Report of Online Meeting for the 81st Anniversary of Korea’s Liberation held on 14.8.2026

The Korean Friendship Association of the UK (KFA UK ) and British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea held an online meeting to mark the 81st anniversary of Korea’s Liberation at 1900 hours BST on the 14th of August.

Participating in the meeting were members of KFA UK and the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea from London ,Staffordshire , north west of England , Scotland and many other parts of the UK as well as a member of the Central Committee of the New Communist Party . The meeting was also joined by KFA Switzerland , KFA Germany , KFA Greece , the Iceland-DPRK Friendship Association and friends from the USA .

Dr Dermot Hudson Chairman of KFA UK and the British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea  read out a paper from the DPRK titled “All-people Resistance and Korea’s Liberation” which pointed out that the Anti-Japanese Armed struggle led by President KIM IL SUNG was carried out without the support of a state or rear base .

Dr Hudson read out the speech of KFA UK Organisation Secretary Alan Bolon who was unable to attend the meeting  .The speech concluded thus “May the memory of this glorious day for the people of Korea—when the power of tradition and the legacy of the heroic deeds performed by the valiant Korean  People's Army in the struggle against the Japanese occupiers find expression, united in patriotism—serve as a model and an inspiration for us in the fight for a new, just world free from exploitation and imperialist domination! 

Glory and honor to the heroes who fell in the struggle to liberate Korea from the yoke of Japanese occupation! 

Long live the Democratic People's Republic of Korea! 

With greetings to all of you and thankfully to the meeting “

Martin Lotscher, head of KFA Switzerland, addressed the meeting saying that “August 15, 1945 was the happiest day of the Korean people. On that day the Korean People's Revolutionary Army (KPRA) commanded by the great Generalissimo KIM IL SUNG liberated Korea from the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism.

He gave the Korean people freedom, independence and democracy.

The Korean people was the happiest people of the world!”

Dr Dermot Hudson in his speech stressed that the Korean people’s liberation struggle was part of the worldwide anti-fascist struggle . He pointed out that “ August 15th is a day that has gone down in history as a great day for the Korean people and revolutionary peoples of the world  . 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  . The fighters of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army led by comrade KIM IL SUNG together with the Soviet Red Army who had joined the war against Japan 6 days before , routed the Japanese imperialist forces in Korea.

The decadent empire of the Samurais disappeared as if it never existed in the first place.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 was a decisive contribution to the international anti-fascist struggle”

The head of KFA Germany said that the Japanese imperialists like the Nazis burnt books , Korean books , during their occupation of Korea . 

The head of KFA Scotland said that Korea’s liberation was the great gain of the Korean people .

The Head of KFA Greece brought greetings from KFA Greece to the meeting .

Dr Hudson denounced the Ulji Freedom Shield war exercises in Korea.

A short documentary clip “Grand monument on the Mansu Hill”

The meeting concluded at 2015 hours BST

Day of Great Victory

Pyongyang, August 15 (KCNA) -- It has been 81 years since Korea was liberated.

President Kim Il Sung defeated the Japanese imperialists and liberated Korea on August 15, 1945. Therefore, this day is a starting point for the turn in the Korean people's destiny and the day of great victory when they retook their independent dignity which is as important as their life and soul.

Along with August 15, the Korean people could regain sovereignty, territory, resources, history and culture, have all chances of enjoying freedom and carving out their destiny, and proudly embark on the road of achieving democratic development and happiness.

The peasants, who had to leave their dear native places because they did not have even a patch of land to sow seeds, became masters of the land and the country thanks to the agrarian reform law promulgated on March 5, 1946, the year after the national liberation.

The workers, who were subject to all sorts of maltreatment and insult by the Japanese imperialists and capitalists at the factories which were little short of hell, became true masters of the factories and the means of production thanks to the law on nationalization of major industries promulgated on August 10, 1946.

