Opening Plenary, 2023 World Conference against A and H Bombs – Nagasaki
August 7, 2023
Oh Mi-jeong
Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea (SPARK)
Dear peace loving people of Japan,
Today we are gathered here to remember the suffering of Hibakusha, victims of U.S. atomic
bombing 78 years ago, to stigmatize any use of nuclear weapons as illegal and commit ourselvesto contribute to the achievement of totally eliminating these weapons.
Since the U.S. used nuclear weapons, despite of long struggle by human race to get rid of theseweapons and realize a nuclear-free world, dangers of nuclear confrontation and nuclear war
have never been so high. Especially the Korean Peninsula that has become a theater of nuclear
confrontation where unprecedent hyper-aggressive nuclear strategies and nuclear forces arekeenly crushing each other.
As the U.S. blockade strategy against China has been further strengthened since the advent ofBiden administration, the South Korea-U.S. allied forces are working desperately to build
hyper-aggressive strategies and forces including the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against
North Korea. In response to this, North Korea has adopted in 2022 the preemptive use doctrine
and announced the operational deployment of tactical nuclear weapons.
In particular, South Korean and American leaders claiming to increase the effective power ofthe extended deterrence such as the U.S. nuclear umbrella, agreed to establish a nuclear
consultation and regular deployment of U.S. strategic assets to Korean Peninsula. On July 18,
on the day of the first meeting of South Korea US nuclear consultation group in Seoul, astrategic nuclear submarine entered South Korea for the first time since 42 years, The submarine
was equipped with nuclear missiles 1600 times more powerful than the atomic bomb droppedon Hiroshima.
However, that South Korea and the U.S. are strengthening extended deterrence means that
nuclear confrontation on Korean Peninsula already happening on daily basis will further
intensify and increase reliance on nuclear weapons in the event of emergency on the Peninsula
and Northeast Asia. Finally, at the end, there would be a huge war black hole engulfing theseareas together with all lives and properties of humanity. The extended deterrence policy is a
confrontational policy based on the threat of use and violates Article 2-4 of the U.N. Charter
that prohibits the use and threat of use of force.
The policy to strengthen extended deterrence would rather lead to strengthening of North
Korean nuclear capabilities and take far away the goal of denuclearization of Korean Peninsula.
If the governments of these two countries really want to get Korean Peninsula denuclearized,
they should give up extended deterrence. On August 18, a Japan-U.S.-Korea summit isscheduled where institutionalization of expanded deterrence is likely to be discussed.
Kishida government says that it would support the U.S. plan to establish a tripartite consultationbody Japan-U.S.-South Korea on extended deterrence. Its declaration of possession and use of1the enemy base attack ability means that Japan will embark on building and using preemptive
strike force against China and North Korea to support the U.S. first use nuclear policy.
This illustrates the fact that the Japan-US alliance will become more aggressive throughextended deterrence which in turn will intensify nuclear confrontation and war in this region
and the rest of the world. In addition, the troops of NATO countries such as Britain and France
are coming into Asia Pacific Region and extending joint training with the U.S., Japan and SouthKorea. The formation of an alliance of global reach with the U.S. at its core is imminent.
However, such move will only transform Korean Peninsula and Taiwan Straits into powder
magazines for Cold War and push Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia into a quagmire of war.
Politicians of our three countries claim that the U.S. extended deterrence and nuclear alliancewould ensure security. It is a mere lie. Nuclear confrontation between nuclear alliance made up
of South Korea and the U,S. or South Korea, U.S. , and Japan on one side and North Korea,
Russia and China on the other is a way to a war that will threaten the survival of humanity inNortheast Asia and the rest of this planet. It would only lead these countries to collapse together
or perish together.
Japanese people fighting to achieve a nuclear-free world,
Let us fight together to resist a majority of politicians who, prisoners of the myth of nuclear
alliance and nuclear weapons, drive humanity to confrontation and war, and eventually todoomsday, to set Northeast Asia region and human livelihoods on the solid base of peace,coexistence and symbiosis!!!
Let the people of Japan and South Korea join hands to struggle together to put an end to nuclear
confrontation policy and nuclear alliance based on the U.S. extended deterrence.
Let us get South Korea and Japan join the TPNW and let us contribute to a nuclear-free worldand Northeast Asia, and to global peace!
The conclusion of a peace agreement on Korean Peninsula is the only way to end nuclear
confrontation there and achieve denuclearization. It will ease the tension in Northeast Asia andthe world and open the way out for South Korea and Japan from the U.S. extended deterrence
and the nuclear alliance with the U.S.
SPARK is preparing an international people’s tribunal in 2026 in New York in order to hold theU.S. accountable for dropping the atomic bomb in 1945. As part of these preparations we plan
to have a second international meeting in Hiroshima in June. To demonstrate the evident
illegality of the atomic bombing of 1945 will logically show that the use is also illegal. This
will constitute a powerful means for peace movement to counter the forces for nuclear alliance.
People of Japan who are fighting to abolish nuclear weapons!
Let us struggle in solidarity to reject extended deterrence and end nuclear alliance!

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