Skip to content

February 25, 1971

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos—and Korea Again?

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos—AND KOREA AGAIN?

 

 

Eighteen years after the truce that halted the fighting in the Korean War, there are STILL 60,000 AMERICAN TROOPS IN SOUTH KOREA. As the focus of United States imperialist aggression shifts from ground to air, from Vietnam, to Cambodia, to Laos, there is a grave danger of an abrupt turn north. There is a grave danger that a new generation of Americans may be embroiled in a second “war that nobody wants” in Korea.

 

Despite reports of scheduled troop withdrawal from South Korea, the government of the United States has no more intention of reducing its grip on the Korean peninsula – unless it is forced to do so – than it has on Indo-China. The new maneuvers represent no change in policy – only in tactics and personnel.

 

This is at the heart of the “Nixon Doctrine” strategy. Let Asians fight Asians in Asia. This is what the ugly word “Vietnamization” means in Vietnam. Let Asians kill one another on the ground while United States forces kill from the air – and pull all the strings from the Pentagon.

 

In Korea, the operative word is “Japanization,” and it is just as ugly. Under American guidance, a remilitarized Japan is being primed to take over the policing job in South Korea (it has already taken over a large part of the South Korean economy, and it is stepping up the repression of the 600,000 Korean nationals living in Japan – the overwhelming majority of whom favor reunification of their homeland) .

 

What are the motives behind this new turn in Korea?


1. To smash the thriving, stable Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), which has risen more determined than ever out of the American-made ruins of the devastating war of the 1950s.

 

2. To prevent the reunification of Korea above and below the 38th Parallel – a reunification overwhelmingly favored by the peoples of both north and south.

 

3. To maintain any autocratic, repressive government in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) which will sanction United States military bases directed toward the main targets of United States policy – the People’s Republic of China and the U.S.S.R., both of which border on the DPRK.

 

How can Americans express their opposition to these impending ventures in brinkmanship? By insisting that…

 

THE ONLY WAY TO END THE WAR IN INDO-CHINA IS TO WITHDRAW ALL U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL AND WEAPONRY FROM INDO-CHINA.

 

THE ONLY WAY TO END THE WAR IN INDO-CHINA IS TO WITHDRAW ALL U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL AND WEAPONRY FROM INDO-CHINA.

 

 

 

In the belief that concerned Americans must be armed with the facts about Korea; in the belief that the people of all Korea must have the right to determine their own future without foreign interference, and American-Korean Friendship and Information Center has been established.

 

It is already functioning with an able group of officers, and a distinguished roster of initiating sponsors from all areas of American public life, and all opposed to the policy of aggressive American imperialism. It has published a position paper about Korea – OPERATION WAR SHIFT – with a sold-out first printing of 5,000 and a revised edition of 20,000, now ready. It is planning a regular publication to be called KOREA FOCUS, and a series of forums, exhibitions, concerts of Korean music, campus lectures, and publicity and advertising campaigns.

 

There is still time to avoid a military confrontation in Korea, but it grows shorter. We ask you to join us at the American-Korean Friendship and Information Center, and to work with us in this urgent task

 

BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

 

 

Initiating Sponsors

(partial list)

 

John J. Abt, Attorney, New York

James S. Allen. Publisher, New York

Robert L. Allen. Author, Black Studies Dept., San Jose State College. California

Professor Robert Ante. Queens College, New York

Dr. Herbert Aptheker. Author-Historian, Director, American Institute for Marxist Studies, New York

James Aronson. Author, Journalist, Editor, New York

Rev. Lee H. Ball, New York

Edward K. Barsky, M.D., New York

Charles G. Bell, Author, Tutor, St. Johns College, Santa Fe, N.M.

Elmer A. Benson, Former Governor of Minnesota

Professor Fred J. Carrier, Villanova University, Pennsylvania

Rev. Mark A. Chamberlin, Oregon

Professor Robert S. Cohen, Boston University

Rev. J. Raymond Cope, California

Professor Ephralm Cross, City College of New York

Professor Horace H. Davis, Author, Massachusetts

Dr. Stanton Ling Davis, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio

Ossie Davis, Noted Actor, Playwright, Director and Black People’s Leader, New York

Hugh De Lacy, Former Congressman, California

Angie Dickerson, Member, World Peace Council, N.Y.

