The 2018 has been a year of historic change on the Korean Peninsula. The leaders of North and South Korea met three times, and President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also held their first summit in Singapore in June.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has invited Chairman Kim to visit South Korea, and President Trump has expressed willingness to meet Chairman Kim in a second summit. We welcome these positive developments for permanent peace in Korea.

In particular, we support the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration and the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration signed between the leaders of South and North Korea, as well as the June 12 Singapore Summit Joint Statement signed between the leaders of the United States and North Korea.

These agreements lessen the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula and create a foundation for a lasting and stable peace regime. The Panmunjom and Pyongyang Declarations signed between the two Koreas opened the door to family reunions, civil society engagement, and concrete steps towards demilitarization.

Likewise, the Singapore Joint Statement emphasized the “establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations,” away from war and hostility towards normal diplomatic recognition. We applaud the leaders of South Korea, North Korea and the United States, who, on the brink of nuclear war last year, boldly chose the path toward peace.

As concrete steps in the spirit of the Singapore Joint Statement, North Korea has:

• Suspended its nuclear and missile tests, including destroying the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and inviting outside inspectors to verify that it has been destroyed;
• Agreed to “permanently dismantle the Dongchang-ri missile engine test site and launch platform under the observation of experts,” as well as dismantle its nuclear facilities in Yongbyon if “the United States takes corresponding measures”; and
• Returned the remains of fifty-five U.S. servicemen who had died there during the Korean War of 1950-1953.

On the other hand, the United States, thus far, has:

• Temporarily suspended major war drills with the South Korean military.

While commendable, this U.S. action is insufficient to sustain the normalization process.

In line with the important steps North Korea has taken toward peace and denuclearization and in support of unprecedented peace-building engagement between North and South Korea – demilitarization of the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom, preparations to reconnect highways and railroad lines across the DMZ, and the establishment of a joint liaison office in the northern city of Kaesong – we urge the U.S. government to take the following steps as further confidence-building measures with North Korea:

1) Issue a joint declaration to end the Korean War and negotiate a Peace Treaty to replace the outdated and broken Armistice Agreement. The continuing state of war on the Korean Peninsula is at the root of recurring war threats in Korea. In the Panmunjom Joint Declaration, the two Korean leaders declared as follows:

During this year that marks the 65th anniversary of the Armistice, South and North Korea agreed to actively pursue trilateral meetings involving the two Koreas and the United States, or quadrilateral meetings involving the two Koreas, the United States and China with a view to declaring an end to the war and establishing a permanent and solid peace regime.

Ahead of another summit with North Korea, the United States should commit to declaring an end to the Korean War and demonstrate a willingness to pursue a formal Peace Treaty. Only a genuine and verifiable Peace Treaty between the main parties to the Korean War and the Armistice Agreement can drastically reduce the risk of nuclear and conventional war in Korea. It is the foundation for lasting and stable peace on the Korean Peninsula.

2) Lift broad-based U.S. sanctions against North Korea that harm the most vulnerable and ordinary Koreans as a concrete step toward establishing “new U.S.-DPRK relations.” Further, halt international pressure campaigns to isolate North Korea as this is contrary to the spirit of the Singapore Joint Declaration.

3) Lift the travel ban on U.S.citizens from visiting North Korea. The ban blocks U.S. humanitarian aid projects in North Korea, impedes people-to-people exchanges, and prevents thousands of Korean-Americans, who have family members in North Korea, from visiting them.

4) Establish a liaison office in Pyongyang to facilitate diplomatic engagement between the two countries towards mutual trust and understanding.

December 6, 2018

Signed,

Endorsing U.S. Organizations (In alphabetical order, 133 total)

416 Global Networks—San Diego

416 Human Rights & Peace Global Network

615 U.S. Midwest Committee

615 U.S. Seattle Committee

615 West Cost Committee

Action One Korea (AOK) Action One Korea (AOK)

Alliance for Global Justice

American Friends Service Committee

Atlanta SaSaSe

Baltimore Nonviolence Center

Brooklyn For Peace

Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security

Center for Human Rights & International Justice, Boston College

Channing and Popai Liem Education Foundation

Chicagoans in Solidarity with Sewol Ferry Victims and Families

Citizen for Equality Peace And Liberation

Coalition for Peace Action

Coalition of Civic Action for Cheonahnham’s Truth in U.S.A.

