Nearly one month ago
Trump made an
unprecedented
gesture and became the first US president to actually set foot in the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea , a country that the US has
never recognised diplomatically and has imposed massive sanctions
against. Trump made this gesture at a very significant place ,
Panmunjom . This was the place where the US 66 years ago on this
victory signed the Korean Armistice Agreement , acknowledging the
military defeat and failure of the US in the Korean War or as it is
known in the DPRK , the Fatherland Liberation War. It can be said
that maybe Trump was recognising the political defeat of the US in
Korea, some 66 years after the US acknowledged its military defeat .
On July 27th
1953 US general Mark Clark signed the armistice agreement with the
DPRK basically ceasing hostilities ( it should be noted that this was
a ceasefire not a permanent peace treaty) , Clark admitted rather
wearily that “"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.".
Similary Trumps visit to Panmunjom was one of desperation. The
meeting was held at Trump's request. The DPRK did not request it . No
one can say that the DPRK entered into talks because of sanctions .
Indeed under the banner of self-reliance the DPRK is winning victory
after victory against the sanctions .
It is clear that Trump is
scared by the idea that should the dialogue process fail , the DPRK
will return to nuclear tests and ICBM tests . This has been clarified
by a recent DPRK Foreign Ministry statement. Trump had staked his
reputation on the fact that the DPRK has not carried out nuclear or
ICBM tests , he knows as shown as a DPRK ICBM blasts off from the
launchpad , then it is the end for him !
The meeting at Panmunjom was
brought about by the DPRK's nuclear deterrent and the Songun policy!
The Songun policy and nuclear deterrence of the DPRK have been proved
correct . What happened on
June 30th
was only possible due
to the Songun policy of the DPRK and its development of nuclear
weapons . Those who whinged and whined about the DPRK developing
nuclear weapons should do well to consider that , had the DPRK not
developed nuclear weapons , the Korean peninsula would now be a war
zone .
Today we will look at the
first time the US was defeated in Korea.It is not the purpose of
this speech to give a blow by blow account of the Fatherland
Liberation War nor to explain who started the war , you may find an
excellent account of this in the book 'The US imperialists Started
the Korean War ' .Nor I am going to detail the atrocities of the US
in the war which saw the deaths of 4.2 million people and the US use
of biological and chemical weapons, these are well documented.
Instead I will talk about how the DPRK defeated the US .
he Fatherland Liberation
War was a truly herculean and titanic struggle which saw the Korean
people defeat US imperialism for the first time in world history. It
was a David and Goliath Struggle.The US threw huge armed forces into
the war including those armed forces of its satellite countries
which included Britain. British men were basically cannon fodder for
US imperialism . 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
Selaissie'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.
When the war broke out on the
25 June 1950 , the odds against young People's Korea surviving let
alone defeating US imperialism seemed very slim indeed because the US
had a population more than 20 times the size of the DPRK's and
nearly 100 times the size of the DPRK in terms of landmass. Moreover
the US had waged over a 100 wars of aggression and had emerged as the
victor in the Second World War . As part of the allied forces the US
had seen off Imperial Japan , Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The US
had emerged as the boss of world imperialism . It had a huge military
machine and a global empire of military bases across the world .The
US was and is the bulwark of modern colonialism, international
gendarme and strangler of independence and national liberation .On
top of this the DPRK not only to had to fight against the US but
also the forces of the south Korean puppets , armies from 15
satellite countries of the US and the Japanese fighting secretly in
Korea wearing the uniforms of the south Korean puppet army .
The Korean people led by the
great revolutionary leader and national hero Marshal KIM IL SUNG, a
true military strategic genius and ever-victorious iron-willed
brilliant commander fought a fierce anti- imperialist, anti- US
struggle against US imperialism and the allied forces of
international reaction. It was a fierce class struggle against the
enemies of the people. The US fought a truly racist and genocidal
war. The order of the US commanders was to shoot everything in white
and most Korean civilians wore white. It was no coincidence that
George Lincoln Rockwell the founder and leader of the American Nazi
Party served as a lieutenant commander in the US imperialist forces
during the war.
