The Shining Star of Korea

Michael Chant, Andy Brooks and Dermot Hudson

by New Worker correspondent

Friends of the Korean revolution celebrated the 74th anniversary of the birth of dear leader Kim Jong Il at a number of events in February, including a reception and ceremony at the London embassy of the DPR Korea in London on the 12th and a meeting at the John Buckle Centre on 13th February.

  In Democratic Korea Kim Jong Il’s birthday has long been known as the Day of the Shining Star and comrades paid tribute to the Korean leader’s immense contribution to the theory and practice of the world communist movement at a Friends of Korea meeting at the headquarters of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (ML) in south London.

NCP leader Andy Brooks opened the meeting by paying tribute to Kim Jong Il, who steered the DPR of Korea through the difficult times that followed the death of great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994. He devoted his entire life to serving the Korean people in the cause of building a human-centred society, a cause that is espoused by the democratic and anti-imperialist forces the world over. He followed the footsteps of great leader Kim Il Sung in leading the country into the 21st century. Now the torch has passed to Kim Jong Un and under his leadership the DPRK has made giant strides in science and technology over the past few weeks with the test of a thermos-nuclear bomb and the successful launch of a satellite into space. 

 This was followed by other tributes from Michael Chant of the RCPB (ML), Dermot Hudson of the Korean Friendship Association and  DPRK Ambassador Hyong Hak Bong who answered questions from the audience on the current tense situation on the Korean peninsula. This was followed by Kim Jong Un guides Satellite launch! a DPRK film about last week’s tremendous space launch.

Comrades and friends joined diplomats and many others actively involved in solidarity with Democratic Korea across the country for the reception to mark the Day of the Shining Star at the DPRK embassy in London.

 Last week, on 16th February, Andy Brooks, the NCP leader, joined others in laying floral tributes in front of the portraits of the great Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at a ceremony at the DPRK embassy in London.

The Co-ordinating Committee of the Friends of Korea brings together all the major movements active in Korean friendship and solidarity work in Britain today. It is chaired by Andy Brooks and the secretary is Michael Chant. The committee organises meetings throughout the year, which are publicised by the supporting movements and on the Friends of Korea website.

Day of the Shining Star

By Andy Brooks

Millions of workers in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have been celebrating the giant strides their people’s government has taken in recent days. Last month the DPRK tested its first thermo-nuclear bomb. Last week they successfully launched a satellite into space. Next week they will pause to mark the anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong Il, who led the nation in overcoming the natural disasters and defeating the renewed imperialist offensive that came soon after the death of great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994.

In Democratic Korea Kim Jong Il’s birthday has long been known as the Day of the Shining Star. Across the world overseas Koreans, progressives and communists will hold their own events in honour of the DPRK leader who died at his post on 17th December 2011.

Communists in Britain will be joining them in holding events in solidarity with the Workers’ Party of Korea, which has led the Korean people to victory after victory in a struggle that began in the 1920s and continues to this day across the divided Korean peninsula.

The modern Korean communist movement was founded by Kim Il Sung and the young militants around him to fight the Japanese colonialists and to build a revolutionary movement that would give the Korean workers and peasants a new life under socialism. Building a guerrilla army that took on the might of the Japanese Empire, Kim Il Sung mobilised the masses in a struggle that ended in victory in 1945 and the establishment of a people’s government in the north of the country. Kim Jong Il was born in the midst of that struggle, in a Korean guerrilla camp on Mount Paektu, on 16^th February 1942.

Kim Jong Il’s early days were of hardship and struggle that ended in victory in 1945 and the liberation of Pyongyang. Five years later the country was plunged into new horrors when the US imperialists and their lackeys attempted to crush the DPRK and plunged the peninsula into war.

The American imperialists and their lackeys were fought to a standstill and the guns fell silent in 1953. Like millions of Koreans of his generation Kim Jong Il dedicated his life to the Workers’ Party of Korea and the socialist system that they were determined to build to create a better life for the Korean people.

Kim Jong Il went to university where he developed his ideas in the political, economic and cultural fields. But like all Korean students Kim Jong Il took his turn at manual labour with the people in the fields and on the construction sites.

The Workers’ Party of Korea, with Kim Il Sung at the helm, led the battle for land reform, education and socialist construction in the 1950s and 60s, and then pushed forward on the engineering, technical and scientific fronts to build a modern socialist republic, where every individual worker is master of his or her own life. The DPRK stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the peoples of the Third World struggling to break the chains of colonialism, and gave technical and economic aid to help them defend their freedom and independence.

This was Korean-style socialism. Kim Il Sung stressed that Marxism–Leninism goes far beyond simple economic formulae and the Soviet “model”. He 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 the Korean communists. Kim Il Sung developed Korean-style socialism into 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.

  Kim Jong Il developed the Juché idea, applying it to all spheres of economic construction and for the promotion of north–south dialogue for the independent peaceful reunification of Korea. His modesty, faithful service, tireless work, total loyalty to Kim Il Sung and the Korean revolution, and undoubted ability meant that when the Workers’ Party of Korea considered the question of the succession – and this was decided long before Kim Il Sung’s death – Kim Jong Il was the unchallenged candidate to be the successor to great leader Kim Il Sung.

