죽은 자에겐 돈이 필요 없다. 북한 지도자들과 많은 북한 주민들은 핵 없이 미국의 선제공격으로 죽음과 같다는 생각을 한다고 북한 전문가 학자가 CNN에 기고 했습니다. 한국 전쟁의 참혹했던 기억 때문일 것입니다.
그나마 매년 1000명 정도 북한 방문이 가능했던 미국 시민들의 9월 1일 부턴 북한 방문이 거의 불가능하게 됩니다. 미 의회의 북한 방문 불법 법안 때문입니다. 한반도를 둘러싼 동북아시아는 거의 전쟁 상태라고 보아야 정확하다고 봅니다. 매일 매일 용기를 가지고 평화를 위한 숙제를 해야 한다는 프란시스 성인의 말씀이 절실하게 느껴지는 시간입니다.
이하 사진 2015 남북이산가족 상봉 <YTN 캡처>
"North Korean leaders know that dead people do not need money, and they believe that without nuclear weapons they will be as good as dead".
"Do not lose courage… every day begin the task anew" –Saint Francis of Assisi
The Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia is currently in a state of proxy-war and these developments will definitely result in a war. Stop war!
Facts:
1) North Korea spends less than the cost of one new U.S. aircraft carrier ($3.2 billion/year) on defense
2) South Korea spends $34 billion/year—5 times higher than that of the DPRK
3) "According to a March 2017 UN report, 41 percent of North Koreans are undernourished and one in five do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. Reduced access to international aid is war on civilians in DPRK
Update:
1) Tit for tat between North Korea and the United States: missile launches and MD.
2) This year’s 16th deployment of U.S. B-B1Bs, F-35s to South Korea and bombing drills in Gangwon, South Korea, near South-North Korean border
3) Imminent deployment of THAAD in Sosungri, South Korea: clashes between residents and police are expected
3) China and Russia call for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks and oppose any military escalation, including the deployment of THAAD systems
“China: US, Ioudest when it comes to sanctions. Nowhere to be found when it comes to prompting peace talks”
4) American travel ban to North Korea takes effect on September 1. Only journalists and aid workers will be allowed to go to North Korea after September 1.
5) Korea experts poignant comments and recommendation
What can and should international community do in response to this test?
“I think this requires proactive regional, bilateral diplomacy more than it demands another round at UN Security Council (Prof. John Delury, Yeonsei University, Korea)
https://twitter.com/JohnDelury?lang=en
6) Why North Korea seek sovereignty?
CNN. Andrei Lankov. US options on North Korea: It’s a choice between bad and worse
North Korean leaders know that dead people do not need money, and they believe that without nuclear weapons they will be as good as dead. The freeze is not a perfect compromise. However, alternatives are worse, so the sooner the new reality will be understood by the decision makers in Washington and elsewhere, the better.
Dear Esteemed Friend--my apologies for a long message, but help us!
Who is your #1 hero? For me, it is Saint Francis of Assisi. I admire his nonviolent struggle and courage for harmony and peace with even our “enemies”. While States dangerously and cowardly are tit for tat with weapons, as Saint Francis who said, “Do not lose courage… but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew”, our ordinary people who are armed with ’courage and solidarity with each other will win!
Courage and solidarity indeed!
What’s missing also in the media is many courageous people (especially ordinary Americans) who have traveled to North Korea and worked for people there. Travel ban that will go effective on September 1 is a cruel and inhumane policy resulted from the brutality of cold war and U.S.’s refusal to sign a peace treaty with North Korea. Compassion for those who differ from us can heal, and build bridges of understanding. From time to time, some of us may be called up to take courageous steps, continue to share a desire to connect, make peace, and build bridges between different people and weave the common thread. The journey towards peace and understanding is open to all; sometimes it takes just ordinary people like you and I, our colleagues, our friends and coworkers, or our students to make that trip and change the world.
Stop the travel ban to North Korea!
Allow cultural, educational and humanitarian exchanges with North Korea!
I kindly share with you thoughts on why opportunities to travel to North Korea should remain open to all who desires. Many thanks to our courageous and awesome American and European friends who have visited and helped people in North Korea! Please do help us to begin peace task anew everyday!
1. C. Novoa (my former student, an American freshman majoring in International Relations travels to North Korea)
“There are too many wonderful moments and stories to share about my trip, but the highlights were the natural beauty of the country (Mt. Myohyang), the kindness of its people, and a few choice sites such as the truce village in Panmunjom and the DMZ”.
