New Yorkers demand cancelation of U.S./South Korea military exercises

New York, NY – About 200 people gathered in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza on the beautiful Saturday afternoon, March 1, to protest the U.S./Republic of Korea (ROK) Freedom Shield exercises in Korea. Nodutdol organized the action, and it was part of a day of action where protests took place in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle to demand an end to U.S. militarization and escalation towards war.

The Freedom Shield exercises will be taking place between March 10 and March 19 in South Korea. Freedom Shield is a routine defensive training event that occurs between the U.S. and one of its allies, in this case the Republic of Korea, to strengthen its alliance with that nation. However, it also promotes war and could escalate already fraught tensions with the Democratic Republic of Korea.

The springtime U.S./ROK military exercises have been ongoing since 1976, and it wasn’t until 2023 that Biden named them the “Freedom Shield.” In the same year, tensions within the Korean region spiked.

The U.S. Out of Korea campaign is not only calling for an end to these exercises, but an end to U.S. intervention within the Korean peninsula. Nodutdol gathered over 100 U.S. organizations to endorse a statement calling on President Trump to abide by these demands.

Nodutdol organizers led a rally and protest, with a leading chant being “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air! U.S. out of everywhere!”

Speakers from various organizations, such as Bayan USA, spoke in solidarity with Nodutdol and the U.S. Out of Korea campaign.

Ket Maarte of BAYAN Northeast said, “BAYAN stands in solidarity with our Korean comrades in their demands to cancel Freedom Shield 25 and remove U.S. military out of Korean land. It is a shame that the Philippines was one out of the 12 nations to participate in the U.S./ROK exercises last year. But it is not surprising that our government is complicit in the ongoing militarism against the Korean working class. The Filipino people know all too well what it is like to have our land, sea, and people exploited for the interests of U.S. imperialism. It is imperative that we show our solidarity in the genuine liberation of the Korean and Filipino working class! Because if the U.S. falls in one, the U.S. falls in all.”

After the march, the rally ended with calls of solidarity and rousing chants.

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