HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

For peace in Korea!

Michael Chant speaking

By New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity activists returned to the Marchmont Centre in central London last weekend to hear a Democratic Korean diplomat talk about the current situation on the Korean peninsula, at a joint meeting organised by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and the Friends of Korea committee.

     Chaired by NCP leader Andy Brooks, a panel of speakers including Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), Dermot Hudson from the KFA and Kim Song Gi from the London embassy of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea  (DPRK) spoke about a renewed Korean crisis following the failure of US imperialism to follow up commitments made at the 2018 summit between the US and DPRK leaders in Singapore and the follow-up summit in Vietnam earlier in the year.

Following the historic developments for peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula that took place in 2018, which showed the genuine desire of the DPRK and the Korean people to consign the hostility of the USA and the DPRK to history, the USA is still refusing to fulfil its commitments following the principle of action for action. The promise of the summits between President Trump and Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Un is therefore not being fulfilled.

At a time when the 29 NATO partners are meeting in London to attempt to revitalise this aggressive alliance, and President Trump himself will be in Britain facing the opposition of the British people, it is vitally important to support the right of the Korean people to self-determination, independence and peace. The meeting called on all Korean solidarity campaigners to strengthen the solidarity of the people’s movements in Britain with the DPRK.

Return from the land of Juche

 

By New Worker correspondent

Comrades and friends heard Korean solidarity activists talk about their recent delegation to Democratic Korea at the Lucas Arms in central London last weekend. Dermot Hudson and James Taylor were part of a three-strong Korean Friendship Association (KFA) delegation that went to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to take part in solidarity meetings last month.

 Both men spoke highly about what they saw in Democratic Korea – the immense progress that could only have been achieved through socialism and the determination of the masses who have closed ranks behind the Workers’ Party of Korea to defend the DPRK’s independence and Korean-style socialism against the threats of US imperialism and its lackeys.

A lively question and answer session was followed by a general discussion on life in the DPRK and the Juche philosophy of great leader Kim Il Sung, who led the Korean people to victory over Japanese colonialism and US imperialism in the 20^th century.

Womens’ rights in Democratic Korea

Andy Brooks and Dermot Hudson

By New Worker correspondent

Womens’ rights in Democratic Korea was the theme of a Korean Friendship Association (KFA) meeting in London last weekend. NCP leader Andy Brooks joined KFA chair, Dermot Hudson, in talking about the life of women in Juche Korea at the Chadswell Centre in central London on Saturday.

This month marks the 70^th anniversary of the passing away of Kim Jong Suk, the outstanding Korean guerrilla fighter who married great leader Kim Il Sung during the liberation war against Japanese colonialism.

The emancipation of women in the northern part of the Korean peninsula began when the people’s government was established after the defeat of Japanese imperialism in 1945. Thanks to the revolutionary work of Kim John Suk and the Juche-based socialist system women in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea enjoy real equality.

Korean solidarity in Bulgaria

By New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity activists met last weekend to take part in a Juche seminar in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. Dermot Hudson from the Juché Idea Study Group joined other European delegates for a seminar on the theme of Independence, Sovereignty and International Co-Operation which was supported by the International Institute of the Juché Idea and the Korean Association of Social Scientists.

In the western world Juché is simply described as “self-reliance” but it is much more than that. Juché elevates the philosophical principles of Marxism-Leninism as well as its economic theories and focuses on the development of each individual worker, who can only be truly free as part of the collective will of the masses.

Juché reflects the thinking of Korean communist leader Kim Il Sung, who said that working people could only become genuinely emancipated if they stood on their own two feet. The great Korean leader, who led the Korean people to victory against Japan during the Second World War, developed Korean-style socialism and the Juché idea during his life-time.

Democratic Korea’s day in London

Andy Brooks, Chris Coleman and other friends with Choe Il

 By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks and London secretary Theo Russell joined other communists, diplomats and friendship activists in celebrating the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at a lunch-time reception at the DPRK embassy in London last week.

Democratic Korean ambassador Choe Il welcomed everyone to the gathering which included Chris Coleman from the RCPB (ML) and veteran campaigner Mushtaq Lasharie, the chair of the Third World Solidarity movement,  as well as representatives from the Foreign Office and members of the Korean Friendship Association.

On 9^th September 1948 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the free northern part of the Korean peninsula that had once been part of the Japanese Empire. It’s a special day for Koreans on both sides of the divided country and amongst the overseas Korean community because on that day in 1948 the Korean people expressed their democratic will through popular power and immediately took the first steps towards building a new socialist life for the workers and peasants who had fought to free themselves from the Japanese yoke that had enslaved them for many decades.

