The truth about Korea in north Wales

By Ray Jones

Dermot speaking

About 20 people gathered on a cold evening last week in St John’s Methodist Hall in Llandudno to hear what was happening in Korea. At the invitation of Conwy Peace Group, Dermot Hudson from the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and Lindis Percy from the Campaign for Accountability of US Bases, both of whom have recent experience of Korea, reported to the meeting.

Dermot set the scene with a brief history of the country and its division into two states following the war caused by the USA.

The north became a socialist state, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), whilst south Korea became an occupied puppet of the USA led by a fascist government. The south became the darling of the West and the north the most slandered state in the world.

The DPRK became the most independent country in the world, not in the grip of any great power, with a fine social welfare system that ensures free education and healthcare for all. South Korea became in effect a colony of the USA, with security laws which threaten seven years in jail or even death for supporting the DPRK or communism.

Dermot pointed out that the DPRK has been forced to develop nuclear weapons by the nuclear threat of US forces in the south and in the light of the history of imperialist aggression against non-nuclear states such as Iraq and Libya.

To say that the nuclear weapons of the DPRK are the problem is nonsense. For the many years before the DPRK had such weapons the USA continued its aggressive posture and did little to solve the issues.

Lindis, a veteran peace campaigner, told the meeting of the massive demonstrations for peace and the demand for reunification of Korea that she had witnessed in the south.

She described how she was roughly handled by south Korean security when she had joined in the protests outside the US embassy against the stranglehold the US military has on the south with its 83 bases around the country.

Lindis had hopes that the new moves around the Winter Olympics would lead to improvements in the relations between north and south.

There was an interesting discussion following the speakers, which had to be cut short due to time constraints. There were, of course, different points of view, but there seemed to be only one person who remained vehemently anti-DPRK and totally taken in by the imperialist propaganda!