Korea truth comes to Chicago
By Beth Semmer
Chicago
Yoomi Jeong, Deputy Secretary General of the
Korea Truth Commission, addressed over 600 people in Chicago on
the weekend of May 31 through June 1. In multiple presentations
and venues, Jeong was able to reveal the truth of both past and
present atrocities committed against the Korean people by the
U.S. military. She was also able to give Chicago peace and
justice activists an overview of U.S. foreign policy toward the
Korean peninsula and a political analysis of what is behind the
current U.S. threats against North Korea.
Her specific information about Korea was woven into the
context of the tremendous threat U.S. imperialism poses to
numerous sovereign nations around the world.
Over 50 Chicago activist organizations jointly sponsored and
built a Peace & Justice Teach-In on May 31 at a downtown
high school. The teach-in drew over 600 activists from all over
Chicago and northern Illinois. Simultaneously with the
teach-in, another 400 activists were demonstrating against 13
Klan members and the 300 police "protecting" them in Berwyn,
Ill. All in all, the weekend was an indication that the
activism of the recent period is not dead.
Jeong is originally from South Korea but had been a Chicago
activist for many years. She was invited to address the opening
plenary to give a political analysis of the current period,
using the threats against the Korean peninsula as an example of
the U.S. drive for empire. She told the crowd that an attack on
North Korea by the U.S. would be an attack on all Koreans.
Jeong also conducted a workshop at the teach-in specifically
on the Korea Truth Commission. She showed a video that
contained testimony the commission had gathered as well as
footage of a tribunal held in New York City on June 23, 2001.
She told the participants that the Korea Truth Commission is
organizing a peace delegation to Korea this summer marking the
50th anniversary of the Korean armistice. It also plans a Korea
forum at the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights in
Geneva in August of 2003.
On June 1 at the First United Methodist Church in Chicago,
Jeong addressed a group of 50. The Chicago Coalition Against
War and Racism, the Inter na tional Action Center of Chicago
and the Nicaragua Solidarity Committee sponsored this meeting.
These three organizations had been instrumental in bringing
Jeong to Chicago for the Peace and Justice Teach-In.
Pastor Thomas Kim of the church welcomed the group and
thanked all for their commitment to the truth and struggle for
peace and justice in the world. Jeong showed the BBC video
"Kill Em All," which documented the Nogun-ri massacre as well
as other civilian casualties during the Korean War. Ik Tae Kim,
who is currently the assistant public defender in Kane County,
just outside Chicago, also addressed the meeting. Ik Tae had
been imprisoned in South Korea while a student government
leader at Yonsei University. He had been an activist in the
struggle for democracy and reunification and he spoke on the
current fight against U.S. occupation in Korea.
At all three presentations, Jeong encouraged everyone to
continue to arm themselves with knowledge of the crimes of the
U.S. and to continue to join in struggle with the millions of
anti-war activists who have been in the streets opposing Bush's
invasion of Iraq.
Reprinted from the June 19, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
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