The Fatherland Liberation War
was a just national liberation war as well as a fierce anti-US,
anti-imperialist struggle .It was a sacred war for Korean
reunification .At the same time was a war to defend the independence
and freedom of the Korean people . Also it was a war to defend peace
and security and the eastern outpost of the socialist camp.
How could
a small country like People's Korea fight against the US and its
puppets and vassals? The answer was in the powerful revolutionary
leadership of Marshal KIM IL SUNG , the Juche idea and the Songun
idea as well as the heroic self-sacrificing spirit of the Korean
people and the young Korean People's Army. The Korean people fought
in the spirit of self-reliance and fortitude guided by the Juche .The
great revolutionary leader Marshal KIM IL SUNG stated“We
must solve our problems no matter who is helping us and what help we
get......Victory must be won by our strength”
The efforts of the Korean people that were primary in defeating the
US imperialist aggressors.
Some people like to draw
attention to the internationalist assistance given to the Korean and
in particular point to China and the USSR. Of course it is true that
such assistance was given and not just by big countries but by all
socialist countries.In the capitalist countries the working class and
revolutionary movement opposed the war by holding demonstrations and
strikes. In the UK the Communist Party of Great Britain and “Daily
Worker “ opposed
the war , as did some Labour MPs to their credit,for example the
famous Welsh MP S O Davies. Even in the US there were protests
against the war. 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 has no effect unless the revolutionary forces of a given
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.
The great leader comrade KIM
IL SUNG always stressed that the outcome of war is not determined by
weapons alone but the ideology of those holding the weapons.
During the Fatherland
Liberation War totally new tactics based on the Juche Idea were
applied. For example the Korean People’s Army developed tunnel
warfare, a new concept. 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 victor”
On the 25th June 1950 at
dawn guns boomed and jets of flame shot out . The south Korean
puppets intruded several kilometres deep into the territory of
People' Korea. The south Korean puppet army, under the direct command
of the US Military Advisory Group , had launched an armed invasion
all along the 38th parallel on a preconceived war plan. The south
Korean puppets started their aggression against the DPRK over the
whole length of the 38th parallel, intruding one-two kilometres
deep in the directions of Haeju, Kumchon and Cholwon. The south
Korean puppets bragged their radio they had captured Haeju(which
categorically disproves the account of US, Western and south Korean
historians the DPRK attacked first) . The destiny of the DPRK was
hanging in the balance, what could it do against the onslaught of the
south Korean puppets who were backed by the biggest military power in
history ? The great leader Marshal KIM IL SUNG called meeting of
the Cabinet of the DPRK and demanded that the south Korean puppets
stop their aggression at once . The south Korean puppets refused to
do so . So the great leader Marshal KIM IL SUNG ,declaring that the
Yankees had misjudged the Koreans, ordered the Korean People's Army
and Korean Peoples Security Forces to go over to an immediate
counter-offensive.
Thus the KPA and KPSF went
over to an immediate counter-offensive pushing the south Korean
puppets back .This was something unprecedented in the history of
warfare! . Generally when a state is attacked or invaded by another
state it takes some time to even adopt a defensive posture to resist
the aggression. However thanks to the original Juche-orientated
revolutionary military thought and strategy the forces of the DPRK
were able to launch a decisive counter-offensive after halting the
south Korean puppets in their tracks and allowing them no breathing
space.
The great leader Marshal
KIM IL SUNG had accumulated precious experience during the 15 year
long armed struggle against the Japanese imperialists. He developed
original Juche-orientated military tactics, the like of which had
never been seen before.