Ruth Crawford France, Writer and Editor, Formerly Member UN Secretariat, Indiana

Stanley Faulkner, Attorney, New York

Sidney Finkelstein, Author, New York

Professor Phillip Foner, Lincoln University, Pennsylvania

Eleanor W. Fowler, Executive Director, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Washington, DC.

Ruth Gage-Colby, United Nations Representative of WILPF and United Nations Correspondent, New York

Josh Gilman, Midwest Chairman, National Coalition Against War, Racism and Repression

Sidney J. Gluck, Businessman Consultant

Carlton B. Goodlett, M.D., Member, World Peace Council, San Francisco, California

Professor Martin Green, Center for 20th Century Studies, University of Wisconsin, Wisc.

Nan Gurrero, Vice President, Advisory Board, Southern Conference Educational Funt Atlanta, Georgia

Ralph H. Gundlach, Ph. D., New York

Professor Donald C. Hodges, Florida State University, Tallahasse, Florida

Charles J. Jackson, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Georgia

Dr. Oakley c. Johnson, New York

Rev. J. Spencer Kennard, Jr., New Jersey

Professor Howard D. Langford, Ph. D., Author, Maryland

Professor Denise Levertov, Poet, Boston

Professor Oliver S. Lnud, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio

Dr. Bernard Mandel, Cleveland, Ohio

William M. Mandel, Author, Berkely California

Andy March, Anthropology Department, Queens College, New York

Carl Marzani, Author, Publisher, New York

Henry McKnight, Jr., Executive Board member, Local 6, International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, Cal.

Rev. Howard Melish, New York

Michael Munk, Jornalist, New York

George B. Murphy, Jr., Journalist,Washington D.C.

Scott Nearing, Author, Maine

Isidore G. Needleman, Attorney, New York

Professor Wayne O’Neil, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Mass.

John Pappademos, Vice President, Local 1627, American Federation of Teachers, Illinois

Professor Howard L. Parsons, Chairman, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Bridgeport, Conn.

William L. Patterson, Co-chairman, Black Liberation Commission, Communist Party, U.S.A.,  New York

Victor Perto, Economist, Author, New York

John Pittman, Journalist, Co-editor, Daily World, New York

William J. Pomeroy, Author, Journalist, Middlesex, England

Quinton Q. Priest (graduate student), Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars, Tuscon chapter, Arizona

 

 

 

(Organizations, professions, and posts listed only for identification)

 

 

 

PROF. H.L.PARSONS

Chairman

 

 

GEORGE B. MURPHY, JR.

Secretary

 

PROF. F.J. CARRIER

Director of Education and Information

 

PROF. ROBERT ANTE

Director of Publications

 

JOSEPH BRANDT

Executive Director

 

JOE WALKER

Vice-Chairman

 

RUTH C. FRANCE

Vice-Chairwoman

 

ANDREW STAPP

Vice-Chairman

 

REV. LEE H. BALL

Vice-Chairman

 

RUTH GAGE-COLBY

Vice-Chairwoman

 

JARVIS TYNER

Vice-Chairman

 

DR. H. APTHEKER

Vice-Chairman

 

JOHN WOODFORD

Vice-Chairman

 

 

  • I support the A.K.F.I.C.; please place my name on your mailing list.
  • Please send me _____ copies of OPERATION WAR SHIFT.
  • We are interested in Speaker/Lecturer on Korea. Also Photo Exhibition, and Korean music.
  • I enclose a contribution to help publish and circulate OPERATION WAR SHIFT to thousands of Americans.

 

NAME _______________________________

ADDRESS ____________________________

INSTITUTION OR ORGANIZATION ______

CITY __________

STATE ______

ZIP ______

 

 

Fill out and mail to:

 

AMERICAN-KOREAN FRIENDSHIP AND INFORMATION CENTER

160 Fifth Avenue, Suite 809, New York, N.Y. 10010

 

 

 

 

An advertisement in the New York Times announces the establishment of the American-Korean Friendship and Information Center and warns of a new war in Korea if the U.S. did not remove its troops from the peninsula


Document Information

Source

New York Times, February 25, 1971, p. 41.

Rights

The History and Public Policy Program welcomes reuse of Digital Archive materials for research and educational purposes. Some documents may be subject to copyright, which is retained by the rights holders in accordance with US and international copyright laws. When possible, rights holders have been contacted for permission to reproduce their materials.

To enquire about this document's rights status or request permission for commercial use, please contact the History and Public Policy Program at [email protected].

Original Uploaded Date

2014-10-03

Language

Record ID

121127