(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Liz Rowley, Ontario leader of the Communist Party

June 22 statement by the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada

     A blockade would be an of war against North Korea, and that war will escalate global nuclear proliferation and thwart the goal of nuclear disarmament.

     The escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula should alarm all Canadians who value peace, disarmament and a better world. The U.S. and its allies are attempting to place the blame for the deteriorating situation on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), following its recent missile and underground nuclear tests.

     "But responsibility for the growing war threat on the Korean peninsula rests squarely with the United States and other imperialist countries, such as Canada. The recent U.S.-sponsored Security Council resolution (#1874), which imposes further economic sanctions on the DPRK and authorizes" the boarding and inspection of ships trading with North Korea, will further aggravate the tense situation, raising the number of possible ways a war could be sparked.

     The DPRK has repeatedly stated that the forced boarding and inspection of ships on the high seas under the aegis of the so-called "Proliferation Security Initiative" (PSI) would be tantamount to a declaration of war.

     The PSI is being peddled as a way to "help control North Korea's development of dangerous material." It is precisely this constant striving to "control" and ultimately crush North Korea that is at the root of the conflict.

     Washington's aggressive `Korea' policy has nothing to do with any genuine concern about nuclear proliferation. It was, after all, the United States which covertly assisted Israel's development of a nuclear arsenal, and which later supported both India and Pakistan in developing nuclear weapons.

     U.S. policy toward North Korea hinges on two primary concerns. First, to reverse its humiliating defeat during the Korean war almost sixty years ago; and second, its determination to maintain a virtual monopoly of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

     Washington steadfastly refuses to sign a peace treaty with the DPRK that would that would formally end hostilities dating back to 1953. It has repeatedly violated agreements made during various rounds of the "six party" talks, and has worked non-stop to isolate North Korea, rather than seek a course of peaceful and cooperative relations between the two states.

     Worse, the United States has threatened to use nuclear weapons against North Korea nine times during and since the Korean War. The U.S. maintains 30,000 troops in South Korea and 250,000 in the Pacific. It routinely carries out massive and extremely provocative military exercises within kilometres of DPRK territorial waters, and can launch nuclear weapons against North Korea from the Yellow Sea.

     For six years, the Bush administration threatened to carry out "regime change," naming North Korea one of three "Axis of Evil" countries. Despite this, North Korea participated in talks to end its nuclear programs and normalize relations with the United States, based on mutual respect and non-interference in a formal peace treaty.

     These talks ended when the U.S. under the previous the Bush administration unilaterally demanded inspection measures which were completely unacceptable to any sovereign country. Speaking for the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton demanded North Korea end its nuclear programs before relations would be normalized. The language of imperialist diktat favouring the continuation of a state of war. went further in April, when Clinton said that future talks were "implausible, if not impossible."

     And yet all we hear in a one-sided way in the media is that North Korea is now refusing to participate in talks!

     In such hostile circumstances, it should hardly come as a surprise that the DPRK would take measures to defend its sovereignty by strengthening its defence capacity, including its decision to produce nuclear weapons.

     The Communist Party of Canada shares the broad concerns of the peace movement and indeed all humanity about the urgent need to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. However, Washington's use of the 1970 Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a pretext to escalate pressure on the DPRK is completely hypocritical and deceitful, given that the U.S. has refused to take any meaningful steps to eliminate its own overwhelming nuclear arsenal, which is also a serious violation of the NPT.

     U.S. imperialism is making an issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons the same way it used Iraq's alleged possession of dangerous weapons, as a baseless and illegal pretext for invasion. The unjust sanctions imposed by imperialism on North Korea may cause starvation and hardship for many years, much like it did in Iraq.

     Renewed U.S. hostilities against North Korea would harm efforts to both curb proliferation and achieve universal and comprehensive disarmament.

     The world's peoples are faced with an increasing drive by the U.S. and its imperialist allies to consolidate and extend its military-strategic domination to every corner of the earth. This is the real danger to peace in the world today, one which needs to remain the focus of all efforts of the peace forces internationally.

     Our Party also condemns the Harper government's support of Washington's aggressive policies and actions against North Korea. Rather, Canada should call on the United States to sign a peace treaty with North Korea to finally end the Korean War. Canada must also withdraw from the PSI immediately and respect the sovereignty of North Korea and all countries in the region.

     Finally, we demand that Canada call for the removal of all U.S. military forces from South Korea and the Asia-Pacific region and that it support talks for a regional nuclear weapons-free zone and the abolition of all nuclear weapons.