Full DPRK TV report on North-South summit in English

Mass Rally of North Koreans against U.N. Human Right report!

Korea: A Glorious Victory

By New Worker correspondent

IN 1950 US imperialism launched a criminal attack on Democratic Korea. The Americans, backed by their Nato allies and their craven south Korean puppets spread death and destruction across the Korean peninsula but they were forced to sign a humiliating armistice on 27^th July 1953.

Every year the Korean people mark the anniversary of the defeat of US imperialism and its lackeys with solemn ceremonies, meetings and a great parade through Pyongyang. And last Saturday friends and comrades gathered in central London for their own commemoration of the Day of Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War and the Day of Songun.  

           Korean solidarity activists, members of the New Communist Party and progressive academics attended the meeting called by the Juché Idea Study Group and the Korean Friendship Association to see a DPR Korea documentary on the Korean War and hear openings on the struggle led by great leader Kim Il Sung to defeat the US aggressors from DPRK diplomats in London and members of Juché Idea Study Group.

The formal part of the meeting ended with Dr Goodacre, an accomplished linguist, demonstrating his talents by singing the Song of General Kim Il Sung in Korean to the general applause of the audience.

The role of Kim Jong Il in building Juché theory

Thae Yongho addressing the meeting

by New Worker correspendent

THE JUCHÉ Idea Study group of England last Saturday gathered in north London to mark the 50^th anniversary of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il starting work at the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. This was a great landmark in the Korean revolution.

The meeting was addressed by Comrade Thae Yongho from the embassy of the Democratic Republic of Korea who gave an account of the vital role of Kim Jong Il in developing Songun politics and the Juché idea starting at a time when Khrushchov had not long made his 20^th CPSU attack on Stalin and communists throughout the world were in turmoil.

The Juché path gave a way forward for communists to go forward on the basis of developing their own independent policies based on the realities of their own situation while respecting and maintaining good terms with others.

Comrade Theo Russell also addressed the meeting on behalf of the New Communist Party and spoke of the history of Juché and Kim Jong Il’s role in developing it.

There was discussion from the floor, including a discussion on the damaging effect of the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s and 70s, especially in the Third World where communists became engaged in fighting each other instead of working together to develop a path to socialism appropriate to their own concrete circumstances.

London meeting marks birthday of Kim Il Sung

Dr Goodacre pays tribute to Kim Il Sung

By New Worker correspondent

FRIENDS and supporters of Democratic Korea met last weekend near Kings Cross in central London to mark the birthday of revolutionary leader and theorist Kim Il Sung and hold a wide-ranging discussion on the crisis sparked by the ongoing US exercises and the controversial Korea Undercover BBC Panorama documentary.

The event was organised by the Juché Idea Study Group of England and the Association For the Study of Songun Politics UK, and attended by supporters of the Korean revolution, members of the New Communist Party, progressive academics and members of the general public.

Dermot Hudson, chair of the JISG, and Shaun Pickford spoke about the American “Foal Eagle” and “Key Resolve” nuclear war games which, they said, had the clearly stated aim of “regime change” in the DPRK, and included “counter-insurgency” exercises with US and south Korean troops  rehearsing the rounding up of civilians and Workers’ Party members.

Shaun said south Korea was a US puppet state, and recalled that Park Chung Hee, father of the current president Park Geun Hye, took power in a military coup and introduced the fascistic “Yushin” (“renewal”) ideology under which the electoral system was rigged.

He added that the DPR Korea has never intervened in any foreign country, but since the Second World War the United States has intervened in 195 states. In practice, he said, “any retreat or concessions by the DPRK would lead to subjugation and self-destruction”.

Dermot reminded the meeting that it was one year since the election of dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un as First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, showing the support, trust, respect and affection of the masses of the Korean people and members of the Workers’ Party.

On the issue of the DPRK’s nuclear weapons, he said they were “not a bargaining chip for economic gains, but a national treasure which cannot be sold for millions of dollars”.

He pointed out that there is no international border with the South Korea, only a military demarcation line, which the DPRK does not recognise. He also said many defectors from the DPRK were actually returning, complaining of poor treatment and long working hours in low paid jobs in south Korea.

James Taylor spoke on the life and revolutionary activities of Kim Il Sung, saying: “All true revolutionaries who have encountered his works and heard of his deeds can only feel themselves inspired and heartened by his example and leadership, by his contributions to applying Marxism-Leninism to Korean conditions and his evolution of the Juché Idea.”

Dr Hugh Goodacre of the University of London recalled meeting with comrade Kim Il Sung in 1990, and quoted from a new booklet by Kim Jong Un: "When meeting workers, he held their grease-stained hands without reserve and in a rural village, had friendly talks with the peasants at the edge of a field; his speeches were often mixed with jokes, humorous and down to earth. Even though he was held in high respect and admiration by our people and progressive peoples of the world, he disallowed any special favour or privilege for himself, and always led a simple and frugal life with his people."

Dr Goodacre said that Kim Il Sung’s greatest feat was to author the Juché Idea, based on the aspirations and ideas of the people, which became the basis of a theory and ideology able to enlist the inexhaustible strength and creative wisdom of the masses for national liberation.

Theo Russell of the New Communist Party brought greetings from the NCP, recalled his visit to the DPRK in April 2012, and spoke about the “shameful episode” of the hijacking of a London School of Economics study tour to infiltrate hostile BBC journalists into the DPRK.

Dermot Hudson added that many people who watched the Panorama documentary actually learned different lessons from those intended, and that since it was broadcast the JISG had gained five new members!

At the close of the meeting a message to the dear respected leader Marshal Kim Jong Un was adopted by acclaim.

Supporting Democratic Korea!

By New Worker correspondent

Friends and comrades returned to the Marchmont Centre in central London last Saturday to show their solidarity with Democratic Korea under threat from US imperialism. Though the meeting called by the Friends of Korea committee had been originally been intended to simply celebrate the 101^st anniversary of the birth of great leader Kim Il Sung much of the discussion naturally focused on the current crisis on the Korean peninsula that threatens to plunge all of northern Asia into war.

            Chaired by NCP leader Andy Brooks a panel that included Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), John Mcleod of the Socialist Labour Party and Dermot Hudson of the British Juche Society opened a wide-ranging discussion that ranged from Korean-style socialism to the recent measures taken by the people’s government in the north to counter the military threat from the United States and its lackeys in south Korea.

Though most of the audience comprised of long-standing supporters of the Korean revolution there were a number of new visitors who came because they wanted to hear the Korean people’s side of the story and were convinced enough at the end to support the solidarity message to Korean leader Kim Jong Un that was endorsed unanimously at the close of the afternoon session.

             The meeting was organised by the Co-ordinating Committee of the Friends of Korea, which brings together all the major movements active in Korean friendship work in Britain today.  It is chaired by Andy Brooks and the secretary is Michael Chant.

            The committee consists of the New Communist Party of Britain, Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (ML), Socialist Labour Party, European Regional Society for the Study of the Juché Idea and the UK Korean Friendship Association.

 Meetings are open to all friends of the Korean revolution and the committee organises events throughout the year in London, which are listed by the supporting movements and on the Friends of Korea blog.

Democratic Korea successfully launches a satellite into space!