When Kim Il Sung passed away, Kim Jong Il told the Korean people and the world that they could “expect no change from me” and under his leadership the Workers’ Party of Korea won further victories. Natural disasters were overcome. Imperialist diplomatic isolation was broken and the intrigues of US imperialism exposed.

 Now Kim Jong Un is following in the footsteps of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il to lead the DPRK into the 21^st century. Democratic Korean citizens enjoy full employment, free education and medical care, virtually free housing and a vast array of consumer goods largely made in the DPRK itself.  Democratic Korean scientists have mastered the secrets of the atom to guarantee the DPRK’s defence and energy needs, and Korean rockets now reach for the stars.

The tragedy of Korea is that it has been divided since the Second World War and that division is entirely due to the United States, which has propped up a puppet regime in south Korea to maintain American imperialism’s military, strategic and economic dominance of north–east Asia.

A monstrous concrete wall divides Korea. Tens of thousands of American troops remain in the south, backed by a US nuclear armada that threatens the DPRK and its neighbours. The communist movement is outlawed in the south and contacts with the north are tightly controlled by the puppet regime.

The Democratic Korean government has worked tirelessly to end the partition of the country. It has called on the United States to normalise relations with the DPRK. A proposal for the re-unification of Korea based on the principle of “one country-two systems” – similar to the one that led to the peaceful return of Hong Kong and Macau to the People’s Republic of China – remains on the table.

Democratic Korea threatens no one, but the imperialist campaign to demonise and isolate the people’s government continues as a smokescreen to cover US plans to dominate the entire Pacific basin.

Whilst we join the Korean people in their celebrations we must redouble our efforts to build solidarity with the DPRK and raise the demand for the withdrawal of all American troops from south Korea, the release of all political prisoners and an end to the partition of the country.

Down with the puppet regime!

By New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity activists returned to the puppet south Korean embassy in London on 4th February to protest against the latest round of repression against trade unionists and peace activists in the occupied south of the Korean peninsula. London comrades, including NCP leader Andy Brooks, took part in the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) demonstration together with other supporters of Democratic Korea to demand the release of all political prisoners in south Korea, and an end to the suppression of labour movement and pro-unification forces.

Solidarity with Juche Korea

 

  

 by New Worker correspondent

  

Comrades and friends marked the Day of the Shining Star, the 74^th anniversary of Korean leader Kim Jong Il, at a meeting in central London on 30th January called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and the British Juche Society. Chaired by Dermot Hudson of the KFA, the meeting began with brief contributions from NCP leader Andy Brooks, Alex Meads, Theo Russell and others, as well as an opening by Thae Yong Ho from the London embassy of the DPR Korea on the recent successful H-bomb test.

            After questions and discussion the meeting ended with a film on Korean sports, refreshments and informal discussion, which many continued in a nearby café for some time.

The Right of the DPRK to Defend Itself and Maintain the Peace

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced on January 6 that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Immediately there was an anti-communist hue and cry that that country had dared to join the nuclear-weapon-bearing states. Turning truth on its head, the DPRK is painted as the country threatening others. This counterfeit “outrage” is designed to cover up the crimes being committed by the US-led imperialist system of states, including Britain, who are the threat to the sovereignty and integrity of so many countries across the globe, and who openly speak of regime change and take steps to carry out that threat.

The DPRK has drawn the legitimate conclusion that in these circumstances it must develop nuclear weapons to defend itself, stymie all the plans of the Anglo-US imperialists for regime change, and maintain the peace. It is not legitimate of the US and its allies, not to mention the UN Security Council under their domination, to absolve themselves of responsibility, play the thread-bare human rights card, and seek to isolate the DPRK and other countries that will not bow to their dictate. The United Nations has the responsibility to take a stand against international aggression. But it has long since abandoned this and in these circumstances the DPRK cannot be condemned for taking the measures that it has done to deter aggression and prevent regime change.

The facts of the matter are that it is the development and criminal use of nuclear weapons by the US imperialists that have led to a nuclear arms race in the first place. The US imperialists are the ones threatening to wipe out humankind. They are the only ones who have taken the criminal step of using nuclear bombs in warfare which they did against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to attempt to establish their global hegemony at the end of the Second World War. They will never be forgiven for this crime, nor for that matter for the crimes they committed on the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War of 1950-1953 when the use of nuclear weapons was also considered when the US was facing imminent defeat. These monstrous acts of the US imperialists have demonstrated to the Korean people of the DPRK that there is a serious threat of nuclear annihilation and that they must take decisive steps. Neither has the DPRK got its eyes shut to the imperialists' strategic plans for East Asia, the increasing concentration of US military forces in the South China Sea, and the Obama administration's conception of a “Pivot to Asia”.

And it is the US who today is the one carrying out nuclear blackmail against the DPRK, threatening it with pre-emptive nuclear strikes. It is the US which is carrying out annual warmongering manoeuvres off the shore of the Korean Peninsula with south Korea and Japan, which has its troops and nuclear weapons stationed in the south, which carries out exercises simulating regime change in the north, including the use of B-52 bombers. It is any wonder that the DPRK takes seriously the threats to its sovereignty and independence, and responds with its own nuclear deterrent?

