An afternoon for Korea

By New Worker correspondent

FRIENDS of the Korean revolution returned to the historic Lucas Arms in north London on Saturday for a further celebration of the foundation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Academics and school students joined Korean solidarity workers to take part in the meeting called by the British Juché Idea Study Group at the Kings Cross pub, which has been a working class venue for many years and was the place where the Committee to Defeat Revisionism for Communist Unity was founded to challenge the leadership of the old Communist Party of Great Britain in 1963.

             Dermot Hudson opened the meeting by saying that the 65^th anniversary of the DPRK was proudly celebrated by the successful Worker-Peasant Red Guard parade in the DPRK on September. He also paid tribute to Madame Kim Jong Suk the mother of Korea who passed away 64 years ago on the 22^nd September.

                  Shaun Pickford, the secretary general of the group, was unable to travel into London as his father is gravely ill. But he sent a paper that stressed the remarkable achievements of Democratic Korea over the past 65 years, including free medical care, free housing, no taxation and other benefits of the DPRK's social system. In the DPRK there is the tradition of collectivism throughout society, the spirit of single-hearted unity.

Dermot then followed with a contribution on the Juché and Songun politics that had transformed the DPR Korea into a modern socialist republic. And this was taken up Dr Hugh Goodacre, a senior lecturer in economics who explained the deep significance of anniversary of the foundation within the context of the Juché Idea. He said that in the DPRK the people are the masters of the state.  The great leader President Kim Il Sung was a great man of the people, Hugh said, who mixed with workers and farmers and even shook the ink-stained hands of academics!

Dr Goodacre, who is an accomplished linguist, demonstrated his talents by singing the national anthem of the DPRK in Korean to the applause of the audience and the meeting ended in informal discussion and a buffet.

Visiting Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Centre of Unity and Peace

Sixty-Five Fighting Years!

By New Worker correspondent

ON THE 9^th SEPTEMBER 1948 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the free northern part of the Korean peninsula that had once been part of the Japanese Empire. In the DPRK it is a public holiday and hundreds of thousands of Koreans packed Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang for a spectacular military and civilian parade through the capital.

It’s a special day for Koreans on both sides of the divided country and amongst the overseas Korean community because on that day in 1948 the Korean people expressed their democratic will through popular power and immediately took the first steps towards building a new socialist life for the workers and peasants who had fought to free themselves from the Japanese yoke that had enslaved them for many decades.

 It’s also special day for communists all over the world who showed their solidarity with Democratic Korea. London was no exception. Communists and Korean solidarity activists joined diplomats, journalists and business-people at a lunch-time reception at the DPRK embassy that was opened by DPRK ambassador Hyong Hak Bong last week.

Andy Brooks, Hyong Hak Bong and Michael Chant at the reception

 The leaders of the NCP and the RCPB (ML), Andy Brooks and Michael Chant, were there along with veteran London communist Monty Goldman from the CPB, who was jailed for two months for protesting against the Korean War, as well as Daphne Liddle, the joint editor of the New Worker, and Dermot Hudson from the Korean Friendship Association.

And Comrade Hyong Hak Bong returned to south London as guest of honour at a meeting and social to honour the 65^th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that was opened by Andy Brooks, who chairs the Friends of Korea, in south London on Sunday.

The event, at the south London headquarters of the RCPB (ML) kicked off with a spirited rendition of the DPRK national anthem and the Song of Kim Il Sung by the violinist Leslie Larkum, who has recently visited Democratic Korea. This was followed by the screening of a documentary covering the recent visit of a RCPB (ML) delegation to Democratic Korea produced by one of their own comrades.

Comrades heard lively eye-witness reports from comrades who took part in the recent 60^th anniversary celebration in the DPRK of the Korean people’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War in July. Michael Chant, Leslie Larkum and Dermot Hudson painted a vivid picture of Democratic Korea which is led by Kim Jong Un and guided by Marxism-Leninism and the Juché Idea and also determined to struggle for reunification and defend its socialist path.

Comrade Hyong Hak Bong addresses the meeting

 And a 16-year-old student who was also in Pyongyang in July told us about his impressions of the socialist capital and his struggle to tell the truth at school about the reality of the DPRK today.

Other friends of Korea, like John McLeod of the Socialist Labour Party and Theo Russell of the NCP, who have also been to north Korea, joined in a general discussion that ended with an appeal from Hyong Hak Bong for everyone to go to the DPRK, if they can, and see for the new life for the Korean people with their own eyes. 

• Korea -- A Day to Remember  
• Joyous 65th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK 

Eyewitness Korea

Andy Brooks makes his point

 by  New Worker

  correspondent

THE KOREAN people marked the 60^th anniversary of the defeat of US imperialism and its lackeys with a great parade through Pyongyang last month. And last Saturday friends and comrades gathered in central London to hear an eye-witness account of the commemorations and peace marches held in the DPR Korea to mark the end of the Korean War.

Dermot Hudson, who spent a week in the DPR Korea, told the meeting of his impressions when he joined hundreds of thousands of Korean workers to see the great demonstration of Democratic Korea’s defence forces on 27^th July. He also took part in the reunification march and visited Panmunjom on the ceasefire line where the Americans were forced to accept an armistice.

Dermot from the Juché Idea Study Group said: "The situation in the DPRK is extremely good. Pyongyang is alive with massive construction work everywhere including many new apartment blocks. Since I last visited the DPRK in September 2012 many new cultural-leisure facilities such as the Ryugyong Health Complex have opened. On our way to Kaesong and Sinchon we could see crops growing in the fields well. There were maize plants as tall as a person. The rice looked lush and green, the beautiful rice paddies seemed to stretch for miles."

