Stand by People’s Korea!

 

Dermot Hudson, Andy Brooks and Michael Chant

by New Worker correspondent

Solidarity campaigners returned to Brixton last weekend for a hybrid meeting which brought together leading members of the Friends of Korea committee in London and linked up with others around the country including a diplomat from the DPR Korea embassy. The latest in a series of occasional public meetings organised by the Co-ordinating Committee of Friends of Korea in Britain was chaired by NCP leader Andy Brooks and opened with contributions from Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association and Keith Bennett, the doyen of Korean solidarity work in the United Kingdom.
The DPRK and the Korean people have never wavered from defending their independence, their socialist system and their own path of development, as well as striving for peace in the face of imperialist intervention by US imperialism and its lackeys. The meeting discussed how, given the important geopolitical position of the country, People’s Korea has adopted a militant and resolute approach towards defending its socialist path and maintaining political power in the people’s hands. At the same time, the DPRK is making substantial progress in developing and consolidating its external relations.

Eyewitness Korea

 

Alan Bolon and Dermot Hudson

by New Worker correspondent

The DPR Korea is marching along the road to socialism. That was the message of Dermot Hudson who has recently returned from a visit to north Korea and that was the main theme of his talk at a Korean Friendship Association (KFA) meeting in the central London last weekend.
Andy Brooks and Michael Chant, the leaders of the NCP and the RCPB (ML), were in the audience that included other KFA members in London and a guest from KFA Poland. The meeting was also livestreamed on the internet which attracted participation throughout the world.
Dermot Hudson said that the people’s government is carrying out massive construction work in the capital, Pyongyang and that he saw the newly built Hwasong Street neighbourhood that is about the same size as a London borough or a small city. He said that the DPR Korea is carrying out massive housing construction not under ideal conditions but under the pressure of sanctions and military threats. But there are no homeless or beggars in the DPRK – unlike other Asian countries under the thumb of imperialism.
Dermot also spoke about his recent trip to Germany at the invitation of KFA Germany – taking part in a May Day march in Kassel, visiting the DPRK embassy in Berlin as well as the Volkskammer restaurant and the Ernst Thalmann Memorial Centre in Hamburg that reflects on Germany's communist history.
The meeting also heard Alan Bolon from the West of England branch of the KFA give a talk on the Juche Idea using a flip chart with diagrams to illustrate different aspects of the ideology that is the foundation of Korean-style socialism.

Stepping stones to socialism

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

by New Worker correspondent

Friends of Korea met in London last weekend to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 2nd September 1948. NCP leader Andy Brooks and Michael Chant from the RCPB (ML) were there along with other veteran campaigners and supporters of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) event at the Marchmont Centre in Bloomsbury on Saturday.
Opening the meeting KFA UK Chair Dermot Hudson said that “from the first day of its foundation, the DPRK has advanced along the road of Juche, the road of self-reliance, independence and socialism. Juche Korea was not a copy of another country but a unique and original state”.
DPRK diplomat Kim Song Gi  brought greetings from DPRK’s London embassy and told the audience that under the leadership of  Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il the DPRK travelled the road of struggle, never giving up even though the moves of the hostile forces continue to this day. And today, led by Kim Jong Un, the Korean people march confidently into the future. 
Other speakers included Jef Bossyut of the Belgium KFA and Jeremy Bieringer (KFA Germany) while  Alejandro Cao De Benos joined us live on video link from Spain. The fact that the DPRK has withstood the test of time, disasters, sanctions and imperialist threats for 75 years, is evidence of the invincible validity of its system and the full support of the korean people in its future”. Alejandro, the  international president of the Korean Friendship Association cannot travel abroad as his passport was confiscated by the Spanish authorities some seven years ago. But they haven’t, as yet,  barred him from the social media.
Christer Lundgren, the Chair of the Swedish-Korean Friendship Association, also joined us on Zoom saying “during its 75 years of existence the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has had extremely challenging difficulties to overcome, including the fierce Fatherland Liberation War, the postwar reconstruction and industrialization, continuous war threats and extreme economic difficulties caused by the imperialists’ manoeuvres to isolate and stifle People’s Korea as well as by the collapse of some other socialist countries”.
This hybrid meeting, spanned half the world. It was a first for the KFA. It certainly won’t be the last. 

The Korean War and its Relevance Today

 

A Friends of Korea committee seminar was held at the NCP Centre in London to commemorate the victory of the Korean people of US imperialism and its lackeys. Chaired by Andy Brooks the symposium heard papers from Michael Chant and Dermot Hudson video link contributions from Jong Gi Kim from the DPR Korea embassy in London. This is the contribution from Michael Chant, the secretary of the Friends of Korea Committee.

