Yoon not welcome here!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined Korean solidarity campaigners protesting outside the south Korean embassy in London on Tuesday. Called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) the picketers were protesting at the presence of puppet south Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol who landed in Britain on Monday for talks with the British government.
    Addressing the picket  KFA Chairman Dermot Hudson said “Yoon is a cringeworthy puppet of the US who even sang the song American Pie  to the senile US President  'Sleepy Joe' Biden!
“South Korea itself is not a real country but a puppet regime created by US bayonets in 1945 .Since the 1940s south Korea has been ruled by successive fascist dictators such as Syngham Rhee , Park Chung Hee , Chun Do Hwan and now Yoon Suk Yeol. Many massacres were carried out such as the Jeju Island massacre (1948) which saw the deaths of 70,000 or 80,000 , the Bodo League massacre 1950  in which 200,000 people were killed and the Kwangju massacre of 1980 which saw 5,000 people slaughtered.
“Today , south Korea has the longest working hours in the world and and one of the highest suicide rates . This is the grim reality of the so-called 'human rights paradise' praised by the Western mainstream media”.

Defend Democratic Korea!

by New Worker correspondent

Despite bad weather the Korean Friendship Association (KFA UK) picketed the BBC HQ  last weekend. London comrades and Korean solidarity campaigned protested at the ongoing bias of the BBC outside the heavily guarded Broadcasting House in central London.
Dermot Hudson , the KFA Chair denounced the BBC for making a programme in connivance with the south Korean ‘Daily NK’ far-right website pointing out that  "If the BBC were right about the DPRK by now everyone in the DPRK would have starved to death in the DPRK not once but several times over!
“The BBC does not have reporters inside the DPRK . In fact the borders of the DPRK were closed in January 2020 . So the BBC has no access to people in the DPRK".
Dermot Hudson also said that the DPRK has free health-care , free education and free housing but abolished taxation. He also pointed out that the DPRK is an anti-imperialist socialist country that is on the side of the people of the third world.

The Korean war: the first defeat for American imperialism

 

A contribution to the Friends of Korea committee seminar held at the NCP Centre in July to commemorate the victory of the Korean people over US imperialism and its lackeys. 

by Dermot Hudson

July 27th  1953 was the day when the US imperialists finally admitted they could not militarily defeat the DPRK and signed the Korean Armistice Agreement which actually contained a clause stipulating the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the Korean peninsula. But the US reneged on this later. 
Mark Clark the commander of US forces in the war wrote “in carrying out the instructions of my government, I gained the unenviable distinction of being the first United States commander in history to sign an armistice without victory.” and US General Bradley admitted that it was  “the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy”. These were the confessions of US commanders that they were defeated in the Fatherland Liberation War.
The Fatherland Liberation War, known as the Korean war in the West, is sometimes referred to as the “Unknown War “. This is because the US was defeated and they wanted to cover up their defeat and also cover up the fact they provoked the war. The right-wing, anti-communist  US military historian, Bevin Alexander, who himself had been a US army officer during the Korean war, said it was ‘the first war we lost’. Max Hastings, another right-wing historian, wrote that “many American career officers were  dismayed by the precedent Korea established: the United States had failed to fight a war to a victorious conclusion”.  
However much the US tries to dress it up or downplay it, they suffered a total military disaster in Korea. The loss suffered by the US imperialists was nearly 2.3 times greater than what they had suffered in the four years of the Pacific War during World War II. Even according to the heavily doctored and downplayed statistics of the US military, the US lost more than 15 times as many troops in the three years of the war than in nearly 20 years of the Afghan war and nine times as many in 8 years of fighting in Iraq. 
   The great leader Kim Il Sung said “In this great struggle our people fought determinedly as one in mind under the correct leadership of the party and government and thereby withstood the harsh trials of war honourably and won a historic victory inflicting an ignominious defeat on US imperialism and its running dogs”.               
Some people attribute the Korean people’s victory to the internationalist assistance that was given to the DPRK from the People’s Republic of China and the former USSR believing that only big countries can make a difference or only big countries can solve problems. Of course, it needs to be stated that in fact, it was not just the big socialist countries that helped the DPRK but all the socialist countries. There was also a powerful solidarity movement with the DPRK waged in many countries including even the US. In fact, Italian-American congressman Vito Marcantonio, the sole member of the American Labour Party in Congress, voted against the war in the US Congress. In the UK the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Daily Worker opposed the war, as did some Labour MPs to their credit, like the famous Welsh MP S O Davies and Barking MP Tom Driberg.  But the so-called left Labour MP Michael Foot supported it. 
In the oppressed colonial countries, the revolutionary peoples intensified their anti-imperialist struggles. In particular, the revolutionary forces of Malaya and Thailand stepped up their armed struggle. However, the best internationalist aid and assistance have no effect unless the revolutionary forces of a given country unite and wage a powerful struggle. History knows many examples of revolutions that were given unstinting assistance but came to nothing because the internal revolutionary forces were not strong enough and the quality of leadership was lacking.
As Kim Il Sung pointed out  “Even small countries can defeat big enemy, once they establish Juche, unite the masses of the people and valiantly rise in battle despite sacrifice. This is a very plain truth of our times which has been borne out by actual life."
    During the Fatherland Liberation War, the Korean people fought in the spirit of self-reliance. During the first stage of the war the Korean People’s Army under the command of Kim Il Sung and entirely on its own liberated Seoul, the south Korean puppet capital on the third day of the war. The forces of the heroic KPA defeated the so-called "Invincible US 24th Division" on the 20th July 1950 at Taejon and took its commander General Dean prisoner. Dean was the first US general to be captured by an opposing side. Dean’s general’s pips and boots can be seen in the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang where you can also see a wonderful diorama of the battle of the Battle of Taejon. Within six weeks the KPA had liberated 90 per cent of the territory of south Korea and 92 per cent of the population. A truly amazing feat.
The US imperialists and reactionaries had made a big miscalculation and greatly underestimated the DPRK, the Korean People’s Army(KPA)  and the Juche-based military tactics of the Korean communist leader, Kim Il Sung, who accumulated vast and unrivalled experience in the 15-year-long anti-Japanese armed struggle.
    Kim Il Sung employed unique Juche-based tactics during the Fatherland Liberation War. Based on the Juche idea that people are the masters, he attached importance to the decisive role of people rather than weapons during the war. Basically, he believed that the outcome of war is simply not decided by weapons but by those who hold those weapons.
Kim Il Sung initiated an immediate counter-attack on the aggressors when they provoked the war on the morning of the 25th June 1950. He called a cabinet meeting where he made a speech titled  Let Us Wipe Out the Invaders by a Decisive Counter-Offensive and ordered the Korean People’s Army over to an immediate counter-offensive. Thus the KPA went over to an immediate counter-offensive pushing the south Korean puppets back. This was something unprecedented in the history of warfare! 
During the Second World War, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France all fell to the invasion of Nazi Germany, seemingly powerless to resist let alone organise a counter-offensive. Even the Soviet Union in June 1941 was not able to go over to a counter-offensive immediately. By launching a counter-offensive quickly Kim Il Sung snatched away the advantage of surprise from the south Korean puppets and US imperialists.
The KPA under the command of Kim Il Sung also created other original tactics such as tunnel warfare. The DPRK later sent tunnelling advisors to Vietnam during their war against American aggression. An article by overseas Korean writer Han Ho Suk wrote that  “North Korea's expertise in digging tunnels for warfare was demonstrated during the Vietnam War. North Korea sent about 100 tunnel warfare experts to Vietnam to help dig the 250 km tunnels for the North Vietnamese and Viet Gong troops in South Vietnam. The tunnels were instrumental in the Vietnamese victory”. Also, there was the original idea of opening a second front behind enemy lines, the creation of aircraft hunting and tank hunting teams and guerrilla warfare.
Revolutionary peoples of the world praised the DPRK’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War. The Organisation of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America said “Under the superb leadership of Marshal Kim Il Sung and the People’s Army and the people of Korea who inherited the traditions of the glorious anti-Japanese armed struggle fought heroically and defeated US imperialism in defence of the liberty of the fatherland and the gains of the revolution, thereby making a great contribution to the anti-imperialist national liberation struggle of the peoples throughout the world and the struggle for peace in Asia and the world.” 
A Cuban Minister stated, “The firm position and confidence of the Korean people and their valour offer a model for the peoples of Vietnam, Cuba, the Congo and other countries of the world”.
Gaston Soumialot President of the supreme council of the Revolution of the Congo also wrote in 1968 "Marshal Kim Il Sung is widely known to the whole world as a gifted military strategist...The US imperialist aggressors who had been bragging about their so-called 'mightiness' in Korea scored a failure in Korea for the first time in their 114 wars of aggression”. And Field Marshal Costa Gomes, who had been president of Portugal after the 1974 ‘carnation revolution’ that ended the dictatorship, said that Kim Il Sung had thwarted all the plans that had been worked out by the US general and military policy makers.
During the Fatherland Liberation War the mask of ‘civilisation ‘ and ‘humanity‘ was torn off the US and there were exposed as mass murderers and aggressors who even used biological and chemical weapons against the Korean people. The Korean war showed that there can be no ‘peaceful co-existence between imperialism and socialism and that there must be an uncompromising struggle against imperialism.
Although the guns fell silent on the 27th July 1953, there was never a permanent or binding peace treaty and the US still has troops in south Korea and has dispatched a nuclear submarine to south Korea. If the US provokes a war the US will suffer a second and a third ‘July 27’ and the Korean people led by respected Kim Jong Un will win and reunify the country!
Glory to the Korean people and the KPA on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialists!

