Speech on the 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Workers Party of Korea made by Dr Dermot Hudson to the online meeting on the 26.09.2026

 Dear comrades and friends,

In a few weeks time  the Workers Party of Korea ,the supreme general staff of the Korean revolution  and organiser and guide of all the Korean people’s victories will celebrate the 81st anniversary of its foundation by President KIM IL SUNG  . It seems like only yesterday that I was in Pyongyang for the 80th anniversary of the foundation of the Workers Party of Korea .

The anniversary of the foundation of the Workers Party of Korea is one of great importance because the Workers Party of Korea led by respected Marshal KIM JONG UN  organises and guides all the victories of the Korean people , it is the supreme general staff of the Korean revolution.The importance of the role of the WPK can never be understated or underestimated . Indeed in People’s Korea you will often see the distinctive flag of the WPK , with its hammer , sickle and writing brush , flying from street corners .

All the achievements of People’s Korea, which I have witnessed through my 20 visits  , are the result of the leadership and guidance of the Workers Party of Korea , which is transforming people’s dreams into reality .. New homes are given to people free of charge .During my visit I saw that there were no beggars or homeless , no lumpens,alcoholics or drug addicts . There was a complete absence of graffiti and vandalism.

On 10th of October 1945 the Communist Party of North Korea was formed around a nucleus of communist revolutionaries tempered in the fiery furnace of the anti Japanese armed struggle.Indeed the process did not come to an on October 10th 1945 but a further merger of parties took place in 1946 between the Communist Party of North Korea and the New Democratic Party to form the Workers Party of North Korea.This prevented the forces of the working masses being split .In 1949 the Workers Party of North Korea merged with the Workers Party of South Korea to form a unified party for the whole of Korea the Workers Party of Korea.Indeed the road travelled by the Workers Party of Korea since October 10th 1945 has been one of continuous struggle,development and consolidation.

It is not the purpose of my speech to give a detailed history of the Workers Party of Korea because there are many books and articles which do that . Also KFA UK has been organising online reading sessions on the booklet “Understanding the Workers Party of Korea “. Rather I will concentrate on explaining the policies and objectives of the Workers Party of Korea(WPK) .

The WPK was always different to other communist and workers parties because of its distinctive symbol the hammer ,sickle and writing brush . The writing brush actually represents the working intellectuals so the WPK is a party not just of workers and peasants but intellectuals too .

Unlike some former ruling communist parties which downgraded or neglected ideological work , the WPK upholds the ideology-first principle. This was recently stressed at the The Third Workshop for Officials in the Information Sector of the Workers' Party of Korea which was held from the 19th of September to the 21st of September . The general secretary of the Workers Party of Korea respected comrade KIM JONG UN addressed the workshop and said “

That is the Juche-oriented theory of ideology that should never change even though everything else in the world may change, and we are thoroughgoing advocates of the ideology-first principle.”

He called for a deepening of the WPK’s ideological and stressed the need for ideological work to keep pace with the fast changing realities of the country . 

I would like to mention that People’s Korea is one of the few countries if not the only country in the world to carry out deep going anti-imperialist class education . Not only is there the famous Sinchon Museum (now renamed Sinchon Class Education Centre ) but also class education centres in cities and provinces . I do not know of other socialist countries who do the same thing.

The WPK also a party based on the people -first principle . Chairman KIM JONG IL said that the WPK should be like a mother to the people . Marshal KIM JONG UN said that the people-first principle should permeate all activities of the WPK . Speaking at the mass parade for the 70th anniversary of the WPK in October 2015(which I witnessed in person )  he said that  “   As the great Workers' Party of Korea that believes in the people as in heaven, the people who are one and the same with the name of our sacred revolution and its 70 years of victory, is the locomotive leading the revolution and holds the switch weight of history, the avenue of the cause of the Juche revolution will always be adorned with victory and glory.

    I appeal to all the Party members.

