Speech of Staffordshire KFA at the KFA international meeting

SPEECH DELIVERED BY STAFFORDSHIRE KFA TO THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF THE KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION HELD IN LONDON ON NOVEMBER 19TH 2011 First of all may I extend a warm welcome to the KFA President, to the KFA international delegates, to the DPRK diplomatic staff and to the UK KFA members gathered here today. I trust that your time at the KFA international meeting in London will be productive and successful. 2012, as we all know, will be the 100th Birth Anniversary of President KIM IL SUNG and the 70th birthday of the Chairman KIM JONG IL. The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea has made an epochal turn in the effort to build a Great, Powerful & Prosperous Socialist Nation by the year 2012. The goals of the Korean people to construct the prosperous and powerful socialist country will be realized in conjunction with the 100th birth anniversary of President KIM IL SUNG and the 70 birthday of Chairman KIM JONG IL. The 100th Birth Anniversary of President KIM IL SUNG and the 70th Birthday of the Chairman KIM JONG IL are not only major events for the Korean people but are the common jubilees for the whole of progressive humanity. Right across the world.people of various nationalities and from different political traditions will be celebrating the birth anniversaries of KIM IL SUNG and of KIM JONG IL in a grand manner as the festival of global independence and anti-imperialism. The UK KFA and all the friends of Korea in Britain will be actively mobilizing so to make February 16th and April 15th 2012 celebrations spectacular occasions The situation around the Korean peninsula remains tense. Only in October 2011, the United States and south Korea conducted large-scale military exercises codenamed "Hoguk". As a form of intimidation against the DPRK, the United States and the Li Myoung Bak clique are carrying out continuous war games such as "Team Spirit" & "Foal Eagle". The United States and its obedient servant south Korea has over the past decade turned their backs on dialogue with the DPRK and is pursuing the policy of confrontation. We must always remember that the DPRK faces hourly and daily the threat of invasion from the world's superpower. Approximately there are about 1,000 nuclear weapons and 40,000 troops stationed in south Korea by the US. Already the Obama Administration is talking about repeating its Middle Eastern strategy in regard to north Korea. So the Songun Politics of KIM JONG IL of attaching importance to arms in the defence of the revolutionary gains and sovereignty of Peoples Korea has proven its validity. For sixty six years the Korean people have endured the misery of national division perpetuated by the United States and by the south Korean puppet regime. Korean reunification looked like a realistic prospect with the June 2000 north-south declaration. Today to call for reunification on the streets on Seoul or anywhere else in south Korea is considered a crime. Under Li Myong Bak, hundreds of thousands of reunification & pro-democracy activists and trade unionists have been jailed. As partisans of Korean solidarity, we must raise the issue of the lack of human rights in south Korea and campaign for the boycott of the Li Myoung Bak dictatorship by democratic public opinion, as the Apartheid regime in south Africa was isolated in the 1980s. November marks the 12th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean Friendship Association.Over the decade the KFA has become the authoritative and authentic friendship body promoting solidarity with the DPRK. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the KFA was to spread an understanding of the DPRK among an audience of millions, particularly young people through the medium of the Internet and other sources. The KFA is now regarded as the voice of Peoples Korea, a tribune of truth against a background of distortions and lies which are produced about the DPRK by the Western media. Here in the host country for this international meeting, the UK KFA has considerably consolidated itself over the years. The UK KFA has a strong presence on the net with a number of websites and blogs and has branched out on to Face book. Aswell as conducting work on the net, the UK KFA has been active on the non-virtual sphere too, with the holding various public meetings and DPRK photo & literature exhibitions. The UK KFA has even held demonstrations and pickets outside the US and south Korean embassies regularly. Our success are due to activities of the UK KFA Head Delegate and the KFA membership in Britain. Recently the UK KFA has been able to setup regional branches in other parts of Britain. The UK KFA now has branches in Yorkshire/North East and in Staffordshire. My local county KFA branch is centred in the city of Stoke On Trent has a small but loyal core of members. We aim to establish more KFA branches throughout the UK in the near future. We in the UK KFA and international KFA have alot to be proud of in our track record of furthering the cause of Korean friendship. But there are still areas where we can improve our work. The KFA international forum was the focal point for exchanging suggestions, comments and for asking questions. The forum made the KFA members feel part and parcel of the association, so it needs to revived and activated. The KFA could arrange on-line conferences on a regular basis. As a friendship organisation we should cooperate with other anti-imperialist, anti-war movements and engage with the trade unions. The KFA should continue to strengthen its commercial and cultural activities as a means of promoting understanding and goodwill with the DPRK. Speaking of understanding, the KFA's primary duty is to overcome the psychological warfare which is waged by imperialism against Socialist Korea. We must be aware of the fact that demonization of an anti-imperialist country( which has occurred in some Arab countries) by the Western media, is a step towards aggression. To counter this dis-information campaign carried out by the imperialists in regard to the DPRK, we launch a truth offensive, so that the average man and woman in western countries are familiar with the facts about Peoples Korea. For instance the UK KFA published a small leaflet refuting anti-DPRK propaganda in a clear and direct manner, without any jargon. From this international meeting the KFA ,both in the UK and worldwide, will advance on a solid foundation and will surely gain greater successes in our vital work. KOREA IS ONE!