Robert Reid | Chairperson FFPS
On March 6, the South Korean town of Pocheon was shaken by a succession of eight US-manufactured 500 lb bombs mistakenly dropped by the South Korean air force during US-led war drills, devastating the community. The bombardment left several buildings destroyed and 15 civilians injured, with 2 seriously injured.
The incident happened in the lead-up to the annual ‘freedom shield’ war exercises, in which South Korea and allied militaries under US leadership essentially rehearse an invasion and occupation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). These war games in Korea are very similar to the annual ‘Balikatan’ exercises in the Philippines. Both are exercises in which tens of thousands of US and other foreign soldiers participate as part of a massive military build-up by the US and its allies as part of war provocations against its rival China and against the DPRK.
The Pocheon bombing is a grave illustration of the human cost of these US-led war games. Both in Korea and in the Philippines the people suffer under the exercises. In the Philippines specifically, the exercises destroy the environment and cause major disruptions to the livelihood of an already over-exploited population. Peasants and fishers that depend on their daily yields from the fields and the sea are banned during the ‘Balikatan’ war games from going to their land or fishing areas, because these will be used as practice areas for live fire exercises or bombings. Thousands of fisherfolk were without income for weeks in the 2024 exercises. The massive presence of US and other troops also proliferates sexual violence, abuse and prostitution, including of children, of the local population.
These so-called war games are no ‘games’ to the Korean and Filipino masses, and to the peoples of the world. They represent US imperialism’s bottomless greed, serve as a staging ground for its war-mongering in the Asia-Pacific, and can only bring further suffering to the people. This is why hundreds of thousands of Koreans and Filipinos, both in their home countries and abroad, unite under the calls “US out of Korea”, “US out of the Philippines” and “US out of everywhere”.
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Friends of the Filipino Peoples (FFPS) is a global solidarity organization that supports the Filipino people’s struggle for genuine national liberation as outlined in the 12 point program of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).