Firstly, it
is great to be again in Liverpool City!
The Korean
Friendship Association has called this meeting as part of a series of regional
meetings and the theme is Defending People’s Korea against US threats and lies.
This has become very topical given the recent statements by Trump and also the
re-listing as a so-called “State of Sponsor of Terrorism “ by the US and the
apparent promise of yet more US sanctions and possibly UNSC sanctions.
The
re-listing of the DPRK as a so-called "state sponsor of terrorism” is a
prime example massive hypocrisy and double and triple standards by the US imperialists.
It is the US that is the biggest and No 1 terrorist state in the world. It is
the US that created ISIS in order to destabilise Syria and have created
terrorist gangs in many countries. Since the end of the Second World War the US
has carried out over 100 coups in different countries as well as assassinations
such as those of Patrice Lumumba and Salvador Allende not to mention failed
assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. The US also militarily intervened in
many countries throughout the world.
The US has also had a number of terrorist
incidents within its own borders. Basically as the DPRK Foreign Ministry says “The
U.S., the kingpin of all kinds of terrorism who cannot even prevent terror in
its own territory, is acting like an "international judge on
terrorism" while attaching or removing the label of "state sponsor of
terrorism" on sovereign countries. This is clearly an absurdity and a
mockery to the world peace and security."
The DPRK has absolutely nothing to do with terrorism.
This is because of the nature of its social system. The DPRK has never tried to
impose its ideas on other countries unlike the US and other imperialists and
big power-chauvinists.
The re listing of the DPRK as a so-called
"state sponsor of terrorism” is an attack on the ideology and system of
the DPRK. It is basically an attempt to stifle the Juche-based socialist
system.
The theme of
today’s meeting is a big subject because the threats and lies against People’s
Korea could fill volumes , indeed I have
written several books on the subject such as “Behind the Mirror of Lies “ , “In
Defence of Songun “ and “In Defence of Juche Korea “.
As we speak
the US and south Korea are getting ready to carry out military exercises 12 000
troops and 230 fighter aircraft .These exercises are just the latest in a long
line of military exercises in south Korea such as Foal Eagle/Key Resolve and Ulji Freedom Guardian to name just a
few . The US has occupied South Korea
since 1945, keeping over 30,000 troops in there; some say it is as high as
40,000 troops. South Korea is home to one of the biggest US military bases outside
of the US Camp Humphreys which was visited by Trump during his visit to South
Korea. This was built at a cost of 13
billion dollars making it one of the most expensive in the world. 92 per cent
of the cost was footed by the south Korean taxpayer! Why? because at the end of
the day, south Korea is a colony of the US. The Korean Friendship Association is not afraid of calling a spade a spade so we
call south Korea a puppet regime and a colony , some people are afraid to use
these terms but we are not. By the way
Camp Humphreys has just opened a $64 million dollar shopping complex for the US
troops! The US forces in south Korea are basically parasites living off the
south Korean people. It is the US
occupation of south Korea that keeps Korea divided.
The US
forces in south Korea and in the surrounding areas are also a threat to the
independence of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Can you imagine the
US tolerating Russia or China stationing their troops in Mexico or Canada? Moreover
the US has on numerous occasions this year overflown the Korean peninsula with
nuclear bombers and deployed nuclear submarines. Of course the nuclear threat
to the DPRK is not a new one but goes back decades. The US first threatened to
use nuclear weapons against the DPRK during the Korean War in the 1950s. In
1957 the US first introduced nuclear weapons into south Korea thus breaking the
Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953. At
one time the US had stockpiled 1,750 nuclear weapons in south Korea making the
place a nuclear powder keg with a higher density of nuclear weapons than Europe.
In the late 80s there were 1,000 US nuclear weapons in south Korea. The US
claimed that it was withdrawing these weapons in 1991 however they refused
allow inspections of their bases in south Korea to confirm this and later said
that they would neither confirm nor deny the presence of their nuclear weapons
in south Korea. I would ask you, the audience, whether you trust the US on this
issue or not.
