For Peace in Korea!

By New Worker correspondent

Every year the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War is marked by the start of the month of solidarity with the Korean people. Last weekend NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other comrades and friends picketing the US embassy in London to demand an end to the American occupation of south Korea and the peaceful reunification of the country that has been divided since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

The protest was called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and supported by the New Communist Party, to mark the 67th anniversary of the war that began with an attack by the Americans and their local lackeys on 25^th June 1950 that started the conflict which has still to be resolved. Democratic Korea worked for the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula along the lines first laid down by great leader Kim Il Sung in 1973 for a Confederal Republic based on the principle of “one country, two systems”.

KFA Chair Dermot Hudson took the mike to point out that the US imperialists provoked the Korean War against the young Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and massacred millions of Korean people. They used biological and chemical weapons, and carried out terrible massacres of innocent civilians. American troops continue to occupy south Korea, exploiting and oppressing the Korean people, applying sanctions against the DPRK and threatening the people’s government with nuclear annihilation.

Dermot Hudson called for the full and total withdrawal of US troops from south Korea and the conclusion of a peace treaty between the DPRK and the USA.

Working for Korean friendship

By New Worker correspondent

Kim Song Gi speaking

 

Friends and comrades met last weekend for the annual general meeting of the UK Korean Friendship Association (KFA) at the Chadswell Centre in central London that elected new officers to the committee and heard reports of work over the past year. The KFA Chair Dermot Hudson opened on the need to build solidarity with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) within the labour movement. Theo Russell from the NCP spoke about the Korean war and the shameful role of British imperialism in support of US aggression and honoured guest Kim Song Gi from the DPRK embassy spoke about the historic efforts of the DPRK for the peaceful re-unification of the Korean peninsula.

            The KFA had stepped up its activities, which included regular meetings and protest pickets over the last year, but more needs to be done in London and beyond to build solidarity with the DPRK and support the struggling people of south Korea.

A smash hit in London!

By New Worker correspondent

COMRADES and friends of Korea joined music lovers to see the Democratic Korean Youth Para Ensemble’s final performance of their tour of England with the support of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled. Their first tour wowed Londoners in 2015. They did the same last week.

The young disabled artistes of north Korea put on a splendid performance at St John’s concert hall in London’s West End last week. Much of the music was Korean folk music played on traditional Korean instruments such as the Kayagum in addition to a grand piano.

It was an incredible evening. One of the performers, a wonderful soprano, was only 14 years old; her singing was equal to that of a very experienced professional singer.

The artistic level was at such a high level. Indeed, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) every child is taught to play at least one musical instrument.

Equally impressive was the performance of Onegha, a traditional Korean song and dance. The dancers, in colourful traditional Korean garb, were just amazing.

We were treated to a beautiful rendition of the northern Irish folk song Danny Boy as well as the classic Irish-Norwegian ballad You Raised Me Up, and the dancers performed part of the story of Beauty and the Beast.

No doors are closed to disabled people in the DPRK, unlike Britain where the disabled face discrimination and ill-treatment, or south Korea where they are regarded as pitiful and weak and some are sent to work as slaves on remote islands.

The concert concluded with a moving rendition of the time-honoured and renowned Korean folk song Arirang.

Afterwards the chair of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled, who were the co-hosts of the concert, made a short speech saying how the performance can break down barriers of politics and communication.

Solidly behind Democratic Korea!

Outside the US embassy

by New Worker correspondent

Comrades joined other Korean solidarity activists in picketing the hub of American imperialism in London last week to oppose the deployment of the US THAAD missile defence system in south Korea, and to protest against US war threats and sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

            The protest, called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and supported by the New Communist Party, began outside the puppet south Korean embassy in Westminster and then moved on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square.

KFA Chair Dermot Hudson took the mike to denounce US imperialism saying: “Today the US occupies south Korea with over 30,000 troops stationed there and a thousand nuclear weapons. The south Korean people are forced to pay colonial tribute to the US in the form of upkeep expenses.

“People’s Korea is a peace loving state that does not have a single overseas base, but the US has hundreds of overseas bases and troops that form a global empire straddling across the world.”