    Let us all make selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the great people”

The WPK has indeed made selfless devoted efforts for the people and implemented a people-first policy . I would like to give two examples out of many .Firstly , at the At the Third Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in June 2021 Marshal KIM JONG UN put forward the policy of supplying dairy products and nutritious foodstuffs to children in the DPRK free of charge .In February 2022 the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK made this the law of the country . Of course people of my own age group will remember how in the UK there used to school milk but this was abolished by the then education minister Margaret Thatcher in 1970 ! .Secondly , at the 8th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea in January 2021 it was decided to build a total of 50,000 new flats or 10,000 per year in Pyongyang in forthcoming five years and 5,000 new flats per year in the mining town of  Komdok . 

In the DPRK houses are given to people free of charge ! The new Kyongru dong residential area on the Potong riverside, which I passed several times during my visits to the DPRK in 2024 and 2025 , not only houses the famous DPRK newscaster Ms Ri Chun Hee but also bus drivers and street cleaners  ! 

To conclude here the history of the Workers Party of Korea has been the history of the ideology first principle and the people first principle .

Long Live the Workers Party of Korea !

The Significance of The Formation of The Down With Imperialism Union In The History of the Korean Revolution. By Shaun Pickford

 October 17th, 2026, marks the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Down With Imperialism Union, which was the forerunner of the Glorious Workers' Party of Korea. The founding of the DIU by Kim IL Sung (Kim Song Ju) and his comrades marked a new chapter in the history of the Korean revolution. We must see the establishment of the DIU within the context of developments in Korea and internationally at that time, in the 1920s. The victory of the October Socialist Revolution in Russia had led to the spread of Marxism-Leninism around the world, including Korea. Since 1910, Korea had been annexed by the Japanese Empire and the very existence of the Korean nation was at stake. Korean nationalism, which had carried anti-imperialist, anti-feudal tinges, was beset by the limitations of its bourgeois nature. The nationalist leaders sought to appeal to the major powers such as the USA, Great Britain, and France for assistance in seeking freedom from Japanese domination. Among the Korean nationalist leadership, had naively believed that Woodrow Wilson's  (28th US President, 1913-1921) 14 Points would restore Korea's sovereignty with the aid of the League of Nations. Some of the leaders of the Korean bourgeois nationalist movement who settled in Shanghai degenerated into puppets of imperialism, the most infamous case being Syngman Rhee. A mass uprising against Japanese colonialism occurred throughout Korea on March 1st, 1919. The uprising lasted 10 months, showed that the patriotic spirit of the Korean people was still strong and resistance continued against the Japanese colonizers long after the suppression of the rebellion. The March 1st, 1919 uprising also exposed the weakness of bourgeois nationalism.

In April, 1925, the Communist Party of Korea was founded. Progressive activists secretly translated and printed the Marxist-Leninist classics into Korean in defiance of the Japanese Imperialists. In the early 1920s, class consciousness was emerging among the nascent working class in Korea with the setting up of the Workers' Mutual Aid Society (a proto-trade union). Between 1920 and 1925, there were over 330 workers' strikes in the industrial centres of Korea. The Korean Communist Movement was conducted by intellectuals who failed to conduct activities among the working masses. The early incarnation of the Korean Communist Movement was bedeviled with sectarianism in forms such as "The Tuesday Group", "The M.L.Group", "Seoul Group, amongst many others. There were even several preparatory committees for the establishment of a Communist Party in Korea by these factions. Dogmatism and flunkeyism were apparent in the early Korean Communist Movement, which was seeking advice from the Comintern (the Communist International, 1919-1943) for every question in the struggle for national and class liberation. Sectarianism and dogmatism led to the party (K.C.P.) being dissolved in 1928; Korean Communists were left without a vanguard party. 

The Korean National Association, led by Kim Hyong Jik (1894-1926), who was the father of Kim IL Sung, took a Marxist-Leninist position away from the confines of narrow nationalism, building on the anti-imperialist traditions of the KNA. Having been formed in March, 1917, the KNA had become the vanguard of the Korean national liberation movement, symbolized by the slogan "Chiwon (Aim High), in other words, to rely on the popular masses for victory in the revolution. Taking a critical view of nationalism and the early Korean Communist Movement, Kim IL Sung formulated an innovative ideological framework on the issues confronting the revolutionaries in Korea, based on the realities prevailing at the time. Kim IL Sung came to the conclusion that the movement to gain the social and national emancipation of the Korean people was through a clean break with the limitations of bourgeois nationalism and with the sectarianism of the early communist movement. That is, to build up a new communist movement with militants from the young generation 

