In just a few days time it will 75 years since Korea was liberated from the cruel and barbaric rule of Japanese imperialism . Korea became a nation once again rather than being a province of Japan , In fact I can remember old atlases and encyclopedias at my late mothers house showed Korea as simply being part of the Japanese empire . Korea had been formally annexed and became a colonial possession of Japan back in 1910, though in fact the Japanese imperialists had began edging into Korea with the connivance of other imperialist powers such as the US and Britain and the treachery of flunkeyists in the feudal ruling class. An overpowering stifling darkness fell over the Korean nation , a darkness so heavy that it threatened to crush the life out of the Korean people . However on August 15th 1945 , finally the daylight of freedom and independence dawned on the Korean people . The chains of Japanese imperialist rule were severed.
Korea was liberated as a result of the 15 year long anti-Japanese armed struggle waged under the command of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG , an ever-victorious iron-willed brilliant commander and gifted military strategist . Korea's liberation was also the fruit of the great Juche idea . Korea's liberation was not the gift of another country , though of course Korean revolutionaries co-operated with revolutionary forces of neighbouring countries.
President KIM IL SUNG made independence his creed at a young age and resolved to fight independently for Korea 's liberation by relying on the popular masses. Leaders of the bourgeois nationalist factions in Korea had tried to achieve independence by relying on big powers such as the US or even appealing to the rabid Japanese imperialists to grant them independence . Of course this was an illusion , basically complete nonsense because there was no way that Japan would peacefully grant independence to Korea and the big imperialist powers were only interested in themselves , they had no inclination to help the Korean people or hand independence on a tray to the Korean people . Worse still the bourgeois nationalists failed to conduct struggle among the people indulging in arguments and elitism. The early communist movement in Korea was no better , this was led by petty bourgeois types and those from the ruined aristocracy . They too formed factions and fought among themselves paying no heed to working among the masses and united them . Instead they looked to the COMINTERN for recognition .The young KIM IL SUNG decided not to repeat the grave mistakes of the bourgeois nationalists and early communists but to seek a new path , this was the starting point of the Juche Idea .
President KIM IL SUNG set up the Down With Imperialism Union in 1926 with a revolutionary school students and youth , This represented a decisive clean break with the stale dogmas of factionalism and flunkeyism and meant a movement not based on a few privileged individuals but one based on the popular masses. Later the great leader President KIM IL SUNG formed the Anti-Imperialist Youth League and Young Communist League of Korea.
The great leader President KIM IL SUNG outlined the Juche-orientated path of the Korean revolution at the historic Kalun meeting held from the end of June 1930 to the beginning of July 1930. At the meeting he also put forward the Songun based line of revolution . Looking the experience of the Korean revolution the great leader President KIM IL SUNG pointed out
"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 . Keenly realising that independence cannot be achieved by peaceful means or handed to the Korean people by a big power he said "In order to guarantee success in the Korean revolution, we must, first of all, organize and wage an armed struggle against the Japanese imperialists.
As the historical experience and lessons of the anti-Japanese struggle show, no one can bring us independence on a tray; we can never vanquish the Japanese imperialists and win national independence by peaceful means.
Moreover, the present situation urgently demands that we wage an organized armed struggle against the Japanese imperialists. Since the Japanese imperialists are intensifying their suppression without precedent and we are dealing with an enemy armed to the teeth, we must gradually build up the violent mass struggle into an organized armed struggle"
This was an early crystallization of the Songun idea , the idea of army-first politics which along with the Juche Idea became the core guiding principles of the Korean revolution.
. President KIM IL SUNG 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 correct path and advance toward victory with full of 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 the 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 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 forces.
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 dark oppressive rule by the fascist Japanese 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.
The significance of Korea's liberation was manifold . Firstly, the liberation of Korea by the Korean People's Revolutionary Army led by the great leader generalissimo KIM IL SUNG made a great contribution to the victory of the international anti-fascist forces. Secondly , it created a role model for anti-imperialist , anti-colonial struggles . This fact was acknowledged by the World Cultural Congress in Havana in 1968 . Thirdly , it proved beyond doubt the great vitality and validity of the Juche Idea and the Songun Idea as well the outstanding commanding ability of the great leader generalissimo KIM IL SUNG .
Dr Dermot Hudson
President Association for the Study of Songun Politics
Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea
Chairman UK Korean Friendship Association
Chairman British Solidarity Committee For Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula
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