Coalition of Koreans in America

Codepink

Community Organizing Center

Concerned Citizens for Change

Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety

D.C. Methodist Church

Deoham Korean American Community Church

Environmentalists Against War

FCNL Peterborough Advocacy Team

Fight For Voter’s Rights(F4VR)

FreedomTrainers

GABRIELA USA

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Good Friends USA

Granny Peace Brigade, New York

Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks

Green Party of the United States Peace Action Committee

Hawai’i Peace and Justice

HOBAK (Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans)

Hope Coalition of New York

Houston Sewol HAMBI

INOCHI/NoWarWithNorthKorea.org

Institute for 21st Century International Relations

International Action Center

Kaua`i Alliance for Peace and Social Justice

Kazakh Foundation

Korea Culture & Heritage Society of LA

Korea Culture & Heritage Society of NY

Korea is One

Korea Peace & Unification Action of Boston

Korea Policy Institute

Korean American Alliance for Peace on the Korean Peninsula

Korean American Civic Action Atlanta

Korean American National Coordinating Council

Korean Americans for Social Justice – Chicago

Korean Book Club of Riverside

Korean Peace Alliance

LA SASASE

LEPOCO Peace Center (Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern)

Maine Green Independent Party

Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center

Malu ‘Aina Center for Nonviolent Education & Action

Massachusetts Peace Action

Maui Peace Action

Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office

Military Families Speak Out

minjok.com

Minjung Solidarity of New York

Missy 100

Mundo Obrero / Workers World Party

Muslim Peace Fellowship

NANUM Corean Cultural Center

National Association of Korean Americans

National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy

National Institute of Hahm Seokhon Philosophy, DC, Indianapolis, NY, Hahm Seokhon Peace Center

Network for Peace and Unification in USA

New Hampshire Peace Action

New Hampshire Veterans for Peace

New Jersey Peace Action

New York Campaign for Peace in Korea

NJ Sewol Truth Seekers

Nodutdol for Korean Community Development

North Carolina Peace Action

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Ohana Ho`opakele

One Corea Now One Corea Now

One Heart for Justice

Out of My ultari Now

Oversea Supporters Korean School in Japan

Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification in USA

Party for Socialism and Liberation – New Hampshire

Peace & Prosperity Forum

Peace Action

Peace Action Maine

Peace Action Michigan

Peace Action New York State

Peace Action Wisconsin

Peace21.org

Peaceworkers

Peoples Budget Campaign

Philadelphia Committee for Peace and Justice in Asia

Popular Resistance

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Presbyterian Peace Network for Korea

PressArirang.org

Progressive Asian Network for Action (PANA)

Rainbow PUSH Coalition

Resources for Organizing and Social Change

S.F. Rohjjang lovers

Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

San Diego Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party of California

SD SASASE

Seattle Evergreen Coalition

SolidarityINFOService

Support Committee for Korean Prisoners of Conscience in U.S.

The Moon keeper in America

The Peace Committee of the Korean Association of the United Methodist Church

The Peace Farm

The United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

TRACE Collective (Transracial Adoptees Creating Empowerment)

Tri-Valley CAREs

United for Justice with Peace Boston

United for Peace and Justice

United Nations Association of Greater Milwaukee

US Peace Council

Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace – NYC Chapter 034

War Prevention Initiative

Washington DC Remembers Sewol

Western States Legal Foundation

Women Against War

Women Cross DMZ

Woori Madang Chicago

World BEYOND War

Young Korean Academy of New York

19 Organizations from US, Europe and Asia 

416 Canlelights JKT 416

416 Global Networks 416

416 Global Networks – Ottawa

416 Global Networks – Toronto

416 Network Paris 416

Edmonton Hope Network

Gangjeong UK

Ireland Candlelight Action

June 15 Joint Oceania Committee For One COREA

Korean New Zealanders for a Better Future

National Institute of Hahm Seokhon Philosophy, London, UK headquarters

PEN International San Miguel Center, Mexico

Pika

RemeberingSewol UK

Remenbering Sewol Germany (NRW)

