U.S. Troops Out of Korea Now!
Vigorously Support Korean Reunification!
Under the Banner of “By Our Nation Itself”
Koreans North and South Celebrate June 15 Declaration
Historic Rail Crossing
Joint Korean Olympic Bid
Text of North-South Joint Declaration
Koreans Continue to Fulfill Agreements on Denuclearization
Another Abuse Under the USA PATRIOT Act


U.S. Troops Out of Korea Now!

Vigorously Support Korean Reunification!

June 15, 2007 marks the seventh anniversary of the signing of the historic North-South Joint Declaration by President Kim Dae-Jung of the Republic of Korea and National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)This event ushered in the “June 15 Era” of the national reunification of Korea. The principles laid out in the declaration provide a framework for 70 million Koreans to jointly work without foreign interference to achieve national reunification, their deepest desire since Korea was divided by the U.S. imperialists following the Second World War. The declaration opened a new era in relations between the north and south. It declared to the world that the Korean people are determined to prevent the U.S. imperialists from subjugating all of Korean as part of its drive to take over Asia and achieve world empire.

The Korean people have achieved many successes in the last seven years. There has been steady growth in bilateral relations between the north and south on the political, cultural and economic and military fronts. There have been more than 14 family reunification visits that have connected thousands of families that were separated as a result of the Korean War. Tens of thousands of south Koreans have visited north Korea for the first time since the Korean War, and thousands of north Koreans have also visited the south. These exchanges have drawn the Korean people closer together.

On May 17 this year, for the first time since the Korean War, railway trains from north and south Korea respectively crossed the De-Militarized Zone at two points and crossed over to the other side traveling to Seoul and to Pyongyang, opening up prospects for transporting passengers and goods across the 38th parallel. The Kaesong Industrial Zone, a joint economic development project, currently employs more than 13,000 workers from the DPRK in more than 23 industries owned by south Korean companies. All this has increased the collective confidence of the Korean people and strengthened their resolve to rid their nation of U.S. military occupation, and to achieve independent, peaceful reunification.

The singular achievement of the Korean movement for reunification has been its steadfastness and adherence to principle in spite of every effort of the U.S. imperialists to sabotage it. The U.S. has repeatedly attempted to paint the DPRK as the aggressor, when it is U.S. warships and bombers that occupy the seas surrounding the peninsula and U.S. troops that occupy south Korea — and have done so for more than 50 years. It is the U.S. that has threatened first strike use of nuclear weapons and repeatedly said the “military option” is on the table, then back this threat up with war games in the region. While the Korean people have expressed their determination to achieve reunification, the U.S. continues to sabotage these efforts, refusing to implement agreements, imposing sanctions, freezing funds, pressuring the south Korean government to oppose reunification and refusing to remove its troops from Korean soil. Its efforts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Koreans also includes the fraudulent North Korea Human Rights Act aimed at provoking “regime change” in the DPRK.

The world knows well the results of U.S. aggression to impose “regime change” in the name of “democracy, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere. The Korean people are not fooled and nor are the world’s peoples. As one the peoples are demanding, U.S. Troops Out of Korea Now!

The successes of the Korean people in their nation-building project have the full sympathy of all of humanity and represent a bulwark against U.S. ambitions in the region, its preparations for fascism and war and its ultimate aim of dominating the world. Voice of Revolution salutes the Korean people. We denounce U.S. occupation and interference on the Korean peninsula. On this occasion of the 7th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, we send our warmest revolutionary greetings to the Korean people and their leadership and wish them every success in their historic mission to reunify their nation. By relying on their own efforts, defending their independence and defying the U.S. imperialists on the basis of their principles and convictions they are sure to achieve victory.

Voice of Revolution calls on the American working class and people to step up the work to support the Korean people in their historic task of national reunification. Concretely we as Americans have the responsibility to demand that all U.S. troops and weapons be removed from Korea now, that the U.S. disarm all its nuclear weapons and ban the policy of pre-emptive first strike, and immediately act to normalize relations with the DPRK.

