US embassy refuses to accept nuclear brinkmanship letter

Britain Yearly Meeting was represented in a group that wrote to the US embassy

The US Embassy has declined to accept a letter from a delegation of journalists, writers and peace activists which calls on the United States government to stop its nuclear brinkmanship in the crisis with North Korea.

Helen Drewery, Britain Yearly Meeting’s head of worship and witness, joined a delegation of journalists, writers, playwrights and peace activists who visited the US embassy on 11 August to attempt to deliver the letter to the US ambassador to Britain. The letter calls on the US government to do everything within its power to de-escalate the conflict with North Korea.

Helen Drewery said: ‘Quaker opposition to all war is grounded in our faith. Every human being is a child of God. Even to contemplate killing and maiming them in vast numbers should be seen as an outrage.’

The letter states: ‘We strongly urge president Trump and the US government to employ the utmost restraint and to immediately engage in diplomatic talks with the aim of defusing the current situation.

‘It is unthinkable that the threat of nuclear annihilation should be considered as acceptable. At this time people around the world are remembering the effects of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. We are reminded of the death, pain and suffering that occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and are determined that people should not have to suffer like that again.

‘Negotiation and talks to increase understanding between the US and North Korea and to ease the tension must be the way forward. May we humbly remind you that in 2010 a cross-party group of parliamentarians from Japan and South Korea proposed the negotiation of a North East Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone as a solution to the growing nuclear threat from North Korea. This remains a sensible and productive way forward, especially in light of the recent agreement by 120 nations in the United Nations to recognise that nuclear weapons, and threats of their use, are unacceptable and should be made illegal.’

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