The Korean women, who had been suffering from double or treble exploitation and oppression under the whip of the Japanese imperialists, landlords and capitalists, could retake the human dignity and have equal rights with men in all spheres of political, economic and cultural life thanks to the Law on Sex Equality promulgated on July 30, 1946.

People of different strata could become deputies, officials, model workers and model farmers, making a tangible contribution to the prosperity and wellbeing of the country and its people.

Indeed, Korea's liberation was a historic event that brought about a radical turn in the destiny of the country and its people.

Today the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has reached the highest level of national prestige and power and the dignity and position of its people have been incomparably enhanced under the guidance of respected Comrade Kim Jong Un. -0-

From Voice of Korea -Leading the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Struggle to Victory

From Voice of Korea.

vok.rep.kp/index.php/...

Leading the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Struggle to Victory

The Korean people put an end to the colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists and greeted their liberation on August 15, 1945.

It is the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, father of socialist Korea, who led the historic cause of national liberation to victory.

Line of Armed Struggle Presented

Comrade Kim Il Sung embarked on the road of revolution in his teens and made a resolution that it was necessary to fight against the Japanese imperialists so as to achieve liberation and independence of Korea.

Indicating the path of the Korean revolution at the historic Kalun meeting held between late June and early July 1930, he gave instructions on organizing and waging an armed struggle against the Japanese imperialists, firmly rallying the entire anti-Japanese patriotic forces and stepping up the preparations for founding a party in order to carry on the Korean revolution with success, Lecturer Sim Hye Yon at the Korean Revolution Museum said and continued:

"At the Kalun meeting the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung said an organized armed struggle should be waged under the condition that the repression of the Japanese imperialists was unprecedentedly intensified and we had to fight with the enemy armed to the teeth.

He continued that we should defeat the Japanese imperialist aggressors and achieve the liberation and independence of the country with our own efforts. He also said we should rapidly foster our strength by making good preparations for waging an armed struggle and accumulate various experiences by organizing the Korean Revolutionary Army."

It was a difficult task beyond human imagination to wage the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle in the state as good as bare hands without any state backing or assistance of a regular army.

Comrade Kim Il Sung formed the Society for Rallying Comrades, the first party organization, and organized the Korean Revolutionary Army to have its political and military forces for armed struggle.

At the Mingyuegou meeting held in December 1931 he advanced the slogan "Oppose arms with arms, and oppose counterrevolutionary violence with revolutionary violence!" and declared an anti-Japanese war to annihilate the Japanese imperialists. And he defined the guerrilla warfare as the main form of the armed struggle.

Comrade Kim Il Sung organized the Korean People's Revolutionary Army on April 25, 1932 and declared its founding to the whole world.

With the birth of the revolutionary armed force of new type, it became possible to fight the battles against the brigandish Japanese imperialists.

Battles Fought during the Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Struggle

Comrade Kim Il Sung organized and commanded many battles to victory during the 20-year-long bloody anti-Japanese war.

In 1933, there was a battle to defend the Xiaowangqing guerrilla zone. At that time, there were two companies led by Comrade Kim Il Sung in the Xiaowangqing guerrilla zone.

The Japanese imperialists made persistent attacks on the guerrilla zone for several months by mobilizing a lot of troops, guns and planes in a bid to nip it in the bud.

At that time, Comrade Kim Il Sung took the initiative and led the men of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army and people to launch an all-people resistance with one mind and purpose. And he led his men to advance to an area occupied by the enemy through their siege and attack their rear, leading the battle to victory.

The Pochonbo battle was clearly recorded on a page of the history of the anti-Japanese war.

Comrade Kim Il Sung put forward a policy of advance of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army into the homeland. Entering the homeland, he mounted an attack on Pochonbo on June 4, 1937.

With a gun report made by him at midnight as a signal, the men of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army attacked to sweep away the police substation, sub-county office and other ruling organs of the Japanese imperialists in an instant and liberated the Pochonbo area.

The famous full-length epic "Mt. Paektu" of the DPRK praised Comrade Kim Il Sung as "General Kim" and depicted the day's scene as follows:

...

