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Professors World Peace Academy

NEWSAuthor(s): Gordon AndersonSource: International Journal on World Peace, Vol. 5, No. 3 (JUL-SEP 1988), pp. 109-118Published by: Professors World Peace AcademyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20751270 .

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A NEW ERA FOR KOREA

The government of South Korea, responding to demands for greater freedom of speech, has stopped enforcing a ban on public debate over the reunification of South Korea and the North. For nearly 35 years the emo

tionally searing debate has been forced underground by governments that favored displays of strength over diplomacy and balked at dissent, jailing many people who questioned official policy towards the North. But since President Roh Tae-woo took office February 25, he has decided to allow limited discussion on the controversial issues as part of a new official policy toward the North.

The government has already stopped prosecuting cases under a national

security law, which restricts discussions on how to weld one Korea from two

ideologically polar nations, and will officially begin to ease the legislation when the National Assembly meets in early June. Allowing debate, however, is politically dangerous for the government, Western analysts say, as it will raise expectation of a thaw in relations between the belligerent nations, a condition that is unlikely any time soon.

On July 7, 1988, the South Korean president, hoping to end more than four decades of hostility between South and North Korea, announced a new

policy to promote trade and other exchanges on the divided peninsula. In his declaration, Roh said South Korea will actively promote visits between the people of South and North Korea, will open doors for trade with the

North, and help the communist nation improve relations with the United States and other Western countries. He said the division of the Korean penin sula continues because the South and the North regard each other as adver

saries, "rather than realizing that both belong to the same national

community... The divided halves of the single Korean nation have distrusted, denounced and antagonized each other since the day of territorial partition and this painful state has yet to be remedied.... We must work together to

open a bright era of South-North reconciliation and cooperation. The time has come for all of us to endeavor in concert to promote the well-being and

prosperity of the entire Korean people.55 Roh said his new North Korea policy seeks to "open a new era of nation

al self-esteem, unification, and prosperity by building a social, cultural,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE 109



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economic, and political community in which all members of the Korean

people can participate on the principles of independence, peace, democracy, and welfare.55

Kim Dae Jung, leader of the main opposition Party for Peace and

Democracy, said through a spokesman, "We welcome the declaration that showed a positive posture to lay the foundation for our national reunifica tion.55 The Reunification Democratic Party led by Kim Young-sam said Roh5s

proposal "was in line with the aspirations of the people and was a result of

popular endeavors for democracy.55 Under the new policy, Roh said the Seoul government will actively promote

exchanges of politicians, businessmen, journalists, religious and cultural leaders, artists, academics, sportsmen and students, and will ensure that

Koreans residing overseas can freely visit both Koreas. He said all measures will be taken to assist separated families to find out whether their relatives are still alive and to help locate those who are living. Visits and mail service between relatives will be promoted. He stated Seoul will not oppose trad

ing between North Korea and nations now friendly to the South, "provided that it does not involve military goods.55 Roh said he hoped to bring to an end to the "counterproductive55 diplomacy

between the two Koreas and hoped for free contact in international forums. "To create an atmosphere conducive to durable peace on the Korean penin sula, we are willing to cooperate with North Korea in its efforts to improve relations with countries friendly to us, including the United States and Japan,55 he said. "And in parallel with this, we will continue to seek improved rela tions with the Soviet Union, China and other socialist countries.55

South Koreans have become increasingly vocal in their demands for ex

panded contact with the North since Roh5s inauguration to a five-year term on February 25. Roh said he hoped North Korea would respond favorably to his offer. "If the North shows a positive attitude, even more progressive

measures will be taken one after another,55 he said. "I believe that if the en tire 60 million Korean people pool their wisdom and strength, the South and the North will be integrated into a single social, cultural and economic

community before this century is out,55 he said. The Korean Peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel in the closing days

of World War II. In June 1950 North Korean troops invaded the south, triggering three years of fighting. Officially both Koreas are still at war. Since the mid-1950s, frequent North Korean provocations have occurred against

110 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON WORLD PEACE



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the South, where more than 40,000 American troops are stationed. On economic cooperation, he said, "We will open doors for trade between

South and North Korea, which will be regarded as internal trade within the national community.55 He said South Korea hopes to achieve the balanced

development of the national economy to enhance the quality of life for all Koreans in both the South and the North. The new policy also called for

improved diplomatic and trade relations between North Korea and SeouPs main allies, the United States and Japan, and other non-communist nations.

