National Campaign to End the Korean War

*This is from an Organization inside the US that wishes to bring more attention to this worthy issue.

Below is a letter to President Obama drafted by the National Campaign to End the Korean War. We have launched a letter-writing campaign to call for the de-escalation of military hostilities surrounding the Korean Peninsula, and we invite wide participation by all who support the return to diplomacy to achieve peace in Korea.

If you wish to forward an electronic copy of this letter to President Obama, the length of the text is short enough that it may be pasted into the electronic form on the "Contact the White House" website. At the bottom, instead of "Members of the National Campaign to End the Korean War," simply substitute your name.

In addition, hand-written letters are welcome and encouraged. Consult this page for the mailing address to the White House, and feel free to use this Open Letter as a template.

If you compose an original letter (hand-written or via the White House website), please consider sending us an electronic copy or a photocopy of your letter, and let us know whether we may publish it on our site. Our email is info@endthekoreanwar.org and our mailing address is NCEKW, P.O. Box 750061, Forest Hills, NY 11375. Thank you.

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Dear President Obama,

We write as citizens in response to alarming developments in US foreign policy toward Korea. We are gravely concerned that recent military maneuvers not only by North Korea but also by the US and South Korea are pushing us closer to the brink of war.

The American people do not want more war. Given that another costly and dangerous war is not in US national interests, we look to you for leadership in defusing tensions in Northeast Asia. Given that our economy is in desperate straits and our military is overstretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, now is the time to prioritize peace in Korea.

In doing so, let us heed the counsel of those most knowledgeable about past negotiations between the US and North Korea—including former US President Jimmy Carter, former US Ambassadors to South Korea, as well as prominent nuclear scientists and Korea policy experts—who have repeatedly advocated a peace process as the only viable path to de-escalate current tensions and dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program.

Yet, it has been disturbing to witness how the US has recently joined South Korea, a longtime US ally, in assuming an increasingly hostile war footing on the Korean Peninsula. We fear that such war preparations proceed from the reckless assumption that a war with North Korea would be quick and easy to win. Similar miscalculations were used to rationalize the Iraq War, only later to have proven unfounded after we had already become embroiled in a disastrous war.

We cannot stand by and allow this to happen again, not under the watch of a president who stands on the side of peace.

We urge you to withdraw US forces from the recurring joint US-ROK military exercises, the massive war games involving tens of thousands of American and South Korean soldiers, which aggravate an already heated situation. We object to the use of American taxpayer money to stage these unnecessary, costly drills. They intensify the risk that an accident could quickly spiral into general warfare, which could kill millions of innocent people.

The Korean War has continued for more than six decades without a peace treaty. We call upon you to choose the path to peace by returning the US to dialogue with North Korea and negotiating an end to the Korean War. We petition you, out of your convictions honored by the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, to seize this tremendous opportunity for achieving peace in Northeast Asia and bringing greater stability to the world.

Yours,

Members of the National Campaign to End the Korean War