.
It is great to be back in the City of Liverpool . The last time we held a meeting in Liverpool was November 2017 , which was about four and half years ago . A lot of things have happened since then . There have been a number of attempts to destroy the Korean Friendship Association but we are still here , Defending People’s Korea 24/7 . In fact KFA is expanding rapidly , in the last 18 months we have opened new branches in Finland , Norway , Kenya , Nepal and Bulgaria as well as establishing our branches in Poland and Germany . In November last year we held a successful KFA International meeting in Barcelona , Spain and in 2020 KFA celebrated its 20th anniversary .
The main theme of this meeting is Defending People’s Korea and the situation on the Korean peninsula .As I have argued in my book ‘ In Defence of Juche Korea ‘ and other writings , the DPRK is one of the most unjustly vilified and demonised countries in the whole world .
Propaganda against the DPRK is on an industrial scale . It comes from different sides , not just the establishment, the Right and the mainstream media but also some on the so-called “Left ‘ and even the ultra left . A lot of propaganda against the DPRK is rooted in orientalism , Euro-centrism and chauvinism as well being motivated by a hatred of the socialist system of the DPRK . At the moment the DPRK has been taken out of the news by the mainstream media partly due to the Ukraine crisis but also because to the elite the DPRK is a policy failure ; all their tactics against the DPRK have failed ; whether it is sanctions , the threat of force and military pressure and even Trump’s high stakes diplomacy . The mainstream media do not like to talk about failures , only success so the DPRK has been taken out of the news .Of course anti-DPRK propaganda is still there ,it is as if it were still playing in the background . So-called specialist websites such as NKNews , which has now been proven to be funded by among others the US Army Pacific Command , the US Dept of Defence , the Japanese Foreign Ministry and south Korea Unification ministry , play a big role in publishing fake news about the DPRK . Just look at all the NKNews stories that have been proved wrong in the last year and the other day even the Cambodian Foreign Ministry refuted an NKNews story .
First , I would like to talk about Covid 19 , the DPRK and south Korea .
Covid 19 has increased more than 100 times in south Korea since last Autumn . Probably the number of Covid 19 cases in south Korea will reach 3 million or more by the end of spring. At the same time People's Korea has Zero Covid 19 cases and Zero Covid 19 deaths .Yet the mainstream media are completely silent on this because they do not want people to know the truth about south Korea . The mainstream media like to portray south Korea is a liberal human rights paradise ( of course some mainstream media journalists are paid by south Korea to do PR for them ) . In reality, south Korea is a puppet of the US and a miserable colony where people live in poverty and all the wealth is monopolised by 1 per cent of the population. It is fascist regime where communist and leftist thoughts are banned by law .
What the Covid 19 figures show is that south Korea is the failed state on the Korean peninsula and that Juche-based socialism is superior to south Korean puppet capitalism.
It is highly likely that south Korea is covering the death toll from Covid 19 , it is probably much higher and obviously does not include the homeless and destitute who cannot afford to go to hospital !
the DPRK took early measures against Covid 19 such as closing the border in January before even the WHO declared Covid 19 a pandemic . Other measures included extending school holidays , getting people to wear masks , rigorous disinfection of public areas , medical checkups for people , health education and quarantining foreigners within the borders of the DPRK. Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN , a true people's leader , convened a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on the 29th of February 2020 at which it discussed " taking nationwide top-class anti-epidemic steps in a more thorough-going way and strictly putting them into practice in order to cope with the viral epidemic spreading rapidly around the world". and also "measures to deter the influx and spread of the infectious disease in a scientific, preemptive and lockdown way." . At the same time respected Marshal KIM JONG UN had officials guilty of bureaucratic behaviour removed from office .This contrasts with the incompetence of many leaders in the Western world who failed to take any decisive measures to stop the situation getting out of control .
The DPRK has rejected the offers of vaccines , which are the fake aid of imperialism aimed at undermining socialism and making the DPRK dependent on imperialism .
Since I last came to Liverpool , many events have taken place in the DPRK such as the successful celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK in September 2018 ( which I and other KFA members from the UK attended in person ) and the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Workers’ Party of Korea in October 2020 . Both events were marked by many colourful functions and military parades which demonstrated the unbreakable unity of the people around the Party and the leader. These were wonderful events
In January 2021 , the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea , was held , further demonstrating the unity of the people around the party .It was significant that the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea and the military parade to celebrate it were held at a time when the disunity and disharmony of the United States was evident when Trump supporters rioted .
The 8th Congress of the WPK was a congress of unity .It elected Marshal KIM JONG UN as its general secretary which was a powerful demonstration of single-hearted unity .
Marshal KIM JONG UN gave a very detailed and comprehensive report to the Congress which highlighted the great successes of the years since the 7th Congress of the WPK in 2016 but at the same time expressed honest criticisms of shortcomings that have occurred and put forward ways of rectifying and remedying these shortcomings.
Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN's report showed that there are no illusions in the WPK about imperialism . He correctly pointed out that the Party in its international work should "wage offensive diplomacy to smash the attempts of the hostile forces to violate our sovereignty and defend our state's rights to normal development.
It should orient external political activities with the main emphasis put on prevailing over and subjugating the US, the fundamental obstacle to the development of our revolution and our principal enemy."