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Under the Banner of “By Our Nation Itself”

 

Korea Central News Agency, Pyongyang, June 15

Seven years have passed since the June 15 reunification era has opened thanks to the historic Pyongyang meeting. During the period, all the Koreans in the north, south and abroad have vigorously advanced along the road of national unity and reunification, discarding the consciousness of division and confrontation and pooling efforts and ideas under the banner of "by our nation itself".

Multi-channeled dialogues and contacts of the authorities and civilians have been held briskly on the principle of national independence between the north and the south of Korea and cooperation and exchange made to help the independent reunification and co-prosperity of the nation, defying the vicious anti-reunification and confrontation moves of the reactionaries within and without.

People of all social standings in the north and south have held colorful reunification events including the grand festivals for national reunification in Pyongyang, Seoul, Mt. Kumgang and other parts, making the whole country replete with the enthusiasm for reunification.

This year, too, has witnessed a big advance in the reunification movement of the Korean people to promote reconciliation and cooperation. Trial train operations were made on the east and west coastal railroad lines re-linked between the north and the south and the first meeting of the Taekwon-Do integration coordinating committee was held to merge the International Taekwon-Do Federation and World Taekwon-Do Federation into one.

The Korean people have fully demonstrated at home and abroad that they could achieve the national unity and reunification by themselves through the 20th and 21st inter-Korean ministerial talks, 5th video meeting and 15th reunion of separated families and relatives, May Day reunification meeting of workers in the north and the south for implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration and others.

Developments show that the June 15 reunification era is a new era for the reunification and prosperity of Korea and nobody can hold in check the advance of the Korean nation shaping its destiny with joint efforts.

****

VOR is reprinting below a statement made by long standing Korean patriot Choe Thae Gyu that gives a summation of the achievements of the North-South Joint Declaration and illustrates the militant spirit of the Korean people to achieve national reunification.

I think that much success has been registered in the reunification movement of the Korean nation since the publication of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration. Such a new era as opening the door of reunification wide by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation has been ushered in on the Korean peninsula that was pervaded with only a tense atmosphere of dissension, confrontation and hostility for more than half a century.

Many-sided contacts and dialogues are currently under way between the north and the south, including ministerial talks, and various kinds of cooperative work for the unified development of the national economy. Reconciliation and national reunification are making headway, including the construction of the Kaesong Industrial Zone. Joint national reunification functions have been held in grand style with representatives from the authorities of the north and the south in attendance on important occasions such as June 15 (the day of publication of the North-South Joint Declaration) and August 15 (the day of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule). This has resulted in promoting the reconciliation and unity of fellow Koreans and bringing their enthusiasm for reunification to a crescendo.

Besides, reunification dialogues, meetings and debates attended by people from various circles have been held frequently so as to support and put into effect the June 15 Joint Declaration, thus powerfully demonstrating at home and abroad our nation’s will to reunify Korea independently. The amazing achievements attained in inter-Korean relations and in the national reunification movement over the past seven years after the publication of the June 15 Joint Declaration are the brilliant fruition brought about by the ideal of “by our nation itself.” This ideal put forward in the aforesaid declaration is the banner that the whole Korean nation should hold high to achieve Korea’s reunification. Inter-Korean relations are not relations between different countries but relations between the fellow Koreans of one and the same blood and relations.

Our nation is a homogeneous nation that is of the same stock and has lived on the same land for thousands of years using the same language. This homogeneity of our nation is fully reflected in all material and cultural riches created through 5,000-year-long Korean history. All Koreans are members of a single nation with the blood and spirit of the Korean nation irrespective of whether they live in the north or the south or abroad, and they are inseparably linked up with one another because of their common national interests and common national mentality and sentiment. In order to put an end to the tragedy of national division imposed upon by foreign forces, to achieve the country’s reunification, a long-cherished desire of the fellow Koreans, and to establish national sovereignty on a nationwide scale it is important for the whole Korean nation to unite. I think that is why the June 15 Joint Declaration also put forward “by our nation itself” as the underlying ideal for national reconciliation, unity and the country’s reunification. “By our nation itself” is a fundamental key for improving north-south relations and lending a more powerful impetus to the June 15 reunification era this year. The fellow Koreans can maintain their independent position, ensure peace and reunify their country only when they remain faithful to the ideal of “by our nation itself.”

