Happy New Year!!

Standing by the Korean people

By New Worker correspondent

Kim Song Gi speaking

 Comrades and friends returned to the Chadswell Centre in central London to mark the passing of dear leader Kim Jong Il, discuss the role of women in the Korean revolution and celebrate the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s  latest achievements in missile technology.

The meeting, called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA), was honoured by the presence of diplomats from the DPRK embassy in London. Comrade Kim Song Gi, Minister, addressed the meeting on the subject of the centenary of the birth of Kim Jong Suk, the Korean partisan who married great leader Kim Il Sung and played a leading role in the building of the people’s government after liberation in 1945.

Dermot Hudson of the KFA paid tribute to the memory of her son, Kim Jong Il, who died at his post on the 17^th December, 2011, and the achievements of Kim Jong Un, the new leader of Democratic Korea.

Theo Russell, a Politburo Member of the New Communist Party, stressed the importance of the anniversaries of the birth of Kim Jong Suk and the passing away of comrade Kim Jong Il, and called for practical solidarity with the DPRK in view of unceasing war threats from the imperialist camp.

The development of the DPRK’s nuclear deterrent is the sole guarantee of peace on the Korean peninsula given the almost daily threats of war coming from the chief war-lord in the White House.

This was followed by other contributions from the audience and a general discussion that continued over refreshments provided by the Korean and KFA comrades.

Korean friendship action in Liverpool

the Casa Club in Liverpool

By New Worker correspondent

KOREAN solidarity activists met in Liverpool last weekend to hear a report on the current situation in Korea and plan future work in the new year. 

Comrades met in the Casa Club, a community bar and venue in the heart of Liverpool’s university district, to hear Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) talk about the imperialist threat to Democratic Korea, and the Korean people’s decisive steps to deter US imperialism and its lackeys from launching another war in the Korean peninsula.

This was followed by some questions and discussion. An exhibition of Democratic Korea and KFA publications was displayed, and some KFA literature was distributed.

The Casa Club was born during the epic struggle of the Liverpool dockers who were sacked when they refused to cross a picket line in the 1990s.

The dockers’ struggle began in September 1995 and ended in a one-sided settlement in February 1998. But some of the dockers, who had been paid £130,000 for writing a drama about the dispute for Channel Four, used the money to buy a building to set up a communal hub, not-for-profit bar and an advice centre.

It is now a charitable trust that welcomes labour movement use of its rooms and facilities.

Another step for peace

---

THE New Communist Party of Britain (NCP) congratulates Democratic Korea (DPRK) on the successful test of their ballistic missile defence system this week. We salute the outstanding work of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s  scientists and workers who made this essential contribution to the DPRK’s defence possible. Strengthening the DPRK’s nuclear defence is an essential deterrent to US imperialism and its puppets that will guarantee peace throughout Asia and the rest of the world.

Donald Trump and his minions in Washington and the United Nations (UN) are predictably bleating about what the UN Secretary-General calls the “complete disregard for the united view of the international community”. But the bogus theory that only the imperialist powers have the right to possess nuclear weapons is only upheld by the imperialists themselves and those who seek to curry favour with them.

In any case, no-one cares much about the UN these days, least of all the imperialists themselves who only pay lip service to UN institutions when it serves their interests. When the Americans can use it to rubber-stamp their aggression the world organisation is supported. When it is no longer of any further use to them it is ignored and discarded.

Whilst the DPRK threatens no-one US imperialism poses the greatest danger to world peace. The US National Missile Defence system has triggered another global arms race. The tearing up of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty has undermined every other international agreement on nuclear weapons. At the same time the imperialists are trying to use part of the non-proliferation treaty as an instrument to bully and threaten any country attempting to develop an independent nuclear industry.

The treaty defines “nuclear-weapon states” as those that have built and tested nuclear weapons before 1st January 1967; these are the USA, Russia, Britain, France and People’s China.

Four UN members have refused to sign the non-proliferation treaty. India and Pakistan have openly tested their own nuclear weapons with the covert blessing of the imperialist powers. Israel likes to pose as a covert nuclear power by refusing to confirm or deny possessing atomic weapons and denying international inspection of its nuclear plant in Dimona, whilst South Sudan, which only became independent in 2011, is far too poor to develop its own nuclear industry.

The non-proliferation treaty, which was signed in 1968 to halt nuclear proliferation, also committed the signatories to work towards universal nuclear disarmament. None of them have done so. Because the non-proliferation agreement has still to be implemented by the imperialist camp, every sovereign state has the legitimate right to develop its nuclear industry.

Democratic Korea, People’s China and India have, nevertheless, pledged never to be the first to use nuclear weapons. None of the imperialist powers will give a similar guarantee.

The DPRK had no choice but to develop its nuclear energy programme and its own independent nuclear deterrent. Its enemies are close at hand. The DPRK threatens no one. But US imperialism wants to perpetuate the division of Korea and ultimately to extinguish socialism on the Korean peninsula. US nuclear-armed warships are stationed off the Korean coast and American anti-ballistic missile systems and thousands of US troops are stationed in the occupied south of Korea and Japan.

The struggling peoples of the world have learnt the lessons of Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya, who were powerless to resist the might of US-led imperialism, whilst genuine communists have been heartened by the determined steps taken by the people’s government in north Korea to defend the sovereignty of the DPRK in the face of increasing threats of war from the US imperialists and their lackeys.

The truth about Korea in Stoke

Shaun Pickford at the lit table

By New Worker correspondent

The Staffordshire branch of the UK Korean Friendship Association (KFA) held a successful meeting on the Korean crisis in a Stoke-on-Trent hotel last weekend. Chaired by Shaun Pickford from the local branch, the meeting heard a report from national KFA chair Dermot Hudson on the reality of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), which he said was “the most demonised and abused country on earth, with lies about the country being produced on an industrial scale…the DPRK is a stable and harmonious unified society based on single hearted unity so there is no terrorism and no riots.”

“It is time to take a real stand and defend People's Korea from the threat of US aggression,” Dermot said in his opening – a theme taken up during the discussion that followed. Shaun Pickford made the closing address, saying that this had been the first meeting of Staffordshire KFA. It had been a success and the local branch would be working for more meetings like this in the new year.