The Korean Victory in 1953

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

By New Worker correspondent

Friends of the Korean people met in central London last weekend to celebrate the defeat of US imperialism in the Korean War that began when the USA and its lackeys attacked north Korea in June 1950. It ended with the USA beaten to a standstill on 27^th July 1953. Although the USA signed an Armistice, it still refuses to normalise relations with the people’s government in the north and the Korean peninsula remains divided, with the south still occupied by thousands of US troops.

The meeting, at the King’s Cross Neighbourhood Centre in central London, was called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and opened by KFA Chair Dermot Hudson. He praised the role of great leader Kim Il Sung, who led the Korean people to victory over the US aggressors in the Korean War.

New Communist Party (NCP) leader Andy Brooks pointed out that although Hong Kong had returned to People’s China in 1997 under the formula of ‘one country – two systems’, it was often forgotten that it was Kim Il Sung who first put forward this proposal to end the partition of Korea with the establishment of a ‘Democratic Confederal Republic of Koryo’ in 1980. But the country still remains divided by a monstrous concrete wall built by the south Korean regime in the 1970s and the south remains occupied by US imperialism.

Realistic circles at the helm of the new south Korean government want normalisation and the return of their factories in the ‘special zone’ that was closed in 2016. But that can only happen if the USA recognises the northern government and all the imperialist sanctions are lifted. US President Trump has taken some steps forward in friendly meetings with Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un, but the US leader is still unwilling or unable to deliver the necessary measures needed to end the tension on the Korean peninsula.

A member of the anti-imperialist Italian community in London spoke about the need to support the DPRK against imperialism and the need to build solidarity with Democratic Korea was taken up by many others in the audience. The meeting closed with the showing of a popular DPRK film and much needed refreshments given the very hot weather in the capital over the weekend!

Live: Trump meets Kim Jong Un at Demilitarized Zone 特朗普抵达板门店与金正恩会面

Day of Action for Korea

outside the embassy

By New Worker correspondent

London communists took part in a Day of Action for Korea last weekend, which included a picket of the new American embassy in Nine Elms and a film show in the evening at the Marchmont Centre.

NCP London Organiser Theo Russell joined the afternoon protest outside the embassy that called for an end to US imperialism’s hostile policy towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and for the USA to finally end the Korean War and sign a peace treaty with the Democratic Korean government.

The picket was called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA). and NCP leader Andy Brooks called for even greater efforts in the year to come at the KFA AGM that took place later that evening.

Raptuous welcome for President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang last Thursday

Xi Jinping meets Kim Jong Un at Pyongyang International Airport last week

Korean solidarity in Glasgow

busy at the lit stall at the meeting

By New Worker correspondent

Last Saturday saw the inaugural meeting of the Korea Friendship Association (KFA) Scotland take place in a trendy café in Glasgow’s Merchant City.

The packed and youthful meeting was kicked off by Mitchell Wells, the KFA’s Zone Director for Scotland.

The Chair of the KFA UK, Dermot Hudson, spoke about his recent visits to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and about the necessity to counter imperialist propaganda about the DPRK. He noted that many news agencies such as NKNews, which are quoted as objective sources by the BBC, are in fact run by former personnel from the CIA. He also warned about the ‘Liberty in North Korea’ organisation that is active in recruiting on British university campuses. He appealed to members of the audience to visit the DPRK to see the reality for themselves.

Ben Lunn, Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain’s youth wing in Glasgow, outlined the theory and practice of culture in Democratic Korea. He also provided a brief outline of Marxist thinking on the relationship between art and politics, from Plekhanov before the Bolshevik Revolution to Kim Jong Il’s extensive writings on the important role of the cinema in building socialism.

Himself a musician, Lunn paid particular attention to the wide variety of musical life in the DPRK. He was particularly impressed by the ‘youth ensembles’ in the DPRK, which give children excellent chances to participate in music making with instruments especially designed for young hands.

James Taylor then described the work of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front, which operates illegally in opposing reactionaries in the occupied south of Korea.

Mitchell Wells then gave an outline of the concept of the Juche ideology, which he described as a positive development of Marxism-Leninism, and described the present day DPRK as having one class with several strata.

Lively discussion was followed by the election of officers and plans for further meetings and activities, which will include the formation of a Juche Study Group.

The meeting concluded with the election of officers for the new branch and the award of a KFA medal to Mitchell Wells for his long service to the KFA.