Where crowds, illuminated by the fire,

Surge back and forth in noisy waves.

Suddenly all fell silent

As Kim Il Sung led his detachment

Out on to the square,

And raised aloft his naked sabre,

Fire gleaming in the polished steel.

"Koreans!

Take a close look at the flames

Unleashed against the Japanese!

Korea's soul is still alive,

The heart of our immortal people

Is beating still today!

Let us all fan these flames

Until our enemy is reduced to ashes!"

...

Afterwards, Comrade Kim Il Sung led the Kouyushan and Jiansanfeng battles to victory.

The Pochonbo battle demonstrated in practice that Korea is not dead but alive, and the people are sure to win when they fight with the Japanese imperialists.

Later, Comrade Kim Il Sung led the battle of the Musan area and many other battles to victory, thus dealing a deadly blow to the Japanese imperialist aggressors and giving the confidence in victory to the Korean people.

Love for Comrades

During the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle, Comrade Kim Il Sung regarded his men as comrades sharing intention and fate on the road of national liberation, always loved them boundlessly and devoted his all to them.

The main force of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army marched overcoming the difficulty of obtaining food in the biting cold and snowstorm while repulsing the vicious and repeated pursuit of the enemy for over 100 days from the winter of 1938.

This is called the Arduous March in the DPRK.

Lecturer Sim Hye Yon at the Korean Revolution Museum said Comrade Kim Il Sung stood at the head of the Arduous March, and continued:

"The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung valued and loved his soldiers with paternal affection in so difficult condition during the Arduous March. Even though he skipped meals with his soldiers, he walked from the van to the tail of the long ranks many a time a day to shoulder rifles and musette bags of young soldiers and give out even some grains of maize for him to the sick. The moving story of a bowl of parched-rice powder well-known to the world came into being at that time."

Soldiers presented Comrade Kim Il Sung with almost a bowl of the parched-rice powder they kept with care but he rationed it with paper spoon. And he gave out even his share again to the soldiers.

After all, the smallest amount was allotted to him, Lecturer Sim Hye Yon at the Korean Revolution Museum said and continued:

"The bowl of parched-rice powder was a small amount, but it represented the endless nutrition and trust of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung who wanted to train his soldiers stoutly with the self-sacrificing spirit of service for national liberation and warm love for them."

When the communication with a small unit was cut off during the anti-Japanese war, he had meat of wild animals dried and 50 paper bags made to carry powder and wrote the names of soldiers of the small unit on them in person.

The men of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army could remain loyal to the leadership of Comrade Kim Il Sung as he regarded them as his revolutionary comrades and treasured them infinitely.

Comrade Kim Il Sung led the 20-year-long anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle based on self-reliance to victory and thus accomplished the historic cause of national liberation, and his undying feats will shine for all ages.

 

From Voice of Korea-New Life Brought by Liberation

 From Voice of Korea.

http://vok.rep.kp/index.php/detail_com/scomde/iee260714011/39/en

New Life Brought by Liberation

  On August 15, 1945 the Korean people put an end to the decades of colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists and greeted the national liberation. The great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung led the anti-Japanese armed struggle to victory and liberated the country from the Japanese imperialists.

  The liberation brought so many benefits to the Korean people.

  A genuine people's government was established and democratic reforms for the people were enforced.

  The Agrarian Reform Law was proclaimed as the start of the democratic reforms. At that time, peasants made up the bulk of the population in Korea.

  The Korean peasants, who had suffered humiliation and insult shedding bitter tears without a patch of their own land before liberation, received the land free of charge. Therefore, their century-old desire to do farming on their own land to their heart's content was realized at last.

  Then the Labour Law, the Law on Sex Equality and the Law on Nationalization of Major Industries were promulgated one after another.

  Thanks to the democratic and popular policies, the peasants became masters of the land, the workers masters of the factories and the women who had been bound to the feudal fetters proud masters of the country with equal rights with men to lead a new life.