The Bush
administration of the US listed the DPRK as a target for a possible pre-emptive
nuclear strike of the US and declared that the DPRK was part of a so-called
“axis of evil “along with Iran and Iraq, it also declared the DPRK to be a
‘rogue state’ and ‘outpost of tyranny ‘Thus the DPRK was compelled to develop
its own nuclear deterrent force to defend itself from the US nuclear threat.
I have lost
count of the times that Trump has threatened the DPRK with fire and fury or destruction.
However the most significant of these threats was when on the 19th
of September this year addressing the UN Trump the furher of the American 4th
Reich stated that he would “ totally destroy “
People’s Korea. The speech made
by Trump went beyond the norms of civilized and proper behaviour Trump also insulted
the supreme leadership of the DPRK and
slandered the socialist system . Trump showed
himself up as an uncivilised Yankee hooligan and ignoramus. Indeed Trump . I
personally have little faith in the UN but found it astounding that the UN
General Assembly which should be a forum for exchange and co-operation between
the many different nations was turned
into a platform for Trump to advocate the genocide of 25 million people and
hurl abuse at respected Marshal KIM JONG UN
and the people centred socialist system
!
Why should
you defend the DPRK ? Because it is the most independent nation on the earth
that does not have foreign troops stationed on its soil and also does not send
its troops to fight in other countries. The DPRK is not a member of the World
Bank , IMF or WTO .There are no foreign banks in Pyongyang nor McDonalds , KFC or
the like.
The DPRK is
a country that can say and do what it likes without looking over its shoulder
at others. The DPRK in carrying out ICBM and nuclear tests has not only defied
the US and the UN Security Council but also the EU , Japan and significantly
the big power chauvinists Russia and China . John Major the former British
prime minister even admitted that the DPRK , presumably unlike the UK, has
‘undiluted sovereignty’.
It is a
society free from conflict and division. A society free from crime and terrorism.
The DPRK is
a genuine socialist country. Despite the raging winds of anti-socialism, the new wave of post-modernist
anti-communism and the setbacks that have occurred the
DPRK is maintaining socialist principles. Moreover despite 60 years of sanctions
and blockade plus natural disaster the DPRK is implementing popular welfare
policies such as free education, free housing, free medical care without taking
a penny from its citizens in tax.
Let’s
examine some of the lies that are used to demonise the DPRK and stifle
solidarity with it . Firstly , the old horse chestnut repeated ad infinitum is that “they are all
starving in north Korea “ , that there is a “famine “ or they will be a “famine
“ next month or next year or something . In August this year travelling to different parts of
the DPRK by road we saw lush fields of crops .
However the imperialists had been making propaganda that the DPRK was
affected by drought and that there would even be a massive famine. However during our visit it
rained several times, in fact I remember
it raining hard on the afternoon of the 18th of August .We were told
that the effects of the drought had been overcome.
In fact
visiting the DPRK countryside on several occasions I came to know came to know that the stories about crop
failure and famine are untrue .
During my
August visit another lie was busted . The Wikipedia, which some rely on greatly , claims that the DPRK has 10
year compulsory military service . However in reality it is usually 3 years and
there is no conscription because everyone wants to join the Army to fight the
Yankees and defend the country , so there is no shortage of recruits for the
army so no need for conscription. It is worth mentioning here that the
Wikipedia was actually set up by a right wing libertarian millionaire called
Jimmy Wales.
One more
interesting thing I learnt in August was that in the DPRK a mobile phone costs only 0.32
dollars for 3 months with 200 minutes of calls per month! This is incredible
when you compare to the high costs of mobile phones in the UK . Most people in
the DPRK have mobile phones .It is a true people’s paradise.
A central
allegation against People’s Korea is that massive repression with forced labour
camps everywhere. The evidence offered for this is from so-called ‘defectors ‘
. One of these Shin Dong Hyuk was indeed imprisoned but not from birth as
he falsely claimed but because he raped
an underage girl.
