Pyongtaek farmers resist U.S. military base

Following are excerpts of a discussion held at the New York International Action Center with the Rev. Kyu Hyun Mun, chairperson of the Solidarity for Peace and Reunification organization in South Korea, translated by Yoomi Jeong of the Korea Truth Commission. Rev. Mun is also involved in the struggle of farmers in Pyongtaek, South Korea, against the expansion of military bases on their land. He planned to return to Seoul to participate in a hunger strike against the arrest of a leader in the struggle.

I would like to extend my deepest solidarity and gratitude to those of you who have been involved in the Korean struggle all these years.

The Pyongtaek farmers’ claim is this: They are willing to give up the farming land they have cultivated for generations if it is in the national interest. But if it is for U.S. aggression, the farmers are adamant not to give up their land.

The farmers deeply believe their struggle is not just their own, but a step toward world peace and justice, a struggle for a better livelihood for all.

These are farmers who have historically suffered at the hands of foreign interests. First the Japanese military came and forcibly took their land away from them. Then in 1945, the United States occupied Pyongtaek at the end of World War II, made the Japanese military bases their own, and expanded them, taking even more land from the Pyongtaek farmers.

The farmers had to move to new land, prime that land for agriculture and cultivate it, without government compensation or subsidies. They did this by themselves with their own hands and feet.

The farmers believe that the cultivating of food is the cultivating of life, and their own contribution to world peace. The Chinese character for “peace” depicts rice entering the mouth. The land now being forcibly taken from them — almost 320 acres, a huge amount of land—can produce six months’ worth of rice for all of Pyongtaek’s 360,000 citizens.

They are amazed at the current situation—the South Korean government, at the behest of the United States, forcibly taking land from them. Recently, the head of the farmers’ committee was arrested. My older brother is now on a hunger strike outside Cheong Wa Dae, the office of the president.

The farmers believe the Pyongtaek struggle is one for democracy, peace, justice and human rights. And we believe that the Pyongtaek farmers will prevail soon. They have one demand: renegotiation between South Korea and the United States and the South Korean farmers. The South Korean government made a deal with the United States without the consultation of the farmers. The hope is that through negotiations the United States will give up on turning Pyongtaek into another U.S. rapid-deployment site.

We appeal for your solidarity, which will strengthen our determination to struggle for justice and peace.