REPORT ON
THE OPC DELEGATION THAT VISITED THE DPRK FOR THE
60TH
ANNIVERSARY OF THE KOREAN VICTORY FATHER LAND LIBERATION WAR
60 Years on a Great Victory for The Korean People
July 27th
2013 was the sixty anniversary of the signing of the Armistice
Agreement that ended hostilities on the Korean peninsula but not the
war known as the “Forgotten War.” Two of the terms and conditions
contained in the Armistice Agreement as principles points were the
expectation that the Armistice Agreement would be converted into a
genuine peace agreement and that the governments of both the DPRK and
the US, through the process of discussions, would work to-wards
establishing normal relations. Sixty years on there has been no peace
accord signed off and relations between both sides are still part of
the Cold War era.
For the
Korean people the 27th July is recognised as their great
victory in the Fatherland Liberation War and the sixtieth anniversary
of this great victory was a special and significant event for them
along with an Oceania delegation of six persons who visited the DPRK
for this historic event.
In February 2013 the Australia – DPRK Friendship and Cultural
Society and the New Zealand DPRK Society formed the Oceania
Preparatory Committee and launched an appeal and signature campaign
calling upon the US to withdraw all its military forces and nuclear
weapons from the Korean peninsula and enter into genuine dialogue
with the DPRK to convert the Armistice Agreement into a genuine peace
accord.
At the invitation of the DPRK Committee for Cultural Relations with
Foreign Countries through the Korea – Australia /New Zealand
Friendship Societies an invitation was extended to send a delegation
of six to visit the DPRK and to join with other world delegations,
international visitors and all the Korean people to mark and
celebrate the 27th July as a great victory for the Korean
people. As well as the Oceania delegation a journalist and cameraman
from the SBS TV broadcaster also received an invitation to cover the
event from an Australian media perspective.
After spending a few days in Beijing to collect visas and arrange our
flight to Pyongyang on Air Koryo we arrived in Pyongyang the capital
of the DPRK on the 22nd July.
There to meet us was Mr. Hwang Sung Chol Secretary General of the
Korea – Australia /New Zealand Friendship Societies and his two
assistants Miss Kim and Mr. Lee all of whom spoke very good English.
From the airport, along with other delegations that arrived on the
same flight, we were driven to the Yanggakaddo hotel situated on an
island on the River Taedong which has 47 floors (including a
revolving restaurant) that would be our home for the next nine days.
From the airport the drive to the hotel took about 45 minutes from
the outskirts and through the capital Pyongyang. For those delegates
who were fortunate to visit Pyongyang in April last year for the
100th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Kim Il Sung
we could immediately see the changes, new apartment blocks had been
completed and new construction sites were to be seen.
After arriving at our hotel and checking in we met with Mr. Hwang to
discuss our program of activities for our stay in the DPRK. As
expected the program was full of political and cultural events
commencing the very next day with a visit to the Kumsusan Palace of
the Sun to pay our respects and homage to eternal President Kim IL
Sung and Kim IL Jong who are now both entombed in the palace.
As a further mark of respect we then paid a visit to the statues of
both Generalissimo Kim IL Sung and Kim Jon IL on Mansuade Hill where
Peter Woods on behalf of our delegation laid a floral basket of
flowers before the statues. From there it was a visit to the native
houses in Manyongdae where President Kim IL Sung was born and spent
his childhood.
International Solidarity with the Korean People
With the arrival of all international delegations a consultative
meeting was held at our hotel to consider the program for the Grand
International Peace March in Pyongyang, Kaesong and Panmunjoin on
July 24th and the International Indignation Meeting in
Sinchon July 25. The meeting was chaired by Javed Ansari
from Pakistan with Kim Jin Bom Vice Chairman of the Committee for
Cultural Relations With Foreign Countries (CCRFC) Peter Woods (as
Co-Chairman of the Asia Pacific Regional Solidarity Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of Korea ) and myself from Australia, Norma G.
Binas of Philippines, and Teguh Santosa from Indonesia sharing the
official platform. On behalf of members of the official platform I
presented the official program and timetable for the Inaugural
Ceremony of the Grand International Peace March, The Grand
International Peace March and Solidarity Meeting in Kaesong and the
International Indignation Meeting for Sinchon July 25th.