Kim IL Sung and his trusted comrades formed the Down-With-Imperialism Union on October 17th, 1926. A large core of the recruits to the DIU came from the Hwasong Uisuk School, in Huadian, China, consisting of Korean exiles. The ideological and political programme was laid out in Kim Il-sung's inaugural speech to the DIU entitled "Let Us Overthrow Imperialism" (Kim IL Sung Complete Works Volume 1). This was the first-ever recorded speech by the Great Leader Comrade Kim IL Sung. The DIU set out as its immediate aim to defeat Japanese Imperialism and liberate Korea, to have a People's Democratic Revolution against colonialism and feudalism. While defining the ultimate objective to construct socialism in Korea, and to smash imperialism and achieve communism on a global basis. The foundation of the DIU constituted an historic declaration of a new and decisive period in the Korean Revolution. Rightfully, the DIU is considered the precursor of the Workers' Party of Korea, in which the foundations of building a Juche-oriented party arose. Kim Jong IL in his seminal work of October 17th, 1982, "The WPK Is A Juche Type Revolutionary Party Which Inherited The Glorious Tradition of the DIU", analysed the ideological and historical roots of the WPK in the creation of the DIU in 1926 and how a Juche-type approach to party construction was established by the DIU. From when the DIU was established, independence, creativity and consciousness became the watchwords of the Korean Revolution, with organisational unity being the key factor. Having deep connections with the popular masses in every possible sense was how the Korean Revolutionaries conducted their activities after 1926. In the following decades, the 1930s and 1940s, the Korean national liberation struggle entered a new era of momentous developments with the formation of the Korean Revolutionary Army and the AIJPGA, and the formation of the Association for the Restoration of the Fatherland in May 1936. The party organisations were essentially built up from the grassroots upwards. To have a fair idea of what conditions were like at the time of the founding of the DIU, I can recommend reading Vol 1 of "Reminiscences: With The Century" by Kim IL Sung.

Although circumstances in 1920s Korea were different from realities here in 21st-century Britain, there are many parallels between the tasks faced by Korean Communists in the 1920s and British Socialists in the 2020s. One issue is the spread of factionalism and dogmatism in our movements, and of course, the continuing influence of modern revisionism. We have, on the one hand, so-called broad "Left" parties consisting of a petty bourgeois basis and ideology, and on the other, purist sects that carry on the same old dogma regardless of changed conditions. Both these approaches to socio-political questions are equally counter-productive, and these parties and groups have no or very little influence or connections with the working masses in our country. To advance the cause of socialism, we should seek out novel and innovative ways to construct a movement among the broad mass of working people, in the spirit of the pioneers of the DIU did a century ago. 

The 100 years since the foundation of the DIU have seen the WPK become a mighty monolithic party based on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism. With the decisions of the 9th Congress of the WPK and led by Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, the DPRK is being transformed into a prosperous country, pushing frontiers of social progress forward. The formation of the Workers' Party of Korea by the Great Leader President Kim Il-sung signified the beginning of the age of Juche, marking a new chapter in the history of the Korean Revolution!  

Report of The Meeting “ 100 years of revolution and anti-imperialism in Korea “ 26.09.2026.

 

The British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea and Korean Friendship Association of the UK(KFA UK) held a successful meeting under the title of “ 100 years of revolution and anti-imperialism in Korea “ to celebrate the 81st anniversary of the foundation of the Workers Party of Korea and the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Down With Imperialism Union . The meeting was held on the 26th of September at 1400 hours in Brixton , south London. Participating in the meeting were members and officials of the British Group for the Study of the Juche and KFA UK as well as honoured guests of the DPRK embassy , the general secretary of the New Communist Party and members of the New Communist Party, a supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain ML  as well as anti-imperialist ,progressive and working class activists from a variety of backgrounds and areas plus members of the general public.

Greetings to the meeting were received from Alan Bolon , KFA UK organisation secretary and head of KFA UK West of England.