KIM AND PUTIN MEET IN RUSSIA

 by New Worker correspondent

Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Un held top-level talks with Vladimir Putin in Siberia last week. The DPR Korea leader travelled by train to meet Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome in the Russian Far East after touring rocket assembly and launch facilities at the spaceport. This is Kim’s first trip abroad in four years and his second trip to the Russia Federation. Kim last visited Russia in 2019.
At the space centre the leaders were taken on a tour of the Soyuz-2 space rocket launch facility and briefed on the progress in the assembly of a new Angara booster. They visited the installation and test facility, where one of the technical rooms was completely modernised for the assembly of the Angara rocket.
    Opened in 2016 the total area of the Vostochny (Eastern) space complex covers about 30 kilometres of land that includes a 28-metres-high launch structure, a command post, oxygen, as well as nitrogen and naphthyl technological units, and water storage tanks.
    The refuelling of launch vehicle tanks takes place from stationary oxygen, nitrogen, kerosene, and naphthyl units. The decision to run the filling hoses underground was made for safety reasons.
The Soyuz-2 command post building can withstand the impact of falling component stages of the launch vehicle, and the facility’s massive walls and ceiling are designed to protect personnel from a potential accident.
    Though Soyuz rockets are also launched at Plesetsk in Russia’s Far North and the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan the lifting capacity of the rocket to low orbits is nine tons if the booster is launched from the Vostochny spaceport. Soyuz-2 is a family of three-stage medium-class launch vehicles, developed and produced by the Progress missile space centre based in the Russian city of Samara.
    “I’m very glad to see you,” Putin told his guest, noting that this year marks 75 years of diplomatic relations with the Kremlin as well as north Korea's 75th founding anniversary and the 70 years since the armistice that ended the Korean war.
    "Your current visit is taking place in a truly comradely and friendly atmosphere," Putin said adding that Russia and the DPRK act in the name of peace, stability and prosperity in the region.
    "Our relations were founded during Korea’s struggle for freedom in 1945, when Soviet and Korean soldiers crushed Japanese militarists shoulder to shoulder. Even today we strive to strengthen the bonds of friendship and good neighbourliness. We act for the sake of peace, stability and prosperity of our common region," Putin said.
    Kim thanked his hosts and the Russian people for their very warm welcome saying "we felt the sincerity of our Russian friends from the moment we entered Russian territory,..our friendship has deep roots, and the very first priority for our country now is relations with Russia”.

    The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea believes that Russia is fighting a sacred fight for its sovereignty and security and the DPRK supports every decision Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government makes, the north Korean leader said during talks with his Russian counterpart.
"Now, Russia is fighting a sacred fight to protect its state sovereignty and security while combating hegemonic forces that oppose Russia,..we want to further develop ties [with Russia] Kim said adding that Democratic Korea would always be together with Russia in the fight against "imperialism”.
    When asked about cooperation with Democratic Korea in space, Vladimir Putin said that this is the very reason why they came to the Vostochny Cosmodrome. "The north Korean leadership is interested in rocket construction, they are also trying to develop space technologies," Putin said though there was “no particular hurry” to discuss these issues.
    Earlier Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the two leaders would discuss bilateral cooperation and "sensitive" issues, which he stressed "should not become the subject of any public disclosure or announcement".

