The agreement President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signed in Singapore today to take steps toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a lasting peace agreement is a hopeful first step toward reducing the possibility of war.
Now comes the hard part as the two countries work with other leaders in the region over the coming months and probably years to develop the security guarantees, economic agreements, and begin to address real concerns about human rights that have to be part of any agreement that leads to full nuclear disarmament.
Every diplomatic negotiation carries risks. We welcome the president’s decision to take a risk for peace. We urge Congress and the American people to welcome this agreement, offer sustained support for what will certainly be difficult negotiations ahead, and continue to insist that war is not an option.
We welcome the president’s decision to take a risk for peace.
We should not forget that just six months ago the two sides were throwing missiles across the sea and throwing insults across Twitter. Thanks to the bold leadership and initiative by South Korea, today’s agreement provides a starting point for diplomatic marathon that will take patience and persistence from all of the countries of the region.
We welcome in particular the president’s statement that North Korea will destroy a missile engine testing site, that the parties will work on other confidence building measures, and that the two sides will resume work to recover Korean War POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those remains already identified. This later point has been a long-standing proposal from Quakers, especially our colleagues at the American Friends Service Committee.
Diplomacy and peacebuilding may have their risks, but only they hold a chance of opening a way to a better tomorrow.
Diplomacy and peacebuilding may have their risks, but only they hold a chance of opening a way to a better tomorrow.
Evidence and reason fuel this belief, not just blind faith. The world must pursue diplomacy because we have seen how the path of war always belies false pre-war promises and always produces worse than anticipated consequences. Our nation must match the diplomatic efforts of our ally for the fundamental reason that the choice of war on the Korean Peninsula would bring far greater death and devastation, and would last far longer, than whatever scenario one cares to imagine.
Tell Congress to Promote Diplomacy With North Korea
Ask Congress to support legislation to prevent preemptive and unconstitutional attacks on North Korea.
We at FCNL will be working with Congress and people around the country to stress three key points:
Diplomacy is a marathon not a sprint. Congress and the American people need to support sustained diplomacy that stays engaged even when diplomats hit road blocks as they inevitably will.
War is not an option. A war with North Korea would be devastating for Koreans, Japanese and Americans residing in the region and here in the United States and could lead to a larger conflict directly with China.
Congress needs to reassert its role in this process. The Constitution states that Congress has the sole authority to decide whether our nation chooses war, and the president must respect that.
Please stand up against war and for finding a diplomatic pathway forward forward by asking your member of Congress to cosponsor the No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea Act of 2017 and the Preventing Preemptive War in North Korea Act of 2017.
