Korean solidarity in Berlin

by New Worker correspondent

British members of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) joined German solidarity workers to discuss the life-time achievements of Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in Berlin last week. Korean solidarity activists from Germany and the rest of Europe met at the Kom Treff Centre in Berlin last week for a hybrid seminar held under the auspices of the European Regional Committee For Friendship with the Korean People and the Korean Friendship Association of Germany.
The meeting was presided over by KFA UK Chairman, Dermot Hudson, and Jeremy Bierenger Chairman of KFA Germany. Dermot Hudson introduced the meeting stressing that the recent visit of Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to the DPR Korea proves that Democratic Korea is at the centre of world politics. 
A recorded version of the keynote address of Christer Lundgren, the chairman of the Sweden-Korea Friendship Association was played at the meeting. He said, in part, that the “ideological and organizational work during Kim Jong Il’s first years in the Central Committee explains why the party, despite great difficulties, has stuck to its ideology and its revolutionary position and maintained its firm base among the working class and the people”.
Dermot Hudson said that “today the Workers’ Party of Korea shines as a Party of Juche , a party of independence and militant anti-imperialism with its own guiding idea, the Juche idea and a party which is not just a mass party in terms of numbers but has members from all walks of life. Today under the guidance of respected Marshal Kim Jong Un, the successor to comrade Kim Jong Il, the Workers Party of Korea continues the work of the great leader comrade Kim Jong Il”.
Jeremy Biergener, the Chairman of KFA Germany said in his contribution that “today, Marshal Kim Jong Un is continuing the policy of Comrade Kim Jong Il. Foreigners who visited Pyongyang recently noted that the city has changed a lot. Under the leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un, new roads the size of small towns have been built, as well as new subways and buses for the convenience of the people of Pyongyang. A new greenhouse was also built in which 1.800 people work and which supplies the population of the socialist capital with high-quality vegetables free of charge”
Sara Russo, Organisation Secretary of KFA Germany pointed out that “I speak for everyone here that we all appreciate his ambition and his hard work in the WPK to proceed to build the WPK as the party of Juche”.
The speech of the Chairman of the Denmark -DPRK Association was read out by Mathias Fantoni who said that “Comrade Kim Jong Il was a pioneer in many ways. He began working tirelessly in the WPK at the very young age of 22. Beforehand, he had excelled in the party and the youth league, as a strong revolutionary with great insight in theory and practical knowledge”.
Alejandro Cao De Benos, who joined the meeting online from Spain, said that the visit of Russian President Putin to the DPRK was highly significant and said “let us honour our Great Leader Kim Jong Il by reaffirming our commitment to the principles he championed. Let us continue to build a strong, prosperous, and independent Korea, guided by the
Juche ideology and inspired by his enduring legacy. As we look to the future, we draw strength from his example, knowing that the path he laid out will lead us to greater heights.
His spirit lives on in our hearts and our actions, propelling us forward in our pursuit of a brighter, more prosperous future.”

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.

Return to the Land of Juche Korea!

Dermot Hudson with the head of KASS

By Dermot Hudson

I visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK ) from the 11th to the 18th April. I was the first British citizen to visit the DPRK for five years .The last time I was in the DPRK was in October 2019. For several years it was not possible to travel to the DPRK because the border was closed at the end of January 2020 as a countermeasure against Covid 19 . Only recently has the DPRK started allowing groups of visitors into the country. Some anti-Covid 19 measures were apparent when we arrived such as staff spraying sanitiser onto our hands when we arrived in the hotel.
I travelled to People’s Korea  to join in the celebrations of the 112th  anniversary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung and take part in the international seminar on the Juche Idea  on the theme of  Independence, Justice and The Future of Humanity organised by the Korean Association of Social Scientists (KASS) and the International Institute of the Juche Idea. The seminar attracted delegations from more than 20 countries including Brazil, Britain, Germany and Russia. Some countries like Russia and Brazil sent more than one delegation. The fact that so many delegations travelled to Pyongyang  proved that it is a lie that the DPRK is isolated or that there is no support for the DPRK outside the country. Indeed the Juche Idea is attracting interest from around the world .
Arriving at the Air Koryo, the DPRK’s national airline, check in counter at Beijing Airport on the morning of the 11th April I ran into many veteran supporters of People’s Korea such as Martin Lotscher of KFA Switzerland and Javed Ansari from Pakistan as well as newer friends of People’s Korea such as Lucas Rubio of Brazil.
In the course of our stay in the DPRK we visited the Mangyongdae School-children's Palace , the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm , the Natural History Museum at Pyongyang Central Zoo, the Tower of the Juche Idea , the National Gift Exhibition House, the Monument on Mansu Hill as well as the national art gallery, a circus and the stamp museum. We went to a concert at the Moranbong Theatre as well as participating in an international friendship gathering . Some of the delegates attended an excellent dinner hosted by the DPRK Committee For Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
I arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on the afternoon of the 11th April and was met by my guide O Su Jin of the Korean Association of Social Scientists . We travelled by coach to the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel .  Sometimes it seemed hard to believe that I was really back in the DPRK , it seemed like everything was in a dream. Everywhere we went we encountered friendly people . People on the streets waved at our convoy and the hotel staff were very friendly.
During the visit I witnessed that the situation in the DPRK is calm and stable .The DPRK had closed its borders for four years but survived ,a truly amazing feat when you consider that some countries would only last weeks or even days with their borders closed . However the DPRK is based firmly on self-reliance and the independent national economy .

