I wish to welcome
everyone who has come along to this meeting of the Staffordshire
Branch of the UK KFA. The Korean Friendship Association since its
foundation in the year 2000, has expanded both its membership and its
influence internationally, The KFA in Britain has grown in terms of
its internet and practical activities, the UK KFA now have branches
in many parts of the country. Our organisation the Korean Friendship
Association is a broad based one, encompassing members of various
political parties and people who are non-affiliated. We have within
our ranks Trade Unionists, Peace Campaigners, and persons who are
interested in travel and culture.
I along with David
Munoz and Dermot Hudson was privileged to have visited the Democratic
Peoples Republic of Korea in April of this year. I saw a country
which was progressing on the socialist path, looking after all its
citizens. At that time, the DPRK was being threatened by the first of
many ultimatums issued by Donald Trump, but the Korean people were
never intimidated or browbeaten by these threats, to carry on the
work of building a thriving socialist country. Indeed the highlight
of the visit was the April 15th military and parade marking the 105
birth anniversary of President KIM IL SUNG, where I saw the DPRK
Leader Marshal KIM JONG UN on the reviewing platform.
Over the past year,
the Trump Administration has brought the situation in Korea and the
world to the brink of nuclear war. The DPRK has proposed a peaceful
solution to the current crisis, only to have been met with more
warmongering from the US side. North Korea wants peace and peaceful
reunification, but will never surrender its independence, sovereignty
and national dignity to nobody. The United States has stationed in
south Korea 40,000 troops and around a thousand nuclear warheads,
that is why the DPRK has been forced to develop its own nuclear
deterrent. Solidarity has never been so vital as now with the just
cause of the Korean people, that is to overcome the flood of lies and
disinformation about the DPRK propagated by the Western Media.
Stoke On Trent,
where this meeting is held today, has many proud proletarian
traditions, a city where the mass democratic movement of Chartism
flourish and where Fanny Deakin led the Hands Off Russia Movement, a
city in which the workers in the mining and ceramic industries fought
for their rights. Back in 2003, the UK KFA held a successful
gathering in the city hosted by the Workers' Educational Association
and I trust that this meeting will prove to be as equally as
productive. On a pedantic note, the meeting is not being held in one
of the six towns, however the event is staged in the City of Stoke
On Trent as entirety.
Can I now introduce
Dermot Hudson. Dermot has been to the Democratic Peoples Republic of
Korea 14 times in total and has visited many cities and provinces in
Peoples Korea. In 2016, Dermot Hudson was awarded a Doctorate in
Juche Philosophy by the Korean Association of Social Scientists.
Dermot has authored many books on the DPRK and on the Juche Idea,
including "The Great Succession" and "In Defence of
Peoples Korea". Dermot Hudson has made several television
appearances promoting the DPRK and explaining the Korean situation on
such programmes as the "Victoria Derbyshire Show" and "The
Daily Politics", plus he was interviewed by a local travel
writer on YouTube in May 2016.
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