Behind the mirror of lies

by New Worker correspondent

A hotel in the west end of Glasgow was recently the venue for the first Korean Friendship Association event in Glasgow for several years. Hosted by the Stand for Peace pacifist group  who regularly hold vigils in Glasgow and other Scottish cities and towns, it was the occasion for KFA UK’s Chair, Dermot Hudson, to address a packed audience on the theme of People’s Korea behind the Mirror of Lies. The audience, which included members of No to Nato, the NCP and other Scottish communist movements, was broadly sympathetic and genuinely curious about the DPR Korea, although one person seemed to take the Guardian and BBC too seriously. 
One of the lies which Dermot Hudson exposed was that the Western media often report that senior DPRK figures had been executed, only to have egg on their face when they reappear in public months later. This was just one small example of the lies constantly pumped out by the puppet regime in south Korea and their imperialist backers. On a lighter note, he caused amusement by citing an American who seriously claimed that while in the DPRK a power failure stopped a train which meant that he and other passengers then had to get out and push.
The reality is that DPRK citizens enjoy free housing, free health care, and free education. On his recent visit he noted a vast amount of construction work in Pyongyang and a vast programme of rural housing and factory building is underway.
 After his speech a healthy discussion took place around such matters as landownership as well as all sorts of questions about the political and social structures in People’ Korea. Hudson said the DPRK was an example of the Marxist-Leninist dictatorship of the proletariat. The impact of the recent deepening of relations between Russia and the DPRK was also discussed. To any doubting Thomases in the audience the speaker, while aware of the considerable expense involved, said that a visit would confirm his statements.
 It is to be hoped that this resumption of KFA activity north of the border will be followed up by future events. 

Sanctimonious Hypocrites

by New Worker correspondent

 The Society of Friends (Quakers) recently banned the Korean Friendship Association from using their Manchester meeting room. The room had been booked by a Manchester KFA representative but suddenly he got an email stating that: “I have referred your request to the committee of local Quakers and unfortunately we are not able to accept your booking. We understand that the DPRK does not fully support freedom of religion and as a Quaker venue we feel that we would not be living our own values if we were to allow the booking to go ahead”.

            Prior to this KFA comrades in Glasgow who tried to book a room in the Friends Meeting House were at first told that the booking was okay but then a few days later received an email saying that the meeting room was unavailable to KFA  and not giving a reason. Those two cases clearly demonstrate that the Manchester “local committee” was acting under instruction from higher powers.

  Chair of the UK Korean Friendship Association Dermot Hudson said “this is a deeply undemocratic move, denying KFA of the right to free speech, the right to association and the right to organise. Since when have Quaker values included discriminating against those with different beliefs to themselves? The Quakers have been shown up to another bunch of sanctimonious hypocrites”.

            The Quakers seem to be unaware of the fact that a Russian Orthodox Cathedral was consecrated in Pyongyang in 2006 to add to the roster of a Roman Catholic Cathedral and three Protestant churches in the capital. Ironically it was the heavy bombing by the United States Airforce which did much to undo the longstanding missionary work of earlier generations of Americans.