August 15 ; A Historic Day -special article by Dr Dermot Hudson for the 77th anniversary of Korea's Liberation

August 15th is a day that has gone down in history as a great day for the Korean people . It was on this day that Korea finally became free of Japanese imperialist colonial rule . The Korean people were liberated from the barbarous rule of Japanese colonialism on the 15th of August 1945 as a result of the 15 year long anti-Japanese armed struggle led by the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG  . In the space of a few short days the Japanese army which had prided itself on fighting to the last and never surrendering, was defeated by the guerrillas of Korean People’s Revolutionary Army(KPRA )  along with troops of the Soviet Red Army but of course whereas the Soviet Red Army fought the Japanese imperialists for 6 days the KPRA fighters had fought them for 15 years . 

 The decadent empire of the Samurais collapsed in a twinkling .Previously people had thought of the Japanese empire as being eternal .The Korean people were able to breathe again after the suffocating rule of Japanese imperialism .The chains of Japanese colonial slavery which had bound the Korean people for 36 years were shattered in one blow . Korean people  could again use their own language , something which the Japanese imperialists had denied to them . They became masters of their own fate. The Korean people danced for joy at the news of liberation  . 

The defeat of Japanese imperialism, one of the shock brigades of international fascism ,vanquished fascism in Asia as well as in Europe .It brought peace to Asia .  With Japan’s defeat , one of the main pillars of the colonial system in Asia  disappeared . Without a doubt Korea’s liberation was a very powerful inspiration to the people of Asia as well as Africa and Latin America who were oppressed and exploited by imperialism ,they were encouraged by Korea’s liberation to rise up in the fight for national liberation and independence . After Korea’s liberation the Korean people embarked on the road of building  a new people’s country  , this was a great inspiration to the revolutionary people’s of the world aspiring after socialism .

Korea’s liberation was a great and precious gain of the Korean people achieved by the anti-Japanese armed struggle commanded by the great leader President KIM IL SUNG and waged under the banner of the Juche Idea . It was not a gift of any outside force as some try to claim .President KIM IL SUNG had first outlined his Juche-oriented strategy for the Korean revolution in his famous speech ‘ The Path of the Korean Revolution ‘  which was made  in June 1930 . In his speech President KIM IL SUNG pointed out that “Experience shows that in order to lead the revolution to victory, one must go among the masses of people and organize them, and solve all problems arising in the course of the revolution independently on one’s own responsibility in accord with the actual conditions, instead of relying on others"

The Korean Revolutionary Army was formed in July 1930 as well as the first party organisation ,the Society for Rallying Comrades . In April 1932 President KIM IL SUNG formed the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerilla Army which in March 1934 was transformed into the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army (KPRA ) . The anti-Japanese revolutionary fighters led by comrade KIM IL SUNG did not have a state to support them nor a rear base so they fought in the spirit of self-reliance . They seized weapons from the Japanese aggressors or manufactured their own . Some hoped that the Soviet Union, the first socialist state, would supply them with a hand-grenade factory but this never materialised so they made their own hand-grenades the 'Yongil bomb'(of course today the DPRK has its own nuclear 'Yongil bomb'.)

  The Korean People's Revolutionary Army fought innumerable battles against the Japanese colonisers and aggressors ,for example at Pochonbo and Musan to name just a few battles . The Anti-Japanese guerrillas often went without food and marched in temperatures of -40c .They had to battle against superhuman odds but they won because they were inspired by the Juche idea , the idea of self-reliance and were led by the great leader comrade

 KIM IL SUNG . Comrade KIM IL SUNG created unique , Juche-based guerrilla tactics which defeated the Japanese imperialists. Thanks to these Juche-based tactics and self-reliance the Korean people were able to greet a new dawn of national liberation and national resurrection on 15th  August 1945 .

Korea’s liberation proudly declared the birth of a new country , Juche Korea , a country of independence , a country where the people are the masters . Today under the leadership of respected Marshal KIM JONG UN, Juche Korea proudly shines with independence .

Dr Dermot Hudson 

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK 

Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea

President Association for the Study of the Songun Politics UK

Chairman of the British Solidarity Committee for Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula .

Hon Secretary General International Central Committee for Songun Study 

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