By
Alex Meads
THE DEMOCRATIC People’s Republic
of Korea, under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea, has always
considered foreign relations an important policy area for the promotion of
anti-imperialism and the cultivation of friendly relations between nations. The
WPK has worked tirelessly to achieve cordial relations between all socialist
countries since the inception of the DPRK. The WPK believes that independence,
peace, and solidarity are the basic ideals of the foreign policy of the DPRK.
The
party believes that the state should establish diplomatic as well as political,
economic and cultural relations with all friendly countries, on principles of
complete equality, independence, mutual respect, non-interference in each
other’s affairs, and mutual benefit. The DPRK has long expressed solidarity
with those nations who are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the DPRK against
US Imperialism.
With
Cuba
One
such example is relations between the DPRK and Cuba. The relationship between
these two socialist countries is based on the spirit of proletarian
internationalism. Cuba established diplomatic relations with the DPRK on the
2nd of August 1960.
There
is a deep relationship between the Cuban and Korean revolutions and a
friendship between the leaders of the two revolutions as significantly Ché
Guevara and Fidel Castro have both visited the DPRK. Cuba was deeply inspired
by the example of the Korean revolution and its armed struggle. In 1968 the
World Cultural Congress in Havana adopted the document: The anti-Japanese armed struggle of the Korean People organised and waged
under the personal guidance of comrade Kim Il Sung.
Fidel
Castro was greatly inspired by the robust independence of the Korean revolution
and he said: “The influence of the Korean revolution upon the peoples in Latin
America and in other regions is beyond estimate.” Comrade Kim Il Sung recognised
the importance of the Cuban revolution as it meant a breach had been made in
the imperialist system in the western hemisphere.
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Kim Il Sung confers a decoration to Fidel in Pyongyang |
Cuba
had carried out a revolution and was building socialism in the so called
backyard of the US. Therefore a strong militant friendship developed between
Cuba and the DPRK. This militant revolutionary fraternal friendship can be seen
in the DPRK’s actions as well as its words.
In
1962 the US imperialists provoked the Caribbean crisis and because the threat
of war was imminent many foreign embassies withdrew from Cuba but comrade Kim
Il Sung instructed the DPRK Embassy staff and their families to arm themselves
and fight to the end. DPRK students studying in Cuba did likewise and the DPRK
sent military aid to Cuba. The DPRK also publicly supported the five-point
demands of Fidel Castro, which included the US withdrawal from Guantanamo.
Later in 1986 the DPRK supplied Cuba with 100,000
automatic rifles at cost price. The DPRK has also expressed anti- imperialist
socialist solidarity through words. The great leader comrade Kim Il Sung wrote
a special article for Tricontinental
magazine on the 8th October 1968 one year after the death of Ché
Guevara in battle praising his immortal revolutionary exploits. The DPRK always
marks 8th October – the day Ché died and the DPRK produces posters
and stamps of Ché. Also in Cuba today there is the Kim Il Sung Special Economic
School, which indicates that the Korean people will always stand together with
the Cuban people in the struggle against US imperialism.
Helping
Vietnam
The
DPRK has always provided both material and ideological support to oppressed
peoples fighting a war of national liberation against imperialism. One such
example is the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War the DPRK provided
substantial economic and military aid to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and
Vietnamese students received education for free in the DPRK. As a result of a
decision of the WPK in October 1966, in early 1967 the DPRK sent a fighter
squadron to North Vietnam to back up the North Vietnamese 921st and 923rd
fighter squadrons defending Hanoi.
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Kim Il Sung with Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi in 1964 |
They
stayed through 1968 and 200 pilots were reported to have served. In addition at
least two anti-aircraft artillery regiments were sent as well. The DPRK also sent
weapons, ammunition and two million sets of uniforms to their comrades in the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
But
it is not just in Asia that the DPRK has provided comradely support to friendly
nations in their struggles against imperialism. For example in October 1980,
Kim Il-sung and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe signed an agreement for an
exchange of soldiers. Following this agreement 106 North Korean soldiers
arrived in Zimbabwe to train a brigade of soldiers that became known as the
Fifth Brigade.
In
Egypt
In
Pyongyang there is museum gallery dedicated to the DPRK pilots who flew to
defend Egypt during the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973. It’s a story
well-known in the Arab world but perhaps not so well-known in the West and it
began when Egypt, then the United Arab Republic, established diplomatic
relations with the DPRK in 1963. Egypt at that time was led by President Gamal
Abdel Nasser who championed Arab unity, the Palestinian cause and the
non-aligned movement while leading his country along the path of socialist
orientation.
