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Vol. 81/No. 47 December 18, 2017
Washington’s war games, sanctions hit at NKorea
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Washington joined South Korean military forces Dec. 4 in a massive
five-day “Vigilant Ace exercise” involving a fleet of over 230 aircraft
and 12,000 military personnel, simulating infiltration and “precision
strike drills” against North Korea. The U.S. rulers’ most advanced
warplanes, the B-1B Lancer stealth bomber along with F-35 and F-22
stealth aircraft, are involved.
Simulated B-1 bombing runs took place less than 100 miles from the
South’s border with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The
exercises come one week after the DPRK deployed its longest missile
launch so far, North Korea’s third such test this year, covering 620
miles in a high arc before splashing down in the waters between Japan
and the Korean Peninsula.
In addition to the military exercises, the Donald Trump administration
stepped up its calls for more severe sanctions to be imposed against
North Korea, including asking Beijing for more help in squeezing the
people of the DPRK.
“All countries should sever diplomatic relations with North Korea and
limit military, scientific, technical or commercial cooperation,” Nikki
Haley, Washington’s ambassador to the U.N., told a special session of
the Security Council called by Washington Nov. 29. “They must also cut
off trade with the regime by stopping all imports and exports, and expel
all North Korean workers.”
The Security Council has imposed eight rounds of sanctions on North
Korea over the past decade, along with further steps taken by Washington
and other imperialist governments. These actions impact working people
there the hardest.
Despite war rhetoric from some in Washington, both President Trump and
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson responded by saying increased pressure
was aimed at forcing the DPRK to the bargaining table. “Diplomatic
options remain viable and open,” Tillerson said.
A week before the missile launch, Trump redesignated North Korea as a
“state sponsor of terrorism,” along with Tehran, Damascus and the
government of Sudan. North Korean officials described this decision as
“a serious provocation.”
The Treasury Department announced a new round of sanctions against
Pyongyang, targeting Chinese trading companies as well as North Korean
companies and ships.
The U.S. rulers have had some success getting Beijing, which accounts
for 92 percent of Pyongyang’s foreign trade, to press against DPRK
leaders. The Chinese government has curbed its exports of North Korean
coal, a chief source of hard currency for Pyongyang. Beijing’s trade
with North Korea dropped by 20 percent in October.
The North Korean leadership views the war exercises as acts of
aggression by Washington rooted in the decadeslong effort by the U.S.
government to overthrow the DPRK and re-establish control over the
entire peninsula.
With the agreement of Moscow, Washington seized southern Korea after the
second imperialist world war, aiming to take control over all of Korea.
After workers and farmers in the north won independence through
revolutionary struggle, U.S. troops invaded in 1950. Through carpet
bombing and widespread use of napalm, cities in the north were reduced
to rubble and some 4 million people were killed during the war.
Washington considered, but ultimately decided not to use, nuclear weapons.
The Korean people — backed by troops from China — fought Washington to a
draw. A cease-fire was signed in 1953, but for the 64 years since the
U.S. rulers have refused to sign a peace treaty with the DPRK.
Over the past 70 years the Socialist Workers Party has opposed
Washington’s intervention in Korea and supports the struggle of the
Korean people for reunification. The party calls for an immediate end to
Washington’s economic and financial sanctions against the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea; for withdrawal of the more than 28,000 U.S.
troops from the Korean Peninsula, and U.S. planes and ships from Korea’s
skies and waters; for a nuclear free Korean Peninsula and Pacific; and
unilateral nuclear disarmament by Washington.
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