The increased role of the USFK threatens
the peace on the Korean peninsula.
The struggle against the expansion of the US bases at Pyongtaek Continues.

1. The USFK are an obstacle to peace on the Korean peninsula.

- The USFK are in South Korea to defend it from North Korea.
- The USFK continue to conduct military exercises, deploying nuclear weapons, aimed against North Korea. As a result, both North Korea and South Korea increase their military spending, provoking each other and endangering peace on the Korean peninsula.
- The USFK have acquired facilities and land for their bases, and receive a subsidy worth $2 billion a year, which is paid, directly and indirectly, by the South Korean government.
- The USFK enjoy immunity from South Korean law.
- The USFK obstruct the self-reliance and reunification of Korea and seek to achieve hegemony on the Korean peninsula by destroying North Korea.
- The Korean people think that the USFK are the main obstacle to peace on the Korean peninsula. They think that they can accomplish the peaceful reunification of Korea without the USFK.

2. The change in US military strategy and the USFK's increased role will cause war on the Korean peninsula.

- After the end of the Cold War, the focus of US military strategy shifted from Europe to Asia. The formula of US strategy expanded from a "win-win" strategy to the "1-4-2-1" strategy.
- In implementing the new military strategy, the US military is promoting the policy of the Global Defense Posture Review (GPR) in order to reorganize itself into rapid-deployment Stryker brigades that are armed with the most modern weapons.
- The USFK's role was increased from defense of South Korea against North Korea to control of the entire Northeast Asian and Pacific region. The expansion of the installations at Pyongtaek is intended to facilitate the encirclement of China and to convert the Korean peninsula into a base from which the US can monitor and control communications and launch military strikes throughout the Asia-Pacific area.
- The US is transferring part of the USFK's role to the South Korean military, shifting an increasing number of US advanced weapons to a system of combined use by US and South Korean forces, and further integrating the joint US-South Korean command structure. South Korea is an exclusive customer for modern US military weapons and a site for military exercises.
- Joint military exercises are increasingly taking on the appearance of attacks on North Korea. The countries of Northeast Asia compete with other in expanding their military budgets, which leads to greater regional  and political instability.
- The Korean people do not want to experience a second Korean War. However, a Korean war is possible if tension among the countries of Northeast Asia increases. No Korean mothers want their sons mobilized to support the USFK if the US attacks another country from Korean soil.

3. The expansion of the Pyongtaek US bases is destroying the security and peace of the Korean peninsula.

- Pyongtaek has an airport and harbor facilities. It offers the USFK the best facilities for launching a preemptive strike against North Korea and encircling China. Already 3734 acres have been appropriated for US bases in Pyongtaek and the USFK demand an additional 2851 acres.
- First, the Pyongtaek farmers lost land to the Japanese : second, after the Korean War they lost land to the US military: and now their land is being taken away for a third time by the USFK. This spring, seven old men died due to the deleterious effects of tension and anxiety on their health, caused by their fear that they would never regain their lost farms.
- Pyongtaek has the best farm land in Korea because the climate is ideal for agriculture, neither too wet nor too dry. Seizing the farmers' land is like depriving them of life itself.
- We struggle against the expansion of US bases at Pyongtaek in order to prevent the implementation of US military strategy, and to protect people's lives and achieve peace on the Korean peninsula.

4. Make Pyongtaek into a land of peace!

- On March 5, Pyongtaek residents and members of many civic organizations established a committee to prevent the enlargement of US bases in the area. This nationwide organization is struggling against the expansion of the Pyongtaek US bases.
- Every night for the last 12 months, rain or shine, cold or hot, the residents have held a candlelight vigil. As part of a campaign in South Korea's main cities, members of civic organizations holding demonstrations, large and small.
- Northeast Asia is the scene of the greatest international tension. Peace on the Korean peninsula will guarantee peace in Northeast Asia and make a vital contribution to achieving world peace.
- Everyone who wants peace presses the US government to stop the expansion of the Pyongtaek bases, in the same way that peace activists opposed the US Navy base at Vieques, Puerto Rico, and as they are still struggling against US bases on Okinawa.