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| Volume 50 Number 34, September 5, 2020 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Celebration in 2018 marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
September 9, 2020, marks the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
After decades of struggle against the Japanese occupiers (1910-1945), the Korean people, under the leadership of General Kim Il Sung and the Korean People's Army, liberated their nation on August 15, 1945, and began building a modern democratic state from the ruins of war. Across the country, People's Committees were formed and in August-September 1945 the Korean people elected their representatives to a People's Assembly, which proclaimed the "Korean People's Republic" on September 6, 1945.
However, the Republic was short-lived because the US insisted on fulfilling its ambition to establish a foothold in north-east Asia on the Korean Peninsula after the defeat of Japan, even though the Korean people freed themselves from the Japanese occupiers without the presence of any US troops. The US included a term in the surrender signed by Japan on September 2, 1945, that the Korean Peninsula would be divided along the 38th parallel and that the defeated Japanese military in Korea would surrender to US forces in the south, not to the Korean liberators. On September 8, 1945, two days after the declaration of the Republic, thousands of US troops began to arrive in Korea. The new occupiers declared the Korean People's Republic illegal and began to crush the People's Committees by force. In the words of US General Douglas MacArthur, Korea was to be an "anti-communist bulwark".
Over the next three bloody years, through a campaign of mass terror and brutality, the illegal US Military Government and their local agents criminalised, rounded up, tortured, imprisoned and murdered hundreds of thousands of suspected communists, "leftists" and other patriots who refused to submit to US dictate.
The US organised a fraudulent "free and fair" election in May 1948, which was boycotted en masse by the Korean people. The US installed Syngman Rhee as President of the Republic of Korea by force of arms in July 1948.
In response to this crime by the US against the Korean people and their drive for independence and reunification, Kim Il Sung declared the founding of the DPRK on September 9, 1948, in Pyongyang at a jubilant rally of more than one million people.
In order to capture the Korean Peninsula and use it to threaten aggression against China and the Soviet Union, in 1950 the US instigated the Korean War and from 1950 to 1953 more than four million Korean civilians were killed and massive destruction caused to the economy and infrastructure. The United States and 17 other countries, including Britain, took part in this war of aggression against the Korean nation under the fig-leaf of the UN flag on the false pretext of collective self-defence against an attack by the north on the south.
The US aggressors committed crimes against the peace, crimes against humanity and untold war crimes, including massacres of civilians, as well as the use of biological and chemical weapons and the fire-bombing of various northern cities, which resulted in many civilian casualties. The DPRK, though still in its infancy, with the help of the Chinese Volunteer Forces, organised the Korean people and defeated the US in the war and forced it to sign the Korean Armistice Agreement, thus defending the sovereignty and honour of the Korean nation.
DPRK President Kim Il Sung said at the time: "The victory of our people in the Korean War was a victory of the revolutionary people over the imperialist forces, a victory of the revolutionary army over the aggressive forces of imperialism. It proved that the people who rise up for freedom, independence and progress, taking their destiny into their own hands under the leadership of a Marxist-Leninist party, will never be conquered by any imperialist forces of aggression. It also exposed the vulnerability and corruptness of US imperialism, demonstrating to the oppressed nations of the world that US imperialism is by no means an unconquerable enemy and that they too can definitely fight and defeat it."
It is important to point out that the DPRK has committed no act of aggression against another country. The Korean War, which engulfed the entire Korean Peninsula, was provoked by the US and its puppet regime in the south. Standing firm against the might of the U.S. military empire - known for its use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons worldwide - the DPRK affirms not only its right to be, but the right of all nations and peoples to self-determination and peace. For this internationalist spirit, the DPRK is justly admired by all justice- and peace-loving people in Britain and throughout the world.
Led by President Kim Il Sung, the exploits of the Korean people in the anti-Japanese war continue to inspire not only the Korean people, but the peoples of the world, to be courageous, fearless and self-reliant, that no matter the difficulties and the odds against them, they can prevail. President Kim Il Sung's far-sightedness and wisdom were tempered in the forge of anti-Japanese struggle, meeting the cruelty of the Japanese occupiers with total confidence in the Korean people and their abilities and determination.
Workers' Weekly condemns the hostility of successive British governments towards the DPRK, including the present one which faithfully submits to the US-inspired policy of sanctions and threats against the DPRK and its leadership with Kim Jong Un as Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the DPRK and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army. We wish the Korean people every success in their striving to secure peace for their nation and put an end to more than 70 years of US-engineered division, tension and strife and to move forward as a united, peaceful and prosperous country.