Dr Dermot Hudson Chairman of the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea and Chairman of KFA UK introduced the meeting stressing the importance of the anniversary of the foundation of the Workers Party of Korea and the Down With Imperialism Union . He also said October 9th is the 20th anniversary of the DPRK becoming a nuclear power .

Dr Hudson in his address about the 81st foundation of the Workers Party of Korea stressed that the history of the Workers Party of Korea is the history of the ideology-first principle and people-first principle . He also said that “ All the achievements of People’s Korea, which I have witnessed through my 20 visits  , are the result of the leadership and guidance of the Workers Party of Korea , which is transforming people’s dreams into reality .. New homes are given to people free of charge .During my visit I saw that there were no beggars or homeless , no lumpens,alcoholics or drug addicts . There was a complete absence of graffiti and vandalism.”

The meeting was addressed by Mr Ryu Kyong Jun , charge d affaires of the DPRK embassy in London who spoke about the 81st anniversary of the great Workers Party of Korea . He said that the Korean people keenly realise that the achievements of the past five  years are the result of the leadership of the Workers Party of Korea . Great miracles have been achieved braving all difficulties . The target of building 50, 000 flats in Pyongyang have been overfulfilled . Now the 9th Congress of the Workers Party of Korea has opened new vistas . DPRK citizens realise that future prosperity will be achieved by upholding loyalty to the Party . Only victories and miracles are in store when they follow the guidance of the Party .Mr Ryu’s address received great applause from the audience.

Shaun Pickford secretary general of the British Group For the Study of the Juche idea , addressed the meeting on the subject of the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Down With Imperialism Union (DIU ) saying that the DIU is the historic root of the Workers Party of Korea .Thanks to the leadership of President KIM IL SUNG , its founder , the DIU avoided the pitfalls of flunkeyism to great powers , dogmatism and factionalism . The history of the DIU and Workers Party of Korea teach important lessons for the British left and progressives .

Andy Brooks general secretary of the New Communist Party spoke about the achievements of the Workers Party of Korea and how he was greatly impressed when he first visited the DPRK  in 1990.

Dr Hudson also made a short address on the subject of the formation of the DIU saying that the Workers Party of Korea continues the revolutionary tradition of the DIU .

Some discussion on different subjects took place including a comparison between the superior advanced socialist system of the DPRK and other countries.

A message to respected Marshal KIM JONG UN was adopted .

There was an exhibition of literature from the DPRK and KFA UK including the works of the great leaders .

Refreshments were served.

The meeting concluded at 16.40 hours .

From Voice of Korea-Railway Station Built on the Wihwa Island

http://vok.rep.kp/index.php/detail_com/comde/iee260810002/57/en

  The Sinuiju Combined Greenhouse Farm built on the shore of the River Amnok at the northwestern end of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a monumental creation with a beautiful combination of a thousand and hundreds of modern greenhouses of different types, vegetable science research centre, modern houses, various bases for cultural life and peculiar landscape.

  It was inaugurated on February 1, 2026.

  In the farm area there is the Wihwado Railway Station which deals with the transportation of the vegetables produced at the farm and the processed goods produced at the vegetable processing factory.

  Here is a story telling how the railway station was built on the Wihwa Island.

  While guiding the construction of the Sinuiju Combined Greenhouse Farm, the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un specially emphasized that our construction should be steadily oriented to the new and development and the designs should reflect the multi-functional, multipurpose and practical ways suited to the characteristics, functions and prospectiveness of the projects concerned.

  Learning about the plan of laying out the Sinuiju Combined Greenhouse Farm, he said the Wihwado Railway Station should be a freight station carrying the vegetables produced at the farm, not tourists or passengers.

  And he stressed the need to change the functional structure of the railway station so that it can enhance its functionality and practicality as a comprehensive transport centre, build a new vegetable storehouse and place the vegetable processing factory around it.

  This is how the Wihwado Railway Station was built into the one fit for its use.