Stepping stones to socialism

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

by New Worker correspondent

Friends of Korea met in London last weekend to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 2nd September 1948. NCP leader Andy Brooks and Michael Chant from the RCPB (ML) were there along with other veteran campaigners and supporters of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) event at the Marchmont Centre in Bloomsbury on Saturday.
Opening the meeting KFA UK Chair Dermot Hudson said that “from the first day of its foundation, the DPRK has advanced along the road of Juche, the road of self-reliance, independence and socialism. Juche Korea was not a copy of another country but a unique and original state”.
DPRK diplomat Kim Song Gi  brought greetings from DPRK’s London embassy and told the audience that under the leadership of  Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il the DPRK travelled the road of struggle, never giving up even though the moves of the hostile forces continue to this day. And today, led by Kim Jong Un, the Korean people march confidently into the future. 
Other speakers included Jef Bossyut of the Belgium KFA and Jeremy Bieringer (KFA Germany) while  Alejandro Cao De Benos joined us live on video link from Spain. The fact that the DPRK has withstood the test of time, disasters, sanctions and imperialist threats for 75 years, is evidence of the invincible validity of its system and the full support of the korean people in its future”. Alejandro, the  international president of the Korean Friendship Association cannot travel abroad as his passport was confiscated by the Spanish authorities some seven years ago. But they haven’t, as yet,  barred him from the social media.
Christer Lundgren, the Chair of the Swedish-Korean Friendship Association, also joined us on Zoom saying “during its 75 years of existence the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has had extremely challenging difficulties to overcome, including the fierce Fatherland Liberation War, the postwar reconstruction and industrialization, continuous war threats and extreme economic difficulties caused by the imperialists’ manoeuvres to isolate and stifle People’s Korea as well as by the collapse of some other socialist countries”.
This hybrid meeting, spanned half the world. It was a first for the KFA. It certainly won’t be the last. 

Legendary Tales of the Korean War

A Friends of Korea committee seminar was held at the NCP Centre in London last month to commemorate the victory of the Korean people over US imperialism and its lackeys. Chaired by Andy Brooks the symposium heard papers from Michael Chant and Dermot Hudson and a video link contribution from Jong Gi Kim from the DPR Korea embassy in London. This is the contribution from Jong Gi Kim. 

In 1950 the Korean War, the fiercest war since the Second World War, broke out. At that time no one ever thought that the DPR Korea, founded two years before, could defeat the United States, which had been boasting of being the “strongest” in the world having won 110 wars since its founding. Across the  world the media called the war a confrontation between the rifle and the atom bomb.
But the result of the war turned out to be the opposite. The DPRK, a small country in the East, created a miracle by defeating the multinational forces, which pounced on the country in the name of the United Nations, for the first time in the world.
After switching over to an immediate counter-offensive, the Korean People’s Army drove the enemy to the end of south Korea within a little over a month.
On the other hand, the United States hurled into the Korean front forces armed with the latest weapons – one-third of its ground force, one-fifth of its air force, most of its Pacific Fleet–as well as the troops of fifteen of its vassal states, as well as the south Korean puppet army and some remnants of the former Japanese army. The military budget during the war totalled $164 billion. This notwithstanding, the Americans sustained a loss nearly 2.3 times greater than that they had suffered in the four-year war in the Pacific and signed an armistice agreement.
By defeating the enemy, who were superior in terms of number of troops and technical equipment, by dint of their ideological and spiritual, strategic and tactical superiority, the Korean people defended the freedom and independence of their country and
defending global peace and security they frustrated the US attempt to dominate the world with the Korean peninsula as a springboard. 
General Mark Clark, commander of the US Far East Command who had signed the armistice agreement, said that the north Korean army was victorious thanks to the outstanding command of General Kim Il Sung, who had achieved great exploits in the resistance of many years against the Japanese army until the defeat of Japan in the Second World War.
Seventy years have elapsed since the ceasefire was achieved on the Korean peninsula. But the peninsula still remains as one of the hottest spots in the world.
After the armistice agreement was reached, the United States implemented none of the items of the agreement and tenaciously pursued a hostile policy against the DPRK, driving the situation on the peninsula to the brink of war. It deployed nukes in south Korea, imposing undisguised and direct nuclear threat on the DPRK.
Entering the 21st century, it has put the DPRK on the list of targets of its pre-emptive nuclear strike and stages nuclear war games every year in the areas near the country by mobilising large forces including its strategic nuclear assets.
A country without an effective self-defence capability will inevitably be at the mercy of external military threats and, worse still, be unable to safeguard the existence of its own and of its people. This is an immutable law shown by human history.
Over the past 70 years after the war, the DPRK had to overcome manifold difficulties in developing its economy and improving the living standards of its people because of the long-drawn-out military threat, sanctions and blockade.
The best option for the DPRK for both durable peace and further acceleration of building itself into a powerful socialist country was the line of simultaneously promoting economic construction and building up its nuclear forces.
The line of simultaneously promoting the two fronts was put forward at the March 2013 Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.
True to the new strategic line, the defence scientists displayed their indomitable will in developing strategic weapon systems of their own style.
Within a few years the DPRK manufactured innovative versions of inter-continental ballistic missiles, thus making its military strength irreversible.
In April last a DPRK ballistic missile of the Hwasongpho-18 type made its appearance, demonstrating the level of development of the country’s strategic forces.
Display of military equipment at military parades held every year in the country is proof of its military strength which the others could not belittle.
With this, the DPRK could frustrate the machinations of the hostile forces, who
were trying to drag it into their arms race by aggravating the situation on the Korean peninsula.
This can be testified by the demonstration of the potential of the DPRK’s self-supporting economy, like setting up structures that reflect its people’s dreams and ideals and opening a new era of rural rejuvenation amidst severe difficulties like harsh sanctions, a global healthcare crisis and successive natural disasters.
In the present world, where confrontation of strength is the order of the day, the country’s sovereignty and dignity and genuine peace can be assured only by an overwhelming defence capability–this is the creed of Kim Jong Un, the President of the State Affairs of the DPRK.
In April last year in the speech at the military parade held in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army, Kim Jong Un said “we should continuously grow stronger; there is no satisfaction or accomplishment in cultivating strength for defending ourselves, and, whoever we confront, our military supremacy should be more secure”.
The 70-year-long post-war history of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in which it defended its sovereignty and dignity and the safety and happiness of its people, further highlights the meaning of the 70th anniversary of victory in the war in the 1950s.

The Korean War and its Relevance Today

 

A Friends of Korea committee seminar was held at the NCP Centre in London to commemorate the victory of the Korean people of US imperialism and its lackeys. Chaired by Andy Brooks the symposium heard papers from Michael Chant and Dermot Hudson video link contributions from Jong Gi Kim from the DPR Korea embassy in London. This is the contribution from Michael Chant, the secretary of the Friends of Korea Committee.

