Today I am going to talk about who started the Korean War or the Fatherland Liberation War and about US imperialism’s brutal atrocities against the Korean people.
The other day in a KFA UK telegram chat someone mentioned the liberal US academic and so-called ‘Korea expert ‘ Prof Bruce Cumings . Cummings differs from many of the imperialist and bourgeois academic establishment in that rather outrightly blaming the DPRK for the war , Cumings takes the classic liberal ‘plague on both your houses ‘ position and says both sides were equally responsible . In fact I believe Cumings even argues that the question of who fired the first shot has no significance as the Korean war was a civil war . However this approach which of course appeals to liberals , Trotskyites ,social democrats ,anarchists and complete cynics , conveniently absolves US imperialism from the blame of starting the war and of the awful crimes committed by the US during the war .
In fact the issue of who fired the first shot , of who lit the fuse , is very much as a key question because firstly , US imperialism’s intervention and the invasion of the DPRK were justified on the grounds that the US under the cover of ‘police action’ and defending an ally from ‘aggression ‘ . Secondly , by falsely painting the DPRK as being responsible for the outbreak of the war , the US demonized the DPRK for decades and still demonises the DPRK to this day .It is part and parcel , in fact a key part , the hostile propaganda against the DPRK .For many years the DPRK was denied diplomatic recognition by Western countries as well as facing sanctions and trade blockades .
First , let's examine the question of who really did start the Korean War , or who attacked first . I am going to start with a story that was told to me by a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain branch that I was in after I had raised the subject of the DPRK in a branch. This man was actually a schoolteacher and in fact had been head of the English department at a secondary school .His story was as follows ; one day he was taking a party of schoolchildren around the offices of the ‘Daily Herald “ newsaper (a paper long since gone ) . In those days there was no email or internet , instead you had the ticker tape that was printed out . A the beginning of the visit , the ticker tape came through with the words ‘South Korea has Attacked North Korea ‘, however one or two hours later , the ticker tape read ‘North Korea Attacks South Korea “ !!! . This is of course an early example of the news being changed or manipulated by the imperialist media. We have to always remember that in Western countries there is not objective news but fake news created by the mainstream media.
The US had long coveted the Korean peninsula because of its geographical position as well as abundant natural resources . US aggression against Korea began in the 19th Century.
The US, which had occupied south Korea in 1945 and created a puppet regime in south Korea, was dead against the establishment of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in September 1948 . In those days the US imperialists simply did not believe in the so-called containment of communism but in 'Rollback' .John Foster Dulles, US secretary of state was a well-known architect of this policy. Dulles had made a lot of money through dealings with the German Nazi party in the 1930s ..Dulles wrote a book called “War or Peace “ arguing for “liberating “ the socialist countries . He wrote that “We should make it clear ............ in Eastern Europe and Asia , that we do not accept the status quo ........ and eventual liberation is an essential and enduring part of our foreign policy” . In other words the aim of the US was to crush socialism by means of force whether direct military force or other kinds of force.
Internally the US banned the Communist Party and unleashed a wave of anti-communist hysteria known as McCarthyism in which even non-communist liberals were persecuted.
In south Korea the US established a puppet army under the control of a US military advisory group . The US armed and primed south Korea for a war against the DPRK . According to an official document released by the U.S. Congress, they handed over more than 145,000 rifles, some 2,000 machine guns and submachine guns, over 2,000 pieces of various calibres, 4,900 odd vehicles, 79 warships and others to the south Korean puppet army in 1949 alone. It is noticeable that the south Korean puppet navy was greatly expanded.
. The U.S. imperialists deployed most of the south Korean puppet army on the front along the 38th parallel and perpetrated armed provocations against the DPRK. In1949 the south Korean puppet army intruded into areas of the DPRK such as Mt Songak, Mt Unpha and other areas causing a lot of damage and casualties. The DPRK was attacked a total of 2 ,617 times.
On January 26th 1950 the US concluded the US-south Korea Mutual Defence Treaty. On the 14th of April 1950 a then secret directive of US National Security Council directive NSC 68 authorised the start of the Korean war.
Dulles, the architect of the US rollback policy, actually visited south Korea in June 1950 just one week before the war started . It is impossible for this to have been a coincidence . Dulles even inspected the frontline along the 38th parallel and a picture shows him looking at a map .
