Open Letter to Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense

Dear Sir:

This letter is sent to you by Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea (SPARK), a non-governmental organization founded in 1994, which works for friendly and cooperative relations between Korea and the United States, and for the achievement of peace on the Korean peninsula.

The 38th annual ROK-US Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) will be held October 20-21.
We are very apprehensive that at this meeting, decisions will be made which will endanger peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the Northeast Asian region and will run counter to the views and decisions of the Korean people.

Therefore we wish to present our views to you so that they may be considered as part of the agenda of the SCM, as follows:

We urge the US not to impose sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in response to the recent nuclear test. The US played the leading role in securing adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1718, which imposes comprehensive sanctions against North Korea and requires it to abandon its nuclear weapons and missiles program. Furthermore the US is pressing the ROK to participate in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation Security Initiative. This will increase military tension and the danger of war on the Korean peninsula and throughout Northeast Asia.

We aim to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula and establish a nuclear-free zone in Northeast Asia.
We cannot agree with the demand that North Korea should be the only country to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Since this viewpoint disregards the basic reason for Pyeongyang’s acquisition of nuclear weapons and lacks fairness and objectivity, accordingly it cannot create the conditions under which the North Korean nuclear problem could be solved.

Pyongyang says that in response to the Bush administration’s policy of trying to strangle the North, it had no alternative but to develop nuclear weapons as a “self-defense measure”.
In fact, you and other members of the Bush government, instead of engaging in serious dialogue on resolving the problem of the DPRK’s nuclear weapons and missiles, have taken actions designed to impose sanctions against the North and to isolate it.

At one time you said that the US’s aim is to bring about the collapse of the North Korean government and not to engage in dialogue. The US is the country which possesses the most nuclear weapons and has carried out the largest number of nuclear tests. Also, the ROK and the US conduct combined military exercises in accordance with Washington’s nuclear first-strike attack plan. John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, also supports India’s and Pakistan’s nuclear development programs.

The US is enforcing sanctions only against the nuclear problem of countries which oppose it.
This attitude is hypocritical and inconsistent. This US nuclear policy and its policy of hostility toward North Korea cannot force Pyongyang to relinquish its nuclear weapons. It can only prompt the North to increase its “physical countermeasures” in reaction to the sanctions and pressure.

We firmly believe that the only way to solve the North Korean nuclear problem is through dialogue and negotiations between North Korea and the US, on the basis of equality.
We strongly urge that at this SCM, the US should stop trying to compel Seoul to take part in the PSI and cancel the sanctions against the DPRK.

We strongly oppose the missile defense system and the positioning of nuclear weapons around the Korean peninsula in response to North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The way to solve the problem is not to increase the number of weapons on all sides, but rather to establish mutual trust, 



peace, and disarmament, and to sign a Korean peninsula peace treaty. We call on you and President Bush to take advantage of the North Korean nuclear test as an opportunity to give up the hostile policy toward the North and to sign a peace treaty.

Immediately stop all attempts to turn the ROK-US alliance into an aggressive regional alliance!

1. Give up the “Joint Study on the Vision of the ROK-US Alliance”.
At this SCM they plan to adopt the “Joint Vision Study”. The core of this Study is the transformation of the ROK-US alliance from a defensive alliance against the DPRK into an aggressive alliance. Furthermore, the Study also envisions delaying South-North reunification for 20 years and securing the long-term advantage for the US during this period. Therefore we are resolutely opposed to the Study and strongly urge that the “Joint Vision Study” be abandoned immediately.

2. Immediately return the wartime military operational control authority, which is the essence of national military sovereignty!
At this meeting they will discuss the “roadmap for the return of wartime military operational control authority”. The roadmap creates a “war/ peace cooperative structure”, led by the US military, so that the US military can still control the ROK military. Moreover, the “road map” requires strategic flexibility for the USFK and the strengthening of the ROK armed forces as preconditions for the return of wartime military operational control authority. These conditions make the return of wartime military operational control authority meaningless. We are absolutely opposed to these requirements. We strongly urge the immediate, unconditional return of wartime military operational control authority.

3. In light of the reduction of the USFK, the Pyeongtaek US base expansion plan must be completely renegotiated.
The process of disbanding the ROK-US Combined Forces Command and reducing or dismantling the 8th Army Command is moving forward. The US army forces in the ROK are also being steadily reduced. Accordingly, it is reasonable and sensible to renegotiate the plans concerning US base facilities, area, and costs. From the US point of view, putting pressure on the Pyeongtaek residents who are struggling to prevent the base expansion will do nothing to reduce the Korean people’s anti-American feelings. We strongly urge the US to completely renegotiate the Pyeongtaek base expansion plan at this SCM.

4. Scrap the illegal and unequal USFK cost-sharing requirement!
The US demands that Seoul should pay more than 50% of the cost of stationing the USFK.
However, if the calculation of Korea’s share of these expenses also includes the value of land, personnel support, and the costs of USFK relocation, then it is clear that the ROK’s contribution is already more than the total core cost of stationing the USFK. According to the ROK-US Status of Forces Agreement, the US is supposed to pay all the costs for facilities and personnel.
Therefore this US demand is illegal. Besides this, the character of the USFK is changing from what is written in the ROK-US Mutual Defense Treaty, so the ROK has no obligation to make facilities and land available free of charge. In this context, it is arrogant and illegal for the US to demand that Korea pay a much larger share of the costs of stationing the USFK. Consequently we demand that you give up the requirement for the illegal and unequal sharing of USFK stationing costs.

October 20, 2006
Seoul, Korea

Co-chairs 
Fr. Moon Kyu Hyeon, Rev. Hong Keun Soo

Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea
spark946@hanmail.net www.spark946.org