Following the consultative meeting, a meeting of the heads of
delegations took place where Kim Jong Suk Chairwoman of the Committee
for Cultural Relationship with Foreign Countries and secretary to the
Workers Party of Korea officially welcomed the international
delegations to the DPRK and the 60th anniversary of the
Korean victory of the Fatherland Liberation War. The meeting was
advised that 35 countries from the four corners of the globe
represented by 250 delegates had sent Friendship/Solidarity
delegations together with delegations from various political parties
from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
That evening and in honour of the international delegations a
reception was held in the Banquet Hall of the Yanggakdo Hotel where
delegates where warmly welcome by Kim Jong Suk chair of the CCRFC.
During the course of the reception Peter Woods Co-Chair of the Asia
Pacific Regional Solidarity Committee for the Reunification of Korea
when proposing a toast reflected upon his joint New Zealand and
Australian nationality and called for renewed efforts by these two
allies of the US's shameful attacks upon the Korean people to be
reversed, to work towards the peaceful reunification of Korea and to
strongly assert that Korea is one and shall be one.
Grand International Peace March
The next day (July24th) at the Charters for the National
Reunification monument the Inaugural Ceremony for the Grand
International Peace March was held and chaired by Javed Ansari with
speeches delivered by Peter Woods of Australia, Norma G. Binas from
the Philippines and Kim Jon Suk Chairwoman CCRFC. In presenting his
speech to the ceremony Peter Woods said in part “To avoid a nuclear
war the US has to withdraw its hostile policy toward the DPRK and
sign a peace treaty with the DPRK. We must continue our efforts to
create one Korea in a peaceful manner based on the Korean peoples
will”. Kim Jong Suk “The great victory 60 years ago was a
historic event and was evident of the superiority strategy developed
by Kim IL Sung. Kim Jong Un will continue Kim IL Sung and Kim Jong
IL’s effort to unify Korea and to create the stable and peaceful
world. This Grand International Peace March is a form of great
support from peace lovers over the world towards the Korean People”
and Norma G. Binas “The conflict of the Korean Peninsula is caused
by an outside power, by the hostile policy of the US. The US military
threat to the DPRK is a danger for humanity and the peaceful Korean
people.
Nuclear holocaust should be condemned; we are denouncing the nuclear
war provoked by the US. The US has to remove the military threat and
conclude a peace treaty with the DPRK. The reunification of Korea
should be based on the spirit of June 15th 2000
declaration and October 4th 2007 declaration “By our
Nation Itself.” At the conclusion of the speeches the Grand
International Peace March begun lead by the women’s band of the
Ministry of Peoples Security with each side of the peace route
flanked by thousands of Korea citizens, with the women dressed in
their traditional dresses, cheering and waving at the peace march and
showing deep respect and appreciation to the international
delegations who have joined them in celebrating the historic event of
the 60th anniversary celebrations.
Arriving at Kaesong city close to the DMZ the peace march then
proceeded to Janam Hill and the statue of President Kim Il Sung to
lay floral and flower baskets at the bottom of the statue. Following
a delicious lunch at Kaesong’s Chanamsan Hotel the Grand Peace
March continued its journey to the DMZ at Panmunjom where we visited
the hall and other buildings where the Armistice Agreement was signed
that ended hostilities on the Korean peninsula on the 27th
July 1953. These historic buildings are now museums displaying
information and other material relating to the signing of the
Armistice Agreement. On display were the comments of US General Mark
Clark who on behalf of the US and the UN Command confessed he “gained
the unenviable distinction of being the first United States Army
Commander in history to sign an armistice agreement without victory”
A visit to the actual DMZ zone clearly reveals the artificial
separation of Korea by the military policies of the US for sixty
years, there is no geographical or physical logic to Korea's
division, it was the artificial creation of US imperialism and it is
the crime of Koreas division. On the Southside of the DMZ and from a
high point you can actually see the concrete wall that the US has
built which runs all the way from the east to the west coast of Korea
around 260 kilometers with barbed wire and electric fences. Those
delegates who had visited the DMZ for the first time could see the
crime that has been committed against the Korean people by the
policies of US imperialism and would have a lasting impact upon them.
On leaving the DMZ we journeyed back to Kaesong to complete the Grand
International Peace March and to hold a solidarity meeting at Songdo
Square chaired by Javed Ansari. As we marched through Kaesong city
we were again greeted enthusiastically by the local citizens in their
thousands. At the solidarity meeting speeches were delivered by
representatives from Bangladesh, Russia, Japan, UK and the chairman
of the Peoples Committee of Kaesong City, Park Ryoung Pai. At the
conclusion of the speeches I delivered the declaration of the Grand
International Peace March and the solidarity meeting concluding with
a letter addressed to Marshal Kim Jong Un being read by Martin
Lotscher Chairman of the Swiss-Korea Friendship Society, the contents
of the letter expressing our full support to the Korean people for
National Reunification and opposition to the policies of US
Imperialism. We left Kaesong for the journey back to Pyongyang but we
left behind our international solidarity and best wishes to the
people of Kaesong who live and work next to the DMZ.
