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| 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
