By New Worker correspondent
FRIENDS of Korea met in London last weekend to
pay tribute to the memory of dear leader Kim Jong Il, the leader of the
Workers’ Party of Korea who died on 17th December 2011.
Though a solemn occasion it was also a
celebration of the achievements of Kim Jong Il and the people of Democratic
Korea under his leadership. And this was vividly shown in the north Korean film
screened at the meeting at the Marchmont Centre in Bloomsbury
on Saturday.
The film, a documentary covering the funeral
of the Korean leader also showed how the Korean workers have turned their grief
into action to carry on the work under their new leader Kim Jong Un.
During the formal part of the meeting tributes
were paid to Kim Jong Il’s work from Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), Dermot
Hudson of the Juché Idea Study Group and NCP leader Andy Brooks and a message
was read out from John McLeod of the Socialist Labour Party, who unfortunately
could not come in person.
The
meeting was organised by the Co-ordinating Committee of the Friends of Korea,
which brings together all the major movements active in Korean friendship work
in Britain
today. It is chaired by Andy Brooks and
the secretary is Michael Chant.
The 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.
Meetings are open to all friends of the Korean
revolution and the committee organises events throughout the year in London, which are listed
by the supporting movements and on the Friends of Korea blog.
the meeting agreed unanimously to send the following message:
Co-ordinating Committee of Friends of Korea
c/o 170 Wandsworth Road, London SW8 2LA.
December 8, 2012 (Juche 101)
The Dear Respected Marshal
Kim Jong Un,
First Secretary of the
Workers' Party of Korea,
First Chairman of the DPRK
National Defence Commission,
Supreme Commander of the
Korean People's Army
Dear Comrade Kim Jong Un
This
meeting convened by the Committee in Britain to Commemorate the Passing of Kim
Jong Il sends its deepest respects to you personally and through you to the
Workers’ Party of Korea and the entire Korean people on the occasion of the
first anniversary of the passing away of Comrade Kim Jong Il on December 17,
2011.
We
express the sentiment of progressive opinion to stand as one in friendship and
solidarity with the Korean people. Above all, we take it as our duty to defend
the right of the Korean people to follow their own chosen nation-building 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.
The
common cause of the people is that of the defence of independence and
sovereignty of peoples and nations, and our common conviction is that humanity
will achieve a world where the people are the masters of their own destiny. This
is what Comrade Kim Jong Il devoted his entire life to until his last breath,
and we have the utmost confidence that this is the path of leadership that you
yourself have unswervingly taken up. The legacy of Comrades Kim Jong Il and Kim
Il Sung in bringing into being a world without war and where the people face a
bright future will forever remain undimmed.
May
we wish you on this occasion good health and long life, and assure you that we
stand shoulder to shoulder with you in building a new world of peace,
independence and socialism.
Michael Chant (Secretary)
On behalf of The Participating Organisations of
Friends of Korea