But Egypt was soon to suffer an immense setback. Israel
launched a surprise attack on her Arab neighbours in June 1967. Within a week
the Israelis had seized the West Bank from Jordan, Syria’s Golan Heights and
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The Suez Canal became a fortified ditch after the
ceasefire which soon erupted into static warfare known as the “War of Attrition”.
Nasser accepted a new ceasefire in 1970 believing that US imperialism and the
Zionists would abide by UN resolutions calling for a complete Israeli
withdrawal from all the occupied territories. But nothing happened. Nasser died
that year and he was succeeded by Anwar Sadat who continued the fruitless task
of seeking a peaceful settlement while, at the same time, rebuilding the
Egyptian armed forces.
Egypt relied on Soviet arms and Soviet military advisers
who applied defence in depth to deter Israeli war-planes that had regularly
bombed Cairo and the highly populated Nile Delta during the War of Attrition.
But though the Soviet Union had re-equipped the Egyptian air-force Egypt lacked
experienced pilots with combat experience.
Sadat spent 1971, what he called the “Year of Decision”,
trying to reach a settlement of the Middle East conflict but Egypt and the
other Arab states including Syria were persistently rebuffed by the Israelis
who had no intention of returning the Arab lands they seized in 1967, let alone
recognising the legitimate rights of the Palestinians they expelled and
oppressed. Egypt waited another year. But when it became clear to Sadat and the
Syrians that US imperialism had no intention of putting any pressure on the
Zionist entity and was, in fact, encouraging the Zionists in their aggression,
they resolved to counter-attack.
The plan was for a limited push over the Suez Canal by
Egyptian forces while Syria would strike back into the Golan Heights. The
Soviets had helped establish missile blocks to cover Cairo and other densely
populated areas. But Israel was armed to the teeth by the Americans and its
air-force was reckoned to be the strongest in the Middle East. The new Soviet
missiles, if fired in volleys, could hit the Israelis. But could the Egyptian
air force deal with the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom all-weather
fighter-bombers the Americans had given the Israelis? Sadat and his air-force commander Husni
Mubarak thought not, so they turned to Democratic Korea for help.
Great
leader Kim Il Sung immediately agreed to the Egyptian request. His pilots, who
all flew Soviet planes, needed combat experience and Egypt needed skilled
fighter pilots. Egypt would supply the planes from its own squadrons and the
DPRK would supply the men.
The
Korean People’s Air Force squadrons arrived in secret in 1972 disguised as
engineers and mechanics. They flew Egyptian MiGs under Egyptian air-force
colours. They brought their own air-controllers because all their commands were
in Korean and they brought their own admin workers, even their own cooks. Their
commander liaised directly with Husni Mubarak.
In October 1973 Egypt and Syria paid the Zionists back in
their own coin by launching a surprise attack that sent the Israelis reeling
from the Suez Canal and the Golan Heights. On the Arab street they say the
Korean squadron also knocked out an Israeli air-base in the occupied Sinai
peninsula on the first day of the war. Some say the Koreans downed at least two
Israeli warplanes. The operational details remain secret to this day. What is
undeniable is that over 100 Israeli warplanes were shot-down over Egypt and
Syria and that the Korean People’s Air Force squadron was in action defending
Egyptian towns and military bases throughout the three-week war and never lost
a plane.
There
can be equally no doubt that the Democratic Korean contribution was significant
in the overall effort to drive the Israelis back in October 1973. Though Sadat
would turn to US imperialism and betray the Arab cause by signing a surrender
peace at Camp David, Egyptian-DPRK relations went from strength to strength
despite American protests.
In
1981 Sadat sent six Scud missiles, supplied to Egypt but not to the DPRK by the
Soviet Union, to Democratic Korea in appreciation of the efforts of the Korean
People’s Air Force. Korean engineers took the Scuds apart and gained valuable
technical information, which helped jump start North Korea's missile
development projects.
Anwar Sadat was
assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists in 1981 and he was succeeded by Husni
Mubarak. Though the new Egyptian president remained in the American camp he refused
to break with Democratic Korea. The Americans wanted Egypt to establish
relations with the puppet regime in Seoul but Mubarak refused.
The
Egyptian leader told Kim Il Sung that he would “not to establish diplomatic
relations with south Korea as long as he (Kim Il Sung) lived”. Mubarak kept his
word only establishing relations with south Korea in 1995, a year after Kim Il
Sung died, at a time when the DPRK’s own efforts to engage the south Korean
authorities were beginning to meet a positive response.