Koryo Hotel

  Despite the sanctions imposed by the US and its lackeys on the UN Security Council and the Covid pandemic the DPRK is carrying out massive construction work,  Chollima was a flying horse of legend in Korea and gave its name to the mass movement for increased productivity in the DPRK in the late 1950s. Now the DPRK it is going through another great Chollima upsurge.
A new neighbourhood called Hwasong Street has appeared in Pyongyang. On the day of our arrival our coach to the hotel passed through it and later in the visit we drove through Hwasong Street both during the day and at night . Hwasong Street looks very modern and of good quality .It would cost billions to build in a Western country but the DPRK gives homes to people free of charge . Whilst we were staying in the DPRK the second stage of Hwasong Street  was opened on the evening of the 16th April in the presence of Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of the DPRK. Also a new street is under construction in the Sopho district and was visible when we were going back to Pyongyang Airport on the 18th  April .
In fact, construction was going on all over Pyongyang . Opposite the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel there was a new block of flats under construction and several other blocks of flats under construction were visible in the near distance as well as in other parts of Pyongyang . I think that I can truly say  that although it was my 19th visit to the DPRK I had  never previously seen construction work on such a scale before. What is significant is that all this is being achieved without the so-called “aid” of imperialism or the south Korean puppets.
During the emergency situation that arose in the spring of 2022 when the south Korean puppets deliberately spread Covid 19 into the DPRK , the DPRK rejected “aid” from the south Korean puppet regime , the UN and the Americans. The Daily Worker, the newspaper of the Workers Party of Korea, later described the “aid” of imperialism as “poisoned candy”. The rapid development of People’s Korea by relying on its own resources and labour is destroying the myth that outside assistance, particularly from the Americans and other imperialists, is somehow essential for a country‘s development .
We visited the newly built Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm which was some 34 kilometres outside Pyongyang. It  had only gone into operation in March this year .It was opened on the 15th of March in the presence of the Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The farm had been built on the site of the former Mirim Airbase of the Korean People’s Army. One myth about People’s Korea created by the bourgeois media in the imperialist world is that resources are diverted away from civilians to the military but the construction of the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm shows that in fact this is simply not true. The farm has an area of 100 square hectares with 8 types of greenhouses.
The farm has 1,800 workers. We were able to taste cucumbers produced by the farm . Significantly the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm is not a co-operative farm but actually a state farm which means that it is owned by the whole people. The aim is to create a similar farm in each county or province of the DPRK. Vegetables from the farm were supplied free of charge to Pyongyang citizens. Also dwellings for the workers of the farm were given free of charge to the farm’s workers . It can be truly said that the DPRK is actually advancing towards the higher stage of socialism, communism . Probably the DPRK will be the first socialist country to reach the higher stage of communism.
In recent years a false narrative about the DPRK has been created by some sections of the mainstream media and by so-called “academic experts” on the DPRK who in reality know nothing at all about the DPRK. They say that the DPRK is adopting “market reforms” and abandoning Juche-based socialism – lies aimed at spreading disillusion and confusion amongst international supporters of People’s Korea .The fact that the DPRK is developing a network of state owned farms to supply vegetables to the population shows that the DPRK is actually strengthening the planned economy and system of state ownership.
Although there have been massive changes in the DPRK since the last time I visited, what remained unchanged was the DPRK ‘s consistent anti-imperialism and adherence to socialist principles. Red flags were flying on street corners and there were many revolutionary slogans in large Korean characters displayed across the capital. Postcards of anti-US posters could be found in the bookshop of the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel and the Korean Stamp Museum. A friend of mine who had been with me in the DPRK in 2017 and 2018 remarked that he had been worried about what he might find in the DPRK after an absence of six years but was quite relieved as well as positive when he saw that there had been no “reform” and “opening up” in the DPRK and there was a complete absence of Western influence .
Prices in the hotel shop were the same as in 2019.Needless to say there was no evidence to back the ludicrous claim on the rabidly anti-communist NK News  website about a “250 dollar banana" and my guide just laughed and said " ridiculous" when I told him the story .There were no homeless people and I saw no one begging. Housing is given to people free of charge. My guide told me that he had lived in Mirae Scientists Street with his parents but when he got married  he was given a new flat. The neighbourhoods were spotlessly clean with no litter. Unlike Western capitals there were no muggers, drug addicts, beggars, prostitutes on the streets. I was able to leave money in my hotel room and it was still there when I returned in the evening or afternoon.
As to tales of “human rights violations”, the DPRK actually has a fairly minimal police presence compared to many other countries. The police only direct traffic. The situation seemed quite normal, calm and peaceful.
I was able to make a speech at the seminar on the Juche Idea on the theme of “Independence , Justice and the future of Humanity “ ,which was held on the 15th of April .There were 10 speakers including DPRK social scientists as well as speakers from Russia , Mongolia,  Democratic Congo and the International Institute of the Juche Idea . In my speech I pointed out that “People’s Korea under the leadership of the  respected leader Marshal Kim Jong Un represents the future of humanity .Rapid advances such as the construction of new housing as well as the launch of the DPRK’s first ever military reconnaissance satellite are taking place one after the other . People’s Korea is a country without unemployment , without beggars and without drug addicts . It is a society free from the decadence of modern capitalism which is rotten to the core ”.
A follow up course was held on the 16th of April with lecturers from the Korean Association of Social Scientists. I was sad to leave the DPRK on the 18th of April but very glad that I went.
My thanks to the Korean Association of Social Scientists for the invitation and for their work in organising the visit, to my guide  O Su Jin, to the staff of the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel and to the DPRK Committee for Cultural Relations for the excellent dinner.
See you again Pyongyang!