I came over to the north from south Korea long ago, indignant at the pro-U.S. sycophantic treacherous acts perpetrated by the “Liberal Party”-led political regime, the progenitor of the “GNP” [Grand National Party — VOR Ed. note]. Since then well over half a century has elapsed. But even up to now descendants of the traitors to the nation who were given stern judgment by the people and were driven out of power, have been making frantic attempts for the machinations of fratricidal confrontation and national division, they themselves hanging on the sleeves of outside forces. I cannot help but be enraged at this.

As they want to live independently and are desirous of the country’s peace and reunification, all Koreans have placed the ideal of “by our nation itself” on the position of requiring the most preferential treatment and are now making active efforts to put this ideal into practice. On the other hand, they are resolutely rejecting all sorts of attempts of the rightwing conservative forces to oppose and emasculate it. To the Korean nation whose blood, language, history and culture are all one, national cooperation stands to reason and is a proper way of existence. No one can emasculate and obliterate the ideal of “by our nation itself” which has taken root deep in the heart of every fellow Korean. And no one can check or turn back the strong reunification current of “by our nation itself.” Reunifying the divided fatherland is the long-cherished desire of our nation.

I am now physically in the twilight years of my life, but I am dedicating my youthful passion to the endeavors to advance inter-Korean relations and achieve a new development in the reunification movement.

Choe Thae Gyu is a Councilor of the Consultative Council of Former South Korean Politicians in the North for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification. This statement appears in Korea Today, Vol. 612, June 2007. It has been slightly modified for style.

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Koreans North and South
Celebrate June 15 Declaration

As part of 2007 celebrations of the June 15 Declaration of 2000, which opened a new era in the struggle for reunification of Korea, many joint meetings and activities were held. Both in Korea as a whole and among Koreans abroad, various meetings celebrated the growing unity of the Korean people and the many steps being taken to achieve peaceful reunification. Various round-table discussions and conferences also condemned U.S. efforts to keep Korea divided and its refusal to pay reparations and be accountable for the crimes committed during the war against Korea (1950-53) and since.

An important development has been the formation of the All-Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration. This is an umbrella organization bringing together various organizations from throughout Korea and abroad, all with the aim of achieving reunification.

A joint celebration bringing together delegates from the south and north was also organized in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). A delegation of 293 people from south Korea traveled to Pyongyang to meet with a delegation of about 300 from the DPRK. The delegation from the south included civic and religious groups, artists, athletes, professors and politicians. The joint meeting was another step in developing the broadening movement for reunification and promoting reconciliation as people south and north visit each other and engage in common activities.

All of the various activities served as a powerful means to inspire Koreans from all walks of life and wherever they are to join the movement for reunification of the Korean nation, a main means of defending peace in the region.

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Historic Rail Crossing

On May 17, for the first time in 56 years trains crossed the Demarcation Line that divides the Korean nation, demonstrating the continuing development of Korean reunification and increased economic ties between north and south.

Two trains made the historic crossing. To the west, a five-car train crossed on an 18-mile track from the southern Munsan Station on the Gyeongui (Seoul-Sinuju), its destination Kaesong Station to the north. To the east, another train from the north crossed in the opposite direction on the Donghae line (East Coast) departing from Mount Kumgang station for Jejin Station to the south. Each train carried 100 south Koreans and 50 north Koreans and returned to their respective points of departure later in the day.

The Gyeongui line was severed on June 12, 1951, while the Donghae line was cut shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. A set of parallel roads has been in use since 2005 for south Koreans traveling to the north.

Before the departures, ceremonies to mark the event were held at both Munsan and Mount Kumgang stations. At Munsan, south Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung and his northern counterpart Kwon Ho-ung delivered commemorative speeches and at Mount Kumgang, Lee Yong-sup, south Korea’s construction minister and Kim Yong-sam, the north’s railway minister, officiated the ceremony.

“The heart of the Korean peninsula is beating again,” Lee Jae-joung, told a crowd at Munsan station. Kwon Ho-ung said the two Koreas “should not be derailed from the track or hesitate” in their moves towards unification. But he warned that outside powers were the main obstacle to reconciliation between the Koreas. “Even at this point, challenges are continuing from divisive forces at home and abroad who don’t like reconciliation and unification of our people,” Kwon said.

