by Nick Mele
Pax Christi Pacific Northwest
This week, people are commemorating the anniversaries of the only war time use of nuclear weapons, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Last week, a different anniversary passed almost unnoticed; July 27 was the 60th anniversary of the signing of the ceasefire agreement that marks the end of the Korean War.
Veterans groups and some commentators, including President Obama, took the opportunity to memorialize the military personnel who were wounded, taken prisoner or killed in the conflict, and to extol, rightfully, the sacrifice of those who fought so hard and long. Few remembered to mention that there is no peace on the Korean Peninsula, or to ask why tens of thousands of American and Korean troops still face each other along the Demilitarized Zone created by the armistice. In South Korea, however, a collection of non-governmental organizations are seeking a peace treaty that will truly end the conflict before it stretches into its seventh decade.
Why bother after sixty years? Here are several good reasons…