Good evening,
thank you for inviting me to this meeting. I have not been to Llandudno since 1994.
A few words of introduction about myself. I am Dermot Hudson, I am the Chairman
of the UK Korean Friendship Association which is part of the Korean Friendship
Association a worldwide organisation which 17,000 members across the globe. Our
organisation works closely with the Korean Committee for Cultural Relations with
Foreign Countries of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and also the
Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea , which fights for
reunification and independence in south Korea. We do what it says on the tin and defend
People’s Korea with No is or buts and we
work for the independent reunification of Korea.
I have been
chairman of the UK Korean Friendship Association for nearly 17 years and was
victimised at my workplace for my activities in support of People’s Korea , I
was forced to take early retirement from my workplace.
Unlike some
so-called ‘north Korean experts’ and hack journalists I have actually visited
People’s Korea 14 times , the last time being in August 2017.
In my speech I will be referring to the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , DPRK for short or People’s Korea or
Juche Korea rather than the mainstream media term “north Korea “. Historically
and geographically, there never was north Korea and south Korea, the division
of Korea is totally artificial as I will explain later. There is no ethnic or
geographical reason for the division of Korea. The recent scenes at the Winter
Olympics showing that Korea is One are most heartwarming.
Today the
DPRK is the most demonised and abused country on earth with lies about the
country being produced on an industrial scale. Much misinformation comes from
the south Korean puppet propaganda machine which is then recycled by the
Western mainstream media who in some cases print stories which they know are
untrue. Then you have shadowy outfits and think tanks that are closely linked
to the CIA and the south Korean National Intelligence Service. One example is
NKNews , an internet based news service that is in fact includes on its staff
former US and south Korean army officers . The head and founder of NK New Chad O Carroll who
worked for the CIA linked Marshall Fund had previously been writing on the
so-called colour revolutions in Libya, Tunisia and other middle eastern
countries but was suddenly reinvented as
“north Korea expert “
Today
the DPRK is the most independent country
in the world , a fact even acknowledged by reactionary Tory ex-prime minister John Major who said that the DPRK is
an example of a country with undiluted independence . The DPRK does not have a
single US soldier stationed on its territory and its army does not occupy other
countries unlike the US which has a massive global empire of military bases.
Moreover despite 60 years of sanctions and blockade plus natural disaster the
DPRK is implementing popular welfare policies such as free education, free
housing, and free medical care without taking a penny from its citizens in tax.
The DPRK has its own independent philosophy of Juche , a study of which is the
key to understanding the DPRK and its history.
One
misunderstanding is that I frequently encounter is the idea that the DPRK
is somehow a creation of the former
Soviet Union or China or both , that is dependent on Russia or China or in some
beholden to these countries. The
existence of the DPRK is not a gift of another country but the choice of the
Korean people. The DPRK arose out of the struggle for Korea’s independence from
Japan. In fact the DPRK throughout its existence had to oppose the big power
chauvinism of the USSR and China ,strongly rebuffing the attempts of these
countries to interfere in their internal affairs .Pro –Soviet and pro Chinese
factions were purged from the leadership in 1956. Only yesterday the DPRK
newspapers carried an article criticising China for trying to interfere in the
affairs of the Korean nation. The DPRK is no one’s puppet or colony . The same cannot be said of south
Korea which is occupied by over 30,000 US troops .The south Korean people have
to pay to be occupied by the US.
On August 15
1945 Korea was liberated from Japanese imperialist colonial rule thanks to the
arduous armed struggle waged by the anti-Japanese partisans led by the great
leader comrade KIM IL SUNG. This was welcome enthusiastically by the Korean
people as Japanese imperialist rule which had appeared so strong and permanent
crumbled virtually in an instant!
In the
northern part of Korea, people’s committees, organs of popular rule were
established by the people. The old oppressive Japanese ruling machinery was
destroyed Democratic reforms were carried out soon after liberation, within 7
months of liberation the historic Agrarian reform which eliminated feudal
exploitation was carried out rapidly. Nationalisation of basic industries was
carried and progressive legalisation on workers’ rights and sexual equality was
enacted. The Labour Law enacted in 1946 even give workers and office workers
free medical treatment on an insurance basis , some 2 years before the NHS was
created in Britain.
