The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan today condemned the United States government for proposing tough sanctions on North Korea after the latter conducted an alleged nuclear test in its territory recently.
“The sanctions being pushed by the US before the United Nations Security Council demonstrate the sheer hypocrisy, arrogance and double-standards of the US. The country with the world’s biggest nuclear stockpile has no moral ascendancy to demand that other countries be sanctioned for alleged possession of nuclear weapons,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
Reyes said that the nuclear testing in North Korea must be understood within the historical context of hostile US-North Korea relations which involved the deaths of 4 million Koreans in the 1950’s, crippling economic sanctions against the Korean people for more than 56 years, as well as continuing threats of attacks from the US.
“The nuclear test conducted by North Korea, is the result of years of US threats and sanctions against a country that refuses to tow US economic and political impositions. Others may criticize North Korea for its internal policies, but we cannot ignore the fact that North Korea has strived to defend itself against US impositions and threats of attacks,” Reyes said.
“The nuclear test is perhaps even a matter of survival for the ever-threatened North Korea. This nuclear stand-off would not have happened were it not for US aggression in North East Asia. Therefore the US is in no position to push for sanctions that would only escalate tension in the region. For a peaceful and diplomatic solution to happen, the US must first back off,” Reyes added.
Bayan called on world leaders to exercise utmost restraint and circumspection and work for a diplomatic solution that does not include harsh sanctions on North Korea.
Bayan said that it is the US and not North Korea, which is the biggest nuclear threat in the world today. “The US has around 6500 active nuclear warheads, including intercontinental ballistic missiles as well 1,100 short-range tactical nuclear devices. The US is the only government in history which has launched two nuclear attacks,” Reyes said.
The US has encircled North Korea by a naval armada of guided-missile destroyers, bombers, fighter squadrons, nuclear weapons and around 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea.
Reyes also criticized the Arroyo administration for “blindly towing the US line being peddled before the UN Security Council.”