Solidarity with the land of Juché

Andy Brooks leads the NCP side in talks with Choe Thae Bok of the WPK

by New Worker correspondent

NEW COMMUNIST Party of Britain comrades joined millions of Koreans in Pyongyang this month to celebrate the centenary of the birth of great leader Kim Il Sung and take part in the World Congress of the Juché Idea that opened in the Democratic Korean capital on 12^th April.

NCP leader Andy Brooks, together with Peter Hendy and Theo Russell from the Central Committee, held talks with Choe Thae Bok, member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), and took part in other events and ceremonies throughout the week.

These included the great military parade in the heart of the capital that was addressed by Kim Jong Un, First Secretary of the WPK and supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and a grand firework display along the Taedong river held on 15^th April, the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the eternal president of the DPRK.

Speaking to the people at the military parade Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Un saluted the historic contribution of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to the DPRK’s development and he called upon the whole nation to stick to the path blazed by his predecessors and strive to win new victories.

The World Congress of the Juché Idea was attended by the delegations and delegates from 65 countries including the NCP and a delegation of the British Association for the Study of Songun Policy led by Chair Dermot Hudson.

The discussion over the two-day congress at the People’s Palace of Culture was opened Vishwanath, the director-general of the International Institute of the Juché Idea, and Kim Yong Nam, the President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK. This was followed by contributions from academics and progressives from all over the world on different aspects of Juché, the ideology of independence, anti-imperialism and socialism developed by Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, which is the guiding light of the Korean communist movement.

• Return to the land of Juche Korea
• World Congress of the Juche Idea posters 
• World Congress of the Juche Idea KCNA report 
• World Congress of the Juche Idea exhibition 

Kim Il Sung: A life to remember

Myongsin Sun addresses the meeting

By New Worker Correspondent

FRIENDS of Korea met at London’s historic Marx House last Saturday to celebrate the centenary of the birth of great leader Kim Il Sung with a panel of speakers who have all visited Democratic Korea over the years.

 Kim Il Sung founded the communist movement that liberated the country from Japanese colonialism, defeated the might of US-led imperialism in the Korean War and led the drive to build the modern, socialist republic that exists today in the north of the divided peninsula.

Kim Il Sung advanced and developed Marxist philosophy throughout his long and active life – a theme taken up by the panel, which included Michael Chant of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), Dr Hugh Goodacre, John McCleod of the Socialist Labour Party, Dermot Hudson from the UK Korean Friendship Association and Myongsin Mun from the embassy of the DPR Korea in London.

Working people will be marking the centenary with celebrations throughout Korea and across the world said Friends of Korea chair Andy Brooks, welcoming the cultural programme that followed, which included a short film from Democratic Korea and Korean music. Hugh Goodacre and Myongsin Mun both gave rousing renditions of the Song of General Kim Il Sung while the young daughter of a DPRK diplomat delivered a piano rendition of the classic song written just after liberation in 1946.

Others performed more modern Korean pieces finally ending with a spirited rendition of James Connolly’s We only want the Earth led by contemporary composer Hugh Shrapnel.

 The Friends of Korea committee consists of the New Communist Party of Britain, Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (ML), Socialist Labour Party, European Regional Society for the Study of the Juché Idea and the UK Korean Friendship Association. The committee organises friendship meetings throughout the year in London, which are publicised by the supporting movements and on the Friends of Korea blog. 

 the following message was unanimously adopted by the meeting

To the Supreme Leader of the Korean People,

Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un

Dear Comrade Kim Jong Un

On the occasion of this memorial meeting and concert held to celebrate the Day of the Sun, Juche 101, the Centenary of President Kim Il Sung, on behalf of the progressive forces in Britain we salute you, and offer our most heartfelt congratulations to you and the entire Korean people.

It becomes ever clearer with the passing of time how immense and significant was the contribution of President Kim Il Sung as father of socialist Korea and as a great leader of the Korean people and on the world stage. As such he is revered by the Korean people, and is cherished and respected by progressive humanity throughout the world. Comrade Kim Il Sung was a dedicated revolutionary who devoted his whole life to the people until his last breath, and welded the mass and revolutionary movements into an indivisible whole.

We express the sentiment of progressive opinion to stand as one in friendship and solidarity with the Korean people in these difficult times. Above all, we take it as our duty to defend the right of the Korean people to follow their own chosen path, free from outside interference. This is a course from which no hostile force can divert the Korean people and its leadership, and which contributes to the aspirations of peace-loving people everywhere for a new world free from imperialism, domination, subjugation, aggression and war.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with you and the Korean people in their nation-building project under your supreme leadership. Our common cause is that of the defence of independence and sovereignty of peoples and nations, and our common conviction is that humanity will achieve a people-centred world where the people are the masters of their own destiny.

 Michael Chant (Secretary)

On behalf of all the participants at the Memorial Meeting

Marx Memorial Library, Marx House, London

• Celebrating the centenary of Kim Il Sung in London (Workers Weekly)