(Fwd by Simone Chun)
'Dear Friend,
Please help to stop the current security crisis in the Korean peninsula (http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/03/experts_tough_response_just_what_n_korea_needs) and make your voice heard by emailing the following simple appeal to:
President Obama, president@whitehouse.gov
Copy your message to:
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, president@president.go.kr
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, ecu@un.org
................
Honorable President Obama:
As you know, North Korea has responded to the annual US-ROK military exercises by withdrawing from the armistice accords of 1953 and preparing for another ballistic missile test.
With tensions in the Korean peninsula at an all-time high, it is important to note that the North Korean government’s deplorably aggressive behavior is, in terms of Korea's cultural and political heritage, an aberrational consequence of historical circumstance that can in fact be corrected. The Korean nation, during its more than its 5000 years of history, has never resorted to aggression against its neighbors, but has rather historically maintained a path of peaceful coexistence--a path to which it can return if the United States has the will to facilitate rational, concerted and patient diplomacy.
I respectfully ask that you work to reduce the tensions in the Korean peninsula by offering concrete diplomatic solutions to the current crisis, such as:
- · Fulfilling your campaign to hold a dialogue with North Korea.
- · Supporting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's diplomatic initiatives for defusing thecurrent crisis.
- · Persuading South Korea President Park Geun-Hye to fulfill her campaign pledge to shift away from her predecessor's failed hardline stance, and toward a policy of dialogue and engagement with the North.
Great nation have the foresight and courage to bring others together even in times of animosity, and to create opportunities for all nations to realize their true potential. We Koreans recall the days when America showed such courage, and exemplified a visionary leadership that inspired the world. President John F. Kennedy personified such leadership with his famous expression of solidarity with the German people at the height of the Cold War (“Ich bin ein Berliner” [“I am Berliner”]). Much like the Germans on either side of the Iron Curtain, the people of the two Koreas, while nominally enemies, share a common identity, history, and destiny. I hope that the United States can work to bring about a time when all Koreans can say as one, “I am free a citizen of Seoul, of Pyongyang, of Asia, and of the world."
With respect,
....
What belongs together will grow together.
German Chancellor Willy Brandt (1969-1974)
Simone Chun, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Government Department
Suffolk University