 

BGSJI and KFA UK on the 80th anniversary of KIM IL SUNG University

 BRITISH GROUP FOR THE STUDY OF THE JUCHE IDEA 

 email juche007@yahoo.co.uk

         

                    25th of September 2026
The British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea and Korean Friendship Association of the UK (KFA UK ) issued a joint statement on the 80th anniversary  of the foundation of KIM IL SUNG university:
  

 80 years ago on the 1st of October 1946 , KIM IL SUNG university was founded .This was the first people's university in Korea , a new type of university which would serve the interests of the working people and contribute greatly to the building of a new socialist state in Korea. It was. and is, totally different to the so-called "seats of higher learning "in the capitalist countries which only cater for the children of the bourgeoisie and the rich and privileged sections of society. Such capitalist universities only teach the most reactionary and backward anti-popular ideology and social science whereas KIM IL SUNG University teaches the advanced social science of Juche .Indeed KIM IL SUNG University is the palace of Juche-orientated social science and the acme of revolutionary education and learning in People's Korea.
   

KIM IL SUNG University is associated with the leadership feats of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG. He set up the university with the patriotic rice donation of the peasant Kim Je Won.KIM IL SUNG university was the first institution of higher learning in the new People's Korea which had previously not had any university or institute of higher learning.
   

 The University is also closely associated with the revolutionary activities of the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL who studied at the university for 4 years.It was here that comrade KIM JONG IL made his pledge to glorify Korea .Standing on the Ryongnam Hill he said 

  "As I stand on Ryongnam Hill at sunrise,

The land of 3,000 ri greets my eyes.

Learning the leader's great idea,

I will be the master of the revolution in this land, Korea.

0 Korea, I will add glory to thee.

-

On the road of Juche I will be firm and steady

Under the guidance of the great leader.

Braving the raging waves and storms,

I will lead Korea into the future.

O Korea, I will make thee famous.

I will go on for ever with the cause of the sun

That shines over the whole world.

I will bring about the era of communism

When the red glow of Juche will cover the earth. 

O Korea, my Korea!

    It was here at the KIM IL SUNG University that the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL wrote many important works such as The Characteristics of Modern imperialism and Its Aggressive Nature and The Place and Role of the County in the Building of Socialism.
  

Today KIM IL SUNG University is the premier university of the DPRK. It is a truly world class university it has many faculties and departments and the latest equipment .Visiting the University in 2012 and 2015 delegations of the ASSPUK, JISGE and UK KFA were most impressed.The University has an e-library and also a modern swimming pool and gymnasium.It is far superior to any university in a capitalist country. Moreover the education is given free of charge. We understand that there are plans to expand the university even further .
   On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of its foundation we wish the teachers, staff and students of KIM IL SUNG University every success in their responsible work.

 

BGSJI and KFA UK support statement of DPRK Foreign Ministry on the "Friends of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty"

  BRITISH GROUP FOR THE STUDY OF THE JUCHE IDEA 

 email juche007@yahoo.co.uk

                                                         

25th of September 2026

 The British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea and  the  Korean Friendship Association of the UK  KFA  UK )  , issued a joint statement in support of the press statement   of the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that was issued on the 24th of September;

Recently , a  ministerial meeting of the ghost-like so-called  "Friends of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty" was held in New York at which a joint statement was issued which condemning the DPRK's self-defensive nuclear activities.

The Spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry correctly terms this as " a grave political provocation against the DPRK such behavior of the hostile forces who took issue with the DPRK's legitimate and just exercise of its sovereign rights under the pretext of the promotion of earlier effectuation of the CTBT"  which the DPRK both rejects and condemns .

Ironically those countries sponsoring the meeting were all satellite states or close allies of the US , a country which has done more to destroy the international nuclear non-proliferation system than anyone else .

The US since the 1950s deployed nuclear weapons abroad . In recent years it created the AKUS alliance and transferred to Australia a nuclear submarine . The US is conniving at the remiltarisation of Japan and its possible nuclearization ,

We would like to add the comment that it seems to us , that the US deep state and certain other forces are too keen to revive the old "nuclear issue " of the DPRK and set the scene for a confrontation with the DPRK .

The DPRK Foreign Ministry spokesman declares that " Such stereotyped racket of some dishonest forces has no impact on the DPRK's position as a nuclear weapons state."