At this point in time, there is no greater necessity than to speak out on issues regarding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The possibility of a conflict breaking out between the North Koreans and the United States and their allies hasn’t been this likely in decades. While there are issues to be explored by both sides, the facts of the matter here are that the sole world superpower is inflaming the already tense situation on the Korean Peninsula with its unnecessary posturing. The American government seeks to portray the government in North Korea as being administered by an irresponsible man-child holding his nation down through the possession and domestic proliferation of nuclear arms.
It is quite easy to accept what is reported in the media, especially when there exists no vocal counterpoint. As an American citizen who traveled to the North in the late Fall of 2011, I would like to share a small part of my experience and journey in the hope that those who read it will form a more objective view of what is reported by the media and claimed by the United States. Peoples across the divide must know who their “enemy” is.
In the Fall of 2011, I was a first year Bachelor student majoring in International Relations at Suffolk University. Owing more to a sense of curiosity rather than adventure, I decided to travel to North Korea. Initially, Americans were only allowed at certain times of the year, with the open season ending in November. Luckily for me, this policy changed at exactly the time I was booking my tour and so I was able to find a place during the Thanksgiving break in November. I chose to travel with Koryo Tours, a British-run, Beijing-based company. The process was rather straightforward and I had no issues in receiving a visa for the DPRK. If anything, it took longer and cost more to obtain a Chinese visa (tourists more often than not must enter North Korea from China). There are other possibilities to enter the country, but flying from Beijing is the simplest and was in accordance with Koryo Tours’ planning.
While in Beijing, tourists are expected to attend an information seminar on rules and regulations regarding travel to the DPRK. I was not in attendance as I needed to withdraw cash for the upcoming trip. Foreigners are prohibited from using Korean People’s Won (KPW) and goods and services are bought through Yuan, Euros and/or United States’ Dollars. Upon arrival in the DPRK, my passport was examined at Sunan International Airport (Pyongyang) and without delay a tourist card was issued. There were no suspicious looks from the North Korean customs officials nor was there any interrogation. I was treated as any other guest arriving in the country (as with every other nation on Earth).
My time in the country was short; I spent about a week and a half traveling through the country visiting Pyongyang, Kaesong, Panmunjom and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The capital Pyongyang is often termed a “showcase” city by those hostile to the North Korean government due to its relative wealth, cleanliness and services provided to its inhabitants and visitors. This is a perfect example of propaganda meant to warp people’s views on North Korea. What capital city in the world is not the centerpiece of the country it finds itself within and is not an example of progress and wealth? Another common misconception is that tourists are only allowed to photograph what your North Korean guides allow. This is simply not true. In the time I was there, I was never stopped from taking photographs, except military personnel and installations (reasonable and quite common around the world). However, it is worth mentioning that I was asked not to photograph construction and maintenance work and citizens working without the aid of machinery. It is important to comment here that this is perfectly understandable as anything less than Western standards will be ridiculed and subject to criticism by the American government and used as propaganda to portray the “failures” of the North Korean government.
There are too many wonderful moments and stories to share about my trip, but the highlights were the natural beauty of the country (Mt. Myohyang), the kindness of its people, and a few choice sites such as the truce village in Panmunjom and the DMZ. I will comment on one episode that occurred at the DMZ as the group I was with were staring across the border between the “two” Koreas. A major in the Korean People’s Army (KPA) was giving us a tour when he suddenly picked me out of the group and began speaking (luckily our guide was with us to translate). According to her, she said that he knew I was American (I’m unsure of how, accent maybe) and wanted to speak with me about my thoughts on war between our two countries. I had the misfortune of informing him that sadly there exists the possibility due to the United States intolerance of a nuclear armed North Korea. The tone of the conversation changed to one of even more serious as he told me through the guide that his government has the ability to strike the West Coast and that I should tell my government that he is prepared at any time for a conflict. I smiled, nodded my head and shook his hand and after we had a smoke together overlooking the DMZ.
I chose to highlight this episode because now six years later the threats and rhetoric have been ratcheted up tremendously. The time is now more than ever for Americans to understand the North Korea mentality, the facts on the ground and extend an olive branch.
