South Korean democracy crumbles to outside pressure and US Veterans are Denied Access to Return to Korea

March 15, 2012

Yesterday South Korea stopped US veterans, who had served to defend Korea, from entering the country. After 2 days of travel these US citizens and veterans of the US armed forces were left in no-man's-land between Korea and China. These veterans came back to Korea at the request of the people, to support the people of a small island (Jeju) off the South end of Korea. The people here have been struggling for months to protect their culture and their way of life. The people, men and woman, are using their bodies to block giant cranes bent on destruction. At risk are the sacred rocks of Gangjeong, the fresh water springs in the rocks, the coral reefs that support the island's marine fishery and endangered species. The area is linked to three UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites, nine UNESCO Geo-Park and that it is designated a Global Biosphere Reserve. But all this and the life on Jeju island in to be destroyed or put at risk for one more naval base.

As the Mayor of Gangjeong, and the Governor of Jeju, representing their people, plead with the S. Korean government to respect the citizens and stop this disaster, the US pressures the government to build the base. It should be noted that while there have been tensions with North Korea this naval base will be as far from North Korea as is possible in South Korea. It is not to defend South Korea. It is so the US, in subtle saber rattling, can threaten China's coastal waters with a nearby deep water naval base.

Instead of respecting the democratic wishes of the people and their elected representatives, the S. Korean government has shipped 1,700 riot police from the mainland into this little island to suppress the peaceable demonstrations and calls for democracy of the people. What is happening on Jeju is the forsaking of democracy, and the US should sanction Korea for it. What is happening on Jeju is a travesty of justice.

Two US veterans, both members of Veterans For Peace, were asked to come by the people. Elliott Adams and Tarak Kauff responded to the request by traveling for 2 days from New York to Shanghai to Jeju, including 19 hours in the air. But when they got off the plane they were rudely told by the Korean government (not the Jeju government) that they must leave. Tarak Kauff says, “ they were waiting for us, they had our photos as we arrived on the plane.” The veterans were left with little money, just tickets home that would not be good for a week. “This is gratitude. I served in Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division defending the people from North Korea, I come back to again defend the people and I am pushed off into no-man's-land,” said Elliott Adams

The Australian Veterans group Stand Fast says “We condemn the South Korean police treatment of protesters knowing that the real criminals are the war mongers and vandals that the police are protecting.”

VFP Veterans Peace Team Members go to Gangjeong Village

March 08, 2012

Veterans especially are very aware of the tragic and dangerous situation now
happening on Jeju Island in South Korea. The Navy has begun blasting the
rocks in Gangjeong village. People have flocked there from all over
and more than 100 people occupied the highways, chaining themselves to
cars and trucks, in order to obstruct the Navy and Samsung (lead
contractor).

It is urgent that more international people go to Jeju ASAP. This is a
critical request to help raise funds to send four members from Veterans For Peace in the United States to the village immediately.

Three of the four VFP members who will travel to Jeju are:

• Tarak Kauff (New York), former paratrooper, lifetime member and organizer with Veterans For Peace, who initiated with others the Veterans Peace Team, designed to stand in opposition to state violence alongside nonviolent people exercising their right to address grievances.

"When I read Bruce's Gagnon's account of Gangjelong Village my heart went out to these brave villagers and I
felt immediately that this was a place the Veterans Peace Team needed to
be. Our statement of purpose says, 'We also stand in solidarity with . .
. all peoples worldwide, who are standing up courageously, leading and
often dying in the struggle for equality and justice as they are exposed
to massive state run police and military violence.' It was important to
live up to these words."-Tarak Kauff

• Elliott Adams (New York), past president of Veterans For Peace and a member of
  Veterans Peace Team. He served in the infantry as a paratrooper in
  Vietnam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska. He has spent 15 years in local
  elected public office. Now he is dedicating his life to stopping war.

"The United States has been an occupying force in Korea since WWII and as a
U.S. military veteran who served there I feel a special obligation to
stand with these brave people resisting a U.S.-imposed doctrine of
militarization."-Elliott Adams

• Mike Hastie, army medic during the Vietnam War and respected poet and photographer, also a member of the Veterans Peace Team.

In a letter to the South Korean Embassy, S. Brian Willson, who has been to Korea 8 times, wrote,

"As a former US military officer who participated in our illegal war
against the Vietnamese people, I am outraged over the decision of the
South Korean government, under relentless pressure from the United
States government, to contract with Daelim and Samsung Engineering
Construction companies to build a Navy base at Gangjeong Village on Jeju
Island (Island of Peace). This decision goes against the expressed wishes of the citizens of Gangjeong. Korea represents itself
as a democratic republic that upholds human rights of its citizens. How
can this be? The stated purpose is to create a deep water port for
additional Korean Aegis Destroyers ($1 billion each), and porting new
U.S. Aegis Destroyers. This mentality toward ever more war and
militarization creates insecurity, not security! And that you consent to
such tyrannical U.S. pressure is shameful!

"I am aware of the horrendous massacre in 1948 of at least 30,000 Jeju
villagers by Syngman Rhee's ruthless death squads, under the direction
and oversight of U.S. ground advisers and U.S. air support. The
continued influence of the U.S. in South Korean affairs, including the
obstruction of a permanent peace treaty with North Korea, perpetuates a
mentality of hatred, motivated by immense profits for the military
industrial complex while threatening peace for both Korean people, and
the rest of us."

Sending international peace workers to Jeju Island at this time signals that
the global peace movement clearly understands the strategic nature of
this local struggle. Obama's announced "pivot" toward the Asia-Pacific
means a virtual doubling of U.S. military operations in that region-thus
the Navy needs more ports-of-call near China's coast. In this case
Gangjeong village is only 300 miles away.

Jeju Island is an early spark in the coming dangerous and expensive
super-power confrontation between the ever-expanding U.S.-NATO military
empire and China. The intent is to "contain and control" China and fully
submerge that nation under corporate globalization. Our coordinated
international peace response to these moves on the grand chessboard is
timely and crucial. You can make a real-time secure credit card donation online by going to the Global Network's website and using the Green Donate Now button at www.space4peace.org

Or you can send us a check in the mail at our post office box (see address
below). If you send via snail mail please send us an email today
letting us know how much you are pledging so we can better make
preparations.

We are truly grateful for your support from Veterans For Peace and the
Veterans Peace Team. They will represent all of us who so badly wish we
could be there as well at this time. Please help make it possible.

In Solidarity,

Bruce K. Gagnon Coordinator Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in SpacePO Box 652Brunswick, ME 04011

Bruce Gagnon (Maine): serves as Secretary/Coordinator of the GN. He has been working on space issues
for the past 25 years and helped create the GN in 1992. His book, Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire,
was republished in 2008. For 15 years he coordinated the Florida
Coalition for Peace & Justice. He was trained as an organizer by the
United Farmworkers Union and is also a member of Veterans for Peace