Wednesday, 9 October 2024

Korean solidarity in Bulgaria

by New Worker correspondent

Dermot Hudson, the chair of the UK Korean Friendship Association attended the European Regional Seminar on the Juche Idea on the theme of “Sovereignty, Independence and New International Relations” that was held on the 8th September at the Moskva Park hotel in Sofia, the capital of the former People’s Republic of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria of course was once a socialist country but sadly most traces of socialism have been eliminated by the new regime. The effects of the restoration of capitalism, such as people begging and closed down shops could be seen. Whilst the Metro is very cheap and surprisingly taxi fares as well, some of the prices in the shops looked not that different to the UK.
It had been originally intended to hold the seminar the Finnish capital of Helsinki but the reactionary Finnish authorities (these days puppets of US and world imperialism) refused to allow the entry of a delegation from the Korean Association of Social Scientists. The seminar was moved to Sofia which had previously hosted a similar event in 2019. 
The seminar was organised by the European Regional Society for the Study of the Juche Idea and hosted by the Bulgarian Group for the Study of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism.
The seminar was presided by Prof Matteo Carbonelli secretary general of the European Regional Society for the Study of the Juche Idea (ERSSJI)  who welcomed the participants.
The seminar heard a detailed report of work of the ERSSJI by secretary general Matteo Carbonelli. There was discussion on improving the work of disseminating the Juche idea with suggestions about using simple short videos and graphic propaganda as well using Telegram.
Later the seminar was addressed by Pak Chol Jun, the vice-president of the Korean Association of Social Scientists, who expressed his conviction that the seminar would contribute to the cause of strengthening the struggle for a new independent world. Many delegates from Europe and across the rest of the globe spoke during the conference which also heard online contributions from Ogami Kenichi , the secretary general of the Institute for the Study of the Juche Idea in Japan, noted Russian academic specialist Prof Alexander Voronstov and Keith Bennett, the vice-director general of the ERSSJI.