In return, South Korea would warm ties with Pyongyang^ mentors: China, the Soviet Union and the East Bloc. Roh5s diplomatic offensive came 72 days before the opening of the Seoul

Summer Olympics. North Korea has said it will boycott the Olympiad be cause the International Olympic Committee and South Korea refused to allow it to co-host the Games. The IOC and Seoul said they would allow North Korea to host five Olympic sports but Pyongyang said that was not

enough. Political analysts did not think the new policy will change North Korea5s decision on the Olympics. But they said Roh5s new approach will

help South Korea improve relations with communist-bloc countries, most of whom are participating in the Summer Games, and give South Korea the

upper hand on the reunification issue.

South Korea already is trading with China and has opened trade offices in Hungary and Yugoslavia. Hungary has a trade office in Seoul. If Roh5s

policy succeeds, it will reduce tensions in one of the world5s major hotspots.

AMERICANS SHOOT DOWN IRANIAN AIRLINER

Iran charged that the downing of the Airbus jetliner by US missiles, kill

ing 290 people, on July 3, was premeditated and demanded that Washington apologize and remove its naval fleet from the Persian Gulf. As the plane flew across the volatile Persian Gulf Sunday, the Vincennes was already engaged in a fight with several small Iranian gunboats, two of which the American

missile cruiser sank.

The Pentagon maintains the captain of the Navy ship that shot down Iran Air Flight 655 could not have known it was a civilian jetliner even though it was not outside the commercial air corridor as first reported. Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said Thursday that Iran bears responsibility for




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flying the plane over a raging sea battle whether it was inside the corridor or not. "There is no way that the captain of that ship could have assumed because the aircraft was in that airway that it...was a civilian commercial

aircraft. It doesn't tell you that at all," Howard said. President Reagan said the government will compensate with money

families of the people killed. The gesture distinguishes the US attitude from the Soviet attitude after Korean Air 007 was shot down in September 1983.

SANDINISTAS HARDEN THEIR POSITION

The Sandinista government of Nicaragua, on Monday July 11, declared US Ambassador Richard Melton and seven other embassy officials persona non grata and gave them until Thursday to leave. Foreign Minister Miguel d'Escoto said the diplomats had "openly and shamelessly55 interfered in domestic affairs by supporting local opposition groups.

US Ambassador Richard Melton said later that the American diplomats ousted from Nicaragua were singled out "with malice and forethought55 for

contacting the Democratic opposition but had not engaged in any prohibited activities. "All of this illustrates that in a totalitarian society, democracy is still a revolutionary concept,55 the ambassador said.

President Reagan retaliated Tuesday by announcing he would expel Nicaragua^ ambassador Carlos Tunnermann and seven other Nicaragu?n

diplomats, but said the United States would not break diplomatic relations. The Sandinistas earlier closed the opposition newspaper La Prensa and a

Catholic radio station, arrested six opposition politicians who organized an

anti-government rally, and nationalized a sugar refinery previously held up as an example of the Sandinista respect for private enterprise. Diplomats and opposition politicians interpreted the moves as a radicaliza

tion of the government as it approached the ninth anniversary of the July 1979 revolution that overthrew Somoza and swept the Sandinistas into

power. An estimated 50,000 Nicaraguans have been killed or wounded in seven

years of civil war between Sandinista and Contra forces. The government and rebels broke off peace talks June 9, and clashes reported by both sides appear to have shattered a fragile provisional cease-fire signed March 23 in the border outpost of Sapoa.




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The Nicaragu?n Contra rebels have been beset by factional fights and US

funding cuts. There has been a power struggle between directorate member Adolfo Calero and military leader Enrique Bermudez for control of the es timated 10,000 rebels.

Calero, a former businessman and opponent of the late dictator Anastasio Somoza, is politically more moderate than Bermudez and led the effort in

March to negotiate a cease-fire with the Nicaragu?n government. Bermudez, a former colonel in Somoza5s National Guard, has reportedly opposed peace talks and was accused by the government of trying to sabotage the peace talks.

