On Korea's Liberation and the Juche Idea -speech by JISGE chairman Dermot Hudson to UK National Seminar

In just over one day it will be 70 years since Korea became independent . The Korean people will celebrate with joy and vigour 70 years of independence ! Today the DPRK is known to the world as the most independent country on the face of the globe as typified by some recent news items such as the decision to create their own time zone and the spectacle of KPA soldiers trampling a US flag in the presence of supreme leader Marshal KIM JONG UN. However this was not always the reality of Korea . If you look at some old maps and encyclopedias published before 1945 Korea is shown as a province of Japan. Indeed one Korean athlete participated in the 1936 Olympics not under a Korean flag but under the rising sun flag of imperial Japan .

On August 15 1945 Korea was liberated from Japanese imperialist colonial rule thanks to the arduous armed struggle waged by the anti-Japanese guerrillas led by the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG . Cheers reverberated the length and breadth of the land of the Morning Calm! Japanese imperialist rule which had appeared so strong and permanent crumbled virtually in an instant. On August 15 1945 Korea was liberated at last from Japanese imperialist rule. 36 years of oppressive rule by the fascist Japanese and their decadent and degenerate Samurai culture vanished in a twinkling.

               The Japanese colonial oppressors had literally sucked the life out of the Korean people. Due to flunkeyism(fawning on big powers) and incompetence by the old feudal rulers of the Ri Dynasty the Japanese imperialists stole into Korea the land of the morning calm. By 1910 they had annexed Korea and turned into a colony . The Korean people fell victim to the sabre and the bayonet of the cruel Japanese colonialists. They plundered huge amounts of resources. Korean people even lost the right to speak Korean or to use Korean names. Another crime committed by the Japanese imperialists was force 200,000 Korean women into sexual slavery as well taking many young Koreans to Japan to work as forced labourers in mines and munitions factories. Although all imperialism and colonialism is bad it can be argued that Japanese imperialism is probably the most cruel and and barbaric.

Under Japanese rule life do not seem worth living for Korean people. Naturally The Korean people desired independence and to be free from oppression by Japanese imperialism . However no force or leader existed that could deliver them from the iron rule of Japan. Petitions and appeals were useless , strikes and demos were suppressed by force and the streets run with the blood of Korean workers and peasants . Bourgeois nationalists proved to be useless in leading the nation, they split into factions and squabble. They adopted national reformism which meant collaboration with Japanese imperialism. Some seeing the example of the USSR the first workers and peasants state in the world started a communist movement but this quickly collapsed into flunkeyism and factionalism and was therefore unable to lead the struggle against Japanese imperialist rule. One leader appeared to dispel the fog of confusion and the darkness of Japanese imperialism , the leader was the young general KIM IL SUNG who rejected the old methods of flunkeyism and factionalism and led the struggle from the grassroots to victory . The great leader President KIM IL SUNG organised a revolutionary movement. The young general KIM IL SUNG realised several basic truths early on ; firstly , that no other country was going to hand the Korean people independence on a plate , it had to be achieved by their own efforts alone , secondly, that it to achieve independence they had to mobilise the masses and rely on them not a few factions or high level leaders who shut themselves away behind closed doors , thirdly , independence could not come through peaceful means but through armed struggle.

President KIM IL SUNG at the age of 14 founded the Down With Imperialism Union the first communist revolutionary organisation in Korea composed of revolutionary school students . Later on he formed the Anti-Imperialist Youth League and Young Communist League. In the early summer of 1930 the great leader President KIM IL SUNG addressed the historic Kalun meeting of revolutionary cadres and activists and outlined the Juche-orientated path of the the Korean revolution and the road of Songun . It was a naive illusion to expect peaceful change so President KIM IL SUNG pointed out "“Weapons are our life and soul! Oppose armed force with armed force!".

President KIM IL SUNG started the armed struggle against Japanese colonial rule with two pistols handed down to him from his father . He formed first the Korean Revolutionary Army in 1930 and then the Anti-Japanese People's Guerilla Army on the 25th of April which became the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in March 1935. The KPRA fought self-reliantly in the spirit of Juche . 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'.)