2. UPI. Korean Americans urge Trump to allow reunions with relatives in North Korea
An estimated 100,000 Korean-American elders (i.e., U.S. citizens) are waiting for official U.S. government approval to see their loved ones in North Korea before they die. Many have given up hope….For nearly a lifetime, divided families have helplessly watched their personal tragedy get tangled in the U.S.-Democratic People's Republic of Korea struggle. Either government could have initiated reunions at any time but, due to political reasons, chose not to. Thousands have gone to their graves without being able to fulfill their lifelong dream of reuniting with relatives.
https://www.upi.com/Korean-Americans-urge-Trump-to-allow-reunions-with-relatives-in-North-Korea/9061488227413/
3. Kim Wall. Oct 20, 2014. The Atlantic. A Tourist in North Korea
Will foreigners soon flock to the Hermit Kingdom? Should they?
Western tour operators estimate that the Hermit Kingdom gets 100,000 or more yearly visitors (about the same as Bhutan), the vast majority from China. And in addition to frequenting North Korea’s conventional tourist stops like monuments, war museums, and mass athletic performances, tour operators can increasingly go off the beaten path (though always as part of an official tour), offering cycling, golfing, and hiking. In July, the country’s pristine coastlines saw some of their first surfers….Still, even judging by my carefully curated travels, North Korea was also inescapably heartbreaking. If Pyongyang looked almost modern, time stood still in the countryside, where rice is planted by hand and the few vehicles run off burning wood. In Hamhung, a dusty town of bleak houses and empty streets, a beautiful lady in traditional dress proudly told us that visiting foreigners had been so in awe of the city (North Korea’s second-largest) that they felt it should be the country’s capital. At times, and despite our guides’ best efforts, we saw North Korea for what it is: a Cold War relic, left alone as its allies fell with the Berlin Wall, still fighting an ideological battle that has been all but forgotten everywhere else. Returning to Pyongyang, ours was the only vehicle on a ghostly eight-lane highway, originally built as a lifeline between the capital and the coast and now mostly idle, our guide said, because sanctions have halted trade. Uniformed workers appeared outside our windows, sweeping flower petals off the cracking asphalt.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/10/north-korea-travel-tourism/382101/
4. Christine Ahn. The New York Times. Op-Ed. The North Korea Travel Ban Will Do More Harm Than Good
The United States’ ban on travel to North Korea not only violates common sense but also goes against the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry report on North Korean human rights, which recommends that “states and civil society organizations should foster opportunities for people-to-people dialogue and contact.” And the ban will reinforce North Korea’s policy of isolating its citizens from interaction with the West, especially Americans. Some 1,000 Americans visit North Korea each year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/opinion/the-north-korea-travel-ban-will-do-more-harm-than-good.html?mcubz=0
5. Time. The 200 Americans Living in North Korea have Little Time Left to Leave
Heidi Linton, a mother of three from Asheville, N.C., who leads the organization Christian Friends of Korea, has helped to deliver millions in aid to North Korea since 1995 and spends as much as three months a year in the country to support hepatitis and tuberculosis care centers. About 50 other Americans work in North Korea's Rason Special Economic Zone, near the Russian border, on social entrepreneurship and humanitarian projects. There's also a predominately American-run school, the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, that has brought nearly 70 American professors and staff members each semester…. The Americans in North Korea are controversial because they provide services that indirectly help the North Korean regime. But career diplomats say they create a thin but important connection to the Hermit Kingdom. "They are very dedicated aid workers, they care deeply about the North Korean people," former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson says of the expatriate community. "We have no diplomatic contact, we have no commercial contact, so some kind of humanitarian contact as a potential bridge to improve the relationship would be helpful."
http://time.com/4913703/americans-living-north-korea-have-little-time-left/
2 To-do TODAY!!
Please sign this petition now!
1) American Friends Service Committee
Protect humanitarian assistance to the people of North Korea
The Trump administration has issued new travel restrictions on U.S. passport holders to North Korea that could hinder access for humanitarian organizations, journalists, Korean-American families seeking to reunite with loved ones, faith-based delegations, cultural exchanges, or other groups seeking to build bridges to dialogue. Humanitarian assistance to North Korea helps those in need and keeps channels of international engagement and dialogue with North Korea open.
Contact the administration today and urge President Trump and Secretary Tillerson not to jeopardize humanitarian assistance to North Korea.
https://www.afsc.org/action/protect-humanitarian-assistance-to-people-north-korea
2) American Friends Service Committee
Take Action: Oppose military action with North Korea
“a loss of life unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes.”
Contact Congress and the Trump administration and urge them to pursue diplomacy, not war, with North Korea.
https://www.afsc.org/action/take-action-oppose-military-action-north-korea#.WabaNOeKr2c.facebook
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