As a consequence of US Militarist and Foreign policies in attempting
to capture Korea as a springboard into China and at that time the
USSR the Korean war which lasted for three years (25th
June 1950 to 27th July 1953) over 4.5million Koreans lost
their lives with hundreds of thousands if not millions being maimed
or seriously injured. Among the dead were the hero’s and martyrs of
the Korean People Army (KPA). In recognition of those Martyrs the
Inauguration of the Cemetery of the KPA Martyrs took place on July
25th. Along with thousands of Korean citizens and hundreds
of International delegates and dignitaries with the hundreds of
veterans who fought in the Fatherland Liberation War up in front of
the mass crowd we waited patiently for the commencement of the
ceremony and the cutting of the ribbon to officially open this
historic site. With the arrival of the
official party and appropriate speeches delivered, Kim Jong Un cut
the ribbon and officially opened the KPA Martyrs cemetery. Each
headstone representing the body of a martyr had a picture of the
fallen comrade engraved in the headstone with name, age and exploits
that cost his or her life when fighting for the Fatherland. A moving
experience was a tour of the cemetery and the highlight for me was
when I had the opportunity to shake the hands and salute a group of
veterans that survived the battles of the Fatherland Liberation War.
US Atrocities and War Crimes Exposed
It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth and our
visit to Sinchon County to participate in the International
Indignation meeting and visit the Sinchon Museum of war crimes
committed by the US military forces was a revealing experience for
all.
At Chestnut Valley in Sinchon County the US Military forces
slaughtered over 35,000 people and one example of their atrocities
were the herding of some five hundred women, children and old men
into an air raid shelter and then poring petrol down the air vents
and setting it alight. Miraculously some survived and are still alive
today and the scars that they still carry reveal the whole truth
about the US Atrocities at Sinchon Chestnut Valley.
The International Indignation meeting was chaired by Brian Baker US
National Coordinator Act Now to Stop War and Racism and the main
speaker was Ramsey Clark the previous US Attorney General under US
President Johnston. As part of his speech to the International
Indignation meeting Ramsay Clark apologized to the Korean people for
the war crimes that the US committed against them. He conceded that
as a result of US involvement in the Korean War over 4.5million
Koreans lost their lives and Pyongyang the capital was totally
destroyed without a building left standing. “War is always hell”
he said. He told the meeting that last year he testified against the
US on the case on the nuclear vessels in the Pacific. Eight nuclear
submarines remain on continuous alert with over 400 nuclear missiles
armed and ready and ten times as powerful as the atomic bomb that was
dropped on Hiroshima. It is an example he said of how the US
maintains a constant war footing alert and holding the rest of the
world on the brink of nuclear war. He stated that the international
community should stand together to condemn the US and its allies in
relation to its policies against the DPRK. Other speakers where from
Croatia, Turkey and Kim Jin Born on behalf of the Korean people
expressed deep appreciation for the support coming from international
delegations. At the end of the meeting Alejandro Cao de Benos of
Spain read the declaration.
At the invitation of the Pyongyang Municipal Committee of the Workers
Party of Korea and the Pyongyang Municipal Peoples Committee we
attended the National Meeting to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the victory of the Korean people in the Fatherland
Liberation War held at the May Day Stadium. Marshall Kim Jong Un
attended the meeting and Kim Yong Nam President of the Supreme
People’s Assembly addressed the meeting thanking all international
participants and sending best wishes to all Korean people living
overseas.
That evening we had the privilege to witness and be entertained by
the grand gymnastic and artistic performance “Ariang” at the May
Day stadium a wonderful performance of dancing, singing gymnastic and
other cultural events that lasted for some two hours and involving
over 100,000 participants and artists.
KPA Defender of Peace
The next day was July 27th VE Day for the Korean people
and the National Military Parade. The parade commenced with columns
of KPA Soldiers dressed in the period uniforms from the Korean War
and armed with rifles from that era, followed by columns of trucks
carrying veterans from the war. The parade continued with columns of
Army, Navy and Air force units of the KPA supported by columns of
Workers and Peasants militia. Supporting these units where columns
of tanks, armored carriers, rocket launchers, missile carriers and
other very impressive hardware. Just above us pilots of helicopter
gunships skillfully maneuvered their machines through the main street
between apartment blocks and into Kim IL Sung Square. Further above
pilots on board their supersonic jets roared past in a salute to the
parade and the Korean people. But the parade wasn’t just about
military hardware thousands of workers, students and representatives
from the collective farms marched in unity with the mighty KPA an
army of the Party, State and the People a single unity under Songun
Politics.
