NOV ‘07: “Korea: A History of U.S. Intervention”
Posted by Web Editor on October 20th, 2007
For more than 20 years the Olympia FOR has produced one-hour TV programs on issues related to peace, social justice, economics, the environment, and nonviolence. The Olympia FOR’s program airs on Thurston Community Television (TCTV), channel 22 for Thurston County’s cable TV subscribers. Each program airs every Monday at 1:30 p.m. and every Thursday at 9:00 p.m. for a full month. This creates many opportunities to watch each program.
Ever since the first U.S. gunboat sailed into Pusan harbor in 1853, the U.S. has been pushing Korea around. Our government has:
- Forced Korea into harmful economic arrangements
- Threatened and carried out military violence
- Played power politics with China, Japan, Russia, and others to Korea’s disadvantage
- Stifled Korea’s homegrown democracy
- Dictated a division at the 38th parallel and pitted South against North
- Conducted a disastrous war that hurt Koreans on both side
- Armed dictators and suppressed human rights
- Pushed farmers off the land to make room for more U.S. military bases
- Repeatedly humiliated both North and South, and
- Threatened nuclear war
Larry Kerschner, a Vietnam veteran who is very active in both Lewis County’s FOR and our local Veterans for Peace group, has become a local expert on Korea. He went there with a Veterans for Peace delegation and has followed up by developing a powerfully informative narrative that lays out the historical sweep of U.S.-Korean relations. He will share his fascinating information on the Olympia FOR’s November TCTV program.