Democratic Korea’s Line of March

1Korean solidarity campaigners held a seminar at the NCP Party Centre on 13th August to celebrate the 77th Anniversary of the Liberation of Korea on 15th August 1945. This is the contribution by Michael Chant, the Secretary of the Friends of Korea.

As Friends of Korea said in publicising this seminar, we aim to review the achievements of the DPRK in building Korean-style socialism, demonstrating the incomparable advances since the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the founding of the DPRK on September 9, 1948. The seminar underscores how liberation was an act of the Korean people themselves, which the US-led powers have sought in every way from that day to this to negate. The DPRK and the Korean people have never wavered from defending their right to be and their own path of development, striving for peace and for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
    In the long line of march, which itself has its origins in the desire of the Korean people for dignity and independence, and a future based on the development of the Korean nation, giving rise to the legendary leader of the Korean people, Kim Il Sung, and the Down With Imperialism Union, can be seen the historical perspective, not only of the Korean people, but of peoples everywhere, striving for freedom from subjugation by big powers, particularly today that of US imperialism, and from tyranny, and attain genuine independence and control of one’s own future and destiny.
    Even before the surrender of Japan, announced on 15th August 1945, and formally signed on 2nd September, the US divided Korea by force around the 38th parallel with the aim of imposing their rule over the victorious Korean people who had contributed, second to none, to the Allied victory in the Second World War. The aim was to keep the Korean people divided and to turn the south of Korea into a US military fortress in order to wage war against China and the Soviet Union. Even though today the US state is unravelling, the US still views the Korean Peninsula as a means to attempt to dominate China and establish a bridgehead between China and Russia.
    Following the Japanese surrender, the US brutally suppressed and outlawed the Korean People’s Republic that had been proclaimed by the representatives of the whole Korean people on September 6, 1945, in Seoul. The US installed the US Military Government of Korea in the south which carried out a campaign of terror against the Korean people’s resistance to US dictate and occupation. Virulent anti-communist Syngman Rhee, who had spent most of his life in the US, was installed as the first President of the so-called Republic of Korea (ROK) in July 1948. The pro-US Rhee government continued to suppress the Korean people’s widespread resistance to US military occupation through extrajudicial killings, civilian massacres, mass incarcerations and other crimes, carried out with impunity.
    At this point, let us look at the tasks which were elaborated by Kim Il Sung immediately following liberation, as we are holding this seminar to celebrate the anniversary of August 15, 1945. They illustrate that mapping out a line of march, how to advance along it, where on this line of march the people’s forces are located – all this is crucial at each stage of nation-building, establishing and building a new society, and organising the people to defend their own interests, their well-being and strive for peace. In other words, it has never been, for the Korean people and their leadership, a matter of declaring that the socialist society is superior, and all that remains is implementation. This has been the experience of the international communist movement as a whole.
    The Works of Kim Il Sung reproduce no less than 30 speeches and reports that Kim Il Sung made between August 15 and December 31, 1945, laying the foundations of the new, democratic Korea and its line of march.
    To give just a very few examples, in the talk with political workers, titled Building of New Korea and Immediate Tasks of Communists, Kim Il Sung says, among many other guidelines based on an analysis of the situation, that “we should follow the course of liquidating the survivals of Japanese imperialism and feudalism and building a genuine democratic society. This is the very way demanded by the realities of our country and desired by the masses of people”. He urges the political workers, “You should explain and propagate our policy for nation-building unremittingly among the masses,” adding, “You should do this by rousing advanced elements to activity and setting in motion various mass media including newspapers, so that they, fully aware which is the right road for Korea to follow, forge ahead vigorously along this road.” After dealing with the tasks in founding and building a “revolutionary party of the working class”, Kim Il Sung emphasises, in relation to local government bodies, “Only when genuine people’s power is established can we use it as a weapon to smash to atoms all manoeuvres of the enemy, transform society on a democratic basis and achieve the victory of the revolution.”
    He continues, “In order to frustrate all the moves of the reactionaries, ensure success in nation-building and safeguard the security of the people reliably, the power of the broad masses should be marshalled and at the same time people’s security organisations should be formed.” And, “To carry out our historic cause of nation-building successfully at present, we should firmly unite the broad sections of the people.” Kim Il Sung was making this point when “some people have not yet shaken off the influence of the vile propaganda conducted by the Japanese imperialists against communism,” as he puts it.
    In a lecture given to students of the Pyongyang Worker-Peasant Political School, titled On Progressive Democracy, Kim Il Sung points out the importance of giving Korea the right orientation in the building of a new Korea and taking the road to progressive democracy. As he says, this is “a road that holds out the promise of grandeur and progress for the fatherland and eternal prosperity for the people”. Kim Il Sung points out six characteristic features of the democracy that the Korean people aspire to, a democracy, he says, which is “fundamentally different from that of Western capitalist countries, nor is it a slavish copy of that of a socialist country”. These features of the Korean people’s democracy, he says, are that it: is characterised by independence; is characterised by coalition; guarantees the masses of people freedom and equality; aims not only at independence and sovereignty, national unity and democratic freedom but also at the building of a prosperous country; aims at revolution as one of its major characteristic features; and, aims at peace.
