Fukushima Conference : International Symposium
Nuclear Weapons Abolish and Plutonium Accumulation by JapanLEE Youngah,(Activist of Center for Peace and Disarmament, PSPD)

Hello, everyone. This is Youngah from South Korea. I am an activist of Center for Peace andDisarmament of People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy(PSPD). Thank you forgiving me a chance to speak in the International Symposium.
Dark road of peace on the Korean Peninsula
As you all know, tensions between North and South Korea have been escalating. On June 9,
North Korea cut off and shut down all lines of official dialogue with South Korea including ata liaison office near the border, a military communication hotline, and a line between North
Korea’s ruling party and South Korea’s presidential office because of anti-Pyongyang leaflets
across the border. Then, on June 16, DPRK blew up an inter-Korean liaison office, which
was the symbol of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration. The North Korean army announced
it was drawing up its military plans, but the Central Military Commission made a decision tosuspend it.
The current situation is very embarrassing to recall the touching moment when the twoleaders of inter-Korea crossed the Military Demarcation Line together and the soldiers of thetwo Koreas shook hands in the DMZ two years ago.
This is because the agreements between the inter-Korea Summit and between the DPRK
and US have not been properly followed or advanced. In 2018, the two Koreas agreed tocease all hostile acts against each other and build trust in the <Agreement on theImplementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain>. However,ROK and the U.S. are continuing the joint military exercises just on a smaller scale whichpressures the DPRK with overwhelming military capabilities. DPRK is standing against themby military exercises such as short-range missile launches.

1Even though the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged in public for thesanctions against the DPRK and other countries to be lifted or stopped under the situation of
COVID-19 pandemic, Washington’s policy of “maximum pressure” and sanctions toward
DPRK is kept in place. As long as the force against force structure endures, it would be
difficult to expect a development to the peace process on the Korean peninsula.
The ROK government should no longer just put blames on the “international constraints” andother situations . As Seoul had announced it would steer the wheel of the peace on thepeninsula, it should put active efforts to dismantle current status. However, the ROK
government's policies have either been inertially followed or retreated.
Even after the Panmunjom Declaration in which both states agreed on phased disarmament,
the military expenditure of ROK increased by about 5.68 million $, exceeding 40.6 billion $for the first time in 2020. This is a sum that outstrips the GDP of DPRK. Persuading theDPRK to give up the nuclear weapons and missiles while investing this much into
conventional weapons would result in vain.
Also, sanctions against DPRK are preventing inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation.
Projects such as the Kaesong Industrial Complex and Mt. Geumgang tours have yet toresume. The Inter-Korea exchange and cooperation projects agreed upon by the leaders ofthe Koreas have not been carried out due to sanctions, especially the U.S. government. TheROK government has not lifted its own sanctions that began after the Cheonan sinking, andis also reluctant to persuade the international community to stop the sanctions.
Merely waiting for policy change of the DPRK without a clear and active change of stance tobreak the current deadlock such as disarmament or stopping military actions, mutual security
and sanction relief may consequently lead to a closure of the gates on the peace regime of
the Korean peninsula and denuclearization that was opened by the Panmunjom Declaration.
Inter-Korean dialogue should resume as soon as possible. To do so, it is urgent for ROK andthe U.S to take preemptive action to show trust in DPRK.
Above all, whether the ROK-U.S. joint military exercises scheduled for August will be theimportant factor in future inter-Korean relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. It
is important to remember that dialogue and military action are incompatible, and that there is
no progress in relations without the withdrawal of hostile policy. The ROK government needs2

to remember that the peace process on the Korean Peninsula in 2018 began with thedecision to postpone the joint military drills. Furthermore, the suspension of the joint military
drills was that President Trump has promised Chairman Kim Jong-un twice. Also, it goesagainst the purpose of the inter-Korean military agreement.
Last July 1, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution expressing its
support for the Secretary-General’s appeal for a global ceasefire, which he issued in March
to help unite efforts to fight COVID-19 in the most vulnerable countries. The governments ofROK and U.S. should decide to stop joint military exercise at all costs in order to implement
the resolution.
The bilateral relationship between the government of ROK and Japan have been at theirworst due to the Japanese government's adversarial economic measures against the ROK
in July last year in response to the ROK Supreme Court ruling admitting the claims of victims
of forced labor during the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The current Japanese government’s repeated attempts to revise Article 9 - the peace clauseof the Japanese Constitution - are perceived within Northeast Asia as an ominous
expression of Japanese militarism, and a rejection of dialogue as a means to resolve
disputes.
I would like to introduce the “Korea-Japan peace network of religious groups / civil society”
that was meaningfully pursued by the religious groups and civil societies of both countries.
They discussed the launch of a platform amidst the worst relationship status between thetwo countries. The platform aims for Article 9 of Japan Constitution, the construction ofpeace community, Nuclear Free Northeast Asia, non-governmental interchange and peaceeducation for future generation. The platform launched last July 2 . I think this would take onan essential role in forming civic discussions and cooperation to install peace between
Japan and Korea hereafter.
Lets now end the 70 years of Korean War
The year 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. The unstablearmistice of the past 70 years has not only brought great pain to the people of our divided
peninsula, it has also threatened peace in Northeast Asia and the wider world. The
horrendous war left millions of casualties and separated countless families. The wholecountry was destroyed. Since then, anxiety, hatred, and military tension have dominated the3

lives of the people on the Korean Peninsula. Despite the end of the Cold War, the Korean
Peninsula remains caught in the instability of the armistice. The peninsula remains abattlefield for international military hegemony, and has propelled an international nuclear
arms race and proliferation.
Korean civil society and religious groups have been preparing for the "Peace Campaign toend the Korean War" with a desperate heart and desperation for peace on the Korean
Peninsula since last February. We launched this campaign on July 27th. This campaign willcontinue until 2023, the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement. Our goal is ending theKorean War. We will collect signatures and endorsements of the 'Korea Peace Appeal' far
and wide and deliver them to governments involved in the Korean War. These include theROK, DPRK, U.S, China, and the United Nations. We will exert pressure and lobby forpeace in the name of the people of the Korean Peninsula and peace-loving people aroundthe world so that the related countries are brought to implement measures necessary toestablish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

We appeal to peace-loving people around the world to join this call. Separated families must
be able to meet each other as soon as possible. Our tax and resources should be used forpeople’s safety, happiness and sustainable environment rather than preparing for war. Let’sbuild, together, a future of cooperation and peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsulaand for the world.

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