Korean solidarity in Finland

by New Worker correspondent

Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association UK, joined other friends of the DPR Korea for a seminar in Helsinki last week. To mark its 40th anniversary the European Regional Society for the Study of the Juche Idea (ERSSJI) organised the seminar in the  Finnish capital under the title  of “Independence, Peace and Social Development” in the building of the Finland -Russia society. Finland itself was one of the first non-socialist European countries to establish diplomatic relations with People’s Korea in the early 1970s. And Finland has a long tradition of friendship and solidarity with the DPRK as well as of studying the Juche idea and Korean-style socialism.
Presiding over the seminar were Prof Matteo Carbonelli, the director-general of the ERSSJI and Juha Kieski , the secretary-general of the ERSSJI and head of the Finnish Juche Idea Study Group.
A delegation from the DPRK embassy in Sweden took part in the discussion along with a delegation from the International Institute of the Juche Idea based in Japan. KFA Chair Dermot Hudson who also heads the British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea was there along with members of Finnish Juche Idea and DPRK friendship organisations. Participating online were people from Austria, Bulgaria,Denmark , Germany , Russia , Slovakia and the UK.
Dermot Hudson said that “the Juche idea needs to be studied deeply and disseminated more widely in Europe because it is extremely relevant to the needs of the European people and can make a great contribution to independence , peace and social development which are all vitally necessary for the peoples of Europe.
“At the moment Europe lacks independence . Many European countries are members of the US-controlled Nato and have US bases and troops . Many European countries are culturally enslaved by US imperialism for example the TV and cinema is dominated by poor quality American films and the streets are full of Yankee fast food chains . Economically  ,Europe is controlled by supra-national organisations like the European Union , the IMF , the World Bank , the WTO and the World Economic Forum . Many European countries lack economic independence as their economies are dominated by US multi-nationals”.