Korean War Peace Talks

I have received countless phone calls from members of the Korean community in L.A. who were appalled by Leon Sigal’s Aug. 6 commentary, “Improving Security, Reducing the Risk of War.”

Regarding the July 16 shootout at the demilitarized zone, South Korean soldiers fired warning shots into the sky only after North Korean soldiers crossed into the DMZ. The North Koreans, not heeding the warning, proceeded, and shot at a South Korean guard post. Events like this prove that the South’s defense mechanism is not superfluous, but essential to our welfare.

The most preposterous of Sigal’s assertions was that the North no longer desires the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South. But at the preparatory meeting to the four-party talks, the North Korean delegation insisted, as a precondition for them to engage in the actual four-party talks, that U.S. troops must be removed from South Korea.

Sigal critiqued our readiness to engage in talks with the North. He must not remember the incident preceding the submarine infiltration, when the South Korean government sent $250 million worth of rice to North Korea as a gesture to promote trust, brotherhood and humanitarianism. Furthermore, the four-party talks were jointly proposed between President Bill Clinton and Korean President Kim Young Sam in April 1996 with the intention of formally ending the Korean War and, eventually, achieving a peaceful reunification.

CHANG KEE SUNG

Information Consul

Korean Consulate, L.A.