On the third day of the war
, 28 June, Seoul the south Korean puppet capital was liberated by the
KPA .This was disastrous for the south Korean puppets who had
orgininally boasted of "having breakfast in Haeju, lunch in
Pyongyang and dinner in Sinuiju" . This had not happened,
instead the victorious DPRK wiped out the south Korean puppet forces
and liberated south Korea,. The hated colonial reactionary ruling
machines were smashed and land was distributed to the peasants free
of charge. The US started to heavily bomb all of Korea and drew into
the war forces from some satellite countries. This did not stop the
advance of the Juche-orientated Korean People's Army commanded by the
great leader Marshal KIM IL SUNG. The KPA smashed the Yankees at Osan
.Torpedo boats of the KPA Navy sunk US cruisers and destroyers.
The great leader Marshal KIM
IL SUNG personally commanded the Taejon liberation battle.I. The U.S.
24th division was totally destroyed in the Taejon battle on July 20,
that was the 20th day after its arrival in south Korea. A young
People's Army took prisoner Dean himself. He was the first division
commander of U.S. imperialist aggression forces to be taken prisoner
in the Korean War. This was a great feat of the heroic Korean
People's Army to have captured a Yankee general.
In the first stage of the war
the Korean People's Army liberated 90 per cent of the territory of
south Korea and 92 of the population. A truly remarkable
accomplishment that was achieved by the self-reliant revolutionary
armed forces of People's Korea under the command of the great leader
Marshal KIM IL SUNG .Visiting the Fatherland Liberation Museum this
year we were able to see the section of the Museum which detailed the
liberation of Seoul in June 1950 including the freeing of political
prisoners being held by the south Korean fascist puppet regime.
The US threw into the war
unprecedented numbers of troops and amounts of materials. In fact 73
million tons of war materials were used in the war .The war raged on
until July 27th 1953 when the US kneeled down and signed the
Armistice Agreement.
During the three-year long
Fatherland Liberation War, the U.S. imperialists lost over 1,567,000
men, including more than 405,000 of their own armed forces, and an
enormous amount of combat equipment and war supplies, including over
12,200 aircraft, more than 560 warships and ships, over 3,200 tanks
and armoured vehicles of different types, more than 13,350 trucks and
7,690 artillery pieces of various types. 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
official US statistics showed during each of the three years of the
Korean War they lost double the number of troops lost in each year
of the Vietnam war.
The right wing and extremely
anti-communist US military historian Bevin Alexander , who himself
had been a US army officer during the Korean War, referred to the
Fatherland Liberation War as being ‘the first war we lost’
Former US State of Secretary
Marshall said that “the myth was blown away. We are not a strong
country as others thought. The infamous Senator J R McCarthy admitted
“we suffered a serious defeat in Korea “ . McCarthy’s remark
prompts me to think whether Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were really
executed(on the 19 of June 1953 a month before the US defeat) as
scapegoats for the US defeat in the Fatherland Liberation War .As the
great leader generalissimo 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 “
The US imperialists also
suffered irretrievable political and moral defeats. It was a great
victory for the Korean people and opened up a new era of anti-US,
anti-imperialist struggle. Indeed Korea was the war before Vietnam !.
The executive secretariat of the Organisation of Solidarity with the
People’s of Asia, Africa and Latin America said on the 19th of
June 1968 “ under
the superb leadership of the Marshal KIM IL SUNG 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 the defence of liberty of the fatherland and the gains
of the revolution, making a great contribution in the
anti-imperialist national-liberation struggle of the peoples
throughout the world and the struggle for peace in Asia and the
world.
This historic victory of
the Korean people has shown that no force on earth can ever bring to
their knees a people who fight for the independence and liberty of
their country “
There can no doubt that he
victory in the Fatherland Liberation War was due to the outstanding
an brilliant commanding art of the great leader Generalissimo KIM IL
SUNG , a military strategic genius .
The US and Donald Trump should
study the history of the US defeat in Korea and draw the lesson from
it and end their hostile anti-DPRK policy totally , otherwise an even
greater defeat is staring them in the face !
