North Korea angry at US policy: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ryan Dawson, a human rights activist from Nara, Japan, to discuss the impact of US military presence in the Korean Peninsula on tensions between the two Koreas.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We have seen similar tensions in the past between the two Koreas, how serious is the build-up that we are witnessing now?

Dawson: Well, this is the worst one, we’ve ever had. And I’m glad that this news reported that 80,000 troops in this mug invasion of North Korea had also like they pointed out that they’re doing these drills right next to the DMZ (the demilitarized zone). There’s no purpose or point in doing such a thing. I don’t think any country will not be on high alert if such things are happening on their border. Can you imagine 80,000 Chinese troops in Mexico practicing an invasion of Texas, how would be Americans’ react?

Press TV: How much does the presence of thousands of US troops in the region contribute to tensions between the two Koreas?

Dawson: It puts North Korea on edge and I’m no supporter of North Korea or the dictatorship. They’re massive violator of human rights, but you cannot have the empire like the United States, which routinely invades countries and has murdered millions of people since World War II, involved as an ally of South Korea and put in their troops and their weaponry and their gear just south of the border of North Korea as the most aggressive military stay in the world is America. And of course that scares the North Koreans.

Press TV: And, Mr. Dawson, if the US (Washington) was to take itself out of the equation, how would it alter the current landscape between two Korea?

Dawson: Dramatically, I would love to see reunification, but it would never happen, if the Americans there. There just too much of a threat and they can’t be believed on anything they say, because American foreign policy routinely lies and looks for pretexts to start a war. This could escalate to a nuclear war. They don’t have the capacities quite yet, but you noticed that North Korea is threatening the United States in their threat. You’re saying they’re trying to get a weapon that can hit the United States, because they clearly see who the aggressor will be.

The America killed millions of the North Koreans in the Korean conflict before. They bombed everything with the roof. About 30 percent of the buildings in North Korea were burned or destroyed before the Korean war ended last time. And so, they still feel that, they still think of it in those terms and they’re very angry of the United States and very threatened by the United States much more threatened by South Korea. In South Korea there are the same people, they have the same language, there’s a process there that could go forward, if you got the aggressive agitator out of the equation.

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