Yari Osorio, the PSL candidate for vice president, released the following statement in solidarity with the struggle of the Korean people against U.S. imperialism and for self-determination.
On March 29, I joined Korean-American activists and anti-war allies in front of the South Korean consulate in New York City to demand a stop to the construction of a U.S.-Korean naval base on Jeju Island. Over the next few days, millions of Korean workers and peasant farmers will cast their ballot for new legislative representatives wishing for peace over militarism.
Jeju Island is the only special autonomous province of the South Korea, and is known as an “eco-paradise.” The naval base is being built on areas recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, as faithful lapdog to Wall Street’s interests, completely acquiesced to the demands of the Pentagon and green lighted the construction of the massive naval base. The base is to be located only 300 miles off the coast of China, with the capacity to hold 200 war ships and multiple nuclear-armed Trident submarines and Aegis destroyers.
Despite severe repression and intimidation by the government of President Lee and his sponsors in Washington, the people of Jeju’s Gangjeong village, where the base is being built, have shown themselves to be steadfast stewards of peace and freedom. We salute them in this ongoing struggle.
President Barack Obama and President Lee are close allies, and have worked to strengthen and expand the military and economic ties between the two countries. The passing of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which most economists view as a financial windfall for the capitalist class of both countries, has been met with mass militant protests of workers and farmers all over Korea. Here in the United States, the AFL-CIO has said that the KorUSFTA would cost the U.S working class no less than 150,000 jobs.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation has organized and participated in a number of anti-FTA struggles since negotiations between the two countries began, and PSL presidential candidate Peta Lindsay and I have both participated alongside our Korean comrades in these protests in front of the White House and Capitol Hill.
At the beginning of the year, I traveled to Seoul, South Korea, and participated in a variety of demonstrations against KorUSFTA. I witnessed first hand the indignation and militancy of the students and workers who see this agreement as an assault on their economic sovereignty and safety.
While in South Korea, I traveled to Jeju as a member of a peace delegation. In the village of Gangjeong, I saw villagers literally put their bodies in front of and under cement trucks and construction ships in an attempt to derail the construction of this new global threat to world peace.
Despite being voted into the White House largely by those who wanted an end to Bush’s militarism and warmongering, President Obama has stayed the course. President Obama stated ominously in his State of the Union address that “America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs—and as long as I’m President, I intend to keep it that way.”
The suggestion that other countries are dispensable when it comes to world affairs is filled with the same imperial arrogance which has characterized prior U.S. administrations, regardless of whether a Democrat or a Republican held the presidency.
A country cannot pursue self-determination if it is subject to permanent military occupation in the hands of the world’s largest empire. Workers in the United States have nothing to gain by the continued global hegemony of Wall Street and their hired thugs in government, or the subjugation of other nations for the sake of U.S. capital.
The Lindsay / Osorio 2012 Presidential Campaign calls for the immediate removal of all U.S bases from Korea, including the heavily militarized 38th parallel. We call for economic relations based on self-determination and solidarity. We call for the removal of U.S. troops from Korea and an end to U.S. interventionism in Korean affairs, and support the demand of the Korean people for the reunification of their country, divided by force by the U.S. empire.
Long live Jeju Island! Long live the anti-imperialist spirit of the Korean people! U.S. hands off Korea!