Kim Il Sung: A hero to remember

Dermot Hudson and Andy Brooks

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other Korean solidarity campaigners at a meeting in central London in April to mark the 112th anniversary of the birth of the great Korean leader, Kim Il Sung and celebrate the successes of Korean-style socialism.
Dermot Hudson, the chair of the Korean Friendship Association that called the meeting praised Kim Il Sung, the leader of the Korean communist movement that drove out the Japanese colonialists and established a people’s government after the defeat of Japan in the Second World War. The revolutionary path charted by Kim Il Sung led to the establishment of a people’s republic based on the Juche Idea and Korean-style socialism is now being followed by Kim Jong Un, he said.
Juche-based socialism is not a copy of another country but the essence of the experience of generations of Korean revolutionaries. “In today’s People’s Korea there is free health care, free education, virtually free housing, low cost food and no individual taxation. There aren’t any homeless people, beggars or drug addicts in People’s Korea”.
Andy Brooks recalled his first visit to the DPRK and his meeting with President Kim Il Sung as part of an NCP delegation in 1990. He said how impressed the delegation of the New Communist Party was with the development of the DPRK which surpassed their expectations.
The general secretary of the NCP spoke about the victories of Kim Il Sung, who led the Workers’ Party of Korea until his death in 1994, and the outstanding achievements of those who’ve followed in his footsteps. While the people’s government strives for the peaceful re-unification of the Korea peninsula it has to prepare for whatever the American imperialists, who occupy the south, will do next whatever the outcome of the American presidential election in November. We can expect nothing from Biden, a senile old man who barely knows what day it is. Biden is just a pawn of the “deep state” – the most venal and aggressive elements within the American ruling class. But ultimately so is Donald Trump.
Trump did his best meeting Kim Jong Un twice for talks to try to ease tension on the Korean peninsula, but he was constantly thwarted by the hidden hand of the American Establishment in Washington.
A lively Q & A session followed with questions about travel to the DPRK, the nature of internal class enemies in the DPRK and the issue of the DPRK’s relations with neighbouring countries and the meeting closed with the adoption of a solidarity message to Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Yoon not welcome here!

by New Worker correspondent

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined Korean solidarity campaigners protesting outside the south Korean embassy in London on Tuesday. Called by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) the picketers were protesting at the presence of puppet south Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol who landed in Britain on Monday for talks with the British government.
    Addressing the picket  KFA Chairman Dermot Hudson said “Yoon is a cringeworthy puppet of the US who even sang the song American Pie  to the senile US President  'Sleepy Joe' Biden!
“South Korea itself is not a real country but a puppet regime created by US bayonets in 1945 .Since the 1940s south Korea has been ruled by successive fascist dictators such as Syngham Rhee , Park Chung Hee , Chun Do Hwan and now Yoon Suk Yeol. Many massacres were carried out such as the Jeju Island massacre (1948) which saw the deaths of 70,000 or 80,000 , the Bodo League massacre 1950  in which 200,000 people were killed and the Kwangju massacre of 1980 which saw 5,000 people slaughtered.
“Today , south Korea has the longest working hours in the world and and one of the highest suicide rates . This is the grim reality of the so-called 'human rights paradise' praised by the Western mainstream media”.

