Trump's Korea Threat

The New York Times is reporting: "Fearing Korean Nuclear War, Women of 40 Nations Urge Trump to Seek Peace."

NAMHEE LEE, namheeleeucla [at] gmail.com
SUZY KIM, suzykim [at] rci.rutgers.edu
CHRISTINE AHN, christineahn [at] mac.com
Lee, Kim and Ahn are among the signers of the statement, released by the group WomanCrossDMZ, which was founded by Ahn. Lee is professor of Asian languages and cultures at UCLA and author of The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea. Kim is associate professor of Korean history at Rutgers University.

The letter calls on Trump to: "Negotiate a freeze of North Korea's nuclear and long-range ballistic program in exchange for a U.S. security guarantee that would include suspending U.S.-South Korea military exercises."

The letter states: "Since 1950, the Korean peninsula has been threatened with nuclear weapons, missile tests, and military exercises that have only served to make 75 million Korean people less secure. In the United States and on both sides of the Korean De-Militarized Zone, the absence of a binding peace accord fuels fear and economic deprivation caused by diverting public resources in preparation for war, including deploying the controversial THAAD missile defense system in South Korea. This endless militarization must stop." See from Reuters: "

TIM SHORROCK, [currently in South Korea] timshorrock [at] gmail.com, @timothys
Shorrock recently wrote the piece "In South Korea, War Hysteria Is Seen as an American Problem: The big issue here is the May 9 presidential election, which is expected to bring a progressive to power" for The Nation.

Fox News reports: "Full Senate heads to rare classified meeting at the White House on North Korea."

FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle [at] illinois.edu
Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He said today: "This is a dangerous situation because what Trump could be doing here is to lay some bogus Constitutional predicate for war against DPRK [North Korea], claiming that he's consulting Congress. In fact, Trump has no authorization for war against DPRK. There was never a Declaration of War by Congress against DPRK. He is currently in violation of the War Powers Resolution Section 2(c) since he is putting U.S. armed forces 'into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances.' He would also be violating the United Nations Charter because the Security Council has not authorized the use of military force to deal with the current situation."