On July 27, 1953, the heroic forces of the Korean People’s Army and Chinese People’s Volunteer Army achieved victory in the Korean War 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 Korean War. This was a victory not only for the Korean people, but for peace-loving humanity. 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 DPR Korea and the Korean people. From Britain, there were 81,084 men and women who served in the conflict, including 1,108 British servicemen who were killed in action. This is also a crime for which Britain must be held responsible.
    As we said in the invitation to participate in this seminar, on June 25, 1950, the US imperialists, under the aegis of the United Nations, had launched a brutal illegal war of aggression against the Korean nation. Since July 27, 1953, the US has done everything possible to maintain its military presence on the Korean Peninsula and keep the Korean War going. But the resistance of the DPRK continues, as the Korean people proudly demonstrate their mettle and build their own future.
    The Victory Day is not simply a celebration day for commemorating and looking back to a chapter of resistance in a previous era. The day also serves as a reminder that the US imperialists and their appeasers are stepping up war preparations in the Asia Pacific, and that the terrible tragedies visited upon the Korean people during the Korean War must never again be permitted. The significance of that war is taking on new meaning today as the US imperialists beat the drums of war to attempt to justify a nuclear catastrophe that threatens the very survival of the Korean people and the peoples of the world. But it further serves as a reminder that it is the people who are the makers of history and that they themselves must prevail against war.
    This year, on the 70th anniversary of July 27 1953, the people of the DPRK held activities to celebrate the victory, together with a delegation from the People’s Republic of China which took part in the events and a military delegation from the Russian Federation which also paid a congratulatory visit to the DPRK on the occasion.
    On July 25, leader Kim Jong Un had visited the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery, paying high tribute to the martyrs who defended the sovereignty and security of the country and people at great cost. Kim Jong Un said that they provided the precious ideological and moral heritage and tradition of victory as a steadfast cornerstone for the DPRK. He made the important point that the victory of July 27, 1953, is of significance to all humanity. This is the case since it inflicted such a disgraceful defeat on US imperialism, but also played its part in preventing a new world war at that time.
    On visiting the martyrs' cemetery of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, Kim Jong Un further elaborated on the significance of the DPRK’s victory in the war, saying that it was a hard fought just war not only to defend the dignity, honour and sovereignty of Korea and its people but also essential to defend world peace and security. It was, he said, an acute political and military confrontation with the imperialist forces which was waged on behalf of the peace-loving forces and progressive humankind. That great victory continues to show its vitality today.
    The US had intervened in Korea based on the reactionary Cold War policy of the “containment of communism”. From the Japanese colonial era through the Second World War, the outstanding resistance and guerrilla warfare carried out in Korea under the leadership of Kim Il Sung and other communists brought great prestige to communism throughout Korea for its ability to mobilise and organise the people to defend themselves.
    Even before the surrender of Japan, the US divided Korea by force at 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 beachhead in order to wage war against China and the Soviet Union.
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. A 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.
    Meanwhile in the north, the Korean people, under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, were able to establish the Workers’ Party of Korea and 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 also provided political and practical leadership to the Korean people’s aspiration for a reunified Korea. It was following the ROK 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 launched the Korean War on June 25, 1950, to block the independent reunification of Korea.
    In the Korean War, the people of the DPRK, led by Kim Il Sung, were organised by the Workers’ Party of Korea and mobilised to support the Korean People’s Army. The newly established People’s Republic of China sent troops in the form of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army to support the Korean people after US forces approached China’s eastern border with the DPRK. They ardently defended the Korean people in this war of aggression carried out by the US imperialists and 15 allied countries, including Britain, under the fig leaf of the UN flag.
    The armistice talks began on July 10, 1951. However, the US refused to agree to a ceasefire as a condition of talks and also refused to abide by the Geneva Convention regarding the repatriation of prisoners. During the two-year period of negotiations, the US and its allies employed all sorts of delaying tactics in the hope of achieving an outright military victory. They massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians in the north and south of Korea, with many buried alive, dismembered, burned to death or drowned. They carried out such war crimes as germ and chemical warfare, the bombing of infrastructure including dams and irrigation canals to flood the grain fields and starve the people, the carpet bombing of civilian targets, and the massive use of napalm — all to terrorise the Korean people into submission. An estimated 4.6 million Koreans, mostly civilians, perished during the war.
    However, a US victory was not to be. The Korean people, led by Kim Il Sung and the Korean People’s Army, with the help of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, defeated the troops of the US and the other aggressor nations. The US was forced to come to the north to sign the Armistice Agreement in Panmunjom. It was a bitter pill to swallow — being defeated for the first time in the 20th century and by a small Asian nation at that.
    In the spirit of revenge-seeking and stubbornly following its own geopolitical interests, the US has refused ever since to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War, as stipulated by the terms of the Armistice Agreement, despite the repeated invitations by the DPRK to do so.
    Item 60, Article IV of the Armistice Agreement states: “In order to insure the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, the military Commanders of both sides hereby recommend to the governments of the countries concerned on both sides that, within three (3) months after the Armistice Agreement is signed and becomes effective, a political conference of a higher level of both sides be held by representatives appointed respectively to settle through negotiation the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea, the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, etc.”

ongoing imperialist aggression

Since July 27 1953, the US has done everything possible to maintain its military presence in Korea and keep the Korean War going. On October 1, 1953, it concluded the US-South Korea Mutual Defence Treaty, which has since become the basis of the continued US military presence in south Korea that is opposed by the vast majority of the Korean people. It is also the basis by which the US/south Korean forces carry out their Key Resolve/Foal Eagle and many other joint military exercises, which now include Britain, as well as Japan, Australia, and others, and are aimed at invading the DPRK and imposing regime change.
    The US continues to rebuff all attempts at normalising DPRK-US relations, including diplomatic resolutions to such issues as the DPRK’s use of nuclear energy and the development of its nuclear deterrent capability, while at the same time it maintains and expands its own nuclear weapons in the south. The US has also increased economic and political sanctions against the DPRK, another form of warfare, as it is doing against other countries that affirm their right to be and refuse to submit to US dictate. The Biden administration continues the disinformation about “human rights violations” in the DPRK in a feeble attempt to divert from its own human rights abuses at home and abroad.
    The British government for its part maintains its hostility to the DPRK, following the lead of the US. On the anniversary of the Armistice Agreement, it shamelessly referred to the US and British aggression as a “war for freedom”. Today the government also follows the US in promoting the so-called “rules-based international order”, in which it is not international law which prevails but “rules” which are made by and serve the interests of US imperialism. Britain also follows the US in terming its marauding in the Indo-Pacific region as “enhancing security”, which the government defines as “shifting greater resource to the region and developing nations’ ability to police and protect their waters”.
    The British government further shamelessly states: “Two Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels are deployed to the Indo-Pacific on a permanent basis, and in their first year of operation succeeded in enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea, […]. The UK’s Carrier Strike Group will return to the Indo-Pacific in 2025, representing our commitment to exercise the best capabilities our Armed Forces have to offer alongside partners in the region.”
    However, as time goes on, the US imperialists and their allies are increasingly isolated in terms of relations with the DPRK. The DPRK’s principled stand in defence of its sovereignty and right to self-determination, and its consistent defence of the Korean nation’s honour continue to win the support of all humanity who can clearly see who is the aggressor on the Korean Peninsula.
    The aim of the US remains the same today as it was at the end of the Second World War — to occupy the entire Korean Peninsula as a launching pad for its takeover of Asia and then the world. And the US justification for doing so remains as bankrupt as ever. All the attempts of the US to realise its domination of the region — its occupation of the Korean Peninsula with almost 30,000 troops and its military bases, the ongoing attempts to sabotage the Korean people’s movement for national reunification, and its engineering of puppet regimes in the south — have failed to silence the resolve of the 70 million Koreans who are united in their aspiration for the peaceful, independent reunification of their homeland, free of US imperialist interference.