Later in
1948 the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea a unified state representing the
interests of the Korean people was established, through a general election
throughout Korea , in the northern part of Korea 98 per cent of electors took
part and in the south under conditions of illegality ,77 per cent of electors
voted.
Since 1945
south Korea had been under the occupation of the US. Tragically Korea was
divided in . A US colonel , actually
Dean Rusk who later was to become a key figure in US politics ,had simply drawn
a line with a ruler across a map of Korea at the 38th parallel , thus 5000
years of history as a unified nation was destroyed by the stroke of a pencil
and the destiny of small nations trifled with by big powers. The US
imperialists fixed the 38th parallel as the demarcation line and occupied south
Korea on the pretext of "disarming the Japanese troops in the south of the
38 degrees north latitude". They reigned over it as colonial rulers in
place of the Japanese, throwing a grave obstacle in the path of building a new
society by the south Korean people.
It needs to
be made clear that the US played no part whatsoever in the liberation of Korea
, their troops did not arrive in Korea until 3 weeks after liberation, indeed
they were in no position to advance to Korea. There was also no need for them
to go into south Korea as Korea had already been liberated. I would like to
draw the audience's attention to one fact . When I first visited the DPRK in
1992 I went to the Korean Revolution Museum. There I saw a map of the
anti-Japanese revolutionary armed struggle led by President Kim Il Sung . Some
were surprised to see that this struggle had been waged not only in north Korea
but in the south as well. Someone asked why wasn't a unified Korean government
set up as there were progressive and revolutionary forces in the south as well
the north . The guide replied “the US imperialists,
did terrible things , they divided Korea “.
As President KIM IL SUNG of the Korean people said
“The
US imperialists occupied south Korea, reactionaries from home and abroad, and
the former stooges of Japanese imperialism became lackeys of US imperialism and
opposed the Korean people. We were confronted with the aggressive policy of the
US imperialists who were not only opposed to the Korean revolution and the
building of an independent unified state by the Korean people but were also
seeking to extend their influence to north Korea”
US
imperialism had long coveted Korea . In 1866 they sent their pirate ship the
General Sherman up the Taedong River. Later they concluded the so -called
Friendship Treaty with Korea. Now in 1945 they seized one half of Korea.
Having
completed the preparations for the occupation of south Korea, the US
imperialists landed the "advance contingent" of the 24th Army Corps
in Inchon on September 7, 1945. The
following day, on September 8, two-division forces of the 24th Army Corps
45,000 strong started occupation of south Korea under the direct command of
Hodges. Hordes of US Gis, swarmed into south Korea. Right from the start they
committed atrocities and barbarities against the Korean people.
The US
enforced direct military rule in south Korea, one of their proclamations stated
that "acts of resistance to the occupying forces or any acts which may
disturb public peace and safety will be punished severely", and forced the
use of English as the official language for all purposes.
. An
American journalist Mark Gayn wrote "We
were not a liberation army. We rushed there in order to occupy it, in order to
watch whether the Koreans obey the conditions of surrender. From the first days
of our landing we have acted as the enemy of the Koreans."
It is
relevant to point out the US imperialists became the colonial exploiter in
south Korea as it seized Japanese property in south Korea which accounted for
about 80 per cent of property in south Korea. The US imperialists renamed in
February 1946 the "Oriental Development Company", the former Japanese
agency for plundering land and grain, as the "New Korea Company" and
expropriated the total arable land of south Korea. At that time, the total
property held by the "New Korea Company" reached the sum of 1,250
million dollars; it owned 286,767 hectares of cultivated land to which more
than 554,000 farm households, or 27 per cent of the total farm households of
south Korea, owed their existence. This meant that through the "New Korea
Company" the US imperialists became the biggest landlord in south Korea
who had acquired nearly one-tenth of over 2,670,000 hectares of the arable land
and 27 per cent of the farm households in south Korea
In this way,
the history of colonial rule of US imperialism started in south Korea, replacing
that of Japanese imperialism.
From the
first day of their occupation of south Korea, the US imperialists followed
colonial enslavement and military base policies on the strength of their
military government.
