“Peace Olympics” in Korea: Korean people assert their striving for peace and reunification

thumbThe Winter Olympics held in Pyeon Chang, South Korea, in February 2018 will be remembered as the occasion where the governments and peoples of North and South Korea showed the whole world that they wish to reunite their nation. They wish to create conditions where all Koreans can live in peace, in a de-militarized homeland free from all forms of imperialist interference and threats.

The Winter Olympics held in Pyeon Chang, South Korea, in February 2018 will be remembered as the occasion where the governments and peoples of North and South Korea showed the whole world that they wish to reunite their nation. They wish to create conditions where all Koreans can live in peace, in a de-militarized homeland free from all forms of imperialist interference and threats.

A 280-member sports and cultural contingent led by a high level delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), participated in the Winter Olympics held in South Korea.

Korea winter olympics

The Opening ceremony on 8th February was marked by a united Korean team marching behind a common flag, the flag of Korean reunification. The entire stadium gave a standing ovation to the united Korean team. The Korean women’s ice hockey team had players from both North and South Korea.

The visiting delegation from North Korea held discussions with the leadership of South Korea, during which a personal invitation from the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was delivered to the South Korean President Moon Jae-in to visit the North as soon as possible, so as to further advance the process of building friendship and ensuring peace.

The “Peace Olympics” have shown that the military encirclement and economic blockade of North Korea, imposed by US imperialism and its allies, have failed to crush the indomitable spirit of the Korean people. Through the warm welcome they gave their brothers and sisters from North Korea, the people of South Korea showed that they share common aspirations for peace and reunification of Korea.

The “Peace Olympics” were a slap in the face of US imperialism and its war mongering allies. US imperialism and its allies have been portraying North Korea as a “rogue nation” which is allegedly threatening the whole world. This has been used to justify the brutal economic sanctions against the people of that country. It has been used as justification for the militarization of the Korean peninsula and escalating threats of nuclear war. In one bold step, the government of North Korea has exposed in front of the people of South Korea and the world’s peoples that the real threat to peace does not come from any section of the Korean nation. It comes from US imperialism and its allies.

Even while the Winter Olympics were going on, the US stepped up its military encirclement of North Korea. It has brought the nuclear aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and nuclear strategic bombers to the Korean peninsula. The US has also carried out war exercises with the Japanese Air Force simulating air attacks on North Korea.

In a letter to the UN Secretary General on January 31, the foreign Minister of the DPRK has pointed out that the US, through its stepped up militarization of the Peninsula, is trying to reverse the positive climate for peace generated during the Winter Olympics. The letter points out that as a result of the initiative of the DPRK, “a dramatic turning point has been made for peace and stability, national reconciliation and cooperation, and reunification on the Korean peninsula where a touch-and-go war danger was prevailing”.

It further points out that “the US authorities are misleading public opinion as if the inter-Korean dialogue is an outcome of their harshest sanctions and pressure imposed upon our country, and seeking to intentionally aggravate the situation by introducing the strategic assets including nuclear powered aircraft carrier strike groups into the vicinity of the Korean peninsula at a time when the north and south of Korea are charting a course of peace together.”

The letter further points out that “the United States is openly stating that it will conduct a large-scale aggressive joint military exercise against the DPRK immediately after the Winter Olympic Games.”

Further on, the letter says that “the United Nations should not keep silent as to the US dangerous game of aggravating the situation in and around the Korean peninsula and driving the whole world into the possible disaster of nuclear war.”

The Government of North Korea has consistently worked for peace and national reunification over the past several decades. Several times in the past, in the face of overwhelming desire of all the Korean people, the leadership of South Korea has agreed to take forward the process of building peace and friendship. However, the US has on each such occasion brutally interfered, deliberately exacerbated the tensions through military exercises, so that the peace process was sabotaged. Now too, US imperialism is hell bent on creating conditions so that the peace process is abandoned.

The development of events is showing that it is US imperialism and its allies who are the greatest threat to peace in the Korean Peninsula. It is US imperialism that is dead against the peaceful reunification of the Korean people. The struggle of the Korean people for peace and reunification without any outside imperialist interference is absolutely just.

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