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Vol. 82/No. 15 April 16, 2018
(front page)
Chinese rulers, NKorea push for talks with Washington
BY SETH GALINSKY
After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Chinese President Xi
Jinping in Beijing March 26 — his first foreign trip since coming to
power — Xi telephoned President Donald Trump. He told Trump that plans
for a May U.S.-North Korea summit to discuss ending North Korea’s
nuclear weapons program are on track.
“Received message last night from XI JINPING of China that his meeting
with KIM JONG UN went very well and that KIM looks forward to his
meeting with me,” Trump wrote March 28. “In the meantime, and
unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all
cost!”
Pyongyang’s goal is “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula
through gradual and simultaneous steps toward achieving peace,” Kim told
Xi.
Over the last six months Beijing has been aggressively enforcing U.N.
sanctions against North Korea, which relies on China for 90 percent of
its foreign trade. Washington sees the Chinese rulers as key to getting
Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapon and missile programs.
At the urging of Washington and with the backing of Beijing, the U.N.
Security Council March 30 blacklisted 27 ships and 21 shipping companies
accused of involvement in oil or coal trade with North Korea.
The Financial Times reports that shipments of refined oil from China to
North Korea were slashed 99 percent in January and February. Chinese
coal exports to North Korea — which averaged 8,600 tons a month in 2017
— plummeted to zero. Steel exports fell to 257 tons a month, from more
than 15,000 tons. A number of North Korean factories have been forced to
close and thousands of workers have been laid off.
The Chinese rulers are seeking détente between Washington and Pyongyang,
to achieve a measure of stability in the region. They want to prevent an
economic and political collapse in North Korea, which could lead to a
flood of refugees and to U.S. imperialist troops on its borders.
Korea divided against will of its people
At the end of the second imperialist world war and the end of the
Japanese occupation of Korea, Korean workers and farmers rebelled. U.S.
troops occupied the South, with the agreement of Moscow, and installed
the dictatorship of Syngman Rhee, who imposed a reign of terror, killing
tens of thousands and drowning their uprising in blood. But in the
North, working people succeeded in overturning the power of the
capitalists and landlords.
Washington’s provocations led to the 1950-53 Korean War, where some 4
million people were killed. U.S.-led troops, fighting under the U.N.
flag, drove North Korean forces almost to the Chinese border. With the
aid of tens of thousands of Chinese volunteers, the North Koreans fought
the U.S. troops back to the 38th parallel, dealing U.S. imperialism its
first-ever military defeat.
The U.S. government violated the terms of the 1953 cease-fire by placing
nuclear weapons in South Korea in 1958, keeping them there until 1991.
South Korea remains under the U.S. rulers’ nuclear “umbrella” and the
Pentagon still deploys nuclear-armed submarines in nearby waters.
Washington has refused for 65 years to sign a formal peace treaty with
Pyongyang.
When Pyongyang began testing nuclear weapons — and threatening the South
with a “rain of fire” — it dealt a blow to its moral high ground against
U.S. imperialism’s brutality.
Both North Korea and Washington have moved over the last several months
to ease military tensions. Pyongyang has not conducted any nuclear tests
since Sept. 3. Washington in turn postponed to April 1 and scaled down
its provocative annual joint military maneuvers with South Korea to
facilitate talks. Washington cut the duration of the Operation Foal
Eagle war games in half. They began April 1 and unlike previous years
will not include U.S. aircraft carriers or nuclear submarines.
Desire for reunification can’t be quelled
Leading up to the talks between Washington and Pyongyang, South Korean
President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim are planning an April
27 summit. Tokyo also wants to meet with Pyongyang.
Ever since the U.S. occupation, the Korean people have thirsted for
reunification. Since the reunification of Vietnam and Germany the
division of Korea is the one national division remaining from World War II.
At this year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a large
delegation from the North created quite a stir. This week Seoul sent 120
people to the North, including music groups, government officials,
reporters and a taekwondo demonstration team, for concerts April 1 and 3
in Pyongyang. The South Korean female K-Pop group Red Velvet sang “Our
Hope Is Unification,” and the audience joined in.
Kim Jong Un attended and was introduced to the performers. He proposed
that North Korean musicians perform in Seoul in the fall.
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