the anti-war movement

The criminal role of the US imperialists in Korea, from 1945 to the present, has been exposed for the whole world to see, and the resolute struggle of the Korean people for peace and justice, independence and reunification stands as an example for all the peoples of the world aspiring for peace. It is the task that Friends of Korea and all friendship organisations have taken up to tell the truth about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and patiently explain the contribution that the DPRK is making to peace and stability to the region and its wider implications.
    The first demand of the Korean people and all peace- and justice-loving people around the world is that the US signs a peace treaty with the DPRK to replace the Armistice Agreement and end the Korean War. This would be a major step to stabilise the political situation on the Korean Peninsula and ease tensions. To date the US has violated all the terms of the Armistice Agreement since the time it was signed and has constantly rebuffed efforts by the DPRK to normalise relations between the two countries. The DPRK knows first-hand the perfidy and subterfuge of the US imperialists and refuses to participate in “empty talks” that do not advance peace on the Korean Peninsula.
    For the people in Britain, it is crucial that the demand be made that Britain make amends for its role in the crimes perpetrated against the Korean people during the Korean War. Further, Britain must immediately end its participation in the illegal naval embargo against the DPRK, which is part of the US-led sanctions regime and an act of war and a crime against the peace, the most serious war crime under international law. Friends of Korea will itself do its work to hold the US responsible for its crimes on the Korean Peninsula before, during and since the Korean War and demand that it sign a peace treaty with the DPRK to end the Korean War. For the people, this is a matter of contributing to making sure that another Korean War does not break out and providing every support to the Korean people’s drive to reunify their divided country. It is also a contribution to ensuring peace around the world.
    One of the crucial issues about which confusion is spread is that of the danger of nuclear war. Using the nuclear threat as an instrument of negotiations – agree with our terms or else – was a practice introduced by the US at the time of the criminal bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. This practice was first heroically rejected by the Korean people in the 1950-1953 Korean War. Subsequently the heroic Vietnamese people did the same in the context of their War of National Liberation.
    The US, together with Britain, are intent on raising hysteria on the nuclear issue to a fever pitch in order to prevent humankind from thinking, from actually assessing the conditions and what these conditions reveal, and so prevent people uniting in favour of peace. The hysteria and disinformation is an attempt to block discussion on what can be done to turn things around in favour of the peoples. To open a path to progress and end the retrogression which the imperialists are pushing onto the peoples of the world, it is crucial to broaden discussions amongst ourselves so as to not permit the campaign of disinformation to be effective.
    The conditions given rise to after World War II ended with the collapse of the former Soviet Union. That ended the domination of two superpowers and an equilibrium between them based on nuclear deterrence. The so-called unipolar world which they tried to bring into being, with the US as self-declared indispensable nation, also no longer exists.
    The Korean War is an example of seeing where justice prevails. Furthermore, it can be seen that the present defensive measures being taken by the DPRK, far from being the threat to peace that is being claimed by the US, Britain and others, is a defence against the danger of war, a danger comes from the criminal striving of the US for world domination.
    The world that the people aspire to is in the grasp of the people’s forces working to make it happen. It can be said that fighting for an anti-war government at home will also be a contribution to ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and vice versa. Friends of Korea will certainly continue its work in favour of support and friendship with the DPRK. This is not a narrow aim, but is a component part of bringing into being a world where peace prevails, and countries can follow their path of independence, security and sovereignty without the interference of US imperialism, together with Britain and other big powers.

US Troops Out of Korea!
US Sign a Peace Treaty with the DPRK Now!
No to the Warmongering of Britain!
Unite in Favour of Peace and Independence!

For peace on the Korean peninsula

in the Sid French library

by New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity campaigners met at the NCP’s Party Centre in London last weekend for a hybrid seminar to celebrate the victory of the Korean people over US imperialism and its lackeys in the Korean war and discuss the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula and the way forward for the solidarity campaign in Britain.
    NCP leader Andy Brooks, who chaired the Friends of Korea (FoK) event, welcomed everyone to the meeting, at the Sid French library or by video link, to hear key-note openings from FoK secretary Michael Chant and Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association and an online contribution from Song Gi Kim from the Democratic Korean embassy in London. This was followed by contributions from everyone in the room and from many of the online participants across the country.
    The Korean war ended on 27th July 1953 with an armistice that promised free elections to end the partition of the Korean peninsula. But the Americans never kept their word and the country remains divided between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north and a puppet regime in the south that is propped up by tens of thousands of US troops and an American nuclear armada off the coast.
    The US has done everything possible to maintain its military presence on the Korean peninsula. But the resistance of the DPRK continues, as the Korean people proudly demonstrate their mettle and build their own future.
    Victory Day is not simply a celebration for commemorating and looking back to a chapter of resistance in a previous era. The day also serves as a reminder that the US imperialists and their lackeys are stepping up war preparations in the Asia Pacific rim, and that the terrible tragedies visited upon the Korean people during the Korean War must never again be permitted. The significance of that war is taking on new meaning today as the US imperialists beat the drums of war to attempt to justify a nuclear catastrophe that threatens the very survival of the Korean people and the peoples of the world. But it further serves as a reminder that it is the people who are the makers of history and that they themselves must prevail against war.

Remembering the Korean people’s victory

Dermot Hudson and Song Gi Kim

by New Worker correspondent

London comrades returned to the Chadswell centre in central London last weekend to mark the outbreak of the Korean war. The war began with an American attack on the people’s government in north Korea on 25th June 1950. It ended with the Americans signing a humiliating armistice on 27th July 1953.

    Chaired by Dermot Hudson speakers, including Theo Russell from the NCP, spoke about the Korean people’s heroic fight against the US imperialists and their lackeys during the war and their efforts to reconstruct their shattered country after the guns fell silent.
Though the American terror bombers had left north Korea in ruins, the masses rallied round the call of Kim Il Sung and the Workers’ Party of Korea to rebuild their shattered country and lead the drive for a modern, independent socialist republic in the free part of the Korean peninsula.
    Song Gi Kim, a representative from the Democratic Korean (DPRK) embassy in London pointed out that "in 1950 the Korean war, the fiercest war since the Second World War, broke out. At that time no one ever thought that the DPRK, founded two years before, would defeat the United States, which had been boasting of being the "strongest" in the world with a history of victory in 110 wars since its founding.
    “As the world media described, the war was a confrontation between the rifle and the atomic bomb. But the result of the war turned out to be the opposite. The DPRK, a small country in the East, created a miracle by defeating the multi-national forces, which pounced upon a country in the name of the United Nations for the first time in the world."
Dermot Hudson, in his speech, said that the great Korean communist leader, Kim Il Sung “not only humbled the pride of the arrogant US imperialists but smashed the reactionary bourgeois military theory that advocates the omnipotence of weapons over humans.
    “The US imperialists not only lost huge amounts of manpower and materials but also suffered irretrievable political and moral defeats. It was a great victory for the Korean people and opened up a new era of anti-US, anti-imperialist struggle. Indeed Korea was the war before Vietnam!"
    And Theo Russell pointed out that the US "cannot admit responsibility for aggression against DPRK in 1950 because US still dreams of occupying the north... thus entire might of US and Western systems of thought manipulation is mobilised to maintain the lie. And this includes an apparatus of news, well-financed think tanks, universities, mass media, intelligence agencies"

US out of Korea!

