London’s Day of the Sun

By New Worker correspondent

Andy Brooks speaking

Kim Il Sung was born on 15th April 1912 and his birthday has long been celebrated as the Day of the Sun by everyone who stands by the Democratic people’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The Day of the Sun is the biggest public holiday of the year in Democratic Korea and last weekend solidarity activists gathered at a hall in central London to join the Korean masses in honouring the memory of the outstanding communist leader who lead the Korean people to victory to build the modern socialist republic we have today.

Friends of the Korean revolution returned to the Marchmont Centre in Bloomsbury to celebrate the birth of great leader Kim Il Sung, the man who founded the communist movement that liberated the country from Japanese colonialism, defeated the might of US-led imperialism in the Korean War and led the drive to build the modern, socialist republic that exists today in the north of the divided peninsula.

Kim Il Sung advanced and developed Marxist philosophy throughout his long and active life – a theme taken up by a number of speakers at the meeting called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA). The KFA Chair, Dermot Hudson, spoke about the Korean people’s heroic struggle against Japanese colonialism and US imperialism, and NCP leader Andy Brooks recalled meeting Kim Il Sung in 1990 and talked about the Korean communist leader’s immense contribution to the world communist movement throughout his long life.

A message from the DPRK embassy in London pointed out that memories of famous people often fade away with the passage of time – but this is not the case with President Kim Il Sung: “In the first half of the 20th century, when Korea was a colony of Japan, he waged a long, bloody struggle to win back its national sovereignty. After the country’s liberation on 15^th August 1945, he founded the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and developed it into a genuine people’s country and independent power.

“He was a world-renowned statesman who rendered both material and moral support to third-world countries in building new society and made a great contribution to the struggles for independence including the non-aligned movement.

`”He passed away on 8^th July 1994 but his history still continues. The Juche idea authored by him and his theories are still applied by the DPRK in its building and activities; his books are read by all the citizens. His life-long motto was affection for the people and the spirit of independence.”