SASASE OTTAWA

Solidarity of Korean People in Europe

STOP the War Coalition Philippines

Vienna Culture Factory

59 Individuals

Ann Wright, Retired U.S. Army Colonel, Veterans for Peace

Ayumi Temlock, New Jersey Peace Action

Barbara Nielsen, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, United States Section

Bok-dong Yoon, Korean Adoptees of Hawai’i

Bonnie J Ruggiero, Elder, Presbyterian Church USA

Caleb Carman, Bard College

Carolyn Cicciu, New Hampshire Peace Action

Charles Ryu, Pastor, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Middletown, New York

Choon Shik Lim, Regional Liaison for East Asia, Presbyterian Church USA

Christine A. DeTroy, Women’s Intenational League for Peace & Freedom, Maine Branch

Clara Lee, PhD student, University of Colorado Boulder

Danielle Saint Louis, Executive Director, Brooklyn Zen Center

Debbie Kim, Gangjeong UK

Debbie Leighton, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

Diane Nahas, LaGuardia Community College

Donna San Antonio, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, Lesley University

Frederick Carriere, Research Professor, Syracuse University

Gar Smith, Co-founder, Environmentalists Against War

Garrett Walker, Party for Socialism and Liberation, New Hampshire

Haeinn Woo, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine

Hwanhee Kim, George Washington University

Jacquelyn Wells, Entrepreneur/Artist, Oohjacquelina

Jacqui Deveneau, Senior Advisor, Maine Green Independent Party

James Nordlund, Communications Director, National Action Network, Kansas

Joan Roelofs, New Hampshire Peace Action

John Arnold, Alliance for Global Justice

John Bernard, Maine People’s Alliance

John Feffer, Director of Foreign Policy in Focus, Institute for Policy Studies

John MacDougall, Veterans for Peace

John Raby, Nuclear weapons Working Group of New Hampshire

Joyce Bressier, Stony Point Center/Community of Living Traditons

Judith Bello, United National Antiwar Coalition

Katherine Griswold, Presbyterian Church USA

Kilsang Yoon, President, Korean American National Coordinating Council

Lawrence Wittner, Professor of History Emeritus, State University of New York/Albany

Leif Rasmusen, Student, Point Arena High School

Lindis Percy, Co-Founder, Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases

Liza Maza, Chairperson Emerita, GABRIELA, Women’s alliance Phils.

Marcus Christian Hansen, Board member, New Hampshire Peace Action

Martha Bartlett, Presbyterian Church USA

Martha Spiess, Chair, Peace Action Maine

Michael Eisenscher, National Coordinator Emeritus, U.S. Labor Against the War

Mike Hearington, Veterans for Peace

Ngovi KITAU, First Kenyan Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (2009-2014)

Noam Chomsky, Professor, University of Arizona

Pamela Richard, Peace Action Wisconsin

Paul Shannon, Co-coordinator, Peoples Budget Campaign

Pete Shimazaki Doktor, Hawai’i Okinawa Alliance

Rajendra Sahai, Institute for Critical Study of Society

Reverend Jesse L Jackson Sr, Founder and President of Rainbow PUSH Coalition

Roger Leisner, Women in Black

Seri Lee, Chicago Organizer, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum

Sofia Woman, Northeast Regional Executive Committee Member, American Friends Service Committee

Sungju Park-Kang, Adjunct Professor, University of Turku, Finland

Tae Lim, PhD student, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Theodore Wilcox, Peace Action and Education

Unzu Lee, Co-convener, Presbyterian Peace Network for Korea

William H. Slavick, Pax Christi Maine

Young Han, Dr. Of Ministry Candidate, Claremont School of Theology