By New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined a Korean solidarity protest picket outside the American embassy in London last Saturday to mark 73rd anniversary of the Korean war and to call for the end of the American occupation of south Korea.

    On 25th June 1950 the US imperialists and their south Korean puppets launched an attack on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that devastated the entire peninsula. The Americans and their lackeys, flying the false flag of the United Nations, were beaten to a standstill and were forced to sign an armistice in 1953. They promised to hold free elections in south Korea to lead to the reunification of the country. Seventy years later the Americans still occupy south Korea, propping up a puppet regime that rejects all DPRK proposals to ease tension on the divided peninsula.

    Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association that called the protest, said that US imperialism had not abandoned its dreams of conquest. “This year reactionary warmonger Biden threatened People's Korea with nuclear annihilation saying it would be the 'end of whatever regime'. The US imperialists and south Korean puppets are stepping up their war moves plus the US is openly deploying strategic nuclear assets,” Dermot said. “The US and south Korea have this year carried out massive war exercises that were suspended by Trump . US troops and nuclear assets should be withdrawn from south Korea and a permanent peace treaty signed”.

Messages of support were received from KFA Germany, KFA Switzerland, the International Central Committee for Songun Study, the Bangladesh Songun Politics Study Group and the People's Korea Initiative of Poland.

Korean solidarity in Liverpool

by New Worker correspondent

The Korean Friendship Association of the UK took the fight to defend People’s Korea  to Merseyside by holding a vibrant afternoon meeting on Saturday 20th May at the Casa Bar in the heart of Liverpool’s university district.
Peter Hendy from the Liverpool NCP introduced the meeting saying that “the propaganda offensive against the DPRK remains unabated. To justify US military aggression against the DPRK the propaganda offensive remains relentless and continues unabated. For over six decades the DPRK has been subjected to US military intimidation, provocations, threats and extensive sanctions to politically isolate and destroy the DPRK economy. The US warmongers would like to destroy the DPRK”.
KFA UK Chairman Dermot Hudson addressed the meeting on the subject of the US threat to People’s Korea  pointing out that “In fact, the danger of war and threat to People’s Korea has increased greatly and taken a sinister turn. It is probably at its highest since the end of the Korean War or Fatherland Liberation War in 1953” . He denounced the recent US-south Korea summit and the so-called ‘Washington Declaration ‘ He also drew attention to the participation of British Royal Marines in recent military exercises in south Korea.
“The struggle to defend People’s Korea and expose the aggressive role of the US on the Korean peninsula is also part of the struggle for world peace and for anti-imperialist independence.
“KFA UK demands that all ongoing and planned military exercises by the US and south Korea in south Korea and the surrounding region should be cancelled . US troops should be withdrawn from south Korea along with any US nuclear weapons.

    "Dermot concluded by saying “We in the Korean Friendship Association of the UK(KFA UK) believe in defending People’s Korea , Korea of Juche with No Ifs or Buts . The DPRK is the most independent country in the world and has a unique socialist system . The DPRK is a country that abolished taxation yet has free healthcare , free education and even free housing".

The Casa Club was born during the epic struggle of the Liverpool dockers who were sacked when they refused to cross a picket line in the 1990s. The dockers’ struggle began in September 1995 and ended in a one-sided settlement in February 1998. But some of the dockers, who had been paid £130,000 for writing a drama about the dispute for Channel Four, used the money to buy a building to set up a communal hub, not-for-profit bar and an advice centre. It is now a charitable trust that welcomes labour movement use of its rooms and facilities.

DPR Korea: A true people’s health system

medical students in Pyongyang

by Dermot Hudson

The socialist healthcare system of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has a long history.
    On the 1st January 2023, it was 70 years since the DPRK introduced universal, free medical care. On the 1st January 1953, it was introduced in the DPRK according to the provisions of DPRK cabinet decree No 203 “On Enforcing Free Medical Care System for the People”, which had been adopted some weeks earlier on the 13th November 1952 under the guidance of President Kim Il Sung. Prior to that, free medical care for industrial and office workers based on insurance had been introduced in 1946 (two years before the NHS was created in the UK).
    The DPRK’s health service was not created under ideal conditions of peace but in the flames of war when the country was being pulverised by the carpet bombing of the aggressive US imperialists. Moreover, at the time the DPRK was not a rich or prosperous country, it was a new country which had emerged from the ruins of Japanese colonial rule.
    From the 1st January 1953 all medical care in the DPRK became completely free at the point of need for all. This includes doctor's visits, hospital treatment, convalescence and medicines. Even dentistry is included and also fares to hospital are paid. There are no hidden fees such as car parking charges or charges to watch TV in hospitals. Further legalisation by the DPRK in 1960 and 1980 legally buttressed free healthcare.
    The DPRK has the unique section doctor system, whereby doctors from a local clinic take charge of the surrounding area and visit people in their homes to give up check-ups and medical advice. Usually a local DPRK doctor looks after 130 households. This is a big contrast to the present NHS GP system, under which it is often impossible to see a doctor and only telephone or online consultations are possible. In the DPRK they say “Go to the doctor before you are ill”.
    Special priority is given to mothers who give birth to many children, the DPRK has many triplets. Concern for the health of women is something taken very seriously. There is the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, which has over 1,000 beds. In recent years the Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital was constructed.
    The DPRK has a dense network of medical establishments such as general hospitals, specialised hospitals, hospitals or clinics, from the highest down to the lowest unit of administration such as ri and dong. Factories have their own medical staff and even their own hospitals.
    According to data, there are as many as 9 000 public health agencies. The DPRK has witnessed the increase of hygienic and anti-epidemic bodies by 38 times, of hospitals by 53.8 times, and of doctors and pharmacists by 322 times during the period from 1946–2006.
    Already in the 1970s it ranked in the advanced countries in terms of the number of doctors, medical facilities and beds for every 1 000 people. According the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2010 the DPRK had 143 hospital beds per 10,000 of population. This compares with 24.6 per 10,000 in the UK in 2019, 28.7 per 10,000 for the USA in 2017, and 124.8 per 10,000 for south Korea in 2018. The DPRK is way ahead of other countries.
    In 2010 the then director of the WHO Dr Margaret Chan said of the DPRK: “They have something which most other developing countries would envy.”
    In recent years the DPRK constructed new state of the art hospitals such the Okryu Children’s Hospital, the Ryugyong Ophthalmic hospital and many others. In the DPRK, hospitals are linked together by an advanced telemedicine system.
    A delegation of the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea and the Korean Friendship Association of the UK was able to visit the Okryu Children’s Hospital that was completed in 2013. It has a total of 32,000 square metres of floor space, making it quite large – larger than many UK hospitals. We were only able to see a small part of the hospital as there was not enough time, however, what we saw was most impressive. The hospital was positively ornate, with marble floors and pillars. The hospital was decorated in light colours that gave a warm and cheerful atmosphere to the place. In the UK hospitals are usually regarded with fear and apprehension, but this hospital seemed such a welcoming place. We saw rooms for rehabilitating disabled children. There was a school within the hospital so that children do not miss schooling when they are in the hospital. We also saw a telemedicine room. Here the hospital is linked to other children's hospitals in the country so that doctors in different hospitals can consult with each other instantly.
    I also visited the Ryugyong Ophthalmic Hospital in February 2019. This was opened in 2016 and took only seven months to construct. It has eight floors with 100 inpatient beds. The hospital offers both inpatient and outpatient treatment. There is one doctor per room. The hospital was spotlessly clean.
    The DPRK’s healthcare system is self-reliant and operated with 100 per cent DPRK resources and labour, no foreign doctors or nurses work in DPRK hospitals. The DPRK medical care system showed its resilience when COVID‑19 struck the country in May 2022. The healthcare system was assisted by the Korean People’s Army (KPA), who were mobilised to help. The COVID‑19 epidemic was overcome within 91 days and the fatality rate was minimal. This was achieved without the dubious so-called ‘aid’ of the imperialist countries and south Korea.
    The universal, free medical care system of the DPRK is a true product of the people-oriented system, the socialist system and the popular policies of the Workers Party of Korea.

