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.