.jpg)
The title of this splendid book is inspired by ‘The Great Conspiracy Against Russia’, by Michael Sayers and Albert Kahn, published in 1946, which spelt out the continued capitalist assault on the Soviet Union. Dr Hudson performs a similar, very necessary, task by telling the truth about the assault on the DPRK.
On 8 September 1945, three weeks after Korea’s liberation, US troops landed at Inchon and seized control of south Korea. General MacArthur issued Decree No. 1 declaring military rule in south Korea. General Hodge, Commander of US forces in south Korea, issued another decree saying that the military government would punish all those who disobeyed its orders or criticised it.
The ensuing Syngman Rhee regime in the south was an anti-communist, fascist despotism which ruled by terror, a true police state. In the years 1945 to 1950, it was responsible for killing some 500,000 people in the south.
Rhee talked constantly of ‘marching north’ and ‘destroying communism’. From 1947 onwards, he sent raiding parties into the north. After the USA created the ‘American Military Advisory Group’, the raids increased in frequency and intensity.
On 26 January 1950, the USA concluded the US-south Korea Mutual Defense Treaty. On 14 April, a then secret directive of the US National Security Council, NSC 68, authorised the start of the US war of aggression against Korea.
In June 1950, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the main architect of the policy of ‘rollback’ - to overthrow socialist governments everywhere - visited south Korea, and spent much of his time in the border zone. On 23 June, south Korean forces launched an artillery bombardment of areas in the north. The New York Tribune of 26 June reported, “south Korean troops drove across the 38th parallel, which forms the frontier, to capture the manufacturing town of Haeju, just north of the line.”
The USA demanded an immediate meeting of the UN Security Council. This met without the presence of the Soviet Union, or of the People’s Republic of China (which the USA and its allies had kept out of its legitimate seat). Nobody from the DPRK was allowed to present its case to the Council. The Council broke its own rules, which stipulated that only the full Council could mandate any action, when it then illegally allowed ‘UN’ forces to intervene in Korea. These ‘UN’ forces were actually just forces from the USA and a few of its more biddable allies, including Britain’s Labour government.
Dr Hudson observes that “the war waged by the US imperialists was not just a war to destroy the DPRK and its people’s democratic system but a genocidal war of extermination against the Korean nation.”
Ever since 1950, the US government and its allies have maintained a war against the DPRK. They have used the methods of war - terrorism, sabotage and espionage. They have imposed comprehensive sanctions. In 1962, the Khrushchev government added to the pressure when it imposed de facto sanctions by cutting off all economic and military cooperation with the DPRK.
In addition to war and sanctions, the USA has a third plank to its anti-socialist strategy - the constant pressure to undermine socialism through ideological campaigns. These use ‘NGOs’ (almost all funded and directed by the US and/or British governments), defectors, media organisations focused on the DPRK, an incessant barrage of propaganda from bodies like the BBC, all whipping up hatred and contempt for the DPRK and its leaders. No story is too absurd, no allegation too foul, for them to use.
This excellent book is a necessary corrective to the hymn of hate which the US government and its minions constantly wage against People’s Korea.
No comments:
Post a Comment