President
Kim Il Sung said:
"The
US army set out on a policy of colonial enslavement as soon as it occupied
south Korea. In the first place, it adopted two basic policies to attain its
goal. Politically, it smothered all the initiatives towards democracy of the
liberated people, who set themselves against its policy of colonial
enslavement, and suppressed all the democratic forces.”
In its
policy of political enslavement aimed at turning south Korea into US colony,
the "US Military Government" put the main stress on the suppression
and liquidation of the democratic and patriotic forces of the Korean people by
arms and the rallying and fostering of the reactionary forces, so that it might
consolidate its political foothold for the establishment of colonial rule in
south Korea and the domination of all Korea.
In fact, all
the policies adopted by US imperialism toward south Korea, including that of
establishment of the "US Military Government", were, without
exception, related to its aggressive design to convert south Korea into a
colonial military base and use it as a stepping-stone for the conquest of the
whole of Korea. Also the US planned to use south Korea as a forward base for
aggression against the USSR and the Chinese revolution
In carrying
out its plan of aggression on Korea, US imperialism considered it most
important of all to stamp out the sovereignty of the Korean people and place
them under its domination. In October 1945, Hodges announced: "The
Military Government is the sole government of Korea." The Communist Party
and other progressive forces were suppressed. As famous US writer and
journalist Edgar Snow remarked “When everything
has been said about our occupation of Korea, probably the most significant
thing is that we stopped a revolution here”.
The US
imperialists and their stooges in south Korea carried out fascist terrorism not
only against workers and peasants but against political figures that supported reunification.
Mr Ryo Un Hyong leader of the south Korean Peoples Party and a respected
nationalist was assassinated on the 19th of July 1947 and even assassinated Kim
Gu , a right wing conservative figure who had come out against the US
occupation of south Korea and for peaceful reunification.
US direct
military rule in south Korea was basically colonialism and was opposed by the
south Korean people . In September 1946 there was a general strike of south
Korean workers. The US imperialists felt the need to create a puppet regime to
camouflage their rule in south Korea . They put in power the elderly Syngham
Rhee , a Korean who had lived in the US and was trained by the US over many
years. Syngham Rhee had also embezzled funds of the nationalist movement. The
Syngham Rhee puppet regime was characterised by corruption and incompetence as one famous US Asia expert Prof Owen
Lattimore as follows “ “America, which
has in China complained of the bad luck of having inherited the Kuomintang
through no fault of its own, has in Korea manufactured its own Kuomintang. To
support our proclaimed policy of world-wide opposition to police states, we
have in South Korea created a weak and unreliable police state of our own.”
The US
imperialists basically created a fascist state in south Korea. Some people do
not like us in the KFA calling south Korea fascist but even today the hated
“National Security Law”, which is actually based on Japanese colonial laws , is
still in force . Under this law, any expression of sympathy with the DPRK or
communist ideology is punishable usually by 7 years in prison although the
maximum sentence is death ! You can even find Hitler themed bars in south Korea
.
The south
Korean people fought against the Syngham Rhee puppet regime and the US imperialists.
In April 1948 the people of Jeju island rose up against separate elections but
this was put down by the US imperialists and Sygnham Rhee puppets , who killed
between 33,000 and 70,000 people (33,000 being an official estimate what was
very conservative estimate).Other
uprisings were put down brutally by the US imperialists and south Korean
puppets
Numerous
shackling and aggressive agreements , pacts and treaties such as the ROK-US
Mutual Defence Treaty of January 1950 , were concluded. South Korea became an
advance military base of the US and a bullet shield. The armed forces of south
Korea are still subject to wartime operational control of the US army . In all
respects south Korea is a puppet regime. All the fascist dictators in south
Korea such as Syngham Rhee , Park Chung Hee , Chon Du Hwan , Roh Tae Woo, Kim
Yong Sam, Lee Myung Bak and Park Geun Hye have all been puppets of the US and
some of them were trained by the US military.
There were frequent
incursions by the south Korean puppet forces into the DPRK in 1947 there were
over 270 incidents of the south Korean puppet forces attacking the DPRK .Such
attacks grew in a number in 1948 and 1949
and there was talk of a ‘small war along the 38th parallel.