On July 27, 1953, the heroic forces of the Korean People’s Army and Chinese People’s Volunteer Army achieved victory in the Korean War by forcing the US imperialists and their allies to come north of the 38th parallel to sign the Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting in the Korean War. This was a victory not only for the Korean people, but for peace-loving humanity. The signing of the Armistice Agreement also signalled the first military defeat of the US following the Second World War — a humiliation which has haunted the US imperialists ever since, and for which it has yet to forgive the DPR Korea and the Korean people. From Britain, there were 81,084 men and women who served in the conflict, including 1,108 British servicemen who were killed in action. This is also a crime for which Britain must be held responsible.
    As we said in the invitation to participate in this seminar, on June 25, 1950, the US imperialists, under the aegis of the United Nations, had launched a brutal illegal war of aggression against the Korean nation. Since July 27, 1953, the US has done everything possible to maintain its military presence on the Korean Peninsula and keep the Korean War going. But the resistance of the DPRK continues, as the Korean people proudly demonstrate their mettle and build their own future.
    The Victory Day is not simply a celebration day for commemorating and looking back to a chapter of resistance in a previous era. The day also serves as a reminder that the US imperialists and their appeasers are stepping up war preparations in the Asia Pacific, and that the terrible tragedies visited upon the Korean people during the Korean War must never again be permitted. The significance of that war is taking on new meaning today as the US imperialists beat the drums of war to attempt to justify a nuclear catastrophe that threatens the very survival of the Korean people and the peoples of the world. But it further serves as a reminder that it is the people who are the makers of history and that they themselves must prevail against war.
    This year, on the 70th anniversary of July 27 1953, the people of the DPRK held activities to celebrate the victory, together with a delegation from the People’s Republic of China which took part in the events and a military delegation from the Russian Federation which also paid a congratulatory visit to the DPRK on the occasion.
    On July 25, leader Kim Jong Un had visited the Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery, paying high tribute to the martyrs who defended the sovereignty and security of the country and people at great cost. Kim Jong Un said that they provided the precious ideological and moral heritage and tradition of victory as a steadfast cornerstone for the DPRK. He made the important point that the victory of July 27, 1953, is of significance to all humanity. This is the case since it inflicted such a disgraceful defeat on US imperialism, but also played its part in preventing a new world war at that time.
    On visiting the martyrs' cemetery of the Chinese People’s Volunteers, Kim Jong Un further elaborated on the significance of the DPRK’s victory in the war, saying that it was a hard fought just war not only to defend the dignity, honour and sovereignty of Korea and its people but also essential to defend world peace and security. It was, he said, an acute political and military confrontation with the imperialist forces which was waged on behalf of the peace-loving forces and progressive humankind. That great victory continues to show its vitality today.
    The US had intervened in Korea based on the reactionary Cold War policy of the “containment of communism”. From the Japanese colonial era through the Second World War, the outstanding resistance and guerrilla warfare carried out in Korea under the leadership of Kim Il Sung and other communists brought great prestige to communism throughout Korea for its ability to mobilise and organise the people to defend themselves.
    Even before the surrender of Japan, the US divided Korea by force at the 38th parallel with the aim of imposing their rule over the victorious Korean people who had contributed, second to none, to the Allied victory in the Second World War. The aim was to keep the Korean people divided and to turn the south of Korea into a US military beachhead in order to wage war against China and the Soviet Union.
Following the Japanese surrender, the US brutally suppressed and outlawed the Korean People’s Republic that had been proclaimed by the representatives of the whole Korean people on September 6 1945, in Seoul. The US installed the US Military Government of Korea in the south which carried out a campaign of terror against the Korean people’s resistance to US dictate and occupation. A virulent anti-communist, Syngman Rhee, who had spent most of his life in the US, was installed as the first President of the so-called Republic of Korea (ROK) in July 1948. The pro-US Rhee government continued to suppress the Korean people’s widespread resistance to US military occupation through extrajudicial killings, civilian massacres, mass incarcerations and other crimes, carried out with impunity.
    Meanwhile in the north, the Korean people, under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, were able to establish the Workers’ Party of Korea and found the DPRK in 1948. They took control of their future and began to build a modern socialist society on the basis of self-reliance. President Kim Il Sung and the Workers’ Party of Korea also provided political and practical leadership to the Korean people’s aspiration for a reunified Korea. It was following the ROK elections of May 29, 1950, when the Syngman Rhee government suffered a major electoral setback and the forces for reunification were gaining momentum, that the US launched the Korean War on June 25, 1950, to block the independent reunification of Korea.
    In the Korean War, the people of the DPRK, led by Kim Il Sung, were organised by the Workers’ Party of Korea and mobilised to support the Korean People’s Army. The newly established People’s Republic of China sent troops in the form of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army to support the Korean people after US forces approached China’s eastern border with the DPRK. They ardently defended the Korean people in this war of aggression carried out by the US imperialists and 15 allied countries, including Britain, under the fig leaf of the UN flag.
    The armistice talks began on July 10, 1951. However, the US refused to agree to a ceasefire as a condition of talks and also refused to abide by the Geneva Convention regarding the repatriation of prisoners. During the two-year period of negotiations, the US and its allies employed all sorts of delaying tactics in the hope of achieving an outright military victory. They massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians in the north and south of Korea, with many buried alive, dismembered, burned to death or drowned. They carried out such war crimes as germ and chemical warfare, the bombing of infrastructure including dams and irrigation canals to flood the grain fields and starve the people, the carpet bombing of civilian targets, and the massive use of napalm — all to terrorise the Korean people into submission. An estimated 4.6 million Koreans, mostly civilians, perished during the war.
    However, a US victory was not to be. The Korean people, led by Kim Il Sung and the Korean People’s Army, with the help of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, defeated the troops of the US and the other aggressor nations. The US was forced to come to the north to sign the Armistice Agreement in Panmunjom. It was a bitter pill to swallow — being defeated for the first time in the 20th century and by a small Asian nation at that.
    In the spirit of revenge-seeking and stubbornly following its own geopolitical interests, the US has refused ever since to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War, as stipulated by the terms of the Armistice Agreement, despite the repeated invitations by the DPRK to do so.
    Item 60, Article IV of the Armistice Agreement states: “In order to insure the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, the military Commanders of both sides hereby recommend to the governments of the countries concerned on both sides that, within three (3) months after the Armistice Agreement is signed and becomes effective, a political conference of a higher level of both sides be held by representatives appointed respectively to settle through negotiation the questions of the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea, the peaceful settlement of the Korean question, etc.”

