Korea’s Independence, won by armed struggle under the banner of the Juche Idea!-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

                                                                     

Today the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK ) or People’s Korea is well known to friend and foe as the most independent country in the world , a state with undiluted independence  . However this has not always been the case . 100 years ago , Korea was a colony of Japan and was shown on maps of the world as a province of Japan.

One man and one  great idea changed all that. That man was President KIM IL SUNG and the great idea was the Juche idea .

President KIM IL SUNG joined the struggle for the independence  of Korea at an early age ,even joining the massive demonstration of Pyongyang citizens on the 1st of March 1919 . President KIM IL SUNG , a staunch patriot and fighter , realised that Korea’s independence could not be achieved either by looking to big powers for salvation or by factions divorced from the popular masses who indulged in pointless pontificating or worse still bickering and squabbling . Instead he took the struggle for national liberation and independence on to a new path , the path of Juche . 

Under the leadership of the young President KIM IL SUNG revolutionary organisations that were free from  fawning on  big powers and free from the old factional methods of work were formed such as the Down With Imperialism Union(which was formed in October 1926) and the Anti-Imperialist Youth League.

President KIM IL SUNG believed that not only should dependence on big powers and factionalism be rejected but the line of armed struggle should be implemented . Previously the old style bourgeois nationalists had thought that they could achieve independence by peaceful means but this was proved to be a foolish and indeed dangerous illusion.

Addressing a meeting of leading activists and cadres of the Young Communist League of Korea and the Anti-Imperialist Youth League at Kalun on the 30th of June 1930 , President KIM IL SUNG explained that “ The masters of the revolutionary struggle are the masses of the people, and only when they are organized and mobilized can they win the revolutionary struggle.”

Moreover President KIM IL SUNG  set forth the revolutionary line of armed struggle, original line of the anti-Japanese national united front and Juche-oriented policy of party founding for the first time in the history of the national liberation struggle in colonial countries, and dynamically led the revolution along the road of Juche.

The Korean Revolutionary Army was formed in July 1930 under the leadership of President KIM IL SUNG  and launched an armed struggle based on self-reliance. Later on the 25th of April 1932 the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army  was founded by President KIM IL SUNG . At its foundation he declared that “Today we are organizing an Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army in order to crush the brigandish Japanese imperialists through an armed struggle and achieve the historic cause of national liberation.”

The Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army became the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army(KPRA)  in 1934.Under the command of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG, an ever victorious iron-willed brilliant commander, the stout hearted and heroic guerrilla revolutionary fighters of the KPRA fought many battles against the Japanese  imperialist  aggressors such as the battle of Pochonbo  and the battle of Musan to name just a few . The battle of Pochonbo on the 4 June 1937 was most significant as it symbolised the KPRA's advance into the Korean homeland.

       

  President KIM IL SUNG  also applied the Juche idea to the question of the united front and popular front and founded the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland , a Juche-oriented united national front in May 1936.

                           

                              

 Masterly guerrilla tactics were created by President KIM IL SUNG  The KPRA under his leadership showed great tactical flexibility, for example switching to small unit activities in 1940 in order to preserve the revolutionary forces under the changing situation.

The very name KIM IL SUNG struck fear into the hearts of the Japanese imperialist marauders . It was said that President KIM IL SUNG could appear and disappear like magic and that he could shorten distances.

     The hard and arduous  revolutionary armed struggle led by President KIM IL SUNG paid off in the end on the 9th of August 1945 general KIM IL SUNG gave the order for the final offensive against the Japanese marauders . The KPRA together with Soviet army units surged into Korea , the KPRA often taking the lead in the more difficult battles. Finally on August 15th 1945 Korea became free  from Japanese imperialist rule. 36 years of dark oppressive rule by the fascist Japanese imperialists  and their decadent Samurai culture came to an end in a day . This was the feat of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG, an ever victorious iron-willed brilliant commander and gifted military strategist.   Without President KIM IL SUNG there would be no independent Korea !    

Dr Dermot Hudson

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

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK 

Vice-Chair OCIFPGPP