by Lewis Randa, Director, The Peace Abbey
What follows is a letter for President Donald Trump to consider sending to Chairman of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jung-un.
Please feel free to add, edit, or delete and submit your own letter to the White House.
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness of war.
My “mind game” candle in the darkness is dedicated to Yoko Ono.
From The White House
Dear Chairman Kim Jung-un,
I am reaching out in an effort to de-escalate the hostility and aggression between our two governments. Our peoples, the millions of families, the loving parents and their children dream of a better life, both in North Korea and in North America, and are counting on us to be prudent as we seek solutions to what appears to be intractable distrust and animosity which could lead to war. Our histories reflect different paths of development and periods of conflict, yet our goals are not dissimilar. Both our nations want what is best for our country, our people, and the Earth.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out what you already know, and that is this: A nuclear confrontation would not only be catastrophic for both our nations, the blast damage would result in massive destruction and the death toll would be unimaginable. Most importantly, it would have an endless, negative impact on our planet’s ability to sustain the conditions for life.
Were either of us to preemptively launch a nuclear weapon or retaliate with one, the impact on the planet would be irreversible and condemn those who survive with the cancerous effects of millions of tons of radioactive pollutants in the atmosphere. The unprecedented infusion of contamination that would result from nuclear explosion would spread to form a stratospheric cloud layer that would block sunlight for years to come.
Extensive changes to the environment would affect our ability to sustain global food production and the massive damage to the ozone layer would allow dangerous levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface.
We must not allow this to happen.
To avoid a nuclear exchange, I wish to make official the new policy of the United States: The U.S. will not preemptively use a nuclear weapon against your nation or any sovereign state for any reason whatsoever. To do so would undermine millions of years of evolution of life on Earth.
And to demonstrate the sincerity of this commitment, I will order the end of all US – South Korean military exercises off the coast of North Korea. I will also end all flights over your country, realizing that such flights, while being aerial reconnaissance that our military deems necessary, only provokes additional fear and distrust toward the United States.
In addition, I will order the U.S. Treasury to transfer ten billion dollars in food commodities to the North Korean government as a gesture of goodwill.
In return, I would need assurances that your government will cease all future development of nuclear weaponry and testing and the launching of missiles over sovereign nations in the Pacific or elsewhere in the world. This would need to be verified by the United Nations Nuclear Weapons Inspectors. Henceforth, the United States will recognize the nuclear capability of North Korea.
This commitment offers a new start in circumventing a cataclysm that would leave the Earth uninhabitable.
Upon receipt of this letter, and your positive response, I will notify the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State of the above efforts to de-escalate the tension with Pyongyang.
May our next step be movement towards worldwide abolishment of nuclear weapons and the lifting of all sanctions on North Korea that are of a civilian nature.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Trump
