A GREAT LEADER WHO DEFENDED INDEPENDENCE-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

On the 16th of February 81 years ago the great leader comrade

KIM JONG IL was born in a log cabin on snowswept Mt Paektu. I can remember visiting the birthplace of comrade KIM JONG IL  on Mt Paektu in August 2017 for the 5th International Festival in Praise of the Great Persons of Mt Paektu. Comrade  KIM JONG Il was born amidst the great anti-Japanese War to the echoes of gunshots. The anti-Japanese armed struggle, led by President KIM IL SUNG, was a struggle for independence, a struggle for national liberation and for justice. It was thus fitting that comrade KIM JONG IL should devote his whole life to defending and advancing the cause of independence.

   Korea is not a big country and it is bordered by two big countries; Russia and China.  A short distance across the sea from Korea is Japan which is an aggressive and imperialistic country which has long had designs on Korea. From 1910 to 1945, Korea was a Japanese colony and even before that Japan had craftily expanded its influence in Korea. Independence had been lost because the Korean feudal ruling class split into warring factions each supporting a big power such as Russia, China, the US and Japan.  This was a disaster. The practice of looking up to big powers and depending on them became known as flunkeyism.

   

Even after the liberation of Korea from Japanese imperialist rule in 1945 and the building of a new People’s Korea the idea of flunkeyism still remained in the minds of some elements. President KIM IL SUNG led the struggle to establish Juche and worked out the original Juche-based policies. Comrade KIM JONG IL supported these policies and urged young people to make a deep study of the ideas of President KIM IL SUNG. In 1956 factionalist-flunkeys, agents of the big power chauvinists and modern revisionists tried to overthrow the leadership of the Workers Party of Korea. Comrade KIM JONG IL himself denounced factionalism. Later when studying at KIM IL SUNG University comrade KIM JONG IL on the 5th of April 1961 gave a talk to students titled “Worshipping Big Powers and Depending on Foreign Forces is the way to national ruin “  in which he denounced flunkeyism as an “ideological malady “ and exposed the danger of flunkeyism giving detailed and concrete historical examples.

 In 1968  when the DPRK captured the US imperialist armed spy ship the ‘USS Pueblo ‘, the US imperialists arrogantly demanded that the DPRK simply hand back both the ship and its crew even threatening to bomb the DPRK. At the same time, the big-power chauvinists and modern revisionists tried to put pressure on the DPRK to meekly return the ship but comrade KIM JONG IL urged the DPRK to maintain an independent, anti-imperialist, anti-revisionist line.

 In December 1978 the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL put forward the slogan "Let Us Live Our Own Way ", a militant slogan encapsulating the desire of the Korean people to live their own way and not be dominated by others, especially by big powers. This slogan was announced when the big-power chauvinists were putting pressure on the DPRK and a neighbouring country had embarked on a peculiar and uncertain course. Also, the imperialists were slandering the socialist countries on the pretext of ‘human rights ‘  Comrade KIM JONG IL said that  "It is only when one displays a great revolutionary spirit of self-reliance that one can have faith in one's own strength, exploit the internal resources of one's country to the maximum and conduct the revolution and construction with success. Experience shows that only when one gives full play to the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance can one surmount every manner of difficulty and ordeal".

Thus the DPRK ploughed ahead along the path of living one's own way, the path of self-reliance the path of Juche. This defied the imperialists, revisionists and big-power chauvinists who schemed to stifle the Korean revolution.

In 1982 comrade KIM JONG IL published his magnum opus ‘ ON THE JUCHE IDEA ‘ which stressed that the independent stand is absolutely essential  saying that “If independence is to be defended, an independent stand must firmly be maintained in the revolution and construction.”

In the 1990s when socialism was frustrated in some countries thanks to the modern revisionists and the imperialists were rampant , vociferating about a so-called ‘New World Order ‘ and ‘the end of history ‘ comrade KIM JONG IL rebuffed them by declaring 'Expect No Change from Me ' when the imperialists hoped for either the collapse of the DPRK or a so-called 'change of policy '. This was a blow to the imperialists which at the same time was a cast-iron and militant affirmation of the stance of living the way of the DPRK and not the way of another country.

The imperialists also tried to force globalisation on the world. In 1997 comrade KIM JONG IL published the work  "ON PRESERVING THE JUCHE CHARACTER AND NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE REVOLUTION AND CONSTRUCTION” which was a militant manifesto against globalisation and imperialism. He stressed in the work that the Juche character and national character must be preserved in the revolution and construction. The DPRK rejected globalisation and its associated 'Americanisation' and 'cocacolaistion'.

The US imperialists intervened in many countries such as Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Comrade KIM JONG IL implemented the Songun policy and built up the DPRK’s national capabilities so it did not face the same fate as its others.

It is thanks to the Juche line of independence of comrade KIM JONG IL, which is today carried forward by respected Marshal KIM JONG UN , that the DPRK in the words of one former British prime minister has ‘undiluted sovereignty “. Comrade KIM JONG IL was a great leader who defended independence.

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman of British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea.

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK.

Official Delegate Korean Friendship Association for the UK.

President Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK.

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

Hon Secretary General International Central Committee for Songun Study .