Recalling the Memory of great leader-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

July 8th is the 30th anniversary of the passing away of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG . Although three decades have passed since then , I can remember both the passing away of President KIM IL SUNG as well as his sublime greatness which is unequalled.

In June 1994 I travelled to the DPRK as the leader of the delegation of the Juche Idea Study Group of England. We stayed in the DPRK until the 2nd of July and returned to the UK on the 3rd of July . During our stay in the DPRK we saw President KIM IL SUNG every night on TV either giving on the spot guidance or meeting foreign guests such as Ludo Martens of the Workers Party of Belgium .When we arrived the Rodong Sinmun (Daily Worker ) newspaper of the Workers Party of Korea carried the news of President KIM IL SUNG’s on the spot guidance to the Taesong Co-Operative Farm . I remember the picture well .

I was staying at my mothers house in Winchester , Hampshire in the south of England , when the sad and tragic news of the sudden demise of President KIM IL SUNG broke . He had passed away while still at work at 2am in the morning of the 8th of July . It was unfortunate for me that I heard the news of the sudden passing away of President KIM IL SUNG not from DPRK friends or friendship organisations in the UK but from the enemy , the BBC or British Brainwashing Corporation . My mother did not have a TV but had a radio . The news was announced,starkly , by BBC Radio Four at 8am in the morning . I was very shocked to hear the news .I walked up my mothers garden to calm myself down . I could not believe that President KIM IL SUNG had passed away after all, only a week or so before I had seen him on TV in the DPRK . I assumed that it was the false propaganda of the imperialists and bourgeoisie .

I walked around the city of Winchester and the surrounding countryside thinking about the news . I felt completely sickened by the news and still disbelieved it . For me a fervent Juche idea follower and supporter of People’s Korea it was truly a massive and heartbreaking loss . 

When I was very young and had joined the Young Communist League I read a lot about politics, some of it from very hostile sources . I read about President KIM IL SUNG, the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK) . I read about his independent policy , in those days I did not know the word Juche . Later in the 1980s as I became disillusioned about the revisionism of so-called communists in the UK and the USSR , my curiosity about the DPRK grew . Eventually, I was able to find second hand copies of the Selected Works of President KIM IL SUNG and a book about the DPRK published by the Foreign Languages Publishing House , Pyongyang . From that time my interest in the DPRK grew and grew . I was impressed reading the works of President KIM IL SUNG and became an avid supporter of the Juche idea . I founded a Juche Idea Study Group. I first visited the DPRK first in 1992 and then 1993 when President KIM IL SUNG was still alive .

President KIM IL SUNG was a truly amazing leader. He achieved more in one day than Western politicians could achieve in decades . It was President KIM IL SUNG who liberated Korea from the dark colonial rule of Japanese imperialism , which had been an axis power ,an ally of Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy. He established a new country , People’s Korea on the ruins of Japanese colonialism and made it into the most independent country in the world . Some countries are only independent in name but People’s Korea , Korea of Juche is a truly independent country not a puppet or neo-colony or colony of anyone .

Under the leadership  of President KIM IL SUNG an advanced socialist system was set up . He created correct theories of socialist construction that were based on the Juche idea that he had authored in the days of the anti-Japanese armed struggle . People’s Korea became known as a ‘model country of socialism’ . President KIM IL SUNG created a socialist paradise in the land of Juche Korea , a society without exploitation and oppression . The people of the DPRK came to enjoy the benefits of socialism such as free health care , free education , free housing ,full employment , low cost food and much else. President KIM IL SUNG even abolished taxation !.

President KIM IL SUNG was a great fighter against imperialism . He smashed two imperialist powers , Japan and the US , within a single generation . He made sure that People’s Korea extended support to anti-imperialist struggles all over the world . He was the towering giant of the international communist movement who met Stalin , Mao , Che Guevara and many others .

Today the great example of President KIM IL SUNG shines brightly undimmed by the passing of three decades . The legacy of President KIM IL SUNG lives on in today’s People’s Korea led by respected Marshal KIM JONG UN .

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK

Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea 

Secretary General European Regional Committee For Friendship with the Korean People.

Vice -Chair OCIFPGPP

Hon secretary general International Central Committee For Songun Study