ongoing imperialist aggression

Since July 27 1953, the US has done everything possible to maintain its military presence in Korea and keep the Korean War going. On October 1, 1953, it concluded the US-South Korea Mutual Defence Treaty, which has since become the basis of the continued US military presence in south Korea that is opposed by the vast majority of the Korean people. It is also the basis by which the US/south Korean forces carry out their Key Resolve/Foal Eagle and many other joint military exercises, which now include Britain, as well as Japan, Australia, and others, and are aimed at invading the DPRK and imposing regime change.
    The US continues to rebuff all attempts at normalising DPRK-US relations, including diplomatic resolutions to such issues as the DPRK’s use of nuclear energy and the development of its nuclear deterrent capability, while at the same time it maintains and expands its own nuclear weapons in the south. The US has also increased economic and political sanctions against the DPRK, another form of warfare, as it is doing against other countries that affirm their right to be and refuse to submit to US dictate. The Biden administration continues the disinformation about “human rights violations” in the DPRK in a feeble attempt to divert from its own human rights abuses at home and abroad.
    The British government for its part maintains its hostility to the DPRK, following the lead of the US. On the anniversary of the Armistice Agreement, it shamelessly referred to the US and British aggression as a “war for freedom”. Today the government also follows the US in promoting the so-called “rules-based international order”, in which it is not international law which prevails but “rules” which are made by and serve the interests of US imperialism. Britain also follows the US in terming its marauding in the Indo-Pacific region as “enhancing security”, which the government defines as “shifting greater resource to the region and developing nations’ ability to police and protect their waters”.
    The British government further shamelessly states: “Two Royal Navy Offshore Patrol Vessels are deployed to the Indo-Pacific on a permanent basis, and in their first year of operation succeeded in enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea, […]. The UK’s Carrier Strike Group will return to the Indo-Pacific in 2025, representing our commitment to exercise the best capabilities our Armed Forces have to offer alongside partners in the region.”
    However, as time goes on, the US imperialists and their allies are increasingly isolated in terms of relations with the DPRK. The DPRK’s principled stand in defence of its sovereignty and right to self-determination, and its consistent defence of the Korean nation’s honour continue to win the support of all humanity who can clearly see who is the aggressor on the Korean Peninsula.
    The aim of the US remains the same today as it was at the end of the Second World War — to occupy the entire Korean Peninsula as a launching pad for its takeover of Asia and then the world. And the US justification for doing so remains as bankrupt as ever. All the attempts of the US to realise its domination of the region — its occupation of the Korean Peninsula with almost 30,000 troops and its military bases, the ongoing attempts to sabotage the Korean people’s movement for national reunification, and its engineering of puppet regimes in the south — have failed to silence the resolve of the 70 million Koreans who are united in their aspiration for the peaceful, independent reunification of their homeland, free of US imperialist interference.