At the same time Marshal KIM JONG UN called for the national defence forces of the DPRK to be put onto a higher level.
The Congress dealt a blow to those who wanted to see People's Korea 'open up ' and reform ' . Instead self-reliance will be the main basis of economic strategy . The DPRK will further reduce imports ..The leading role and control of the state in the commercial sector will be increased. Respected Marshal
KIM JONG UN stressed that 'The independent, planned and people-oriented characters of the national economy should be strengthened. To this end, it is necessary to raise the functions of the state that organizes economic affairs, and ensure unified management of products on the principle of making sure that the fruition of the economic activities is channelled into promoting the well-being of the people."
Under the programme unveiled at the 8th Congress of the WPK people's living standards will be improved. More housing will be built . Also public transport and public health will be further improved.
Since the holding of the congress the construction of new housing in Pyongyang and other parts of the country has been initiated . Recently , the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of 10,000 new flats in the Hwasong area of Pyongyang was held and also the construction of a new Greenhouse farm on the west coast of the country .
It should also be mentioned the 80th anniversary of the birth of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL on the 16th of February was celebrated grandly with many events . This time many of them centred on Samjiyon City in the far north of the DPRK , giving lie to the myth that only Pyongyang city is developed and anywhere else in the DPRK is not worth mentioning . The National Meeting was held in Samjiyon along with a spectacular firework display .
What has hit the news about the DPRK recently is that a number of missile tests have been carried out . There is nothing unusual or provocative about these . The missile tests were part of a plan to increase the national defence capabilities of the DPRK that was laid down at the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea in January 2021.
Despite the fact that the DPRK's missile test is purely self-defensive and threatens no one , the US has acted in a high-handed , hostile , mean and provocative manner by making threats against People's Korea including reference to the US marionette , the UN Security Council and even the threat of so-called 'independent sanctions ' against the DPRK . The US imposed sanctions on the DPRK last December and has recently sanctioned a number of DPRK citizens . The US even placed sanctions on the famous April 26 Animation Studio of the DPRK !.
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers ' Party of Korea (WPK ) held a meeting in Pyongyang under the guidance of respected Marshal KIM JONG UN at the end of January .
The meeting analysed the worsening situation around the Korean peninsula caused by the hostile policy of the US .The US and south Korea have conducted military exercises against the DPRK and now a US nuclear submarine is lurking in the waters of the Pacific .
Clearly the US has not abandoned its hostile intent , its intent to destroy the socialist system of the DPRK and colonise the northern part of Korea and seize its valuable raw materials .
So the meeting decided to prepare a long-term confrontation with the US and to restart temporarily suspended activities in order to increase national defence capability .
Probably this means at some point ICBM tests will be resumed and even possibly a nuclear test . Also anti-US slogans will possibly reappear.
The DPRK did everything to achieve a peaceful settlement with the USA but it just was not possible . Several summits were held with the then US president Trump but his words were not matched by actions . Only history can tell whether Trump was deliberately insincere and dishonest and tried to trick the DPRK or whether he made promises that he was unable to keep , a prisoner of the US capitalist military industrial complex .
The DPRK took the step of negotiating with the US in order to avoid a war on the Korean peninsula which seemed inevitable . It did so not out of weakness or a liking for the USA but because it did not want to be blamed for a destructive war that could have turned into a world war . Moreover it gave the DPRK time to focus on economic construction and improving people's living standards.
That said, the DPRK was never fooled by the US . It rejected the so-called 'Libyan Model ' of unilateral disarmament . Some friends of the DPRK felt unease at the DPRK-US summits and the mainstream media predicted the DPRK's unilateral disarmament and even that a McDonalds would open in Pyongyang ( no doubt to be staffed by the NKNews team !!! ) . However,4 years on , not a single DPRK ICBM or nuke has been dismantled and there is no McDonalds in Pyongyang ! . The DPRK stood firm and did not capitalute .
Juche and self-reliance are the basis of all the DPRK's great victories .
So I will conclude my speech by giving the reasons why you defend People’s Korea . ? The DPRK is the most independent nation on the earth that does not have foreign troops stationed on its soil and also does not send its troops to fight in other countries. The DPRK is not a member of the World Bank , IMF or WTO .There are no foreign banks in Pyongyang nor McDonalds , KFC or the like.
The DPRK is a country that can say and do what it likes without looking over its shoulder at others. The DPRK in carrying out ICBM and nuclear tests has not only defied the US and the UN Security Council but also the EU , Japan and significantly the big power chauvinists Russia and China . John Major, the former British prime minister even admitted that the DPRK , presumably unlike the UK, has ‘undiluted sovereignty’.
It is a society free from conflict and division. A society free from crime and terrorism.
The DPRK is a genuine socialist country. Despite the raging winds of anti-socialism, the new wave of post-modernist anti-communism and the setbacks that have occurred, the DPRK is maintaining socialist principles. Moreover despite 60 years of sanctions and blockade plus natural disasters the DPRK is implementing popular welfare policies such as free education, free housing, free medical care without taking a penny from its citizens in tax.
I hope you will join us in KFA in defending People’s Korea and get out there and spread the message.
No comments:
Post a Comment