Honouring a great Korean revolutionary

Dermot Hudson and Theo Russell

By New Worker correspondent

Kim Il Sung was born on 15th April 1912 and his birthday has long been celebrated as the Day of the Sun in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and by everyone who stands by the DPRK. And on that day last week solidarity activists gathered at the Cock Tavern in London to recall the outstanding achievements of the leader of the Korean revolution.
    Speakers included Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) that organised the meeting and NCP national organiser, Theo Russell. The Democratic Korean embassy in London sent a tribute that was read out at the meeting and messages were received from Korean friendship groups in Germany, Poland and Switzerland.
    In his tribute Dermot Hudson praised the successful test firing of the Democratic Korean ballistic missile as a great victory for Juche and self-reliance – the Korean-style socialism pioneered by Kim Il Sung that is followed by his successors in the people’s republic today.
    Kim Il Sung was a great anti-imperialist revolutionary who turned the DPRK into a fortress of militant anti-imperialism and totally opposed the line of compromise with imperialism. His life from beginning to end was one of principled and constant struggle against imperialism and for independence’.
    Theo Russell praised the life of Kim Il Sung as that of a great revolutionary . He said that the achievements of the DPRK are great and are due to the Juche philosophy authored by the great leader of the Korean people who worked tirelessly throughout his life for the communist cause.
    Shaun Pickford, the head of Staffordshire KFA focused on the international dimension of the DPRK and the Juche Idea. The first Juche idea study group was formed in Mali , West Africa and since then many international seminars on the Juche Idea have followed.
    This was followed by a general discussion on Juche and life in the DPRK and ended with the traditional refreshments and informal chat amongst friends of Korea old and new.

Down with the puppet regime!

by New Worker correspondent 

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined London comrades protesting outside the south Korean embassy in London last weekend. The picket called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) was to protest against the forthcoming war exercises and the current wave of repression unleashed in south Korea against the people by the US puppet regime. KFA Chair Dermot Hudson in his address exposed the fascist and repressive nature of south Korea citing the recent raid on the HQ of the south Korean Confederation of Trade Unions as well as arrests of leftist and progressive activists . He stressed that south Korea is a puppet regime with no legitimacy , a creation of the US imperialists and that south Korea is simply the occupied southern half of the DPRK.

People’s Korea’s Defence : guaranteeing the socialist system

A Friends of Korea committee seminar was held at the NCP Centre in London to commemorate on the anniversary of the passing of dear leader Kim Jong Il, who died on 17th December 2011. Chaired by Andy Brooks the symposium heard papers from Dermot Hudson and Michael Chant and video link contributions from supporters in London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland. This is the contribution from Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association.

Kim Jong Un

As we are gathered to remember comrade Kim Jong Il it is important for us to study the DPR Korea’s great achievements in the work of national defence . Indeed Kim Jong Il’s whole life was associated with the Songun (army first ) revolutionary leadership which began when he gave guidance to the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105th Tank Division of the Korean People’s Army.

    The issue of the DPRK’s successful defence upbuilding is one that has come into sharp focus . On the 15th December the Academy of Defence Science tested a high-thrust solid-fuel motor with a thrust of 140tf, the first of its kind in the country, at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground. This important test has provided a sure sci-tech guarantee for the development of another new-type strategic weapon system.
    This year has seen truly amazing and phenomenal advances in DPRK missile technology.The imperialists and their south Korean puppets have complained that the DPRK has carried out approximately 60 or so missile tests during the past year and have clamoured for more UN sanctions while imposing their own unilateral sanctions .

    On the 24th March the new type ICBM Hwasongpho-17 was tested.The missile, launched at Pyongyang International Airport, travelled up to a maximum altitude of 6 248.5 km and flew a distance of 1 090 km for 4,052s before accurately hitting the pre-set area in open waters of the East Sea of Korea. This was the first time for 5 years that the DPRK tested an ICBM , though tests of medium and short range missiles had been carried out in the intervening period .

