Tensions with North Korea escalated dramatically this week. President Trump threatened “fire and fury” against North Korea, while North Korea boasted of plans to splash missiles in the waters around Guam, a U.S. territory home to more than 162,000 people.
Stop tweeting, start talking
With such dangerous rhetoric on both sides, an accident could quickly spark a disaster.
Don’t panic.
But do call your members of Congress right now to prevent war with North Korea. Don’t wait.
These cycles of escalation are incredibly dangerous. They increase the chances that anything – miscalculation or mere accident – could spark a catastrophic war between nuclear-armed states. History will not excuse leaders just because they did not intend to actually unleash war. Congress can and must exert its constitutional duty to determine whether and when the country launches a war.
There are no perfect options in this delicate situation, but there are certainly worse ones. The United States’ current tactic of threats and taunts is exactly the wrong approach. Only diplomacy and peacebuilding offer a path for something better.
In addition to the strategic importance of nonviolent action, we see a moral imperative to oppose military action against North Korea. The National Council of Churches in Korea called for “unconditional dialogue” between North and South Korea, writing: “The road to peace is a difficult one, but the harder it gets the more important it is that we keep the principle.” And, as Baltimore Yearly Meeting minuted this week: “Consistent with Friends’ historic Peace Testimony, we ‘utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end or under any pretence whatsoever.’”
War is not the answer. Call your members of Congress today.
What we’re reading:
- Wrestling With North Korea, Trump Finds Perilous Options
- Are We on the Brink of Nuclear War with North Korea? Probably Not.
- More Than 60 Members Of Congress Reject Trump Statements On North Korea
- Let’s Face It: North Korean Nuclear Weapons Can Hit the U.S.
- ‘The Daily’: What a 1999 Meeting With North Korea Tells Us About Today