In his speech to the Officers and Men of Unit No 256 of the Korean
People’s Army on October 23 1953 the Great Leader President Kim Il
Sung said “We defeated the huge armed forces of US imperialism, the
ringleader of world imperialism and its 15 satellites countries, and
forced them to sign the Armistice Agreement as we demanded. This is a
great victory for us.
What are the victories we achieved in the arduous three year war?
First, the Korean people and the People’s Army, through their
historic struggle, repulsed the enemy’s invasion and defended the
democratic base in the northern half of Korea with honour.
The Korean war laid bare the brutal nature of imperialism to the
world, and shattered the myth of the “might” of US imperialism to
pieces.
In fact, earlier some people had an illusion about the “might”
and “humanitarianism” of US imperialism. Through the Korean war,
however, the people of the world not only realized clearly that the
US imperialists were the most heinous savages but also came to
believe more firmly that if a people fought to the last bravely, arms
in hands, they would be able to defeat them.
It was widely known to the world for long that US imperialism was the
most vicious aggressor and biggest robber in the world”
Following the Military parade we attended the inauguration of the
Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum which was officially
opened by Marshall Kim Jong Un and later that evening we were treated
to a huge fireworks display titled “We Will Emerge Victorious as
Ever. “That wasn’t the end of the program for that day. On
arriving back at our hotel later in the evening the General Secretary
of the Koreans Peoples Assembly had organized a banquet to celebrate
the VE Day and to properly recognize and pay tribute to Chinese and
Russian volunteers who supported the Korean people and the KPA during
the war.
In addition to the above activities our program also included a visit
to the Workers Party of Korea (WPK) Monument, the Pyongyang
Exhibition House of Culture. Separately the Oceania delegation also
paid a visit to both the Australia and New Zealand Friendship
Schools.
Oceania Contribution Peace and Friendship
The Australian Friendship School is the Kumsong Middle School No 1
and over time qualified people from Australia have provided English
lessons to the students. The school was opened in 1969 and currently
accommodates 2000 students from Pyongyang and other parts of the
DPRK. The school engages around 79 teachers with a class on average
of 25 students with six years secondary study (compulsory education
is 12 years for all students).
Internationally the school students have performed cultural events in
58 countries 800 performances involving 1400 students. Although it
was the summer holidays for the students, a group of students gave up
their time to welcome our visit with a magnificent cultural
performance of song and dance and coached all of us to join them for
a traditional Korean dance. It was a wonderful experience and makes
us proud that we can call Kumsong Middle School No 1 our Australian
Friendship School.
Next it was a visit to the New Zealand Friendship School “Pyongyang
Ryongbok June 9 Senior School” which is the New Zealand Friendship
School. Opened in 1969, the school has 39 teachers and 750 pupils.
Students start at the age of 14 and study at the school for three
years. Unfortunately time and climatic conditions prevented us from
visiting the joint Australia /New Zealand Friendship Farm Sambong
Cooperative
This year on the 9th September the Korean people will
celebrate the 65th anniversary of the formation of their
republic “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. This year
also will mark 60 years of their nation being divided which is a
painful experience for all the Korean people. This division continues
as a result of US foreign and military policies, a gross interference
in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation.
Throughout its history the DPRK has been subjected to an economic,
trade, financial and diplomatic embargo by the US. Over the last
decade and through manipulating the UN, additional sanctions have
been applied to the DPRK designed to strangle the lifeline of its
economy and bring its people to heel with a strategy of forcing a
regime change. Despite all the difficulties that the sanctions are
causing in terms of shortages particularly oil and certain food
products and hard currency which has an effect on international
trade, the Korean people led by the WPK are determined to overcome
the difficulties they face and build a prosperous thriving socialist
nation under the banner JUCHE Independence and Self Reliance.
At the same time they will continue the struggle for the Peaceful
Independent Reunification of Korea upholding the historic June 15th
2000 and the 0ctober 4th 2007 joint declaration ‘By our
Nation Itself”
This report was compiled by Ray Ferguson on behalf of the Oceania
delegation that visited the DPRK on the occasion of the 60th
anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement July
2013
Oceania delegation
Peter Woods, Adam Baker, Peter Wilson, Karim Dickie, Richard Foster
and Ray Ferguson
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