The US State Department reinstated its restrictions on using National documents to enter North Korea on August 22. As many as 100,000 Asian Americans who reside in the United States are not allowed to visit their relatives in North Korea as a result of this travel restrictions. & nbsp,
Despite repeated calls from Korean-American activists to raise the severe restrictions, which was first implemented by the Donald Trump administration in 2017, it has been renewed every year since.
Joe Biden pledged to” return Asian – Americans separated from loved ones in North Korea for years” during his national campaign in 2020, but he has continued the travel restrictions every year in business. Until August 31, 2024, this prohibition will be in effect; after that, it will either be lifted or extended once more.
People divided by the travel restrictions
One of the many Korean-Americans affected by the travel ban is activist Kate Youngjoo Shim from the women’s business Korea Peace Today! Shim, who was born in Korea, immigrated to the US at the age of 15. Because of the prohibition, she is unable to visit her relatives and other close relatives in North Korea, where both sides of her household are actually from.
Shim criticized the US government for lecturing North Korea on individual freedom while separating but many Korean families.
No letting people see their home is, in my opinion, the biggest human rights violation, she said. There is no justification for not allowing people to meet their parents, children, and quick families, despite the US government’s repeated attempts to speak out against North Korea” violations of human rights.
It wasn’t always like this. During the Korean War, Shim’s mother was estranged from her eldest son, his brother. Her mother moved to the US in the 1980s at the age of 65 in an effort to increase her chances of finding and reuniting with him after years of trying to find him while she was living in South Korea. & nbsp,
Due to the political climate between the North and South at the time, the work had proven challenging for her in South Korea. Shim’s mother continued to hold out hope that she and her long-lost boy would reunite yet after years of never knowing where he was and against all odds. She even began working at a stock after relocating to the US in order to be able to bring him presents once he was located.
After 37 times, Shim’s community was able to locate her missing brother in North Korea, and her mother was eventually reunited with her child. Shim’s mother also ran into her brother that after many years of being apart. To enter her son’s wedding, she would go back to North Korea.
Shim’s grandmother passed away more than ten years ago. The travel restrictions may prevent her from visiting her own child or other community members if she were still alive nowadays.
The restrictions is a cruel manifestation of US colonial plan, and since the creation of Korean War veterans is now well into their 80s, lifting it is more urgent than ever.
Shim remarked,” My mother was one of the fortunate ones.” ” Some unfortunate people are unable to even see their loved ones. Or perhaps a mom is there with her kids. People are dying because it has been 70 times since the Armistice Agreement was signed.
Trips to North Korea were” life-changing” experiences.
Additionally, the travel ban forbids any US card holder from visiting community members in North Korea, effectively preventing any kind of cultural exchange between British citizens and Koreans living it. These discussions are crucial to dismantling the US advertising plan that uses dehumanization of North Koreans to support sanctions.
The Act Then to Prevent War and End Racism Coalition’s Gloria La Riva, an administrator, referred to her trips to the North in 1989 and 2015 as” life-changing experience.”
La Riva recalled,” I saw people and a nation that is the antithesis of the frenzied, demonizing pictures we see in the West.” ” I encountered individuals who were considerate and kind to guests.” That’s what really got to me. People offered us tickets as soon as we boarded a whole train, grinning— the best dialect of all.
She continued,” That is the real reason the US government forbids its citizens from traveling to North Korea. The US has been banning travel to Cuba for more than 60 times for the same purpose. The US fears that we will see the Asian persons as our companions, not our enemy. The travel restrictions is a defence of our right to view North Korea for ourselves”.
Close the Korean War
The acts that Washington has inflicted on Korea never be overstated. It was the US that divided Korea along the 38th Parallel in 1945 and separated millions of families, occupied the South, and dropped more than & nbsp, 600, 000 tons & nbsp, of bombs over the peninsula during the Korean War. & nbsp,
So extensive was the bombing campaign that US pilots even & nbsp, ran out of targets & nbsp, and would drop bombs into the sea to land safely. Over the course of the war, the & nbsp, US military leveled & nbsp,” nearly 90 % of major cities and villages in North Korea”, killing a staggering 20 % of its population.
On top of the murderous carpet – bombing campaign, the entire Korean War itself was punctuated by US – backed atrocities: the murder of more than & nbsp, 100, 000 people & nbsp, during the Bodo League massacre in 1950, which was committed by the government forces of US – installed president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, the Sinchon massacre in which the US military and South Korean anti – communist forces killed & nbsp, more than 30, 000 civilians, the No Gun Ri massacre where US military forces opened fire on civilian refugees, killing around & nbsp, 300 people. & nbsp,
Taken immediately, US presence in the Korean War was nothing short of murderous.
While the & nbsp, signing & nbsp, of the 1953 Armistice Agreement brought an end to the fighting, it did not bring an end to the conflict. The US refuses to sign a & nbsp, peace treaty, and it, along with the South, remains suspended in an official state of war with the North. & nbsp,
And even after the signing of the armistice, the US government maintains a heavy military presence in Korea and continues to & nbsp, ratchet up tensions & nbsp, between the North and the South. & nbsp,
South Korea remains under occupation: It’s home to the largest US overseas base, and a total of & nbsp, 28, 500 US military personnel & nbsp, are stationed in the country. & nbsp,
South Korea also hosts the annual & nbsp, Ulchi Freedom Shield & nbsp, joint military exercises with the US. These monthly training simulate the conquest of North Korea and include life – fire training attacks from the weather, land, sea and storage. The warfare games serve as a practice run for North Korea’s potential change in government. & nbsp,
In particular, since 2006, the US government and UN Security Council have used harsh punishment to chastise North Korea for rejecting US colonization. Meals insecurity, malnutrition, and medical supply shortfalls in the nation have been brought on by these andnbsp restrictions, resulting in excruciating anguish and dozens of preventable fatalities.
As part of its larger strategy to extract North Korea and exacerbate tensions between the two halves of the peninsula, the US’s travel ban is thus another weapon of war.
The Pentagon’s ultimate objective is to secure South Korea as an ally in its path toward & nbsp, major-power conflict, in Asia as a result of Washington forging stronger military ties with Australia, the Philippines, and other nations in the” Indo-Pacific” as well as militarizing the South China Sea.
Ju – Hyun Park, an administrator with the non-profit organization Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, which promotes unification of the country, said,” We’re in a period of extreme stress in Korea.” & nbsp,
Because the present situation serves US interests, the US does not want to do something to de-escalate that strain, he said. ” The more fight there is in Korea, the simpler it is to convince South Korea and Japan to form an alliance against not only North Korea but also, in the end, China and Russia.”
Washington’s course of action will simply lead to more conflict and destruction for the Asian people in North and South Korea. The Korean Peninsula’s serenity has never been of interest to the US authorities. It has exerted every effort for more than 70 years to sever ties between the North and the South, hinder all routes to lasting peace, and incite animosity among Koreans. & nbsp,
What the US government owes the Korean folks will never be paid back. However, the road to justice starts with the pulling of the travel restrictions to North Korea and the filing of a peace agreement to formally end the Korean War.
Globetrotter created this content and gave it to Asia Times.