“Today is a very meaningful day. The opening of the inter-Korean railways will lead to the opening of peace and economic unity on the Korean Peninsula,” the Office of south Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said in a news release. “From now on, the government will gradually develop inter-Korean relations with patience,” it added.

On May 15, while presiding over a cabinet meeting, President Roh stated, “The planned test run of the cross-border train service is a big stride in the development of the Korean people as well as a meaningful progress for peace on the Korean Peninsula.” He said his government would make sustained efforts to build inter-Korean trust, adding, “The test run will serve as a stepping-stone for an economic union of the two Koreas and all of Northeast Asia. It will also offer a good opportunity for the south Korean economy.”

The reconnection of roads and train lines severed during the 1950-53 Korean War is one of the projects borne out of the historic 2000 summit between then-south Korean president Kim Dae-jung and north Korean leader Kim Jong-il which produced the June 15 agreement.

The restored railways will help north Korean workers commute to a joint industrial complex in the northern border city of Kaesong as well as to transport south Korean tourists to the north’s scenic Mount Kumgang, reports Asia Times Online. They will also provide rail access from the south to China and Russia, eventually to link up with the Trans-Siberian railway, Al Jazeera reports.

“The test runs will be the start of regular rail services between the two Koreas. I hope it will be the first step toward establishing a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Unification Minister Lee said in a meeting with U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow on May 16.

The U.S., unwilling to decline from its long-standing imperialist designs for the Korean peninsula, expressed through its representative its intentions to keep up its interference in sovereign Korean affairs. After his meeting with Lee, Vershbow told reporters, “We think that there is agreement that if we’re going to achieve our goals both in inter-Korean reconciliation and Six-Party Talks, it is essential that the U.S. and South Korea work together and coordinate our efforts to the maximum degree possible.”

The train crossing is part of an accord consisting of exchange of natural resources from north Korea for U.S.$80 million worth of light-industry raw materials from the south, all of which was originally scheduled to take place last May.

In March, following the initial success of the most recent round of the Six-Party Talks, humanitarian and economic inter-Korean projects including the rail exchange were re-established, reports Asia Times Online.

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Joint Korean Olympic Bid

In December 2006, BBC reported that north and south Korea launched a joint bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge was informed they will both back the bid of south Korean city Pyeongchang. As part of the plan a unified Korean team will take part in 2014, but it is hoped that a combined team will be in place in time for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, reports BBC. Joint north-south teams were attempted as far back as the 1964 Olympics. Although this initial attempt was unsuccessful, the two Koreas fielded joint teams at the World Table Tennis Championships in Chiba, Japan in 1990 and at the World Youth Soccer Championship in Lisbon in 1991. More recently, north and south have marched together in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics with one uniform as simply “Korea” behind the Reunification Flag which consists of the entire Korean nation in blue on a white background.

Pyeongchang is one of three cities battling it out for the right to host the 2014 Games. The other contenders are Salzburg in Austria and the Russian city of Sochi. Three years ago, the south Korean city of Pyeongchang was an underdog but almost won the right to stage the 2010 Winter Olympics. They lost to Vancouver by just two votes.

Now it is a favorite candidate in the race for the 2014 Games as it has received the best overall review by the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission, says the Bangkok Post. The report continues: “Korean officials are confident Pyeongchang will emerge winner when IOC members cast their votes to select the host city for the 2014 Winter Games in Guatemala on July 4.

" 'The last time we were not well prepared. The infrastructure was not ready. We also lacked a proper PR campaign,’ said Yoo Jay Kun, chairman of the Special Bid Committee for the 2014 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games.

Gangwon province, where Pyeongchang is located, is known as the “Land of Ice and Snow” by the Koreans. “It is the cradle of modern skiing in Korea and is now emerging as the hub of winter sports in Asia,” according to the Bangkok Post.

“The bid committee believes the 2014 Olympics would serve as a monumental opportunity to encourage the two Koreas to come together and to bridge the gap of division by forming a single Korean delegation, organizing joint training and relaying the Olympic torch across the Korean peninsula,” writes the newspaper.

“It would help promote peace and harmony for both Koreas and the Olympic Movement,” said bid chairman Yoo.