Calero was present at the first three rounds of talks with the government, but he did not appear at the final two meetings, which Bermudez attended. Bermudez ousted seven dissident commanders who supported Calero last month.

Contra leaders have vowed to boycott the Managua talks. Rebel leader Roberto Ferrey said the government's new crackdown on domestic op

ponents would make it "very difficult55 for negotiations to continue.

HUNGARIANS PROTEST ROMANIAN RESETTLEMENT PLAN

Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu has denounced as "chauvinistic55 an unprecedented protest in Budapest against his plans to forcibly resettle ethnic Hungarians from Romanian villages and threatened to re-examine relations with Hungary. His remarks threatened to widen the dispute be tween the Warsaw Pact neighbors over the treatment of 2,000,000 ethnic

Hungarians in Romania and possibly even lead to a breach in relations. The Romanian plan, which has heightened tension between the com

munist neighbors for months, calls for razing about 15,000 villages and

moving hundreds of thousands of people including many ethnic Hungarians into huge agro-industrial communes.

About 40,000 Hungarians protested the plan with a candlelight march in front of the shuttered Romanian Embassy Monday in the largest independent demonstration since the 1956 uprising, which provoked Soviet intervention and the replacement of Communist Party leaders.

The unprecedented protest by one Eastern bloc country against another




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was unhampered by government authorities. "This is the first real expres sion of the true nature of the Hungarian population in 40 years,55 said San dor Csoori, a member of the independent Democratic Forum, a group of

Hungarian intellectuals pushing for more democracy in Hungary, a com munist country since 1948. "If such a great mass of people goes to the street and demonstrates, it can go to the street and demonstrate for other things as well,55 Csoori said.

REBELS NEAR KABUL AS SOVIETS LEAVE AFGHANISTAN

An Afghan rebel rocket attack at Kabul airport at the end of June trig gered an inferno and destroyed eight Soviet jet fighters in one of Moscow5s

largest air losses of the war in Afghanistan, according to a Western diplo mat. He also said the US-backed guerrillas shot down an Afghan military transport plane bound for a rebel-besieged garrison of government troops at Khost near the Pakistan border, killing or injuring at least 30 soldiers, mostly Afghans.

Moscow invaded Afghanistan in December 1979 to support pro-Soviet government, but on May 15 it began a scheduled nine-month withdrawal

of the more than 100,000 Soviet troops. The pullout is called for by the

April 14 Geneva accord signed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. The United States and the Soviet Union are guarantors of the pact.

The rebels have shot down more than 250 Soviet and Afghan aircraft with

sophisticated US-made Stinger missiles, which they began receiving in late 1986.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said he is seeking US help to find more than 300 soldiers missing in action during the war in Afghanistan. Just as

with the MIA controversy inside the United States following the Vietnam

War, the demand to know the fate of missing Soviet soldiers has clearly struck a chord inside the country. According to the official figures, 311 Soviet soldiers were listed as miss

ing two weeks before the withdrawal of their forces began on May 15; 13,310 were confirmed dead and 35,478 wounded. Also, the government newspaperl^iri^ admitted onMay 17thatsome Soviet soldiers had deserted to fight alongside the Moslems resisting the Soviet invasion.




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CIVILIAN PRESIDENT OF HAITI DEPOSED

On May 19, hundreds of machete-wielding demonstrators built flaming barricades, cheered the army, and chanted slogans against President Leslie

Manigafs civilian government in a provincial city. One hundred days after

taking office President Leslie Manigat of Haiti said the civilian government has been the target of "attempts at political destabilization55 that could drive

away potential foreign investors. The next day, the President pardoned one of three former Duvalier-era

officials who were convicted in 1986 of involvement in political murders, the government gazette reported. Yet leaflets praising the army and denounc

ing President Leslie Manigafs three-month-old civilian government appeared in two provincial cities, a private radio station reported the same day. On Thursday June 16, President Manigat said the "resolution55 of a crisis

with army commanders over officers5 transfers, including that of a controver

sial colonel, "gives optimism for democracy in Haiti.55 The next day, the President, flexing his political muscle against the military

high command for the second time, ordered the retirement of former

strongman Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, chief of Haiti5s armed forces. Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy seized control of the National Palace late Sun

day with troops loyal to him. Namphy, gripping a machine gun and beat

ing his chest with a fist, declared himself the leader of Haiti Monday after

ousting President Leslie Manigat, who flew into exile in the Dominican

Republic. The coup snuffed out any remaining hopes for democracy in Haiti, a nation which has endured strong-armed rule for almost two centuries.

