Saturday 3 June 2023

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 US troops should be withdrawn from south Korea along with any US nuclear weapons.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.