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Text of North-South Joint Declaration

True to the noble will of all the fellow countrymen for the peaceful reunification of the country, Chairman Kim Jong Il of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea had a historic meeting and summit in Pyongyang from June 13 to 15, 2000.

The heads of the North and the South, considering that the recent meeting and summit, the first of their kind in history of division, are events of weighty importance in promoting mutual understanding, developing inter-Korean relations and achieving peaceful reunification, declare as follows:

1. The North and the South agreed to solve the question of the country’s reunification independently by the concerted efforts of the Korean nation responsible for it.

2. The North and the South, recognizing that a proposal for federation of lower stage advanced by the North side and a proposal for confederation put forth by the South side for the reunification of the country have elements in common, agreed to work for the reunification in this direction in the future.

3. The North and the South agreed to settle humanitarian issues, including exchange of visiting groups of separated families and relatives and the issue of unconverted long-term prisoners, as early as possible on the occasion of August 15 this year.

4. The North and the South agreed to promote the balanced development of the national economy through economic cooperation and build mutual confidence by activating cooperation and exchanges in all fields, social, cultural, sports, public health, environmental and so on.

5. The North and the South agreed to hold dialogues between the authorities as soon as possible to implement the above-mentioned agreed points in the near future.

President Kim Dae Jung cordially invited Chairman Kim Jong Il of the DPRK National Defense Commission to visit Seoul and Chairman Kim Jong Il agreed to visit Seoul at an appropriate time in the future.

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U.S. Releases Funds

Koreans Continue to Fulfill Agreements on Denuclearization

Despite repeated efforts by the United States to sabotage implementation of agreements designed to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea has held firm in insisting that agreements worked out in February be met. It has also been implementing its side of the agreements.

Most recently the U.S. refused to release $25 million belonging to the DPRK and unjustly frozen by the U.S. The requirement to release the funds was part of the February agreement but one the U.S. refused to implement. The DPRK insisted that the funds be released and that when this was done, they would take the next step agreed on of inviting the International Atomic Energy Agency to the DPRK.

The U.S. refused to release the funds, gave one excuse after the other, all the while insisting that the DRPK was refusing to shut down its reactor. The Koreans refused to be intimidated and calmly waited for the U.S. to uphold its end of the bargain. The U.S. finally released the funds, not in February, as agreed, or March or April or May but in mid-June. No sooner was it done than the DPRK took the next step of inviting an IAEA delegation to the DPRK. This is yet one more example that it is the U.S. that stands in the way of peacefully resolving problems.

The DPRK has consistently worked for denuclearization and for peacefully resolving issues concerning its nuclear program. This has been true since the 1980’s when it first began its nuclear program. The U.S. on the other hand has consistently sabotaged the agreements, including for example, previous agreements to provide light water reactors, which are not capable of producing weapons-grade fuel. The U.S. has also forced the south Koreans to break their agreements, such as a recent decision by the south not to send rice shipments to the north.

The DRPK, like all countries, has the right to produce nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, if it sees fit, as part of defending its sovereignty. It is the U.S. that not only has more nuclear weapons than any other country, with large numbers in the region, it has also threatened nuclear first-strike attacks against the DPRK. Such an attack would engulf the whole peninsula in war once again. It is the U.S. that has not upheld its obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to disarm its nuclear weapons. Indeed, it is now building new nuclear weapons. Given this reality, the stand of the DPRK that the U.S. meet its obligations to peacefully resolve the issue while also standing ready to repel any attack is an important contribution toward peace.

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Reparations for U.S. War Crimes in Korea

Criminal U.S. Germ and Chemical Warfare

June 25 is the day when U.S. imperialism launched its war of aggression against Korea. Though half a century has passed, the U.S. refuses to apologize and pay reparations for its brutal crimes of biochemical warfare against the peaceable inhabitants and cities of Korea, in gross violation of international law. The Korean War itself (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953) was a crime of aggression, launched on the pretext of a “threat” from the Koreans, much like the current war against Iraq.