The nuclear hysteria of the US and its allies aimed at the DPRK should be opposed. It is the countries with the biggest nuclear stockpiles which must disarm their nuclear arsenals and remove all their weapons and troops from foreign soil. This is the pre-condition for a nuclear-free world which is the demand of all humanity. When the US and all other nuclear weapons states give up their nuclear weapons, there will be no need for the DPRK to develop a nuclear weapons programme either.

The government of the DPRK pointed out in its January 6 statement that the hydrogen bomb test “is a measure for self-defence the DPRK has taken to firmly protect its sovereignty [...] from the ever-growing nuclear threat and blackmail by the U.S.-led hostile forces and to reliably safeguard peace on the Korean peninsula [...]” The statement also affirmed that the DPRK is a “genuine peace-loving state which has made all efforts to protect peace on the Korean peninsula” and that it would not use its nuclear weapons to commit aggression against another country nor would it suspend its nuclear weapons programme unless the “US rolled back its vicious hostile policy” towards it. It is quite clear that the US must end its hostile policy towards the DPRK, remove its 28,000 troops from the Korean Peninsula and sign a peace treaty with the DPRK to draw a line under the Korean War. This would ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and permit the people of Korea and East Asia to live in peace. When that is done there would be no necessity for the DPRK to develop its nuclear weapons in self-defence. And until that is done, in the face of nuclear blackmail and the most egregious hypocrisy of the Anglo-American imperialists, the DPRK has the right to develop and test the H-bomb.

The peace-loving people of the world must direct their anger and outrage against the US and its allies, including Britain, who are the ones bringing the world to the edge of a nuclear catastrophe. The working class and people must take up in all earnest their own quest for an anti-war government to act as a block to aggression, nuclear blackmail, the use of force to settle international affairs and the most unjust plans to topple sovereign governments. The democratic forces should take a stand to further develop friendship and solidarity with the DPRK in its heroic path of defending its sovereignty and independence in the face of all the threats to this sovereignty and independence by the US imperialists and the big powers.

Workers Weekly

24th January 2016

A Test For Peace

THE BOURGEOISIE’S claim to uphold “universal human values” and glibly talk about the concepts peace, freedom, social progress, equal rights and human dignity as if they had invented them. But when the interests of the ruling class are challenged they show their true face — which is duplicity, oppression and aggression.

Last November the bourgeois media were having a field day against Jeremy Corbyn over Trident. We were told that the billions to be spent on Trident renewal was essential for Britain’s defence. General Houghton, the head of the armed forces, claimed the Labour leader’s stance on Trident and nuclear weapons undermined the “credibility of deterrence” and the Prime Minister, David Cameron, told us that Corbyn was a “threat to national security” for daring to challenge Labour’s traditional support for the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Last week the very same people who extol the concept of “nuclear deterrence” and the virtues of nuclear weapons were heaping the same abuse against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for daring to do what they’ve been doing for a very long time themselves.

The Cameron government “strongly condemned” the DPRK H-bomb test, claiming it was a “clear violation” of United Nations Security Council resolutions and all sorts of other nonsense that the imperialists churn out to justify their own double-standards.

What they don’t say is that the UN has been marginalised. Anglo—American imperialism only pays lip service to UN institutions when it suits their purposes. When the Americans can use it to rubber-stamp their aggression the world organisation is supported. When it is no longer of any further use to them it is ignored and discarded.

British and United States imperialism poses the greatest danger to world peace. The US National Missile Defence system has triggered another global arms race. The tearing up of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty has undermined every other international agreement on nuclear weapons.

Even so, the imperialists are trying to use part of the non-proliferation agreement as an instrument to bully and threaten any country attempting to develop an independent nuclear industry. But because the non-proliferation treaty has still to be implemented by the imperialist camp, every sovereign state has the legitimate right to develop its nuclear industry.

What they don’t say is that the DPRK, People’s China and India, have all pledged never to be the first to use nuclear weapons.

None of the imperialist powers will give a similar guarantee. In March 2002 the British government stated that it was prepared to use nuclear weapons against “rogue states” such as Iraq if they ever used “weapons of mass destruction” against British troops in the field and the Americans have always reserved the right to use nuclear weapons first in the case of conflict.

The DPRK had no choice but to develop its nuclear energy programme and its own independent nuclear deterrent. Its enemies are close at hand. The DPRK threatens no one. But US imperialism wants to perpetuate the division of Korea and ultimately to extinguish socialism in the Korean peninsula. US nuclear-armed warships are stationed off the Korean coast and thousands of US troops are in the occupied south of Korea as well as in Japan.

The New Communist Party of Britain congratulates the DPRK on the successful test of an H-bomb last week. Strengthening the DPRK’s nuclear defence is an essential deterrent to US imperialism and its puppets. We salute the outstanding work of the DPRK scientists and workers who made this essential contribution to the DPRK’s defence possible.

New Worker editorial 
15th January 2016