Our organisations resolutely condemn all attempts by dishonest forces to revive the old 'nuclear issue ' of the DPRK which was resolved when the DPRK's nuclear status became protected by the laws of the DPRK !

BGSJI

KFA UK 

"Decisive Centre of Collective Defence" Will Be Decisive Target of Collective Punishment: Section Chief of DPRK Institute of Enemy State Studies

Pyongyang, September 25 (KCNA) -- An article of Kang Chol Su, section chief of the DPRK Institute of Enemy State Studies, titled "The 'decisive centre of collective defence' will be a decisive target of collective punishment" was published on September 25.

The following is the full text of the article:

The U.S. is more openly revealing its gangster-like nature to use the ROK as its key base for implementing its hegemonic strategy and as its mercenaries in the regional conflict.

At a recent "ROK-U.S. international security seminar", the commander of U.S. forces in the ROK termed the ROK a "decisive centre for collective defence," asserting that the security on the Korean peninsula is directly linked with the stability of Northeast Asia, the western hemisphere and the whole Pacific.

He talked about the redesigning of the security of the Korean peninsula, stressing the need for the ROK and the U.S. to jointly cope with the threat from outside the Korean peninsula.

This is a clearer manifestation of the attempt to completely discard the deceptive veil of "defense of the ROK," which has so far been used as the justification for the existence of the U.S.-ROK alliance, and to tie the ROK to the aggressive "collective defense" system for implementing the strategy for world hegemony.

The "collective defense" is a keynote of the present U.S. administration's "National Defence Strategy". It is a brigandish doctrine of aggression aimed at driving its allies to any strife-torn areas in the world under the pretext of "joint response to a common threat".

The fact that the military value of the ROK has been promoted to "decisive center of collective defense" means that the whole territory of the ROK will play the role of a key base for the U.S. in fighting the overseas aggressive war and the ROK's forces will be deployed as first mercenaries, earlier than any others, in any place indicated by their American master.

Getting clearer is the reason why the U.S. has openly revealed its intention to use the geopolitical position of the ROK for carrying out its strategy for hegemony outside the Korean peninsula under a "upside down map," highlighting the ROK's position as a fixed aircraft carrier for deterring the DPRK, China and Russia and a dagger in the heart of Asia.

In fact, the U.S. attempt to place the ROK at the centre of the "collective defence" system has been put into speedy practice to pose real danger.

The U.S. has reduced its forces in Europe and other regions, but deployed MQ-9 Reaper drone unit for strategic purposes and more F-16 fighters in the ROK. It even seeks to deploy the multi-domain mobile task force. This is a part of its practical design to involve the ROK in the "collective defence" system.

This has been proved by the fact that the U.S. has enhanced the joint operation system and integrated operation capacity by involving the ROK forces in such multi-national military exercises in the Asia-Pacific region as RIMPAC and Pacific Vanguard conducted far beyond the Korean peninsula and its vicinity, not content with Ulji Freedom Shield and other joint military drills with the ROK and Japan.

Shackled by the U.S. "collective defense" system, the ROK is playing a suicidal role as top-class war servant of the U.S. by willingly accepting to increase its defense cost, build nuclear submarines, introduce multi-domain operational system and integrated missile defense system, massively purchase U.S. war hardware and build and overhaul U.S. warships, all of which are transcending its "defense requirements."

The U.S. strategy of "modernizing the alliance," which is being carried out on a global scale, beyond the boundary of the Korean peninsula, under the signboard of "collective defense", and sycophancy of the ROK blindly following it are exposing the security of the Korean peninsula, the region and the world to graver danger.

The ROK, which will play the role of a "decisive center for collective defense," has turned into the most obvious cancer-like entity that stokes the instability of the region and the world, and this will inevitably provoke the heightened vigilance and strengthened readiness of the countries and the region regarding it as a threat.

The DPRK, which borders the ROK, has already made full preparations in anticipation of such developments and clarified its resolute stand to mercilessly deter and frustrate any challenge doing harm to the sphere of its security by dint of its superpowerful military muscle.

The ROK, which has emerged as a "decisive center for collective defense," pursuant to the U.S. strategic interests, will become a decisive target of collective punishment. -0-