the anti-war movement

The criminal role of the US imperialists in Korea, from 1945 to the present, has been exposed for the whole world to see, and the resolute struggle of the Korean people for peace and justice, independence and reunification stands as an example for all the peoples of the world aspiring for peace. It is the task that Friends of Korea and all friendship organisations have taken up to tell the truth about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and patiently explain the contribution that the DPRK is making to peace and stability to the region and its wider implications.
    The first demand of the Korean people and all peace- and justice-loving people around the world is that the US signs a peace treaty with the DPRK to replace the Armistice Agreement and end the Korean War. This would be a major step to stabilise the political situation on the Korean Peninsula and ease tensions. To date the US has violated all the terms of the Armistice Agreement since the time it was signed and has constantly rebuffed efforts by the DPRK to normalise relations between the two countries. The DPRK knows first-hand the perfidy and subterfuge of the US imperialists and refuses to participate in “empty talks” that do not advance peace on the Korean Peninsula.
    For the people in Britain, it is crucial that the demand be made that Britain make amends for its role in the crimes perpetrated against the Korean people during the Korean War. Further, Britain must immediately end its participation in the illegal naval embargo against the DPRK, which is part of the US-led sanctions regime and an act of war and a crime against the peace, the most serious war crime under international law. Friends of Korea will itself do its work to hold the US responsible for its crimes on the Korean Peninsula before, during and since the Korean War and demand that it sign a peace treaty with the DPRK to end the Korean War. For the people, this is a matter of contributing to making sure that another Korean War does not break out and providing every support to the Korean people’s drive to reunify their divided country. It is also a contribution to ensuring peace around the world.
    One of the crucial issues about which confusion is spread is that of the danger of nuclear war. Using the nuclear threat as an instrument of negotiations – agree with our terms or else – was a practice introduced by the US at the time of the criminal bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945. This practice was first heroically rejected by the Korean people in the 1950-1953 Korean War. Subsequently the heroic Vietnamese people did the same in the context of their War of National Liberation.
    The US, together with Britain, are intent on raising hysteria on the nuclear issue to a fever pitch in order to prevent humankind from thinking, from actually assessing the conditions and what these conditions reveal, and so prevent people uniting in favour of peace. The hysteria and disinformation is an attempt to block discussion on what can be done to turn things around in favour of the peoples. To open a path to progress and end the retrogression which the imperialists are pushing onto the peoples of the world, it is crucial to broaden discussions amongst ourselves so as to not permit the campaign of disinformation to be effective.
    The conditions given rise to after World War II ended with the collapse of the former Soviet Union. That ended the domination of two superpowers and an equilibrium between them based on nuclear deterrence. The so-called unipolar world which they tried to bring into being, with the US as self-declared indispensable nation, also no longer exists.
    The Korean War is an example of seeing where justice prevails. Furthermore, it can be seen that the present defensive measures being taken by the DPRK, far from being the threat to peace that is being claimed by the US, Britain and others, is a defence against the danger of war, a danger comes from the criminal striving of the US for world domination.
    The world that the people aspire to is in the grasp of the people’s forces working to make it happen. It can be said that fighting for an anti-war government at home will also be a contribution to ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and vice versa. Friends of Korea will certainly continue its work in favour of support and friendship with the DPRK. This is not a narrow aim, but is a component part of bringing into being a world where peace prevails, and countries can follow their path of independence, security and sovereignty without the interference of US imperialism, together with Britain and other big powers.

US Troops Out of Korea!
US Sign a Peace Treaty with the DPRK Now!
No to the Warmongering of Britain!
Unite in Favour of Peace and Independence!

For peace on the Korean peninsula

in the Sid French library

by New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity campaigners met at the NCP’s Party Centre in London last weekend for a hybrid seminar to celebrate the victory of the Korean people over US imperialism and its lackeys in the Korean war and discuss the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula and the way forward for the solidarity campaign in Britain.
    NCP leader Andy Brooks, who chaired the Friends of Korea (FoK) event, welcomed everyone to the meeting, at the Sid French library or by video link, to hear key-note openings from FoK secretary Michael Chant and Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association and an online contribution from Song Gi Kim from the Democratic Korean embassy in London. This was followed by contributions from everyone in the room and from many of the online participants across the country.
    The Korean war ended on 27th July 1953 with an armistice that promised free elections to end the partition of the Korean peninsula. But the Americans never kept their word and the country remains divided between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north and a puppet regime in the south that is propped up by tens of thousands of US troops and an American nuclear armada off the coast.
    The US has done everything possible to maintain its military presence on the Korean peninsula. But the resistance of the DPRK continues, as the Korean people proudly demonstrate their mettle and build their own future.
    Victory Day is not simply a celebration for commemorating and looking back to a chapter of resistance in a previous era. The day also serves as a reminder that the US imperialists and their lackeys are stepping up war preparations in the Asia Pacific rim, and that the terrible tragedies visited upon the Korean people during the Korean War must never again be permitted. The significance of that war is taking on new meaning today as the US imperialists beat the drums of war to attempt to justify a nuclear catastrophe that threatens the very survival of the Korean people and the peoples of the world. But it further serves as a reminder that it is the people who are the makers of history and that they themselves must prevail against war.

Democratic Korea’s Line of March

1Korean solidarity campaigners held a seminar at the NCP Party Centre on 13th August to celebrate the 77th Anniversary of the Liberation of Korea on 15th August 1945. This is the contribution by Michael Chant, the Secretary of the Friends of Korea.