The first sign of opposition to Haiti5s new military regime, was a strike

by workers at a state-run flour mill to protest the governments reinstate ment of a manager fired two months earlier by the deposed president.

On July 8, Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy announced plans to rewrite the

country^ 15-month-old constitution in an apparent move to allow backers

of the former Duvalier family dictatorship to hold public office. On July 11, leading human rights lawyer Lafontant Joseph was found

mutilated and beaten to death Monday in the first apparent political killing since the military seized power, a radio station and a family source said.

Human rights and opposition activists denounced the military government of Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy for the slaying of the lawyer who defended

Namphy^ opponents.




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NEW YORK STATE INSTITUTE FOR NONVIOLENCE

The New York State Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission has proposed that a permanent state sponsored Institute for Nonviolence be established to offer training in the philosophy and methodology of nonviolence and be a resource library for students and practitioners of nonviolence. For infor

mation or involvement contact:

New York State Martin L. King, Jr. Commission Post Office Box 2060

Empire State Plaza

Albany New York 12220

Telephone: 1-800-647-KING.

CONTRA LISTENING PROJECT_

The Contra Listening Project was based on Listening Project models

developed by Rural Southern Voice for Peace (RSVP), a grassroots peace and justice organization based in Burnsville, North Carolina. The goal of these projects is to establish communication between two groups that are

not communicating. Herb Walters and Carol Lathams decided that having worked for "Witness for Peace,55 they would meet the Nicaragu?n contras.

For many in the peace movement, the contras are "the enemy.55 Accord

ing to an article by Walters published in New Options, the big question is

"Why isn5t the peace movement calling for dialogue and reconciliation be tween the contras and the Sandinistas?55 They had discovered that the con tras had valid feelings and experiences in Nicaragua that made them contras; they were not only "terrorists, manipulated with money from the Reagan administration.55

In Nicaragua, the peace movement has played the role of an advocate for one side. Walters has become convinced the job of peacemaker is not to take

sides, not to dehumanize the "enemy.55 Rather it is to seek truth and to humanize those on both sides. Such observations applied by the peace move ment could enable it to take a constructive rather than obstructive role to

peace in Central America.




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Information can be obtained from:

Contra Listening Project: R.SVP 1901 Hannah Branch Rd.

BurnsviUe, NC 28714 USA.

TOES/ A_

On June 19-21, leaders of the Western economic powers held the Economic Summit meeting in Toronto. At the same time, TOES, The Other Economic Summit was held in Toronto to provide a "citizens55 view of the global economy. Themes included socially responsible investing, food sustainability, the "gross national waste product,55 a peace economy, building constructive relations with the Third World, and reform of the international banking sys tem. The TOES/ A Coordinator is David Haenke:

North American Bioregiona Congress & Christian Ecology Project

Rt.#l, Box 20

Neuburg, MO, 65550 USA Telephone: (314) 762-3423.

LEGISLATION SPREADS AGAINST WAR TOYS

Realistic toy guns have now been banned in Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, and Santa Monica. Senator John Kerry of York, Maine, has intro

duced legislation that would require a label be placed on any war toy or

videogame featuring war or violence. It would read: "Warning: Think before

you buy This is a war toy. Playing with it may increase anger and violence in children. Is this what you really want for your child?55 Dr. Thomas Radecki, a director of the National Coalition on Television Violence (NCTV), reported that 12 of 13 university studies found significant increases in anti-social be havior in minors after playing with war toys. Three deaths and a number of criminal acts have been linked the realistic toys guns in the United States in the past year.




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NCTV produces a newsletter and pamphlets on specific areas of violence in popular culture. The address is:

NCTV Post Office Box 2157

Champaign, IL 61820.




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