Defend Democratic Korea!

by New Worker correspondent

Despite bad weather the Korean Friendship Association (KFA UK) picketed the BBC HQ  last weekend. London comrades and Korean solidarity campaigned protested at the ongoing bias of the BBC outside the heavily guarded Broadcasting House in central London.
Dermot Hudson , the KFA Chair denounced the BBC for making a programme in connivance with the south Korean ‘Daily NK’ far-right website pointing out that  "If the BBC were right about the DPRK by now everyone in the DPRK would have starved to death in the DPRK not once but several times over!
“The BBC does not have reporters inside the DPRK . In fact the borders of the DPRK were closed in January 2020 . So the BBC has no access to people in the DPRK".
Dermot Hudson also said that the DPRK has free health-care , free education and free housing but abolished taxation. He also pointed out that the DPRK is an anti-imperialist socialist country that is on the side of the people of the third world.

The Korean war: the first defeat for American imperialism

 

A contribution to the Friends of Korea committee seminar held at the NCP Centre in July to commemorate the victory of the Korean people over US imperialism and its lackeys. 

by Dermot Hudson

July 27th  1953 was the day when the US imperialists finally admitted they could not militarily defeat the DPRK and signed the Korean Armistice Agreement which actually contained a clause stipulating the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the Korean peninsula. But the US reneged on this later. 
Mark Clark the commander of US forces in the war wrote “in carrying out the instructions of my government, I gained the unenviable distinction of being the first United States commander in history to sign an armistice without victory.” and US General Bradley admitted that it was  “the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy”. These were the confessions of US commanders that they were defeated in the Fatherland Liberation War.
The Fatherland Liberation War, known as the Korean war in the West, is sometimes referred to as the “Unknown War “. This is because the US was defeated and they wanted to cover up their defeat and also cover up the fact they provoked the war. The right-wing, anti-communist  US military historian, Bevin Alexander, who himself had been a US army officer during the Korean war, said it was ‘the first war we lost’. Max Hastings, another right-wing historian, wrote that “many American career officers were  dismayed by the precedent Korea established: the United States had failed to fight a war to a victorious conclusion”.  
However much the US tries to dress it up or downplay it, they suffered a total military disaster in Korea. The loss suffered by the US imperialists was nearly 2.3 times greater than what they had suffered in the four years of the Pacific War during World War II. Even according to the heavily doctored and downplayed statistics of the US military, the US lost more than 15 times as many troops in the three years of the war than in nearly 20 years of the Afghan war and nine times as many in 8 years of fighting in Iraq. 
   The great leader Kim Il Sung said “In this great struggle our people fought determinedly as one in mind under the correct leadership of the party and government and thereby withstood the harsh trials of war honourably and won a historic victory inflicting an ignominious defeat on US imperialism and its running dogs”.               
Some people attribute the Korean people’s victory to the internationalist assistance that was given to the DPRK from the People’s Republic of China and the former USSR believing that only big countries can make a difference or only big countries can solve problems. Of course, it needs to be stated that in fact, it was not just the big socialist countries that helped the DPRK but all the socialist countries. There was also a powerful solidarity movement with the DPRK waged in many countries including even the US. In fact, Italian-American congressman Vito Marcantonio, the sole member of the American Labour Party in Congress, voted against the war in the US Congress. In the UK the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Daily Worker opposed the war, as did some Labour MPs to their credit, like the famous Welsh MP S O Davies and Barking MP Tom Driberg.  But the so-called left Labour MP Michael Foot supported it. 
In the oppressed colonial countries, the revolutionary peoples intensified their anti-imperialist struggles. In particular, the revolutionary forces of Malaya and Thailand stepped up their armed struggle. However, the best internationalist aid and assistance have no effect unless the revolutionary forces of a given country unite and wage a powerful struggle. History knows many examples of revolutions that were given unstinting assistance but came to nothing because the internal revolutionary forces were not strong enough and the quality of leadership was lacking.
As Kim Il Sung pointed out  “Even small countries can defeat big enemy, once they establish Juche, unite the masses of the people and valiantly rise in battle despite sacrifice. This is a very plain truth of our times which has been borne out by actual life."