As Friends of Korea said in publicising this seminar, we aim to review the achievements of the DPRK in building Korean-style socialism, demonstrating the incomparable advances since the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the founding of the DPRK on September 9, 1948. The seminar underscores how liberation was an act of the Korean people themselves, which the US-led powers have sought in every way from that day to this to negate. The DPRK and the Korean people have never wavered from defending their right to be and their own path of development, striving for peace and for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
    In the long line of march, which itself has its origins in the desire of the Korean people for dignity and independence, and a future based on the development of the Korean nation, giving rise to the legendary leader of the Korean people, Kim Il Sung, and the Down With Imperialism Union, can be seen the historical perspective, not only of the Korean people, but of peoples everywhere, striving for freedom from subjugation by big powers, particularly today that of US imperialism, and from tyranny, and attain genuine independence and control of one’s own future and destiny.
    Even before the surrender of Japan, announced on 15th August 1945, and formally signed on 2nd September, the US divided Korea by force around the 38th parallel with the aim of imposing their rule over the victorious Korean people who had contributed, second to none, to the Allied victory in the Second World War. The aim was to keep the Korean people divided and to turn the south of Korea into a US military fortress in order to wage war against China and the Soviet Union. Even though today the US state is unravelling, the US still views the Korean Peninsula as a means to attempt to dominate China and establish a bridgehead between China and Russia.
    Following the Japanese surrender, the US brutally suppressed and outlawed the Korean People’s Republic that had been proclaimed by the representatives of the whole Korean people on September 6, 1945, in Seoul. The US installed the US Military Government of Korea in the south which carried out a campaign of terror against the Korean people’s resistance to US dictate and occupation. Virulent anti-communist Syngman Rhee, who had spent most of his life in the US, was installed as the first President of the so-called Republic of Korea (ROK) in July 1948. The pro-US Rhee government continued to suppress the Korean people’s widespread resistance to US military occupation through extrajudicial killings, civilian massacres, mass incarcerations and other crimes, carried out with impunity.
    At this point, let us look at the tasks which were elaborated by Kim Il Sung immediately following liberation, as we are holding this seminar to celebrate the anniversary of August 15, 1945. They illustrate that mapping out a line of march, how to advance along it, where on this line of march the people’s forces are located – all this is crucial at each stage of nation-building, establishing and building a new society, and organising the people to defend their own interests, their well-being and strive for peace. In other words, it has never been, for the Korean people and their leadership, a matter of declaring that the socialist society is superior, and all that remains is implementation. This has been the experience of the international communist movement as a whole.
    The Works of Kim Il Sung reproduce no less than 30 speeches and reports that Kim Il Sung made between August 15 and December 31, 1945, laying the foundations of the new, democratic Korea and its line of march.
    To give just a very few examples, in the talk with political workers, titled Building of New Korea and Immediate Tasks of Communists, Kim Il Sung says, among many other guidelines based on an analysis of the situation, that “we should follow the course of liquidating the survivals of Japanese imperialism and feudalism and building a genuine democratic society. This is the very way demanded by the realities of our country and desired by the masses of people”. He urges the political workers, “You should explain and propagate our policy for nation-building unremittingly among the masses,” adding, “You should do this by rousing advanced elements to activity and setting in motion various mass media including newspapers, so that they, fully aware which is the right road for Korea to follow, forge ahead vigorously along this road.” After dealing with the tasks in founding and building a “revolutionary party of the working class”, Kim Il Sung emphasises, in relation to local government bodies, “Only when genuine people’s power is established can we use it as a weapon to smash to atoms all manoeuvres of the enemy, transform society on a democratic basis and achieve the victory of the revolution.”
    He continues, “In order to frustrate all the moves of the reactionaries, ensure success in nation-building and safeguard the security of the people reliably, the power of the broad masses should be marshalled and at the same time people’s security organisations should be formed.” And, “To carry out our historic cause of nation-building successfully at present, we should firmly unite the broad sections of the people.” Kim Il Sung was making this point when “some people have not yet shaken off the influence of the vile propaganda conducted by the Japanese imperialists against communism,” as he puts it.
    In a lecture given to students of the Pyongyang Worker-Peasant Political School, titled On Progressive Democracy, Kim Il Sung points out the importance of giving Korea the right orientation in the building of a new Korea and taking the road to progressive democracy. As he says, this is “a road that holds out the promise of grandeur and progress for the fatherland and eternal prosperity for the people”. Kim Il Sung points out six characteristic features of the democracy that the Korean people aspire to, a democracy, he says, which is “fundamentally different from that of Western capitalist countries, nor is it a slavish copy of that of a socialist country”. These features of the Korean people’s democracy, he says, are that it: is characterised by independence; is characterised by coalition; guarantees the masses of people freedom and equality; aims not only at independence and sovereignty, national unity and democratic freedom but also at the building of a prosperous country; aims at revolution as one of its major characteristic features; and, aims at peace.
