At the rally speakers noted that the authorities have worked hard to purchase weapons for preemptive attack after taking the "May 24 step" under the pretext of the "Cheonan" warship case last year.

The ministry is single-handedly holding the closed-door negotiations to purchase new type helicopters from the U.S. Boeing Company, they charged.

To block such attempt is an important struggle for defusing the tension on the Korean Peninsula and for the life of workers and peasants who are undergoing economic sufferings, they said, calling upon the people from all walks of life to turn out in this struggle.

A written protest addressed to the puppet minister of Defense was read out at the rally.