    On the 18th November in the presence of Kim Jong Un, the general secretary of the Workers Party of Korea, the Hwasong Pho 17 ICBM was successfully tested at Pyongyang International Airport . The Hwasong Pho 17 reached a maximum altitude of 6,040.9 km and flew a distance of 999.2 km for 4,135s before accurately landing on the preset area in open waters of the East Sea of Korea.
    Kim Jong Un was accompanied by his daughter and his wife comrade Ri Sol Ju and comrade Kim Yo Jong , vice department director of the Central Committee of the WPK . The presence of the young daughter of the Korean leader symbolised the fact that the DPRK’s nukes guarantee the future of the DPRK’s children .
    The new type Hwasong-pho 17 ICBM has the ability to strike the US mainland . Thus it greatly strengthens and augments the DPRK's self-defensive potential .
    The DPRK’s ballistic missile tests fully reflect the will of the leadership of the Workers Party of Korea and the government of the DPRK to consistently bolster the national defence capacity of the DPRK in line with the decisions made by the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea .    Earlier in 2022, on 6th January the Political Bureau of the WPK agreed to resume “temporarily suspended activities” meaning ICBM and nuclear tests , because ‘‘all the facts clearly prove once again that the hostile policy towards the DPRK will exist in the future as long as there is the hostile entity of U.S. imperialism.”.
    Unlike some countries both past and present , the DPRK saw through the nature of US imperialism. After all, it was US imperialism that had divided Korea in 1945 and had started the Korean war. The DPRK ‘s policy is absolutely correct . A few years ago, when there were the summits between the DPRK and US and also the DPRK and south Korea , some people said that the DPRK would unilaterally disarm itself and even open a McDonalds in Pyongyang. Nearly 5 years on , not a single nuke or ICBM has been dismantled by the DPRK and there is no McDonalds in Pyongyang and the DPRK is consolidating its national defence capabilities . Also the DPRK is raising militant anti-US slogans and intensifying anti-US imperialist education .
    It is worth mentioning Cuba here as this year also saw the 60th anniversary of Khruschov’s shameful capitulation during the Cuban Missile Crisis which saw the USSR kneel down before the US imperialists and agree to withdraw their missiles within 6 days and sell out Cuba by allowing UN inspections of Cuba. The DPRK’s independent and militant anti-imperialist stance contrasts with that of the former Soviet Union.
    The DPRK ‘s correct nuclear policy has now been fully enshrined in law and is a permanent state policy of the DPRK .On the 8th September this year the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly passed the historic law on On The State Policy On The Nuclear Forces which fully legalised the DPRK’s status as a nuclear power .
    The new law defines the mission of the DPRK nuclear forces as being “ to deter a war by making hostile forces have a clear understanding of the fact that the military confrontation with the DPRK brings about ruin and give up attempts at aggression and attack.”
    According to the new law the DPRK ‘s use of nuclear forces can only occur under certain situations , these are defined as follows:

 • ‘In case an attack by nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction was launched or drew near is judged’

• ‘In case a nuclear or non-nuclear attack by hostile forces on the state leadership and the command organisation of the state's nuclear forces was launched or drew near is judged’

• ‘In case a fatal military attack against important strategic objects of the state was launched or drew near is judged’

• ‘In case the need for operation for preventing the expansion and protraction of a war and taking the initiative in the war in contingency is inevitably raised.”

Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly pointed out that “The legalisation of the policy of the nuclear forces in accordance with the unanimous desire and iron will of all the people is of tremendous significance. With this, the position of our state as a nuclear nation has become irreversible.”
    Needless to say the enemies of People’s Korea such as the Americans and their south Korean puppets, as well as the vassal states of the US are not happy about this .
    Even CND has chimed in with the clamour of the US imperialists and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by saying that the DPRK’s Law on Nuclear Forces is a “very worrying development”. We answer this ‘criticism ‘ as follows:
    Firstly, the DPRK’S new law on nuclear forces does not make explicit reference to ‘first strikes’ or ‘pre-emptive strikes’,although it is implied that under certain very limited situations these may be carried out. There is no blank cheque for a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the DPRK but rather the DPRK’s nuclear weapons are a last resort and a deterrent .
    Secondly , the US has a nuclear first strike policy so why shouldn’t the DPRK have one ? Why do some people think the imperialists and big countries should have a monopoly on a nuclear first strike? Surely it is only fair that the DPRK should match the US policy of a nuclear first strike with its own?
    Thirdly , it is the US that first developed nuclear weapons and actually used them against a non-nuclear state when it bombed Hiroshima and Nagaski in 1945 . Moreover the US considered a nuclear first strike against the DPRK during the Korean war of 1950-1953 , during the “Pueblo Incident ‘ of 1968 and the Panmunjom incident of 1976 and other occasions . The US designated the DPRK a target of a US nuclear first strike in 2002. The US stationed 1,000 nuclear weapons in south Korea , at one point the number reached 1,700 . Supposedly the US withdrew these weapons in the 1990s , however the US refused to accept international inspections to confirm this and later stated it would ‘neither confirm nor deny ‘ the existence of its nuclear weapons in south Korea.
    Many believe that US nuclear weapons are still in south Korea . What is beyond all doubt is that the US and south Korea have on numerous occasions staged nuclear war exercises against the DPRK and US nuclear submarines and nuclear aircraft carriers have been in Korean waters as well US nuclear bombers overflying the Korean peninsula .
    Fourthly , Korea was divided by the US in 1945 and the DPRK was invaded by the US imperialists in 1950. At least 1.2 million civilians killed and the country completely devastated . The DPRK’s nuclear deterrent will ensure this does not happen again .
    Fifthly, is the DPRK supposed to fold its arms and just sit and wait to be invaded by the US imperialists .
    Sixth , the experience of the 1962 Caribbean crisis in which the USSR pulled its missiles out of Cuba and allowed UN inspections after only 6 days and without consulting the Cuban leadership shows that a small country cannot rely on a big country for its defence .Moreover recent events this year show that some big countries may not be such efficient allies as some may imagine . These countries have their own problems and internal contradictions so it would be unwise for the DPRK to rely on them.
    Seventh,the DPRK did all that it could to work towards a peaceful settlement of DPRK-US relations and issues on the Korean peninsula by holding two summits and one meeting with US president Trump as well as three Inter-Korean summits .It should be added that the DPRK carried out its first nuclear test 59 years after the US first introduced nuclear weapons into south Korea in violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
    In conclusion we would point out that the DPRK’s Law on the State Policy of Nuclear Forces is about defending the DPRK’s independence and territorial integrity as well as the socialist system of the DPRK . It is regrettably that some who style themselves as ‘progressives ‘ or ‘leftists ‘ share the desire of the imperialists for the dismantling of the socialist system of the DPRK or for ‘reforms ‘ and ‘opening up ‘.
    Bravo to People's Korea for declaring itself a permanent nuclear weapons state . The DPRK has rejected all attempts to disarm it and push it down a certain path . The DPRK also rejected so -called aid from south Korea which was conditional on the DPRK unilaterally disarming itself . The DPRK also rejected imperialist aid when the Covid 19 epidemic arose in the DPRK.
    The DPRK’ nuclear policy and its efforts to build up the national defence capabilities are its independent right to do so which no one from whatever quarter ;whether they are the imperialists or their fake left fellow travellers should try to interfere with. The great advances in the DPRK ‘s defence abilities which are surprising its enemies are a sure guarantee for the independence of the country that comrade Kim Jong Il worked hard all his life to safeguard and also guarantee the existence of the people-centred socialist system that is the legacy of comrade Kim Jong Il as well as the cradle of happiness for the Korean people.