Japanese and South Korean public organizations issue a joint statement in opposition to troop dispatch to Iraq

A joint statement calling for an end to the U.S.- British occupation of Iraq and opposing the dispatch of Japanese and South Korean troops to Iraq was announced on December 17 by 564 Japanese and South Korean organizations of citizens, women, scholars, and lawyers as well as political parties and trade unions.

The statement said that most Japanese and South Korean people do not see the two recent gun-assaults in Tikrit that killed two Japanese diplomats (Nov.29) and two Korean civilians and seriously injured two more Koreans (Nov. 30) as accidental.

The statement pointed out that the U.S. and British governments which launched the war of aggression against Iraq, and the Japanese and South Korean governments, which plan to dispatch their troops to Iraq in support of the invasion, must be held responsible for the tragedies that caused the deaths of Japanese and South Koreans citizens in Iraq.

The statement argued that if both Japan and South Korea dispatch troops to Iraq, they will be regarded as accomplices to the war of aggression and the occupation of Iraq and even as enemies of the Iraqis and Muslims.

With Japan moving toward becoming a military power that takes advantage of U.S. war policy, the 564 organizations declared that they will join forces to prevent such a move.

They also criticized the dispatch of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and South Korean armed forces to Iraq for contributing to a war mood in East Asia and giving the U.S. war strategy momentum. (end)