    Very soon, in the north of Korea, the Korean people mobilised under the leadership of Kim Il Sung and following his guidance, were able to found the DPRK in 1948. They took control of their future and began to build a modern socialist society on the basis of self-reliance. President Kim Il Sung and the Workers’ Party of Korea, founded as the Communist Party of North Korea in 1945, also provided political and practical leadership to the Korean people’s aspiration for a reunified Korea.
    However, it was following the south Korean elections of May 29, 1950, when the Syngman Rhee government suffered a major electoral setback and the forces for reunification were gaining momentum, that the US imperialists provoked and launched the Korean War on June 25, 1950, to block the independent reunification of Korea.
    It is fitting to mention that it was on July 27, 1953, that the heroic forces of the Korean People’s Army, with the profound fraternal assistance of the forces of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army, achieved victory by forcing the US imperialists and their allies to come north of the 38th parallel to sign the Armistice Agreement that ended the fighting in the Fatherland Liberation War. The signing of the Armistice Agreement also signalled the first military defeat of the US following the Second World War - a humiliation which has haunted the US imperialists ever since, and for which it has yet to forgive the DPRK and the Korean people.
    It should be mentioned that the people of the DPRK this year, on the anniversary of the historic date of July 27th , held a grand celebration in Pyongyang at which respected leader Kim Jong Un delivered an important speech.
    Victory Day, he explained “is not merely a celebration day for commemorating and looking back to the chapter of resistance in the heroic era. The day serves as a valuable and significant occasion for us to judge whether we can proudly say before the embodiment and witnesses of history, who brought about the greatest victory in the harshest and grimmest annals, that our current struggle is an inheritance of the great tradition and to renew confidence and courage, passion and mettle.”
    Kim Jong Un pointed out the significance of what has been achieved since then, saying, “Our Republic has firmly safeguarded socialism and built up formidable self-defensive strategic potentials in the fierce confrontation with the United States, which spanned nearly 70 years after the war.” Referring to the achievements since the historic defeat of the US imperialists, he said these are “even greater than the victory in the Fatherland Liberation War”.
    Speaking about the present era, where the US continues colluding with hostile elements in south Korea to block the Korean people’s striving for peaceful reunification and independence, Kim Jong Un sent a “serious warning to the south Korean conservative regime and its hawks that run amuck”, who think that based on military might the entire Korean Peninsula is theirs and who “stand in the van of implementing the US hostile policy towards the DPRK”. He said that if the south Korean regime and military think about confronting the DPRK militarily and that “they can neutralise or destroy some parts of our military forces pre-emptively by resorting to some special military means and methods, they are grossly mistaken!”. Such a dangerous attempt will be stopped and the aggressive forces destroyed, he stated.
    As Kim Il Sung had stated back in 1945, “The building of an independent and sovereign democratic state is in full accord with the specific realities of Korea and the will of our people. Only by building such a state can we make our country rich, strong, enlightened and bring prosperity to our nation.”
    It is clear that this line of march elaborated by President Kim Il Sung has been traversed since liberation by the people of the DPRK for 77 years, all the while - under his leadership, under the leadership of Kim Jong Il and now under the respected leadership of Kim Jong Un and the Workers’ Party of Korea - characterising and resolving the tasks and issues of nation-building and building Korean-style socialism at each juncture. Friends of Korea can only warmly endorse the words of Kim Jong Un in his characterisation of the incomparable achievements of the present era.
    The United States, with Britain in close alliance, is flailing about, seeking to order and divide the world. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is exemplary in confronting this world crisis, and its stand of internationalism also underpins its firm stand in promoting and safeguarding peace. The DPRK is not about to submit to the nuclear blackmail of the US. For its part, the US today is only concerned about the destruction of what it cannot control. It cannot be forgotten that the United States is the only country to have used nuclear weapons. This was a war crime of immense proportions. And the use of nuclear weapons was the option favoured by General MacArthur to obliterate the Korean resistance led by Kim Il Sung and to wipe out the Chinese volunteers who joined that resistance. They were not used, in part because the US military and presidency could not agree on also using nuclear weapons against China. Instead, the US carried out carpet bombing of civilians and infrastructure in Korea and used chemical and biological weapons.
    It is certain beyond any shadow of a doubt that the DPRK will continue to advance along the path of building a prosperous socialist country with the people’s rights and well-being at the centre of considerations. The future is in the hands of all the people, especially the youth, as shown by the ceremony in which the national flag of the DPRK was handed over to young people at a meeting of the youth and students with war veterans.