So what of
these claims about human rights? If labour camps existed on the scale claimed
by Western politicians , journalists and so experts they would have to be massive and with a huge
number of guards but I did not see such a thing in the DPRK countryside.
Moreover the DPRK is very peaceful and calm you rarely see emergency vehicles
rushing through the busy streets. If it what the imperialists say about
"human rights " and " forced labour camps " in the DPRK was
true, then you would say police or security personnel on the streets arresting
many people and putting them in lorries to go to "labour camps " or
"concentrations camps " but I saw no such thing happen. I did not see
heavily armed police on the streets that you sometimes encounter in London ,
either on the streets or at railway stations or at airports . Indeed I was able
to go for a walk near the Mansudae Assembly Hall the home of the DPRK Supreme
People's Assembly , the highest organ of
legislative power in the DPRK and roughly equivalent to the parliament. Now in
London the area around parliament is a restricted area where movement is controlled
and armed police units patrol. However
in Pyongyang I see no police or security personnel in the area
surrounding the Mansudae Assembly hall. Of course the DPRK is a stable and
harmonious unified society based on single hearted unity so there is no
terrorism and no riots. In the DPRK there is unity between the armed forces and civilians so people do not fear or despise the armed
forces.
I did not see the police oppressing anyone on
the streets. I did not see anyone get arrested or the police in the DPRK shoot
anyone dead ! In the USA , the so called
"land of the free " , which is
the country behind the clamour about " human rights in the DPRK , the
police regularly shoot down people most
of them black. I remember visiting my wife’s country Brazil in 2007 seeing an
ugly scene of a police officer with a gun held to a young man’s head pushing
him up against a wall, I have never seen this in the DPRK.
Another
favourite tabloid myth is that you can a limited number of hair styles allowed
, that norms for hairstyles are laid down by the state . Well we visited the
barber shop at the fantastic Munsu water park in East Pyongyang . Here you can
get a haircut for about 2 euros. We saw pictures of suggested hairstyles on the
wall . One of the delegation asked what if you wanted one not shown , “We will try our best to do what the
customer suggests “ was the answer . I told the barbers about the stories
floated in the Western media and they were shocked at the idea !
Lastly I am
going to mention one insidious myth that has been created by the hired academic
and journalists of imperialism , the idea that the DPRK is somehow fascist . Of
course this sounds rich coming from the US
a country which is run by someone who retweets the material of the
fascist Britain First party and a
country that in the 50s ,60s and 70s exported fascism to the third world in the
form of numerous military coups such as the one in Chile. There is no monopoly
or finance capital (big business and big banks ) in the DPRK . Fascism and
Nazi-ism were actual creations of big business ,bankers and big landlords . It
is a plain fact that there would have been no death camps in Nazi Germany if
the big capitalist monopolies such as IGFarben not constructed them nor if the
banks had lent money to construct them. Monopoly capital and private
businesses do not exist in the DPRK
which is a socialist country where the people own the resources . There is no class
or social group in the DPRK that could benefit from fascism.
Fascism in some countries has been
associated with extreme expansionism and grabbing others people’s territories .
Hitler used to talk about living space . However the DPRK has never tried to
seize parts of China or Japan. The DPRK strongly respects the sovereignty of
other countries and does not try to invade others people countries. In today's
world the most expansionist country is the United States which has bases in
hundreds of countries . So some people have looked in the wrong place to find
fascism, it is not the DPRK but the US that is fascist !
The Juche Idea itself is profoundly
antifascist. It was conceived on the battlefields against Japanese fascism. The
great leader comrade KIM JONG IL
explicitly
condemned fascism and refuted the idea that socialism is 'totalitarian ‘and
somehow similar to fascism saying that ;
“Totalitarianism served as the political idea
of fascist dictators. Notorious Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy used
totalitarianism as an ideological tool to justify their fascist dictatorship.
