Save Jeju Island from destruction!

Save Jeju Island! Don’t bomb Gureombi!
U.S. troops out of Korea now!
Statement of the Asia Pacific Anti-US Bases Network
on the impending bombing of the Gureombi, Jeju Island
November 17, 2011
 
 
Uphold national sovereignty and patrimony of South Korea!
Save Jeju Island! Uproot U.S. military troops from Jeju and South Korea now!
 
These are our calls in the Asia Pacific Anti-US Bases Network as we express strong solidarity with the people of Jeju Island in particular and of South Korea in general as they call for the immediate halt to the impending blasting of Gureombi, the volcanic rock along the coastline of Gangjeong Village.
 
This planned blasting of Gureombi is part and parcel of the continued development of a U.S. military naval base in Jeju. It does not only mean the destruction of the beautiful nature that South Korea proudly preserves but a direct affront to the collective right of the South Korean people to their sovereignty.
 
The continued presence of the U.S. military forces in South Korea poses a huge problem. It translates into direct military intervention in the national affairs of South Korea. It poses a grave threat to the rights and lives of the people in Jeju Island in particular and South Korea in general. We already have witnessed the violent dispersals of people’s protests and arrests of even local officials like the village mayor in Jeju.
 
By flexing its military muscle throughout Asia Pacific, it brings South Korea to the war of aggression that the U.S. has notoriously launched in the past.
 
As the people of South Korea steadfastly stand their ground on immediately and unconditionally uprooting the U.S. military forces from their country, the South Korean government remains stubbornly deaf to their calls and instead continues to capitulate to their U.S. imperialist masters. Nothing but a manifestation of puppetry!
 
As proven in recent history, the U.S. military industrial complex has never been beneficial to any country or people. We have seen the destruction they have brought down on the people of Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan. We have seen the rape of women and children, the many crimes and human rights violations they have committed in the Philippines, Japan and South Korea.
 
The establishment of the U.S. military naval base in South Korea is a means of U.S. imperialism to salvage itself from the economic quagmire by launching wars of aggression and intervention. Now that the political strife in the Middle East and North Africa has subsided, the peoples of South Korea and Asia are in impending doom should U.S. imperialism launch wars against North Korea and even China. 
 
Their war complex only benefits U.S. imperialism, not the peoples of the world.
 
Immediately, the governor of Jeju Island should heed his people’s demand and wield the political will to stop the destructive blast of Gureombi. In the long run, the construction of the U.S. military naval base should be immediately and unconditionally halted and have all the U.S. military forces there and everywhere else in South Korea withdrawn back to the United States.
 
The South Korean government should be ashamed of itself for continually playing the obedient dog to its imperialist master and instead heed its people’s demands to uphold and protect its national sovereignty, patrimony and integrity.
 
The growing international movement against the continued U.S. military presence in South Korea and anywhere else in the world is a strong expression of the people’s collective struggle and solidarity against U.S. imperialism.
 
No bombing in Gureombi!
U.S. troops out of Korea now!
Down with imperialism!