Salute the Heroic Korean People on 77 Years of Liberation!

Korea’s road to freedom (1)

by New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity campaigners returned to the Sid French library at the NCP Party Centre last weekend for a seminar that focused on the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Korea and the outstanding achievements of the Korean communists who freed the country from Japanese colonialism and then went on to lead the people’s government that beat back the American invaders and their lackeys during the Korean war.
    NCP leader Andy Brooks, who chaired the Friends of Korea event, welcomed everyone to the meeting and then introduced the two main speakers – Michael Chant, the secretary of the Committee and Dermot Hudson, the Chair of the Korean Friendship Association.
    They both highlighted the immense achievements of the Workers Party of Korea over the past 70-odd years. Michael Chant stressed that the liberation of Korea on 15th August 1945 was not the gift of the Americans who claim that it was all down to their atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki but an act of the Korean people themselves who took up arms under the leadership of Kim Il Sung in the 1930s in the long march to end the brutal Japanese occupation.
    And as Dermot Hudson said “the defeat of Japanese imperialism, one of the main forces and shock brigade of international fascism , by the partisans of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army led by the great leader Kim Il Sung made a great contribution to the victory of the worldwide anti-fascist forces”. This sparked off a deeper look at Korean-style socialism.
    Kim Il Sung not only grasped Marxism-Leninism but he applied it to the concrete conditions of the Korean people. He knew that once the masses realised their own strength they would become unstoppable. He knew that serving the people was the be-all and end-all for Korean communists and for the Workers’ Party of Korea that he launched in 1945. He developed Korean-style socialism and the Juché idea – which elevates the philosophical principles of Marxism-Leninism as well as its economic theories and focuses on the development of each individual worker, who can only be truly free as part of the collective will of the masses.
    In the Western world Juché is often described as “self-reliance” but it is much more than that. Kim Il Sung said that working people could only become genuinely emancipated if they stood on their own feet. But the Juché idea doesn’t negate proletarian internationalism. The Soviet Union, People’s China and the people’s democracies of eastern Europe all closed ranks behind DPR Korea during the Korean war and likewise Democratic Korea has given concrete support to Egypt, Syria, Zimbabwe and many other Third World countries struggling against neo-colonialism.
    The seminar reviewed the achievements of the DPRK in building Korean-style socialism, demonstrating the incomparable advances since the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule in 1945 and the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on 9th September 1948. Following the foot-steps of Kim Il Sung and his successor Kim Jong Il the Workers Party of Korea with Kim Jong Un at the helm continues to defend the Korean people’s own path of development, striving for peace and for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.

Taking a Stand in Support of the DPRK’s Right to Be

by Michael Chant

a contribution made at a Friends of Korea seminar in London on Saturday 6th November 2021 

Friends of Korea would once again like to emphasise the importance of taking a stand in support of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s right to exist and choose its own path of development, striving for peace and for the reunification of the Korean Peninsula; and of supporting the just stands of the DPRK internationally at this crucial time in the face of hostility from the United States and other big powers, including Britain.

For us, the priority is to provide information, combat disinformation and defend the DPRK’s right to be and the right to of the people to decide their own future. We have that duty in Britain, and that is the programme of the Friends of Korea. Thus we hope this seminar today, with its speakers and participants, will contribute towards this aim.

The first thing to grasp is who is hostile to whom. The US and Britain make wild accusations against the DPRK but any sober assessment of the situation shows that the danger comes from the US and its allies. The US stresses its role as the “indispensable nation”, and lashes out to combat any challenge to this. The US has entered into several known military agreements to surround and threaten the DPRK, China and indeed all the peoples in the Asia Pacific region. Already the US stations tens of thousands of troops and war materiel and equipment in Japan, south Korea and several south Pacific islands. The US military regularly sends warships and planes to prowl the waters surrounding China and the Korean Peninsula to probe and test the defences of both countries. The US is refusing to permit a peaceful political settlement of any issue in the Asia Pacific region.

These are not only measures against the DPRK, China and the whole Asia Pacific region, but are in fact directed against the interests of the peoples everywhere, and all these hostile measures are an affront to all who take an anti-war stand. This is a stand that Friends of Korea firmly takes. In fact, the US maintains a large military presence of bases, troops and war equipment in south Korea that is used to intimidate and blockade the DPRK, as well of course as threatening China. This is also aimed at suppressing the people’s democratic movement in the south of the Korean Peninsula for the peaceful reunification of the Korean nation.

Of note in this context is the AUKUS military pact. AUKUS is a trilateral military pact announced on September 15 involving Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The pact includes war preparations to attack the DPRK and China, and an agreement for Australia to buy nuclear powered submarines from the US war economy. The three war partners are to co-operate in sending warships and planes throughout the Asia Pacific region and co-ordinate spying and cyber-activity directed at the DPRK, China and all peoples of the region. Britain recently ordered its Royal Navy/Royal Air Force Carrier Strike Group led by the new multi-billion dollar HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to sail provocatively close to China through the Taiwan Straits on September 27, mirroring the US move in August.

Britain is also participating in the illegal sanctions the European Union has imposed against the DPRK, despite having withdrawn from the EU. It is doing so specifically with the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations”.

These hostile activities have constantly been addressed by the DPRK, and it is this that provides the aim of its defence and military capabilities. In the face of this hostility, the DPRK has waged its struggle for its right to be during the last 70 years and more in the face of US aggression, war and brutal sanctions. The principled stand of the DPRK is to uphold its sovereignty and dignity under all conditions.

The 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea held in January addressed this question. The main thrust of the 8th Congress in this regard was that it reiterated the DPRK's determination to uphold its self-reliant Juche outlook, strengthen its independent economy to counter the brutal sanctions regime of the Anglo-Americans, and defend itself against threats and aggression from the US and others.

