FIFTY YEARS OF STRUGGLE FOR PEACE, ANTI-IMPERIALISM AND REUNIFICATION IN KOREA by Shaun Pickford secretary general JISGE and Staffordshire KFA

                                                             

The 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea makes an important milestone in the history of the struggle of the Korean people for reunification and anti-imperialist democracy. On August 25th, 1969 a group of patriots and anti-imperialist resistance fighters in south Korea decided to establish a political force devoted to the reunification of Korea and the democratization of south Korea, this movement became to be known as The Revolutionary Party of Reunification. The RPR was based solely on the Juche Idea and followed the teachings of President Kim IL Sung and Chairman Kim Jong IL on the reunification issue. From the start, the party faced incredible challenges, such as fierce amounts of oppression and persecution by the south Korean puppet regime. The first martyr to fall serving the revolutionary cause of anti-imperialism, was Kim Jong Tae, the Chairman of the Seoul Committee of the RPR. Kim Jong Tae was cruelly cut down by the Pak Chung Hee Clique in the year of the foundation of the Revolutionary Party For Reunification and will always be remembered by all the Korean people for his selfless deeds. Reflecting the changing strategic and tactical demands of the south Korean revolution, the Revolutionary Party of Reunification was renamed the National Democratic Front of south Korea in July 1985 and then the organisation has its current name of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea since March 2005.

In the various manifestos put out throughout the fifty years of its existence, the AINDF has consistently called for the democratization of the south Korean society, for the independent reunification of Korea and the dismantling of the neo-colonial ruling structures in south Korea. The AIDNF bases itself on the Juche Idea, upon the ideology of Kim IL Sung and of Kim Jong IL and applies the teachings of Kimilsungism-KimjongIlism to the conditions of the struggle in south Korean society.  The Juche Idea scientifically illuminates the aim, means and methods of the National Democratic Movement in south Korea. President Kim IL Sung and Chairman Kim Jong IL showed deep care and attention to the fight of the Juche-orientated revolutionaries of south Korea and to the further development and consolidation of the RPR, NDF and the ANDF. Following the guidance of the Great Leaders of the Korean Revolution, the RPR and its successor organisations became groups firmly rooted in the ranks of the workers, peasants, intellectuals, students and patriotic tradespeople in south Korea and hastened to build an underground party overcoming all the hardships and difficulties

Throughout the years of the existence of the AINDF, the influence of this party has grown in south Korea among various social strata. According to the data of the National Security Agency of south Korea, those in south Korean society who advocate the Juche Idea is 4.3 million, that is more than 10 per cent of the population. Under the guidance of the AINDF the south Korean people battled against the Yushin Dictotaorship System of Pak Chung Hee and mobilized the masses in the fight to overthrow the military fascist juntas of Chun Doo Hwan and Ro Tae Woo. The AINDF has over the years galvanized the south Korean people in the struggle to remove the greatest obstacle to peace and independent reunification on the Korean peninsula, that is US Imperialism. More than 90 per cent of south Korean people dislikes the United States and 80 per cent of south Korean demand the withdrawal of US military forces from the southern half of Korea.  The members and sympathizers of the AINDF have paid a really heavy price in terms of their personal liberty and indeed their very lives on the path to free south Korea from neo-colonialism and fascism. A student from the city of Incheon, south Korea earnestly requested the AINDF to drive out the US Imperialists and their puppets from the land of Korea and to reunify the country at the earliest possible date. The AINDF promotes its message of national and social liberation from its website, from its newspaper "Hyokmong Choson" and from its radio station "The Voice of National Salvation", as well by means of leaflets distributed on the streets of south Korean cities and towns.

Since its formation, the AINDF has maintained relationships with various anti-imperialist organisations and movements from around the world. The AINDF has relations with 100 political parties and groups in various countries, including with the UK Korean Friendship Association and the Juche Idea Study Group. In June 2009, I was honoured with an invitation to the Pyongyang Mission of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea and had the opportunity to have met many of its leading members, including Zo In Min. Zo In Min was a very affable host who related both his own personal biography and the history of the AINDF over the dinner table. The head of the Pyongyang Misson of the AINDF was originally from the city of Pusan, on the southeastern coast of Korea and Zo In Min spoke emotionally about his struggle against the occupation regime and for the independent reunification of Korea. Actually, members of the Pyongyang Mission of the AINDF had fled persecution at the hands of the authorities in Seoul and I was awe-inspired to have met and had discussions with such courageous revolutionaries. I had been privileged to have gone to the Pyongyang Mission of the AINDF a total of five times in total and is always a highlight of any visit to the DPRK. At the Mission, the specialities from the provinces of south Korea have been served up at the meals prepared for visiting delegations that I have taken part in, and the hospitality displayed by the AINDF is like a gathering of comrade sharing the same destiny. The comrades of the AINDF know full well the grim realities of colonialism, imperialism and capitalism and have no illusions about the imperialist system. At every demonstration and picket, on Facebook and on the internet the issues of Korean reunification and solidarity with the AINDF is raised continually by the UK KFA. More and more Peace Activists, Anti-Imperialist Campaigners and Trade Unionists in Britain have become aware of the significance of developments on the Korean peninsula and have expressed their support for the AINDF.

 Despite being prescribed by the National Security Law in south Korea, the influence of the AINDF has spread to every corner of south Korea, from Seoul to Pusan, from Inchon to Cheju Island. It can be viewed from a historical perspective, that the activities of the AINDF over the last fifty years have created the conditions for the accelerated process of Korean reunification which began in 2018 and the gradual democratization of south Korea. The situation on the Korean peninsula has changed from one of intensive tension to a climate of reconciliation between the north and south of Korea. The Panmunjon Declaration of April 2018 and the various meetings of the leaders of the north and south in 2018 and 2019 have brought about a sea change in the quest for the independent peaceful reunification of Korea. The Songun Politics of the DPRK have ensured peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and the United States entering into negotiations with the Government of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Within south Korea, the voices calling for independence and anti-imperialism have become even louder and powerful than in previous times. The anti-imperialist and democratic forces cannot be too complacent, the address of the AINDF Central Committee pointed out in its May 17th appeal marking the 39th anniversary of the Kwangju uprising. Conservative and reactionary elements in south Korea want to wreck and derail the Korean Peace Process and to turn the clock back to the infamous Yushin Dictatorial System of the 1970s and 80s. The AINDF is at the head of the movement against the so-called "Liberal Korea Party" and other such reactionary Luddites and struggling for the realizing of the revolutionary cause of anti-imperialism in the south of Korea.

The Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea has traversed the road of the struggle of Juche-based Anti-Imperialism for well over fifty years. Guided by the ideology of the Great President Kim IL Sung, the Great General Secretary Kim Jong IL and the Respected Chairman Kim Jong Un, the AINDF is bound to achieve its ultimate goals of reunification, democratization, anti-imperialism and socialism. Anti-imperialists across the globe salute the militants of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea as the being the vanguard in the fight for peace, peoples democracy and reunification in south Korea. Glory to the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea, the Liberation Force of south Korea!!