  The popular and democratic election system provided the liberated Korean people with true political freedom and rights. All the citizens could participate in the nation building with the rights to elect and to be elected.

  The Korean people, who became full-fledged masters of the country, wrote the history of building a new Korea on this land.

  All the people turned out in hearty response to the speech on triumphal return home made by Comrade Kim Il Sung who called on them to actively contribute to the nation building, those with strength dedicating their strength, those with knowledge devoting their knowledge and those with money donating their money.

  The workers of Kangson rehabilitated their steel plant in a short period though the Japanese imperialists had said it was impossible even in ten years with the strength and technology of the Korean people, and turned out the first molten iron in December 1945. The huge Pothong River improvement project, which the Japanese imperialists had failed to finish for ten years with three million people, was completed in 55 days. Factories and enterprises went into operation one after another and the farmers reaped a rich harvest. Kim Il Sung University, the first university of new Korea, was established on October 1, 1946.

  Not only the people but also the mountains and rivers changed and happy laughter and pleasant songs were heard everywhere on this land. This represented the genuine life of the people brought by the liberation and the proud feature of new Korea.

BGSJI and KFA UK support press statement of DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Ulji Freedom Shield

   BRITISH GROUP FOR THE STUDY OF THE JUCHE IDEA 

email juche007@yahoo.co.uk
                                                        

                                  

London  14th of   August 2026
The  British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea and the  Korean Friendship Association of the UK (KFA UK  )  , issued the following joint statement in support of the press statement of the  spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry(FM) of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK ) that was issued on the 13th of August ;

The US imperialists and ROK puppets have announced that they will stage the provocative warmongering exercise Ulji Freedom Shield from Monday 17th of August  which will run for 10 days  and involve not only the US and the ROK but also states from the so-called UN Command such as Britain and Germany.

The DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesperson notes that "The U.S. announced that the forthcoming exercises are quite different from the ones of the past five years and intended to master the ability of fighting a war on the basis of the new aspects of modern warfare. By doing so, it did not conceal its aim to complete preparations for the substantial military confrontation with the DPRK."

This shows that although the US and ROK have staged these exercises many times before these exercises have been upgraded and aim at preparing a military confrontation against the DPRK . The exercises are also been held at a time of increased international tension when the US is provoking tension in Europe and committing aggression in the Middle east as well threatening to intervene in different parts of the world .

Ulji Freedom Shield is also being held in the context of the expansion of the US-ROK-Japan nuclear alliance . These war exercises are about sharpening up the sword of aggression against the DPRK! These exercises of the US , ROK and so UN-Command are a grave provocation and a threat to peace in the Asia -Pacific region . 

As our organisations have stated many times that military exercises are actually a preparation for a real war .

We demand that Ulji Freedom Shield is cancelled at once ! We strongly support the press statement of the spokesperson of the DPRK Foreign Ministry !

No to Ulji Freedom Shield !

Defend People's Korea

BGSJI

KFA UK

Glory to the 81st anniversary of Korea's Liberation !

 

81 years ago today , on the 15th of August 1945 , Korea was finally liberated from Japanese imperialist colonial rule  thanks to the Juche-based armed struggle led by the great leader President KIM IL SUNG .

Korea became a nation once again and the Korean people gained a new life of independence under the banner of the Juche idea!

Victory in the national liberation war thanks to the Juche idea-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson for the 81st anniversary of Korea's Liberation

 On the 15th of August 1945 Korea was finally liberated from decades of despotic and fascistic colonial rule of the Japanese imperialists thanks the heroic armed  struggle waged by the guerrilla fighters of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army led by President KIM IL SUNG , a gifted military strategist and ever-victorious iron-willed brilliant commander . The liberation of Korea from Japanese imperialism was a great gain for the Korean people which cannot be measured by any yardstick and could not be bartered for gold . Korea’s liberation meant that the Korean people became masters of their destiny .