In autumn of 1950, the U.S. Headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff developed a plan to extensively use chemical and biological weapons. The U.S. imperialists used more than 20 kinds of germ weapons during the war. They especially targeted the northern half of Korea for germ and chemical warfare. According to the plan, the U.S. used germ weapons against civilians and cities. In the period from January to April 1952, they dropped various kinds of germ bombs in 169 areas in the northern half of Korea, 804 times. They also used various goods contaminated with poisonous insects and bacteria in more than 90 cities and counties, more than 900 times.

The U.S. also conducted human experiments using bacteria on people on their warships not far off Wonsan. In 1951 they did more than 3,000 experiments on Koreans using these germ weapons. Another U.S. crime was use of chemical weapons, a weapon of mass destruction. From February 1951 to July 1953 many chemical weapons were used in 24 cities and counties of the northern half of Korea including Kangwon and Hwanghae provinces and on battlefields. In particular, the U.S. released more than 15 million napalm bombs on military positions on the front and peaceful cities and farming and fishing villages in the rear.

The U.S. perpetrated massive bio-chemical warfare unprecedented in the history of war at that time, and still they could not defeat the Korean people. In addition to their illegal and brutal chemical and biological warfare, the U.S. dropped more than 428,000 bombs to raze factories, enterprises, educational, cultural and health institutions and houses in Pyongyang. The city was virtually razed to the ground.

In the beginning of the war alone 22,600 civilians in 11 cities and counties including Suwon and Chungju, were slaughtered. When U.S. troops landed in Inchon on September 16, 1950, they massacred some 1,300 citizens. For three days from September 28, they arrested at least 75,000 patriots and civilians, then killed more than 38,800 of them. The U.S. imperialists slaughtered more than a million civilians from the summer of 1950 to the summer of 1951. For more than 50 days occupying Sinchon County in the northern half of Korea (October 1950), the U.S. mercilessly massacred some 35,000 people, one fourth of its population.

Despite its illegal and aggressive war, massive bombings, brutal massacres and chemical and biological warfare, it is the Korean people who prevailed at that time and now today. It is the U.S., then and now, that is threatening war and must be opposed and called to account for all its war crimes in Korea today, as in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere.

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North Korea’s $25 Million and Banco Delta Asia

Another Abuse Under the USA PATRIOT Act

A little known provision in the USA PATRIOT Act (2001) has been used by the Bush administration against north Korea to freeze $25 million dollars of its funds and to deny it access to the international banking system and to hard currency. Actions under this provision of the PATRIOT Act effectively stymied progress in disarmament talks between the U.S., north Korea, south Korea, China, Russia and Japan for over 18 months. North Korea says that only when the seized $25 million and access to the international banking system are restored is it willing to continue negotiations under the six-party-agreement concerning security and denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The little known provision of the PATRIOT Act is Section 311. It is also known as the “International Money Laundering Abatement and Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001.”[1]

The original purpose was allegedly related to the prevention, detection and prosecution of money laundering connected to the financing of terrorism. The law has rarely been used for its original purpose. Instead it has been used by the Bush administration as a means of unchecked political power against financial institutions like the Banco Delta Asia. This case has an impact on those nations or institutions that used the bank, like north Korea.

Two other sections of the PATRIOT Act currently under scrutiny, the use of the PATRIOT Act to illegally obtain personal information on U.S. citizens, and the use of a provision in the PATRIOT Act to replace U.S. Attorneys, have been identified as being used by the Bush administration for expanding and abusing Executive Power. Section 311 provides another means for sidestepping international and national legal practices and substituting an ad hoc set of processes that leave the victims with no means of due process or defense.

Section 311 has been called by its supporters “a diplomatic sledgehammer that gets results” and by its critics a provision that denies the accused “due process and presumes guilt.”

This provision gives the U.S. Treasury the ability to use an Executive Branch administrative procedure rather than a legal proceeding as a way to accuse a financial institution that is part of another nation’s regulatory system of wrong doing, and then to find them guilty. Under this provision of the PATRIOT Act , the accused is denied knowledge of the evidence against them and is denied the right to speak in their own defense.

Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act was used against the BDA, a small bank in Macau, to freeze substantial financial assets of north Korea and also to deny north Korea access to the international banking system. [2] The case against the BDA was instituted in September 2005 just after the U.S. had signed the Six-Party Agreement. The accused under Section 311 are presumed to be guilty and the burden falls on them to prove their innocence without being able to know the evidence or charges. [3]

Invoking Section 311 against the BDA effectively sabotaged the implementation of the Six-Party agreement of September 2005 for 18 months as BDA did not have a process to challenge the Treasury Department action, nor did those whose accounts at the bank had been frozen, like north Korea. It was only after north Korea conducted a missile test in July 2006 and the test of a nuclear device in October 2006, that the Bush administration was willing to agree to negotiations over the Treasury action.

Negotiations in Berlin between the U.S. government and north Korea in January 2007 and then in Beijing in February 2007 with the U.S., South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, resulted in the six-party-agreement announced on February 13, 2007.

The difference that most analysts point to in comparing the February 13 Six-Party Agreement with the Six-Party Agreement of September 2005 is that more recent agreements includes a series of processes and a time table. The critical difference that has been overlooked, however, is that a requirement of the February 13 agreement was that the U.S. restore the funds that were frozen by the actions of the U.S. Treasury Department. Also north Korea’s access to the international financial system was to be restored.

These requirements caused “intense friction” in Washington between officials in the State Department and “officials in the Treasury Department and in the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney who were said to favor maintaining maximum pressure” on north Korea. [4] There were reports of urgent telephone calls between officials in the State Department and the Treasury. Assistant Secretary of State John Negroponte finally got a decision from the Treasury Department by March 16. The Treasury Department had ruled against the BDA. U.S. banks would not be allowed to do business with it. The U.S. government announcement said that it would be up to the Macau authorities to decide if they would unfreeze and restore some or all of north Korea’s funds.

By the weekend of March 17, a behind the scenes drama continued to unfold. China announced that it regretted the U.S. action. The owner of the Macao bank said he would go to court to attempt to challenge the decision. Getting off the plane in Beijing on Saturday to attend the next stage of Six-Party talks, Kim Kye-gwan, north Korea’s lead negotiator for the Six-Party talks, told reporters that all of the $25 million had to be returned if north Korea was to go to the next step of the Six-Party talks.

Chief U.S. Representative to the Six-Party talks Christopher Hill announced that he would explain the settlement to the Chinese and North Korean negotiators. China announced that a settlement had been reached but that the details of it could not yet be revealed. Subsequently, there was an announcement that all of the $25 million in funds would be returned to north Korea and deposited in China in an account held by the north Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank at the Bank of China in Beijing. U.S. Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser, in a press conference held with Hill, confirmed the U.S. government decision. It was unknown he said, when the funds would actually be put in the north Korean bank account.

Subsequently, diplomats who were in Beijing to continue the Six-Party talks told reporters that north Korean diplomats said the funds had to be in the bank account for them to continue with negotiations.

Critics say that this provision of the PATRIOT Act applies U.S. law to the financial institutions of other countries. In a proceeding under Section 311 of the PATRIOT Act the U.S. Treasury Department acts as accuser and judge, in international jurisdictions. Also, often the evidence used by the Treasury Department is classified and thus not available for examination by the accused so that it can not be refuted.

Though there have been many newspaper articles reporting the standoff in the Six-Party-talks caused by the dispute over the use of Section 311 against north Korea, few of the articles provide an understanding of the underlying issues involved. A commentator on BBC, for example, demonstrating a serious lack of understanding of the use of Section 311 and the abuse of power it represents said this is an example of the high price that north Korea will extract for its cooperation in the talks.

It is not without cause then, that in describing the process of the Six-Party talks Hill compared the process to a video game. He warned: “This process, not unlike a video game gets more and more difficult as you get to different levels.”[5]

Notes
1. http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/Section301.html
2. “Treasury Casts a Wide Net Under Patriot Act “ http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/kevin_g_hall/16889790.htm
3. “The U.S. government has never publicly detailed evidence behind its charges. Nor has it sought to initiate legal action, relying instead on Section 311 of the Patriot Act , which critics say extends U.S. laws to cover other countries.” “Bush Administration Plan May Unfreeze North Korean Funds” http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/kevin_g_hall/16904105.htm
4. “Administration Reconsiders Some North Korea Restrictions” http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/warren_p_strobel/16554751.htm
5. “U.S., North Korea Move to Open Ties” http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=348974&rel_ no=1

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