There were particularly heavy battles on Mt Songak and Mt Unpha. Fascist
gangs from south Korea and the south
Korean armed forces committed terrorism and murder during incursions. For
example the 6th Battalion of the "Horim Unit" stealthily intruded
deep into the mountain area of Puk Sub-County and Sohwa Sub-County, Rinje
County, Kangwon Province, looted goods from the shops and clinics,robbed the
farmers of their grain, kidnapped and killed inhabitants.
In a week the "Horim Unit"
had killed 28 innocent people, abducted 50 and burnt down many houses in
Yangyang and Rinje Counties”
This small
war was to calumniate in the provocation of the Korean War, or Fatherland
Liberation War as it is known as in the DPRK, on the 25th of June
1950 . The mainstream media and history books still blame the DPRK for starting the war . However facts
show otherwise
First of
all, Truman's envoy John Foster Dulles visited south Korea a week before the
outbreak of war on the 25th of June 1950. Dulles even visited frontline areas
on the 18th of June. It cannot be a coincidence that war started a week later.
Secondly,
numerous documents captured by the Korean People's Army when it liberated Seoul
on the 28th June 1950, prove that the US imperialist instigated the south
Korean puppets to start the war . Thirdly , in the early hours of the 25th of
June before the war started , 650
American women and children were evacuated from south Korea . Fourthly , US
writer and journalist John Gunther wrote that he was in Toyko in June 1950 and
a US officer said "A big story has just broken. The south Koreans have
attacked the north.’ .
In fact the Korean War had been ordered by US
National Security Council no 68 issued in April 1950, 2 months before the
Korean War began.
The US imperialists
launched a war of conquest against the DPRK , a war to destroy the Juche-based
people's democratic system in the DPRK as well to destroy socialism in Asia and
the world.
The British
role in the Fatherland Liberation War was truly shameful .The UK was one of 15
satellite states of the US that sent troops to fight against the Korean people
. The other countries that form the roll of dishonour and disgrace are
:Luxemburg, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece France, Colombia, Turkey, New Zealand
, Australia , South Africa , Ethiopia , Thailand and the Philippines(Japan
participated in the Korean War secretly). It is significant that the UK found
itself fighting not only on the same side as US imperialism but with Apartheid
South Africa, Colombia of the death squads, fascist Greece , Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia
and other very reactionary regimes against an independent , progressive
,democratic and anti-imperialist government . Thus the Korean war was a totally
reactionary one that held back the liberation struggle of the Korean people and
the reunification of Korea.
Indeed the
British role in Korea for the past 150 years has been a most shameful one. It
was Britain that secretly helped Japan to invade Korea and colonise Korea.
Basically
British troops were turned into cannon fodder and mercenaries for US
imperialism. Attlee(Labour ) and Churchill(Conservative) sold the lives of
British young men for a measly handful of US dollars. In fact in order to pay
for the cost of sending the troops to Korea was paid for by increasing
prescription charges.
Among the
British forces sent to the Korean front was the Royal Ulster Rifles which had suppressed
the Irish people and committed many atrocities during the northern Ireland
troubles. The British Army held back the reunification of Korea in the 1950s
and also held back the reunification of Ireland.
As Julian
Tunstall who served in the 1st battalion of the Middlesex Regiment of the
British Army pointed out in his book "I fought in Korea " many of the
British conscripts did not want to fight in Korea , as Tunstall said "Well
if they want a war let them have one: let 'me fight it out " we said
"But we don't want their war "
Tunstall
describes graphically the real nature of British imperialism and US imperialism
" In the nine months I spent in Korea I felt most deeply about the
outright discrimination against Koreans ,whether in the north or in the south,
by the white men of many Western and allegedly more civilised nations. Secondly,
I saw a process of destruction in which there was no attempt to confine the war
to what is usually demanded by military necessity...Officers gave such orders
as 'Shoot everything in White ' and 'Take no prisoners ' . Since 'everything in
white includes virtually every Korean civilian ,it is not surprising that the
greatest number of causalities in the war were civilians..
I will
regret that I went to Korea to fight the people'.
Tunstall
also details how those Koreans who helped the British forces either as
translators or workers received nothing in return.
The US
committed all kinds of barbaric atrocities during the course of the war. The US
killed over 1,200,000 million civilians in the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea . During the war the US indiscriminately bombed the DPRK as well as
carrying out deliberate and premeditated massacres of civilians.
