People's Democracy

‘US Troops Must Leave South Korea’

All India Indo-Korean Friendship Association issued the following statement, through its general secretary, Suneet Chopra, on December 28, 2010.

THE All India Indo-Korean Friendship Association greets Comrade Kim Jong Il on the 19th anniversary of his appointment as Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army. The special significance of this event is the planning and implementation of the army first (Songun) policy of the socialist Democratic People’s Republic of Korea which, in today’s world has a significance beyond the borders of Korea as US imperialism with little respect for the sovereign rights of states, will resort to wars of destruction against any state resisting its dictates. So a military defence against military attacks is essential to maintain the independence and democratic rights of all peoples unwilling to follow the unstable and declining journey of the USA today.

We note further that no fraud or threat is too shameful to be perpetrated by US imperialism. Just as the Bush administration used to fake ploy of “weapons of mass destruction” to destroy Iraq and kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in a war that has ruined that once prosperous country and made it a hotbed of sectarian violence, the Obama administration attempted a trumped up shipwreck (in which some 46 sailors were killed, but no officers) earlier this year to foment tension between the DPRK and South Korea, claiming that a torpedo fired by the North had been used, without the flimsiest proof that was the cause of the shipwreck and not its having been damaged by an undersea rocky outcrop, as a number of specialists pointed out.

Failing to convince the South Korean people and the world of their charges, the US continued to prod  the South’s president, Lee Myung-bak, on to provocative military manoeuvres which have raised tensions to the level of the Korean War of 1952-53, which ended with the ignominious defeat of the USA and the signing of the Armistice after nearly four hundred thousand US soldiers and their allies had either been taken prisoner or died in a war in which they spared neither Korean combatants nor women and children. The military success of the DPRK alone prevented the whole peninsula being reduced to a “protectorate” of the USA as it demanded at the Tehran conference in 1945.

The excuse given was that forty years of US control was necessary to teach the Koreans democracy. The stability of the DPRK, led by the Korean Workers Party under the guidance of its outstanding leader, Com. Kim Il Sung, and the strategy of self-reliance (Juche) stand out in stark contrast to the governments of the South, peppered with discontent, dictatorship and military rule.

Unnerved by the stability and continuity of socialist DPRK, the US imperialists feel they can no longer rely on false promises like a heavy water reactor (offered by President Clinton) in return for DPRK dismantling its nuclear reactor, which was begun but with no response from the USA, so direct military intervention has been resorted to recently.

We know that the US does not have the capacity to face the united strength of the Korean people and a DPRK steeled by its army first policy. The South Korean people too are unwilling to face a conflict that will harm them, as is evident from the desperate appeals of President Lee to the people to stand by the warlike postures USA has thrust on him. We, however, feel, the moderation shown by the DPRK in the face of gross military provocations is exemplary and the use of civilian populations to shield military outposts of the South merit international condemnation. We appeal to the peace-loving people of the world to come out in support of the DPRK’s firm but mature response and condemn not only Lee’s sabre-rattling, but also to demand the exit of thousands of US troops still in South Korea and the reunification of the Koreas as the majority of the people want. We hope that the ongoing policies of self-reliance, army first and world opinion will ensure that this will come about in the coming year.