The video above contains full footage of the 75th birthday parade held in Kim Il Sung Square, Pyongyang on 8 February 2023.
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The following speech was given at an online international seminar to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the DPRK.
Jef Bossuyt is a Belgian communist of many decades’ standing. A comrade-in-arms of the renowned anti-revisionist Ludo Martens, a longtime friend of struggling peoples all over the world, and especially in the territories of the former Soviet Union, Comrade Jef remains active today in Korea solidarity work, in the World Anti-imperialist Platform and in the Communist Party of Belgium.
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Dear friends
We congratulate, on behalf of the Belgium Korea Friendship Association, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its foundation on 9 September 1948. The foundation of the DPRK by president Kim Il Sung brought about a fundamental change in the history of the Korean people and in the destiny of all the countries in the world that are striving for their independence and sovereignty.
The Korean people, who had been oppressed and humiliated for many centuries, became then the proud masters of the state and the whole society. A socialist system was created, genuinely democratic, where workers, peasants and other working people could obtain their political rights and liberties.
Already during the harsh conditions of the heroic revolutionary struggle against the occupying imperialist Japanese forces, directed by Comrade Kim Il Sung, the basis was laid for the founding of the republic, and for enacting the policy of building a people’s government in the liberated country.
During the Fatherland Liberation War, which took place in the years 1950-53, the young DPRK resisted the invasion of US imperialism and made a great contribution to the safeguarding of world peace. Its victory opened the way for the construction of a powerful independent socialist economy, bringing prosperity to the Korean people, realising the agricultural cooperative movement, socialist industrialisation and the cultural revolution.
Marshal Kim Jong Un has stated: “Comrade Kim Il Sung was a pre-eminent and seasoned leader of the revolution who wrote a new chapter in modern history and added brilliance to it by leading our revolution along an ever-victorious road under the banner of independence.
“Independence was the revolutionary creed, revolutionary mode and revolutionary practice he cherished and applied throughout his life. He regarded independence as its lifeline and solved all the problems arising in the revolution and construction in a unique way and in conformity with the demands of our revolution, the interests of our people, and the actual situation in our country.”
The actual situation today, September 2023, is that the independence of the DPRK has been threatened for 75 years by US imperialism – and today more than ever. The USA has never recognised the DPRK as an independent state, nor has it ever signed a peace treaty to conclude the war of 1950-53.
Today the US imperialists have launched war in Ukraine, and they are threatening the same and escalating their provocations against the DPRK and China in a global worldwide imperialist offensive.
In Korea, US-south Korea joint military exercises such as Vigilant Storm and Freedom Shield have reached their highest scale ever. They include air drills with hundreds of fighters, including F-35s based in Japan, naval exercises and a nuclear carrier task force. The scenario they rehearse is the invasion of the DPRK from south Korea.
In Ukraine, US imperialism has installed a fascist regime in Kiev. The Nato-organised war against Donbass and Russia is reinforced by the delivery of Leopard battle tanks, howitzer artillery, long-distance Stinger, Himars and Patriot missiles and F-16 fighter planes. Submarines and military vessels are on the wish-list.
In the Chinese sea, meanwhile, American warships surround China in exercises aimed at encircling, blocking and attacking the country. On the isle of Guam, the US has installed F-22 stealth fighters for military exercises.
In May, the US House Select Committee on China stated that the US needs “additional long-range missiles in the Indo-Pacific region” and that “improving combined training between the US and Taiwanese militaries will bolster deterrence”.
On a world scale, there is on one hand the aggressive, imperialist alliance led by US imperialism, containing 30 Nato countries and armies, and in east Asia also Japan, south Korea and Australia.
Against this alliance, on the other hand, stands the de facto military alliance of DPR of Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Syria, Belarus. This alliance has the support of all the peoples of the world who strive for independence, national sovereignty and peace.
United with the peoples of the world, the DPRK is invincible.
Long live the DPRK!