    During the Fatherland Liberation War, the Korean people fought in the spirit of self-reliance. During the first stage of the war the Korean People’s Army under the command of Kim Il Sung and entirely on its own liberated Seoul, the south Korean puppet capital on the third day of the war. The forces of the heroic KPA defeated the so-called "Invincible US 24th Division" on the 20th July 1950 at Taejon and took its commander General Dean prisoner. Dean was the first US general to be captured by an opposing side. Dean’s general’s pips and boots can be seen in the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum in Pyongyang where you can also see a wonderful diorama of the battle of the Battle of Taejon. Within six weeks the KPA had liberated 90 per cent of the territory of south Korea and 92 per cent of the population. A truly amazing feat.
The US imperialists and reactionaries had made a big miscalculation and greatly underestimated the DPRK, the Korean People’s Army(KPA)  and the Juche-based military tactics of the Korean communist leader, Kim Il Sung, who accumulated vast and unrivalled experience in the 15-year-long anti-Japanese armed struggle.
    Kim Il Sung employed unique Juche-based tactics during the Fatherland Liberation War. Based on the Juche idea that people are the masters, he attached importance to the decisive role of people rather than weapons during the war. Basically, he believed that the outcome of war is simply not decided by weapons but by those who hold those weapons.
Kim Il Sung initiated an immediate counter-attack on the aggressors when they provoked the war on the morning of the 25th June 1950. He called a cabinet meeting where he made a speech titled  Let Us Wipe Out the Invaders by a Decisive Counter-Offensive and ordered the Korean People’s Army over to an immediate counter-offensive. Thus the KPA went over to an immediate counter-offensive pushing the south Korean puppets back. This was something unprecedented in the history of warfare! 
During the Second World War, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France all fell to the invasion of Nazi Germany, seemingly powerless to resist let alone organise a counter-offensive. Even the Soviet Union in June 1941 was not able to go over to a counter-offensive immediately. By launching a counter-offensive quickly Kim Il Sung snatched away the advantage of surprise from the south Korean puppets and US imperialists.
The KPA under the command of Kim Il Sung also created other original tactics such as tunnel warfare. The DPRK later sent tunnelling advisors to Vietnam during their war against American aggression. An article by overseas Korean writer Han Ho Suk wrote that  “North Korea's expertise in digging tunnels for warfare was demonstrated during the Vietnam War. North Korea sent about 100 tunnel warfare experts to Vietnam to help dig the 250 km tunnels for the North Vietnamese and Viet Gong troops in South Vietnam. The tunnels were instrumental in the Vietnamese victory”. Also, there was the original idea of opening a second front behind enemy lines, the creation of aircraft hunting and tank hunting teams and guerrilla warfare.
Revolutionary peoples of the world praised the DPRK’s victory in the Fatherland Liberation War. The Organisation of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America said “Under the superb leadership of Marshal Kim Il Sung and the People’s Army and the people of Korea who inherited the traditions of the glorious anti-Japanese armed struggle fought heroically and defeated US imperialism in defence of the liberty of the fatherland and the gains of the revolution, thereby making a great contribution to the anti-imperialist national liberation struggle of the peoples throughout the world and the struggle for peace in Asia and the world.” 
A Cuban Minister stated, “The firm position and confidence of the Korean people and their valour offer a model for the peoples of Vietnam, Cuba, the Congo and other countries of the world”.
Gaston Soumialot President of the supreme council of the Revolution of the Congo also wrote in 1968 "Marshal Kim Il Sung is widely known to the whole world as a gifted military strategist...The US imperialist aggressors who had been bragging about their so-called 'mightiness' in Korea scored a failure in Korea for the first time in their 114 wars of aggression”. And Field Marshal Costa Gomes, who had been president of Portugal after the 1974 ‘carnation revolution’ that ended the dictatorship, said that Kim Il Sung had thwarted all the plans that had been worked out by the US general and military policy makers.
During the Fatherland Liberation War the mask of ‘civilisation ‘ and ‘humanity‘ was torn off the US and there were exposed as mass murderers and aggressors who even used biological and chemical weapons against the Korean people. The Korean war showed that there can be no ‘peaceful co-existence between imperialism and socialism and that there must be an uncompromising struggle against imperialism.
Although the guns fell silent on the 27th July 1953, there was never a permanent or binding peace treaty and the US still has troops in south Korea and has dispatched a nuclear submarine to south Korea. If the US provokes a war the US will suffer a second and a third ‘July 27’ and the Korean people led by respected Kim Jong Un will win and reunify the country!
Glory to the Korean people and the KPA on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War against the US imperialists!