    Very soon, in the north of Korea, the Korean people mobilised under the leadership of Kim Il Sung and following his guidance, were able to found the DPRK in 1948. They took control of their future and began to build a modern socialist society on the basis of self-reliance. President Kim Il Sung and the Workers’ Party of Korea, founded as the Communist Party of North Korea in 1945, also provided political and practical leadership to the Korean people’s aspiration for a reunified Korea.
    However, it was following the south Korean elections of May 29, 1950, when the Syngman Rhee government suffered a major electoral setback and the forces for reunification were gaining momentum, that the US imperialists provoked and launched the Korean War on June 25, 1950, to block the independent reunification of Korea.
    It is fitting to mention that it was on July 27, 1953, that the heroic forces of the Korean People’s Army, with the profound fraternal assistance of the forces of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, achieved victory by forcing the US imperialists and their allies to come north of the 38th parallel to sign the Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting in the Fatherland Liberation War. The signing of the Armistice Agreement also signalled the first military defeat of the US following the Second World War - a humiliation which has haunted the US imperialists ever since, and for which it has yet to forgive the DPRK and the Korean people.
    It should be mentioned that the people of the DPRK this year, on the anniversary of the historic date of July 27th , held a grand celebration in Pyongyang at which respected leader Kim Jong Un delivered an important speech.
    Victory Day, he explained “is not merely a celebration day for commemorating and looking back to the chapter of resistance in the heroic era. The day serves as a valuable and significant occasion for us to judge whether we can proudly say before the embodiment and witnesses of history, who brought about the greatest victory in the harshest and grimmest annals, that our current struggle is an inheritance of the great tradition and to renew confidence and courage, passion and mettle.”
    Kim Jong Un pointed out the significance of what has been achieved since then, saying, “Our Republic has firmly safeguarded socialism and built up formidable self-defensive strategic potentials in the fierce confrontation with the United States, which spanned nearly 70 years after the war.” Referring to the achievements since the historic defeat of the US imperialists, he said these are “even greater than the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War”.
    Speaking about the present era, where the US continues colluding with hostile elements in south Korea to block the Korean people’s striving for peaceful reunification and independence, Kim Jong Un sent a “serious warning to the south Korean conservative regime and its hawks that run amuck”, who think that based on military might the entire Korean Peninsula is theirs and who “stand in the van of implementing the US hostile policy towards the DPRK”. He said that if the south Korean regime and military think about confronting the DPRK militarily and that “they can neutralise or destroy some parts of our military forces pre-emptively by resorting to some special military means and methods, they are grossly mistaken!”. Such a dangerous attempt will be stopped and the aggressive forces destroyed, he stated.
    As Kim Il Sung had stated back in 1945, “The building of an independent and sovereign democratic state is in full accord with the specific realities of Korea and the will of our people. Only by building such a state can we make our country rich, strong, enlightened and bring prosperity to our nation.”
    It is clear that this line of march elaborated by President Kim Il Sung has been traversed since liberation by the people of the DPRK for 77 years, all the while - under his leadership, under the leadership of Kim Jong Il and now under the respected leadership of Kim Jong Un and the Workers’ Party of Korea - characterising and resolving the tasks and issues of nation-building and building Korean-style socialism at each juncture. Friends of Korea can only warmly endorse the words of Kim Jong Un in his characterisation of the incomparable achievements of the present era.
    The United States, with Britain in close alliance, is flailing about, seeking to order and divide the world. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is exemplary in confronting this world crisis, and its stand of internationalism also underpins its firm stand in promoting and safeguarding peace. The DPRK is not about to submit to the nuclear blackmail of the US. For its part, the US today is only concerned about the destruction of what it cannot control. It cannot be forgotten that the United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons. This was a war crime of immense proportions. And the use of nuclear weapons was the option favoured by General MacArthur to obliterate the Korean resistance led by Kim Il Sung and to wipe out the Chinese volunteers who joined that resistance. They were not used, in part because the US military and presidency could not agree on also using nuclear weapons against China. Instead, the US carried out carpet bombing of civilians and infrastructure in Korea and used chemical and biological weapons.
    It is certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that the DPRK will continue to advance along the path of building a prosperous socialist country with the people’s rights and well-being at the centre of considerations. The future is in the hands of all the people, especially the youth, as shown by the ceremony in which the national flag of the DPRK was handed over to young people at a meeting of the youth and students with war veterans.

Salute the Heroic Korean People on 77 Years of Liberation!