People’s Korea and the lessons of the Venezuela situation .
Recently progressives , socialists and anti-imperialists were shocked by the news that the US had not only launched a completely unprovoked attack on Venezuela which we now know killed a number of people but in an outrageous attack of state terrorism kidnapped President Maduro and carried off to the United States where he has been imprisoned . These actions are virtually unprecedented .
The aim of the US in Venezuela is two fold (or possibly three fold ) , firstly it is to topple the anti-imperialist independent government of President Maduro, who follows in the footsteps of Hugo Chavez who led the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela ,and to set up a puppet regime . The second aim is to seize the oil resources of Venezuela just as the US did in Iraq . Arguably a third aim of the US aggressive adventure in Venezuela was to divert attention from the Epstein scandal which showed the corruption and decadence at the very heart of the American empire.
The US would like to do the same to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) or People’s Korea as it did in Venezuela but it cannot ! In fact it would not even dare to try !
Firstly , the DPRK built its own powerful nuclear deterrent . It conducted 6 nuclear tests , the first one being in 2006 . The DPRK implemented the policy of Songun (military first ) for many years . It became a socialist nuclear power of Juche and an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile(ICBM ) Power .
Secondly , the DPRK is always vigilant . Back in 2018 someone on a delegation who was a bit of a liberal noticed that there was a Worker-Peasant Red Guard patrolling the street at 3am in the morning and thought that this was funny and made a joke about “ enemy parachutists landing “ but as we know from Venezuela , the threat of enemy parachutists is a very real one . Thus People’s Korea maintains vigilance against the US imperialists .
Thirdly , evidence is emerging (admittedly patchy ) that in fact Maduro was betrayed from within and that the Venezuelan military stood to one side, or were very incompetent to say the least , allowing the kidnapping of their president . The DPRK has always smashed any internal traitors whether it was the August factionalists (pro Soviet and pro Chinese ) in 1956 , the anti Party revisionists in 1967 and Jang Song Thaek in 2013 . Moreover, comrade Maduro actually talked to the US and even offered concessions to the US before he was captured . The DPRK ruled out talking to the US about denuclearisation.
Fourthly, the DPRK has completed socialist transformation (back in the 1950s ) and eliminated the bourgeoisie .I was in Venezuela in October 2005 for an International Juche Anti-Imperialist Congress which was organised by the DPRK but supported and hosted by the Venezuelan government (in those days it was Chavez). Ironically the conference was held in the Hilton Hotel (my first and last time to stay in one ) . It was very clear that there were bourgeois and reactionary elements there ; in the lift I heard rich people muttering "Communista !" when they saw me . Not only was there a Hilton Hotel (but I believe that the government had commandeered it or requisitioned it for their own use ) but I could see from my hotel room window a HSBC bank . Of course it is true that they nationalised foreign oil companies and turned the building of a foreign corporation into a university for working people . Also Venezuela was unlike its neighbour Brazil building new roads and housing rapidly . However in terms of socialist transformation it was years and years , in fact decades behind the DPRK and lacked the stability and unity of the DPRK.
Lastly , the DPRK whilst not fully ruling out talks with the USA ,rejects negotiations with the US over its fundamental interests so it will not talk about denuclearisation with the US whereas Maduro tried to try to talk to the US .
The above are important lessons.
Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman KFA UKChairman British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea
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