Under the command of the great leader President KIM IL SUNG, an ever victorious iron-willed brilliant commander, the stout hearted and heroic partisans of the KPRA fought many battles against the Jap agressors such the battle of Pochonbo and the battle of Musan to name just a few . At times the guerillas had to march through metre deep snow in temperatures of-40c. They used different tactics sometimes switching to small unit activities .

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 saying “The crucial moment has now come to accomplish the historic cause of the country's liberation for which our nation has craved so eagerly that a single day seemed like a thousand years .. We will be crowned with final victory , Let us march forward for final victory in the war against the Japanese !”

The KPRA units, remaining true to President KIM IL SUNG's order for a general offensive, advanced like angry waves, in close contact with the Soviet army, annihilating the Japanese aggressor army. The KPRA units that had been occupy- ing offensive positions around the secret camp on Mt. Kanbaek for the final operations advanced as planned, strengthening their ranks. The units on the Tuman River broke through the enemy fortresses on the frontier in one fell swoop, liberated many areas of the north east coast of Korea and continued to advance to the area of Chongjin.

Other units, having taken Jinchang, Dongning, Muling and Mudanjiang, pursued the enemy troops and gave fatal blows to the Kwantung Army before pressing on towards the Tuman River.

n response to the final offensive operations, the small units and political operatives from the KPRA which had been active in the homeland roused paramilitary corps, armed resistance organizations and broad sections of the people to armed revolts. They harassed the enemy in the rear by boldly attacking the Japanese imperialist aggressor troops, gendarmerie and police establishments, in strong support of the advancing KPRA units.

The People’s Armed Corps in Rajin in North Hamgyong Province had already liberated the Rajin City before the Soviet army landed there, while the Kkachibong People’s Armed Corps destroyed the retreating enemy soldiers and liberated Hoeryong by its own efforts. The armed corps in Chongjin, Kilju and Songjin areas attacked enemy stragglers, took control of factories, and raided police establishments.

The resistance organizations in Cholwon and Poptong in Kangwon Province, and in Sinuiju in North Phyongan Province attacked local police substations and border guard posts, and occupied the provincial police department and provincial office building. They also disarmed enemy stragglers hiding at the airfield.

In South Phyongan Province and Pyongyang a large resistance unit centred on the Fatherland Liberation Corps raided an arsenal, and occupied the provincial and city office buildings. Meanwhile, the resistance organizations in Hwanghae Province also attacked and contained enemy troops in various locations.

Hard hit by the fierce attacks of the KPRA units and the Soviet army and by the decisive blows from the stubborn national resistance, Japanese imperialism declared its unconditional surrender in great haste on August 15, just a week after the start of the operations against Japan. 36 years of oppressive rule by the fascist Japanese 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.

The liberation of Korea was not only a great event for the Korean people but had worldwide significance . Firstly , by defeating Japanese imperialism which was a shock brigade of international fascism , an axis power that was the ally of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, the Korean people made a great contribution to the worldwide victory of the anti-fascists . Secondly, the successful liberation struggle provided an inspiration for the peoples of the colonial countries fighting for their independence and liberation . The 1968 World Cultural Congress in Havana adopted a document praising the anti-Japanese armed struggle waged under the leadership of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG

The Korean people now celebrate proudly 70 years of independence. 70 years of victory ang glory in which the Korean people under the leadership of the great leaders KIM IL SUNG and KIM JONG IL , dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN  and the Workers' Party of Korea have built a new life without domination, exploitation and oppression. The Korean people went through two periods of reconstruction and industrialised the country . An advanced socialist system was set up . Now the DPRK has launched 3 satellites and plans to launch a 4^th one , just think 100 years ago Korea could not even produce simple farm implement. This fact alone shows the great gains of independence ! We are convinced that the Korean people under the leadership of dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN will build a thriving socialist country and win final victory in the anti-US showdown.