The US
imperialists committed horrendous and stomach-turning atrocities in all parts
of Korea. A UK KFA delegation visited the Sinchon Ri Museum which serves as a
memorial to the 35,383 people murdered by the US imperialists during their
temporary occupation of the area. Similar atrocities took place at Susan Ri and
also at Rogun-ri in south Korea. The US not only used napalm in Korea but also
biological weapons that are outlawed under international law. In November 1951 the U.S. imperialists
dropped the first germ bomb in the areas north of the River Chongchon and south
of the River Amnok and in Yangdok, Hamhung and Wonsan with the involvement of
the U.S. third bomber wing in the Kunsan air base and the 19th bomber wing
under the command of the U.S. air force in the Far East based on Okinawa.
Recently the
US has shipped anthrax into south Korea with the express intent of repeating
the disaster of biological warfare.
It is also
significant that the US considered the use of nuclear weapons against the DPRK
and China during the Korean War. The US planned to drop 30 to 50 atomic bombs
during the Korean War. The US even considered a scheme to introduce a belt of
radioactive materials across Korea .
After the Korean War there were a number of
occasions when the US considered using nuclear weapons against People’s Korea such as during the Pueblo Incident in 1968 ,
the Panmunjom Incident in 1976 and other occasions. In 2001 George W Bush not
only declared that the DPRK was part of an ‘axis of evil “ along with Iran and
Iraq(which the DPRK did not have diplomatic relations with ) but also
significantly included the DPRK along with 6 other countries as a target for a
US pre-emptive nuclear strike . Now you have Trump talking about “Fire and
Fury” , a “bloody nose “ and a limited nuclear war with the DPRK.
The U.S. unilaterally scrapped the paragraph
13 d of the Armistice Agreement banning the introduction of all war hardware
into Korea from abroad in June, 1957. It declared the nuclear weaponization of
the U.S. forces present in south Korea in July. From January, 1958 it brought
Honest John nuclear missiles, 280 mm atomic artillery pieces, B-61 nuclear
bombs, etc. to south Korea.
In the 1960s it reorganized its pentomic
division for nuclear war operations into a modern one and introduced various
type nuclear and guided weapons including Matador and Hawk guided missiles and
nuclear mines.
In the 1970s the U.S., asserting "the
security of south Korea is directly linked with the one of the U.S.",
deployed a lot of nuclear strike means in south Korea including nuclear shells
and warheads, Lance missiles and nuclear-capable fighter bombers.
In the 1980s the U.S., trumpeting about its
"supremacy of power", deployed nuclear backpacks for special ops
units, medium and special nuclear bombs capable of destroying bridges, tunnels,
roads, etc. in its military bases. It even brought to south Korea tactical
nuclear weapons that had been deployed in Okinawa.
It provided its troops in south Korea with
nuclear shells for 155 mm howitzers that had never been deployed in any other
overseas military bases. It deployed in south Korea even neutron bombs and
medium-range Pershing-2 nuclear missiles.
The nuclear weapons shipped by it to south
Korea numbered at least 1 720 till the mid-1980s.
This, in the light of the density of nukes
deployment, quadrupled the one in the then NATO region. This means more than
one nuclear weapon per 100 square kilometres of the territory of south Korea.
South Korea has turned into the world's
biggest nuclear arsenal.
The U.S. was fully prepared to ignite a
nuclear war any time, systematically introducing nukes in south Korea, having
nuclear depots in various places and operating in south Korea even a unit
specializing in stockpiling nukes and providing necessary equipment.
Its nuclear war moves continued even after
the conclusion of the international treaty banning the introduction of nukes
into non-nuclear states and regions.
The U.S. imperialists, in the wake of
releasing a deceptive report on the complete withdrawal of tactical nukes from
south Korea in July, 1992, announced its "NCND policy" and continued
introducing nukes into south Korea. I
leave it to the audience to decide whether they trust the US to have withdrawn
its nuclear weapons from south Korea.
The DPRK’s
decision to develop the nuclear deterrent was a just and reasonable measure to deal
with the US nuclear threat to it . After the US first introduced nuclear
weapons into Korea in 1957 but the DPRK
did not test its first nuclear weapon until 59 years later . In other
words the US had virtually 6 decades to resolve the nuclear issue on the Korean
peninsula and stop its nuclear threat to the DPRK.