Dulles said to the south Korean puppet army “No strong enemy whatever would stand against you. But I hope you will strive ever harder because the day is not so far off when you’ll have to display your great might for your own sake."
Addressing the south Korean puppet “national assembly “ he said "You are not alone. You will never be alone so long as you continue to play worthily your part in the great design for the freedom of human beings.”. This was a coded message to the south Korean puppets to start the war .
After visiting south Korea Dulles stopped off in Tokyo and met with General Bradley and General Douglas McArthur as well as US defence secretary Johnson . Again this meeting cannot have been coincidental. On the 22rd of June Dulles stated, somewhat cryptically and enigmatically, “The United States will soon take some positive action “ It was evident that the meeting was to finalise the provocation of the Korean War.
The DPRK’s population was only half that of south Korea , so it would be absurd for it to try and initiate a war against south Korea . Moreover on the day the war broke out it was pointed out by a British soldier in Korea , Julian Tunstall that ‘ the Rhee army had six fully equipped divisions sitting just below or quite close to the 38th parallel ... So far it can be judged the KPA had 2 below combat strength divisions on or near the 38th parallel’.
On the 23rd of June, south Korean puppet forces began an artillery bombardment of the areas north of the 38th parallel.
On the early morning of the 25th June the south Korean forces under the command of the American Military Advisory Group started the attack on the DPRK . The 17th regiment of the south Korean puppet army pushed forward in Taetan and Pyoksong and the First Infantry attacked in the Kaesong area . They intruded 12 kilometres into DPRK territory. The DPRK demanded they stop at once but this was ignored so the DPRK went over to the counteroffensive. It should be noted that the DPRK only launched the counter-offensive after warning south Korea to halt its attack.
On the morning of the 25th of June 650 US women and children were evacuated by the Norwegian ship the Reinford at 3am in the morning. US accounts put the war as starting at 6am so how would the US know in advance to plan the evacuation of its nationals?.
The famous American journalist John Gunther wrote his book “Riddle of McArthur” that a US staff officer in Tokyo on the 25th of June was called to the phone and came back and whispered, “A big story has just broken. The South Koreans have attacked North Korea."’
Choe Dok Sin ,former South Korean Army commander, south Korean foreign minister and South Korean ambassador to the UN stated he saw the secret order of Syngham Rhee(south Korean puppet dictator) to start the war .
All the above facts show that it was not the DPRK that provoked or started the Fatherland Liberation War but the south Korean puppets egged on by their Yankee overlords.
For those who want more detailed information I recommend the book ‘The US imperialists Started the Korean War ‘ and also the book ‘ US Distortion of the Provocation of the Korean War’.
President KIM IL SUNG summed up the Fatherland Liberation War as follows
“The Fatherland Liberation War waged by our people was a fierce ,anti-imperialist , anti-US struggle against the allied forces of world reaction headed by US imperialism and a bitter class struggle against the enemies of the people”
The war was a struggle against US imperialism and the allied forces of world including Britain under Attlee, but also significantly fascist , reactionary and feudal regimes such as Apartheid South Africa, Colombia of the death squads, fascist Greece and Haile Selaissie's Ethiopia .Surely it was not a coincidence 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!
During the Fatherland Liberation War the US imperialists carried out all kinds of horrendous atrocities against the Korean people . 1.2 million civilians were killed through massacre by the US imperialists during the war .As President KIM IL SUNG said ‘"Engels once called the British army the most brutal army. During the Second World War, the German fascist army surpassed the barbarism of the British army. No human brain could ever imagine more diabolic and terrible cruelty than those done by the Hitler gangsters at that time. But in Korea, the Americans have far exceeded the Hitlerites!’
At Sinchon county the US imperialists and their collaborators such as former landlords and capitalists, massacred 35,383 people including children , women elderly people. The DPRK built a special museum in Sinchon county for the purpose of anti-US ,anti-imperialist education.I have visited the Sinchon Museum 5 times ; the old museum 3 times and the new Sinchon Museum . It is about 2 hours by road from Pyongyang.The new Sinchon museum was constructed at the site of where the massacre of mothers and children occurred . Previously people would visit the museum which stood in the town of Sinchon and then come to the spot where the US imperialists murdered mothers and children . Visiting the museum in October 2015 and April 2017 which was much bigger than the old one we saw the grim and truly stomach turning evidence of the Yankee imperialists' crime in Korea. The US imperialist army had temporarily occupied Sinchon County , south Hwanghae province from October 1950 to December 195 and killed on average 500 per day . Really the Yankees and their puppets outdid the Nazis in terms of savagery ,as they managed to kill so many people in such a short space of time and in a confined area. The US imperialists used all kinds of barbaric and bestial methods of killing and acted like wild animals .
