Denounce the police's savage repression of the July 10 Peace March!

No to Rice's visit to Korea!  No to the USFK's "strategic flexibility"!

 The 70th anti-US joint monthly rally

Along with 5 other civic organizations, SPARK held the 70th anti-US joint monthly rally near the US embassy at 2:00 pm on July 12.

 The leader of Peacewind, Father Moon Jong-hyon, who was briefly arrested on the morning of the March, explained the police's savage repression in detail and suggested, "The more participants we have, the less the police can do to stop us. Let's gather again on Sep. 1 (the 365th candlelight rally) and in November on the harvested fields at Pyongtaek."

In a re-enactment of the Pyongtaek protest, participants attached  yellow cloths to the wires of a symbolic fence, in order to dramatize their demand for the withdrawal of the US forces from Korea.

Oh Hye-ran, co-chairwoman of SPARK's Incheon branch, who   was injured by the police during the March, explained that the USFK's "strategic flexibility" plan requires the expansion of the US military's bases at Pyongtaek. She asserted that we should say "No" to Rice's visit to Korea because the main purpose of US Secretary of State Rice's visit is to press the Korean government to permit the USFK's "strategic flexibility, which would allow the USFK to intervene in possible conflicts in East Asia."

Shim Dong-yong, general secretary of Citizens' Solidarity of Dongduchon (north of Seoul), reported an accident in which a middle-aged Korean woman was run over and killed by a US military truck.  He demanded that the killers must be brought to trial in a Korean court instead of an American military court, in order to reveal the truth and prevent any more accidents like this.

Cho Gwang-su, general secretary of SPARK's Cheonbuk branch, reported their protest against an oil leak accident on the US base at Gunsan.

This rally was co-hosted by Peacewind, Paengsong Committee against Expansion of the US Military Bases at Pyongtaek, Korea Catholic Federation for Justice, People's Solidarity for Social Progress, Minkahyup (a human rights group) and SPARK.