The fascist dictators stamped out even the most elementary democratic freedom
and rights of the masses of the working people and enforced unprecedentedly
tyrannical policies, behind the misleading name of “national socialism”,
claiming that for the sake of the whole nation and the whole state no
working-class movement and no class struggle could be permitted. The
reactionary nature of totalitarianism is that the interests of the working
people are sacrificed for the sake of the rapacious interests of the
reactionary ruling class under the pretence that the individual should be
subordinated to the whole. What is meant by the whole in totalitarianism is not
the whole of the popular masses but a tiny handful of privileged circles such
as monopoly capitalists, major landowners, reactionary bureaucrats and
warlords. Calling socialism, under which the popular masses are the masters of
everything, “totalitarianism” is, ultimately, a preposterous lie which
identifies the most progressive idea that reflects the demands of the popular
masses with the reactionary idea of fascist rulers.”
Juche advocates the full realisation of man's
independence and creativity. It is the
complete opposite to fascism which stipulates the subordination of the people
to the interests of the ruling class.
People who want to find fascism on the
Korean peninsula should look no further than south Korea. In south Korea
communists are suppressed, the National Security Law imposes jail sentences of
7 years for being a communist or even simply praising the DPRK or having any
contact with tithe trade unions are also being repressed with the chairman of
the south Korean trades recently being jailed. South Korea is the typical
fascist state of the 21st century. In south Korea you can find Hitler themed
bars and the south Korean army –check
this out for yourselves-uses the song Panzer lied which has now finally been
banned in Germany.
The idea that the DPRK is somehow fascist is another myth that has been created
in the boardroom of a corporate PR company or deep inside the labyrinth of the
CIA.
The torrent
of falsehoods , myths and lies about the DPRK serve to demonise the DPRK and
create an atmosphere in which a war against the DPRK could be justified . They
are also part and parcel of the psychological warfare of US imperialism against
the socialist system of the DPRK and the Juche Idea.
Looks look
at how some of this propaganda comes about Much misinformation comes from the
south Korean puppet propaganda machine which is then recycled by the Western
mainstream or if you like bourgeois or imperialist media who in some cases
print stories which they know are untrue. Then you have shadowy outfits and
think tanks that are closely linked to the CIA and the south Korean National
Intelligence Service. One example is NKNews , an internet based news service
that is in fact includes on its staff former US and south Korean army officers
. The head and founder of of NK New Chad
O Carroll(who even looks like a CIA agent or a Mormon!) who worked for the CIA linked Marshall Fund
had previously been writing on the so-called colour revolutions in Libya,
Tunisia and other middle eastern countries but was suddenly reinvented as “north Korea expert “ . I am not going to
list every anti-DPRK propaganda outfit or organisation as they are many and
various , some such as Choson Exchange even claim they are helping the DPRK by
trying to restore capitalism there ,however I will just mention one more
anti-DPRK outfit , which is known as LINK or Liberty in north Korea .This is
actively trying to recruit in UK universities . On their website , it openly
says that their revenue increased by 27%
but expenditure increased by 49 % , a big gap ! . It is not hard to guess where
the money for that shortfall is coming from ! The CIA and NIS , US multi-nationals and wealthy right wingers in capitalist countries.
I would also call out a number of academics for spreading disinformation and
falsehoods about the DPRK . One example is Professor Hazel Smith who years ago was a Trotskyite and a Labour
councillor . Prof Smith herself has written a number of very anti-DPRK books such as "Hungry for
Peace " which slander the socialist system of the DPRK. She even on occasion she attacked the Korean
Friendship Association. She was also awarded a medal by the US.
How can you
defend People’s Korea ? We in the UK
Korean Friendship Association, which is part of the Korean Friendship
Association with 17,000 members worldwide , are the most active consistent and
active defenders of People’s Korea in the UK . No ifs and buts , we do what is
says on the tin and “Defend the D P R Korea “ whether it is on the internet,
facebook , on the streets and even the BBC ! We do not make half-hearted
statements. We do not tolerate two-faced fake friends of the DPRK in our ranks
but wholeheartedly support the DPRK and its socialist system and its right to
independence. We appeal to you to join us.