The DPRK
guided by the Juche idea ,decided to
rely on itself for defence , it adopted
the Songun or Army first policy of building strong defensive forces. Historically
Korea had fallen victim to Japanese colonialism for two reasons, firstly, the
feudal rulers of Korea in the early 20th century believed that they
could rely on big powers such as China, Russia, the US, Britain and France to
maintain independence, secondly, Korea only had simple weapons . The lesson
that a small country cannot rely on a big country for its defence was also
shown in the early 1960s when the USSR did a deal with the US over the heads of
the Cuban leadership and pulled its missiles out of Cuba.
The DPRK is determined not to suffer the fate
of Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan , Yugoslavia
and others which did not have
nuclear weapons and were invaded by US imperialism,
At the time
of its first nuclear test in October
2006 the DPRK stated it would not use nuclear weapons , that it would not
export or transfer nuclear weapons and that it was committed to nuclear
disarmament . At the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea
supreme leader Marshal KIM JONG UN stated that “As a responsible nuclear-armed
state and as we have already declared, our Republic will not use nuclear
weapons first, unless the forces of aggression that are hostile to us violate
our sovereignty with their own nuclear weapons; we will faithfully observe our
commitments to nuclear non-proliferation, which we have made before the
international community, and strive for global denuclearization.”
The DPRK is
prepared to enter into negotiations for nuclear disarmament if the US gives up
its nuclear threat and hostile policy towards the DPRK . The US has a very
simple choice before it , it if does not like the DPRK nuclear weapons , then
it needs to stop threatening the DPRK with nukes .
The DPRK has always supported the independent
reunification of Korea.The Western mass media incorrectly said that the
proposals made by Marshal KIM JONG UN
were a new policy or where simply the result of the sanctions imposed on
the DPRK . Nothing could be further from the truth . In fact several times before
respected Marshal KIM JONG UN made proposals for dialogue with the south
several times before .
It is a little known fact that on the 7th
of June 1950 a few weeks before the Korean War began, the DPRK sent its
representatives to south Korea to
negotiate the peaceful reunification of Korea. They were arrested by the south
Korean puppets.
In 1961 ,
President KIM IL SUNG advanced the idea of
reunification through a confederation . Later a more developed form of
this was put forward at the 6th Congress of the Workers Party in
1980 . So it is not a new policy ,
At present
the US is trying to ruin the atmosphere for peaceful reunification and
inter-Korean co-operation and is clearly opposed to peaceful reunification. The
mainstream media of the West have given coverage to a tiny minority of extreme
fascist elements in south Korea who are basically the south Korean equivalents
of Britain First and the BNP who have staged provocative anti-reunification
protests.
The DPRK is
facing increasing threats by US imperialism which get worse nearly every day . ! As time is running short I would just
mention two.Firstly , the DPRK has been subjected to several rounds of
sanctions by the UN Security Council as well as the US not to mention the EU,
UK ,Japan and south Korea making it the most heavily sanctioned country in the
world . Apparently more sanctions are to come !
Secondly.
after the Winter Olympics are over in south Korea , the US and south Korea will
begin Foal Eagle and Key Resolve
military exercises targeting People’s Korea .Last year Foal Eagle and Key Resolve included a massive
number of US and south Korean puppet troops as well as US nuclear aircraft
carriers and nuclear armed US bomber aircraft. In the past the UK has
participated in these exercises. Foal Eagle and Key Resolve exercises aim at
invading the DPRK and occupying it . They are aimed at destroying the socialist
system of the DPRK . They are a grave challenge to the independence and
sovereignty of the DPRK . Also Foal Eagle and Key Resolve are a serious threat to peace in the Asia
Pacific region .
We call for the immediate cancellation of
Foal Eagle and Key Resolve and the unconditional withdrawal of US troops from
Korea . Moreover a broad labour movement and peace movement campaign must be
mounted against Foal Eagle and Key Resolve.
Peace and
reunification in Korea can come when every single US soldier and piece of US
military hardware is withdrawn from the land of Korea !
KOREA IS ONE
!
US OUT OF
KOREA !
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