S. forces' permanent presence in south Korea.
    The U.S. forces' presence in south Korea was a crime committed by the U.S. by abusing its position as a state which won a victory in the Second World War. It was not at the request of the Korean nation nor according to an international convention.
    The U.S. forces' presence in south Korea was a production of the U.S. aggressive ambition to separate Korea, occupy whole of Korea and, furthermore, dominate Asia and the rest of the world.
    The U.S. occupation of south Korea by force was not aimed to "protect" civilians nor to ensure peace on the peninsula.
    The U.S. forces in south Korea going under the guise of "UN Command" is to blame for the serious situation on the Korean Peninsula which is at the crossroads of war or peace.
    The U.S. seeks to keep its forces in south Korea for an indefinite period. According to the new national defence strategy envisaging the arms beef-up in Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. is claiming that its role is not just for "protection" but for the "maintenance of regional peace".
    The U.S. forces in south Korea is taking up new nature and role as the forces in the foremost area and "strategic mobile forces" for realizing the U.S. strategy for containing China and Russia and holding military hegemony in the region.
    In order to enhance the maneuverability and offensive capabilities of the U.S. forces in south Korea, the U.S. has steadily increased the frequency and scope of the military exercises under various codenames on the pretexts of coping with so-called "provocations" and "nuclear threats", pushing the situation to the state of war.
    The U.S. forces in south Korea are a detached force and an advance unit for the invasion of Korea.
    The U.S. intention is to use its forces in south Korea as an offensive forces on the first line in case of "emergency" on the peninsula and rapidly hurl its aggression troops in the Asia-Pacific region including those in Japan and on Okinawa into the Korean front so as to fight a blitz warfare.
    According to the "2012 base structure report" published by the U.S. Defense Department, the U.S. has 11 000 more troops in south Korea now, compared with that in September 2009.
    Defying this fact, the U.S. is claiming that its forces in south Korea is aimed at peace and stability on the peninsula and the region but this can convince no one.
    Ruling mode in colonies has become an anachronistic one, today when all the countries and nations have opted for the road of independent progress.
    Still running deep in the memories of the Koreans are grudge and hatred for the U.S. occupation forces who have inflicted the whole gamut of misfortune and pains on the Koreans, putting south Korea under their control for so many years.
    It is the requirements of the times and the people aspiring after lasting peace and prosperity on the peninsula and the rest of the Northeast Asia to see the withdrawal of the U.S. forces.
    Whether the U.S. withdraws its forces from south Korea or not is a touchstone showing whether it truly wants peace and stability on the peninsula or not.
    If the U.S. is truly interested in peace and stability on the peninsula, it should take a bold decision of pulling its troops, the biggest hurdle in way of achieving peace, out of south Korea. -0-