DPRK Demands Pullback of U.S. Forces From South Korea

The rocket launch of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) during December 2012. The action sent shockwaves through the imperialist world., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Pullback of U.S. Forces from S. Korea Called for

Pyongyang, January 21 (KCNA) -- A GI in south Korea was recently caught while smuggling drug through a military mail of the U.S. forces.

Rodong Sinmun Monday says in a bylined commentary in this regard:

This once again revealed that the U.S. forces in south Korea are the hotbed of crimes corrupting its society and getting people degenerate.

The commentary cites facts that since they landed in south Korea under the guise of a "liberator" the U.S. imperialists have inflicted untold misfortunes and sufferings upon its people. It goes on:

Not a single day will pass in south Korea without witnessing bestial crimes of the U.S. forces as long as they remain there.

In order to prevent their crimes and free the south Korean people from their damage, it is necessary to force the U.S. troops to pull back from south Korea at an early date.

As the Cold War demised long ago, there is no justification for the U.S. to keep its forces in south Korea any longer. It has become an international trend to pull back foreign forces from other countries.

The U.S. ruling quarters' claim that its forces in south Korea are "deterrent" for ensuring peace and security in the region is nothing but sophism to cover up its sinister scenario to keep its forces in south Korea for an indefinite period.

It is the steadfast will of the Korean people and the urgent demand of the times to put an end to the U.S. imperialists' presence in south Korea, shame on the nation and hotbed of all tragedies.

The Korean nation will never pardon the group of criminals who stoop to any infamy, present in other country.


January 22, 2013

Security Council Condemns North Korea Rocket Launching

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
New York Times

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council on Tuesday unanimously condemned North Korea for launching a rocket last month, with Pyongyang’s main ally, China, taking an uncommon step by joining the criticism.

The resolution ratcheted up existing sanctions on North Korea after it used ballistic missile technology to launch a multistage rocket, which carried a 200-pound surveillance satellite into orbit on Dec. 12.

The United States and China said they had worked closely on drafting the resolution, with Security Council diplomats saying they wanted to get it passed before South Korea takes over the monthly rotating presidency of the Security Council in February.

Despite China’s rejection of proposals by the United States to add new sanctions, the Obama administration sought to characterize the vote as a tough response. “This resolution demonstrates to North Korea that there are unanimous and significant consequences for its flagrant violation of its obligations under previous resolutions,” said Susan E. Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations.

The measure said the Council “deplores the violations” of previous resolutions, which barred North Korea from undertaking new nuclear or ballistic missile tests. The resolution added four organizations and six individuals to an existing blacklist, including the North Korean space agency, the Korean Committee for Space Technology. It also threatened more measures for any new launchings.

China’s ambassador to the United Nations, Li Baodong, emphasized that the resolution stressed the need for negotiations to resume over ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program; known as the six-party talks, they include both Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. “We believe that the situation on the Korean Peninsula is at a crossroads,” Mr. Li said. “There is an opportunity for all stakeholders on the Korean Peninsula to start the diplomatic track and to avoid the escalation of tension.”

North Korea reacted swiftly and angrily to the resolution, threatening to accelerate its military advances, including nuclear weapons, and reject any effort to resume the six-party talks. “We will take measures to boost and strengthen our defensive military power including nuclear deterrence,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The measures included in the resolution will most likely have little day-to-day effect, experts said, but the 15-to-0 vote was significant because it included China, a longtime economic benefactor and protector of North Korea.

“The most important element of this is not the practical impact of any sanctions, but the clear message to North Korea that it has a choice to go forward with its weapons programs or with an economic opening,” said Matt Stumpf, the director of the Asia Society’s Washington office.

The resolution, the third in six years condemning ballistic missile tests, comes at a time when there are new rumblings about North Korea carrying out another nuclear test.

Tuesday’s resolution serves to warn Pyongyang that Beijing’s patience is not infinite, and that a third nuclear test could even provoke Chinese anger, said William H. Tobey, who was the Bush administration’s senior official for nuclear nonproliferation and is now at Harvard’s Belfer Center.

But only a threat of economic action by China might have a real impact, he noted. “Chinese willingness to withhold these benefits would be the only lever with much power over Pyongyang,” Mr. Tobey said.