_ FEATURES _ Zone of peace, reunification — Korea conference demands By WILLIAM STEWART It’s possible most Canadians either have forgotten or never knew that Canada was drawn into.a war of U.S. making lasting from 1950-53. Taking advantage of the absence of the USSR from the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. pushed through a motion to send troops to Korea and, after three years of bitter war, an armistice was reached in June, 1953. It stipulated that a final peace treaty would be worked out within 45 days and that all foreign troops would be withdrawn. Today, 33 years later, the United States continues its military occupation of the south with 40,000 troops, numerous bases and more than 1,000 nuclear weapons on Korean soil. All this is done in the name of the UN and carries with it the implicit approval of Canada. Today Korea is divided by a 245-kilometer wall five meters high and three meters thick. Reagan proclaims from Seoul that south Korea is a key element in U.S. nuclear strategy and props up the discredited dictator Chun Doo Hwan against his own people. ; South Korea forms part of the three cornered al- ” liance along with the U.S. and Japan which is rapidly turning the Pacific into a U.S. forward nuclear at- tack base against the USSR. It was against this background that the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea hosted a conference of peace activists, democratic movements and com- munist parties from around the world, Sept. 6-8 in its capital, Pyongyang, under the slogan: ‘‘Make the Ko- rean Peninsula a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. For the Peaceful Reunification of Korea’. More than 250 delegates from 82 countries took part in the three-day meeting which unanimously adopted wide: Aiea | Ad LW i Thirty-three years after the armistice, the United States still maintains a formidable military force in south Korea of 40,000 troops, numerous bases and 1,000 nuclear weapons. e that military war games on the Korean peninsula be ended; e that tripartite talks be held between the DPRK, south Korea and the U.S. for the negotiation of a peace agreement to replace the afMistice agreement, and that a treaty of non-aggression be adopted be- tween north and south Korea; e as.a move. toward detente. the 24th summer forces internationally to force nuclear disarmament on imperialism, U.S. imperialism in particular. * * * A visit to the DPRK capital, Pyongyang, reminds the visitor of the tremendous people’s power un- leashed when it is harnessed to a just. national and social cause. Pyongyang is a beautiful city which is both modern and true to the culture of Korea. It is squeaky clean and boasts a Chinese restaurant street that makes similar streets in Canada look grey. And all this in a short 33 years since the country lay in ruins, its cities devastated by U.S. attacks. The DPRK builds its own ships, makes its own machine tools, fashions its own electronics, boasts modern, huge textile mills and has a thriving agriculture per- mitting self-sufficiency in food. It is today energetically training its youth to master the world of the scientific /technological revolution as it prepares to move over from extensive to intensive production. Many robots and computer technologies are already in use. This is a country building for peace. It has seen enough of war. However, if anyone contemplates attacking the DPRK, it will face a modern army with up-to-date equipment capable of defending the na- tion. ‘*‘We want peace’’, people told us again and again. ‘‘We want our country united. The U.S. scheme to permanently divide Korea will fail, Korea will be one This issue should be very much on the agenda for all democratic and peace-minded Canadians. And it will be so as the people in the south, living under the repressive U.S.-backed regime, continue to struggle zone of peace; from Korean territory; Movement). ‘a declaration embodying these seven points: e that Korea be declared a nuclear weapons free e that foreign military bases and troops be banned e that Korea not participate in any military blocs or alliances; (Korea is a member of the Non-Aligned Olympic Games in 1988 be north and south; e that the national reunification of Korea is the fundamental solution to the tensiONs presently exist- ing on the Korean peninsula. The conference at the same tim€ linked its efforts to attain this seven point plan with the efforts of peace co-Sponsored between for social justice, to put their country on the road to reunification and national reconstruction. As well, turning the Korean peninsula into a nuclear weapons free zone of peace in the Pacific is in the interests of Canada’s security and that of world peace. William Stewart, Canadian representative at the journal World Marxist Review in Prague, was the delegate of the Communist Party of Canada to the conference in Pyonyang. Joint science effort verifies testing ban Claims by the Reagan administ- ration that a comprehensive ban } on nuclear tests would be _“ynverifiable’’ have been shat- tered by an extraordinary agree- ment between scientists. Scientists representing a U.S. environmental protection group, ‘the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) signed the pact Jast May with counterparts from the Soviet Academy of Sciences. ‘It provides for teams from both sides to install seismic measuring equipment in appropriate loca- tions near the nuclear testing ranges of the two nuclear states. During July, several American geologists arrived in the area of Semipalatinsk, in eastern Kazakhstan, where they set up three monitoring stations, tri- angulating the main Soviet nu- clear proving ground. The Ameri- cans, working together with Soviet counterparts, have now begun boring deep holes into underlying bedrock, where they will install much more sensitive seismic detectors. There have been, of course, no Soviet explosions to monitor. De- spite this, the scientists have been able to gather a significant amount of geological data about the Soviet testing zone, which is of critical importance for carrying out verification of any future test ban treaty. They have also learned a tre- mendous amount about nuclear explosions, and the seismic waves they produce. Such waves radiate throughout the world at different frequencies, and can be better observed in some types of rock outcroppings. Scientists for the NRDC, who say their main goal in conducting the experiment is to ‘‘perfect seismic tech- niques”’ in order to prove that a nuclear test ban can be ade- quately verified, express great satisfaction at the results so far. Recently, for instance, their instruments recorded a nuclear explosion of about 20 kilotons yield that took place in Nevada. They were able to trace it and measure it with ample accuracy —even across 14 time zones. The scientists say that it was the 19th U.S. nuclear test since August, 1985, although the Pentagon will only admit to having conducted 16 explosions in that time. Geologist Tom Cochran, representing NRDC, Says that this demonstrates that ‘‘verification is no obstacle to a nuclear test ban, and that the United States and the Soviet Union can co-operat€ in that objective.” The Soviet decision to extend the unilateral moratofium until January 1, 1987, created jubila- tion among both Soviet and American scientists at the seismic stations in Kazakhstap- David Carel, a seisMic instru- ments technician at the Univer- sity of California, who i$ doing his second ‘‘tour’’ on th project, told Soviet reporters that the ex- tension of the testing halt sur- prised him, since he exPected that under the circumstances the USSR would be fully Justified in resuming nuclear test$- However, he said, he hoped that the work being dOne on the joint project would r¢Sult in the U.S. joining the Soviets in a mu- tual and permanent puclear test ban. Be _F.W. On site in Kazakhstan: Soviet Geologists Yevgeny Stulov and Oleg Stolyarov (left and centre) check seismographic readouts with Prof. James Brune of the University of California. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 1, 1986 e 5