With
the non-aligned movement
The
US and its puppet allies would have us believe that the DPRK is isolated and
without international support. But this is not true; the DPRK has cordial
relations with many countries including Indonesia. This relationship begins
during the 1960s when the struggle between imperialism and anti-imperialism
became very intense. The great leader President Kim Il Sung did all he could to
promote the struggle of the newly independent countries against imperialism for
independence.
In
April 1965 the great leader President Kim Il Sung, accompanied by comrade Kim
Jong Il paid an official visit to Indonesia in April 1965 in order to
strengthen friendship, unity and solidarity with the developing countries. The
visit was part of the celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the historic
Bandung conference which established the Non-Aligned Movement of third world
countries. Although the imperialist forces had President Sukarno removed from
power friendly relations have continued between the DPRK and Indonesia
The
DPRK also maintains friendly diplomatic ties with Malaysia. In an effort to
boost tourism between the two countries the DPRK announced that Malaysians will
not require a visa to visit the DPRK and Air Koryo has regular flights to Kuala
Lumpur. Recently, Malaysia's Bernama News Agency reported that the two
countries will enhance cooperation in information-related areas.
The
WPK has even pursued good relations with countries that many believe are firmly
within the US sphere of influence, such as Singapore. In fact Singapore and the
DPRK have extremely good relations. Many Singaporean companies have opened up
businesses in Pyongyang and Singapore is also the DPRK’s 4th biggest trade
partner.
United
action by all anti-imperialist forces
The
DPRK has good relations with those big powers who oppose the US’s aggressive
foreign policy, such as China and Russia. But the great leader President Kim Il
Sung realised that the Korean revolution could only advance if the state fought
against flunkeyism and big power chauvinism. This policy can be seen during the
Sino-Soviet split. As the ideological conflict between China and the Soviet
Union grew more aggressive Kim Il Sung emphasised: “We should establish our
self-reliance more firmly.”
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Syrian leader Hafez al Assad with Kim Il Sung |
That
was why he so extensively promoted the Chollima Campaign and also emphasised
that an independent line was necessary in building the economy and culture. It
is a testament to the Juché based foreign policy pursued by Kim Il Sung that
the DPRK maintained friendly relations with both China and the Soviet Union
during this period. Unlike other communist parties the WPK has not collapsed
into revisionism. This is because it refused to follow the ideological
positions of big powers and instead pursued an independent line based on the
harmony of the party and people. This Juché-based foreign policy is a
contributing factor why the DPRK is one of only a few workers’ states left in
the world. The WPK’s stance of pursuing an independent ideological line but
with a keen willingness to work with other anti-imperialist forces can be seen
in the non-aligned movement.
Kim
Il Sung saw it necessary for a united action by all anti-imperialist forces.
This lead to the DPRK joining the non-aligned movement in August 1975 at the
non-aligned foreign ministers conference held in Lima, Peru. The non-aligned
movement was formed by a grouping of developing countries who desired to be
free themselves from the systems of alliances, blocs and pacts which were
concocted by the imperialists during the cold war.
The
DPRK capital Pyongyang became a venue for non-aligned meetings and summits and
Kim Il Sung promoted bilateral and multilateral relations with the non-aligned
countries. Kim Il Sung stressed the necessity of making the whole world
independent and achieving unity within the ranks of the anti-imperialist forces
on a global scale. This lead to the DPRK concluding 11 treaties with
non-aligned countries such as The Central African Republic, Mozambique,
Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Togo, Angola, Libya, Ethiopia and Democratic
Yemen between 1978 and 1984.
The
DPRK also has had a proud tradition of promoting international cooperation
throughout the decades. The DPRK has helped to train agro-technicians from many
developing countries. Korean technical staff have worked in a number of African
and Asian countries at a low cost to their host nation. At Kim Il Sung’s
recommendation agricultural centres were set up in Tanzania and Guinea for
Korean and African agro-scientists to conduct joint research projects.
The WPK’s Juché based
foreign policy has meant that the DPRK is a country fully independent from the
dictates of the trans-national corporations, the IMF and the World Bank. The
DPRK is a model of total independence which is attracting the attention and
aspirations of the developing world. Songun Politics proves to those who are
fighting imperialism and colonialism that is possible to resist and win in the
struggle for independence. The work of the DPRK in promoting anti-imperialist
unity has provided a guide to those parties and movements, countries and
peoples seeking their genuine national and social liberation from neo-colonialism
and globalism.