            Dermot’s   report was followed by an opening on the Korean War by Shaun Pickford and an intervention by NCP leader Andy Brooks on Korean friendship and the Juché  Idea. A question and answer session, which soon developed into a general discussion, took up the rest of an afternoon getting to know Democratic Korea and standing by the Korean people, who daily defy the threats and sanctions of US-led imperialism.

            The meeting was organised by the UK Korean Friendship Association (KFA) which regularly organises solidarity meetings and protest pickets in London throughout the year. The KFA also works side by side with the NCP, RCPB (ML), Socialist Labour Party (SLP) and the European Regional Society for the Study of the Juché Idea on the Friends of Korea committee which also holds regular events in London.

Kim Il Sung – a great Korean revolutionary

By New Worker correspondent

Ambassador Hyon Hak Bong speaking

KIM IL SUNG was the greatest Korean who has ever lived and an outstanding communist revolutionary and thinker. That was how NCP leader Andy Brooks put it at a reception held last Sunday at the HQ of the RCPB (ML) to mark the 19^th anniversary of the passing of President Kim Il Sung and the 50^th anniversary of the Korean people’s victory in the Korean War.

            The reception at the John Buckle Centre in south London was hosted by the Preparatory Committee (Britain) to celebrate the Korean People’s Victory in the Korean War and was an initiative of the long-standing Friends of Korea committee.

             The guest of honour was Hyon Hak Bong, Ambassador at the Embassy of the DPRK, who made a short presentation outlining the current situation of the Korean peninsula. Other speakers included Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML) who chaired the formal part of the event, together with  Andy Brooks, Dermot Hudson of the UK Korean Friendship Association and John McLeod from the Socialist Labour Party (SLP).

            Other friends and comrades, including SLP President Andrew Jordan, used the opportunity to get first-hand information on Democratic Korea from the Korean comrades over drinks and Korean food which came later.

• Workers' Weekly report

KFA pickets US embassy

by New Worker correspondent

The US embassy in London was picketed by the UK Korean Friendship Association to mark the 63rd anniversary of the provocation of the Korean War by the US imperialists. The picket on 25th June was attended by members of the UK Korean Friendship Association , the Juche Idea Study Group, the British Assocation for the Study of Songun Politics, the New Communist Party including general secretary Andy Brooks and other progressive and anti-imperialist activists.

KFA charts the way forward

By New Worker correspondent

ACTIVISTS from the UK Korean Friendship Association gathered in central London last Saturday for its annual general meeting to chart the way forward in developing friendship and solidarity with the Korean people for the coming year.

KFA Official Delegate Dermot Hudson pointed out that the month of June will see a number of major anniversaries in the history of the Korean people, and announced that June is a month of solidarity with the DPRK.

Dermot recalled the great developments in the DPRK over the past year, saying “pride of place should go to the launch of the Kwangmysong 3-2 satellite on the 12^th  December 2012 and the third DPRK nuclear test on the 12^th February this year,” and spoke of cultural developments in the DPRK, including the appearance of the all-female Moranbong rock group, new leisure and health facilities such as the Rungna People's Pleasure Park and the Ryugyong Health Complex, the construction of magnificent new housing at Changjon Street in central Pyongyang, and the ongoing construction of a giant ski resort at Masik.

“However in the past year we have witnessed attempts by the DPRK's enemies, chiefly the Yankee imperialists,” he added, “to impede and slow down its development. We have seen several rounds of sanctions by the so-called UN Security Council, a marionette of the US, along with additional sanctions by the US, Japan, the EU and the UK.

“In March and April the US imperialists along with the south Korean puppets carried out extensive military exercises to coincide with the imposition of sanctions. These war exercises were participated in by the UK as well as Canada, Denmark and Colombia, involving B2 and B52 nuclear-armed bombers. The DPRK gave a strong response to these provocations, which upset some but nevertheless dealt a blow to the US imperialists and defended the dignity and honour of the DPRK, as well its independence and Korean-style socialism.

“During the past year the UK KFA has stood by the DPRK. We have issued numerous statements in support of the DPRK as well as writing to the Foreign Secretary, MPs and Ministers .We have picketed the US embassy and will be picketing in again in 10 days’ time.

“We have taken the lead in establishing the "International Committee for the Release of Mr Ro Su Hui. We have combatted anti-DPRK propaganda on a weekly, and sometimes on a daily basis.

“We have also issued a number of editions of our excellent publication: People's Korea Today, and will shortly issue another one.

“During the past year the UK KFA has stood by the DPRK. We have issued numerous statements in support of the DPRK as well as writing to the Foreign Secretary, MPs and Ministers. We have picketed the US embassy and will be picketing in again in 10 days’ time.

“UK KFA membership has increased, and our UK KFA Facebook page has 281 likes. However this needs to be translated into attendance at meetings and campaigning activity.

Nevertheless the UK KFA is proud that we are defending the DPRK almost every day. Let’s carry on with this splendid work.”

Theo Russell, KFA member and member of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party, also addressed the meeting on the topic of south Korea’s turbulent history, which has effectively been hidden away by the western media, historians and in school history teaching.

Other supporters denounced the hostile media coverage of the DPRK, particularly the ludicrous Panorama documentary North Korea Undercover.

Proposals discussed at the meeting included stepping up the campaign for the release of peace activist Ro Su Hui, with a poster and a leaflet exposing the south Korean National Security Law, and a campaign against the economic sanctions imposed on the DPRK linked to the demand for the US to negotiate a permanent peace treaty and political settlement on the peninsula.

Discussions were held on public transport, culture, health services, housing and other aspects of the DPRK, and literature from the DPRK and the KFA was on display.