The new Sinchon Museum is equipped with the latest technology and even includes sound effects. An atmosphere of ant-US , anti-imperialist militancy was created by the song "Death to the US imperialist aggressors " being played over the PA system. There were anti-US posters on display and one could purchase cheap booklets such as "Sinchon Indicts the Yankee barbarians " . Real no-nonsense anti-imperialism which you will rarely find anywhere else in the world. There is also a revenge pledging ground as well. When Marshal KIM JONG UN visited the Sinchon Museum in November 2015 he said “U.S. imperialism is the arch-villain of aggression which came into being and got fattened with aggression and plundering…
Its nature and brutality as an aggressor remain unchanged forever, and if there is any change today, it has got more insidious and crafty in the method to satisfy its greed for aggression...To intensify the class education is more urgent today when the younger generation, who experienced neither exploitation and oppression nor the stern trials of war, have emerged the driving force of the revolution. The class education should not be delayed or neglected for a moment though time passes and generations are replaced, but it should be intensified in depth and on a permanent basis.
As fish cannot live without water, it is impossible to think about sovereign life of people and dignity and value of human beings without anti-imperialist, anti-U.S. education and class education”.
The US did not just carried out massacres in the DPRK but also in south Korea .Many south Korean communists and people perceived to be sympathisers of the DPRK were killed by US troops .At No Gun ri in south Korea in July 1950 US troops from the7th Cavalry killed 400 civilian refugees. Basically , the US killed people in south Korea which they were claiming to defend .
The US also used biological and chemical weapons against the DPRK.The US imperialists took over the biological warfare programme of the Japanese imperialists , the notorious Unit 731 . They created a special biological warfare centre at Fort Detrick, Maryland , USA At the instructions of MacArthur, the then commander of the U.S. forces in the Far East, Shiro Ishii and other war criminals of the unit were involved in the research of germ weapons carried out by the U.S. forces.
The data of the unit were transferred to a unit of the U.S. forces known as a centre for the study of biological weapons at that time an
rd U.S. scientists worked out more than 20 kinds of study reports based on it.
Based on the data presented by Japanese experts on germ warfare and its own research, the U.S. carried out several experiments of germ weapons spreading cholera and Japanese encephalitis among south Koreans in 1946 and 1949.
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff drafted an emergency operational plan for germ warfare based on it and put the plan into practice against the Korean people during the Korean war...... The U.S. imperialist aggression forces who had put the northern half of Korea under their temporary occupation during the June 25 war were beaten back by the Korean People's Army and took to flight when they spread in a crafty manner a number of contagious disease germs including smallpox in many areas including Pyongyang, Yangdok County of South Phyongan Province and Kowon and Jangjin counties of South Hamgyong Province between November 29 to December 8, 1950"
The criminal actions of the US in using germ warfare were confirmed at the time by the International Scientific Commission of the World Peace Council which sent an on the spot investigation team which included the renowned British scientist Professor Joseph Needham FRS. Also at the time by confessions of captured US personnel.
The US dropped napalm on the DPRK as well as carrying saturation bombings on an unprecedented scale They. dropped bombs which is equivalent to an average of 18 bombs on one square kilometre.
In Pyongyang City, the U.S. completely destroyed the factories, enterprises, educational, medical and service facilities as well as dwelling houses by dropping more than 428,000 bombs in more than 1,400 sorties. Especially, on July 11 and 12, 1952, about 400 planes of the U.S. Force dropped 6,000-odd napalm and time bombs, killing more than 8,000 women, the elderly and children.
Time does not allow me to give a full and detailed account of US imperialism’s crimes against the Korean people.
US imperialism’s war against the DPRK and the Korean people was not ‘police action ‘ or an action to defend peace but an attempt at the genocide of the entire Korean nation.It was 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.It was also a war against national liberation movements
The task for us in KFA UK is to strengthen solidarity with People’s Korea and to make sure that the truth about the start of the Korean War and the crimes of US imperialism in the war .Remember that the past determines the present and the future .
Thank you for listening.
.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