Korea had been once shown on world maps as a province of Japan. In the dark days of Japanese colonialist rule when Koreans were not even allowed to use their own language , it seemed like a day dream, a fantasy even that Korea could become independent again , however one man , the young comrade KIM IL SUNG decided that Korea should be independent and that the Korean people should be masters of their own destiny. He decided that a new road of struggle was needed to achieve national liberation and independence . 

President KIM IL SUNG realised that it was no use hoping for others to hand them independence on a plate  and no use hoping that has- beens who were arguing among themselves would be able to lead the struggle for national liberation to victory . So he formed new movements such as the Down -With Imperialism Union ( the 100th anniversary of which will be in October this year ) and the Anti-Imperialist Youth League whose basis was the new generation of youth who were unaffected by ideologies such as sycophancy towards big powers, factionalism and reformism. President KIM IL SUNG believed in going deep among the masses .

In June 1930 President KIM IL SUNG addressed a meeting of young cadres and activists at Kalun . He set forth the Juche-based line of the Korean revolution in a speech titled “The Path of the Korean Revolution “   Looking the experience of the Korean revolution he 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.

Drawing on this lesson we regard it as most important to take the firm standpoint that the masters of the Korean revolution are the Korean people and that the Korean revolution should by all means be carried out by the Korean people themselves in a way suited to the actual conditions of their country.”

Thus the Juche-orientated line of the Korean revolution was set forth.                    

In July 1930 the Korean Revolutionary Army was founded . The great leader President KIM IL SUNG pursued a truly unique Juche- based line of guerrilla warfare  in which the armed forces were founded before the Party ..

After the Kalun meeting  President  KIM IL SUNG reiterated at the Mingyuegou Meeting in December 1931 that the armed struggle was the basic line of the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle of Korea and clarified strategic and tactical problems immediately arising in organizing and developing the anti-Japanese armed struggle such as the type of the armed struggle, organization of a standing revolutionary armed force and establishment of a guerrilla base as a stronghold of political and military activity. President KIM IL SUNG in his speech underscored the need for self-reliance saying that "we fight the armed struggle with no state backing and no aid from outside "

Thanks to KIM IL SUNG's idea and line of achieving liberation and independence of the nation on the strength of arms, the anti-Japanese national liberation struggle of Korea could take the correct path and advance toward victory with full confidence.     

President KIM IL SUNG wisely led the struggle for implementing the unique idea and line of realizing the cause of national liberation on the strength of arms.

Then President KIM IL SUNG founded the Anti-Japanese People’s Guerrilla Army on April  25, 1932. It was the birth of a new-type revolutionary armed force for national liberation and a historic event that provided the military guarantee for realising victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche by dint of arms.  It heralded the start of the great anti-Japanese revolutionary war .  

The KPRA fought the revolutionary  spirit of self-reliance and the Juche Idea . 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'.) 

                    In March 1934 the Anti Japanese People's Guerrilla Army became the Korean People's Revolutionary Army . 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 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. One third world revolutionary figure on visiting the monument to the Pochonbo battle said "the beacon fire of Pochonbo marked a great event which gave confidence in struggle not only to the Korean people under the colonial rule of Japanese imperialism but also the world's revolutionary people groaning in those days under the heels of imperialist aggressors- fascist Germany, Italy, Japanese imperialism , and American and British imperialism.

                                     

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-orientated united national front in May 1936

               President KIM IL SUNG adopted adroit guerrilla tactics . The KPRA under his leadership showed great tactical flexibility, for example switching to small unit activities in 1940 in order to preserve and accumulate the revolutionary force.                                 

   The hard and arduous  revolutionary armed struggle led by the great leader 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. On August 15 1945 Korea was liberated at last from Japanese imperialist rule. 36 years of oppressive fascist colonial rule by Japanese imperialism came to an end and the Korean people gained a new life of hope and prosperity .

Long live the 81st anniversary of Korea’s liberation !
Long live Juche !

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK

Chairman British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea

Hon Secretary General Global Farmy for the Study of KIM JONG UN People’s First Policies