Noting in January that whoever became the US President, the real intentions of its policy toward the DPRK would never change, the report to the Congress stressed the need for an adroit strategy towards the US, at the same time as steadily expanding solidarity with the anti-imperialist, independent forces. The report also referred to the need to frustrate the reactionary offensive of the enemy and raise the prestige of the DPRK by enhancing the role of the external information sector. It stressed the need for the field of external work to further develop relations with the socialist countries, consolidate unity and co-operation with the revolutionary and progressive parties which aspire for independence, and for launching a dynamic joint struggle against imperialism on a worldwide scale so as to make the external environment of the DPRK ever-more favourable, it was reported.

The report expressed the steadfast determination of the WPK to reliably defend the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula as well as of the rest of the world. There is no country on this planet, it said, which is permanently exposed to the threat of war as is the DPRK, nor a country as strong in its people's desire for peace. Friends of Korea is fully behind these affirmations and sentiments expressed in the WPK report.

More recently, on October 11, in his commemorative speech at the Defence Development Exhibition, respected leader Kim Jong Un noted that the exhibition was an opportunity to see how the defence capability of the DPRK had developed. The DPRK is holding fast to the principle of self-defence, and developing military science and the munitions industry in this context, especially over the past five years, he emphasised.

Kim Jong Un said: “The core of our Party's defence policy is to defend our country and people by our own efforts, and contain any threat and challenge. It is to reliably and steadfastly safeguard peace by means of a steadily-developing, powerful defence capability.”

He pointed out that historically the Korean nation had suffered invasion by foreign forces, and has had to build socialism under the constant threats by hostile forces. In view of this lesson of the history of the nation and the demand and special character of the Korean revolution, he said, the building up of national defence is an indispensable and vital state affair which the Workers’ Party of Korea, together with the DPRK government and people, must not neglect for even a moment.

The DPRK leader underlined that the rapid development of military techniques and hardware is changing the aspect of military operations and the security environment of states in every region of the present world. “The military danger facing our state due to the military tension prevailing around the Korean peninsula is different from that ten or five, nay, three years ago,” he said.

“Seeing the contents of various military exercises the United States and south Korea frequently wage on the pretext of coping with what they call threats while talking about peace, cooperation and prosperity in public and south Korea's attempt to modernise its armaments which has recently become intolerably undisguised,” he said, “we can easily guess how military environment will change in the region of the Korean peninsula tomorrow. Recently, south Korea has been trying to upgrade the fighting efficiency of its army under the powerful sponsorship of the United States, bringing in a large number of cutting-edge weapons of various kinds including stealth joint strike fighters and high altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.”

In fact, as the speech explained, the south is focusing on modernising its strike weapons of different kinds. It is developing various warheads and extending the range of its missiles so as to upgrade its overall missile capacity. The military objective of these strike weapons is clear. It is the DPRK. The south is also working to develop the combat efficiency of its submarines and is developing fighter aircraft. “South Korea's attempt,” the speech said, “is too dangerous to be left to itself, but what is more dangerous is its justification for modernising its armaments and its hypocritical double-dealing attitude.”

What of relations between the DPRK and the Republic of Korea in this context? It can be said that whenever the Korean people have made headway in building inter-Korean relations and strengthening the movement for reunification, the US imperialists have intervened to sabotage these efforts. This remains the case.

The 8th Congress of the WPK had noted that in terms of its relations with the US, the DPRK has no illusions and will engage in relations on the basis of "goodwill for goodwill and power for power". The Congress had laid down that the DPRK will be developing and strengthening its international relations in support of the cause of peace and justice everywhere, extending a hand of friendship to all who reciprocate. As Kim Jong Un said at the Defence Development Exhibition, “Our arch-enemy is war itself, not south Korea, the United States or any other specific state or forces.”

In conclusion, it can be said that the DPRK conducts its foreign relations on the basis of principle and upholding its right to be. Contrary to the disinformation carried by the imperialist system of states that the DPRK is a violator of human rights, it is the draconian sanctions imposed by the US, Britain, and others that constitute gross human rights violations, acts of war and collective punishment against the people of the DPRK, which is doing its utmost to defend the rights of its people against this aggression.

The decisive factor in the future of Korea is the Korean people themselves, not anyone or any other power, and their drive for peace and reunification is bound to eventually succeed.

Finally, Friends of Korea would like to emphasise once again the importance of speaking out in defence of the DPRK and its right to be. This is crucial in the context of the continued attacks on it by the US imperialists and their allies including the British government.

We stand as one with the DPRK in its right to pursue its own path of social development, which they must be allowed to do without the threat of war, aggression, sanctions and interference of any kind. We have every confidence in the resilience of the DPRK and the justice of its cause. Friends of Korea will redouble its efforts in its work to embody the friendship and solidarity of democratic people in this country in support of the DPRK’s right to be. This is a matter of war and peace, with the DPRK contributing to the cause of peace on the Korean Peninsula, in the Asia Pacific region and internationally.