World delegates say: Korea is one

By Dianne Mathiowetz
Pyongyang, DPRK

Chanting “Korea is one,” more than 200 international delegates from some 40 countries marched to the soaring Reuni fication Monument in Pyongyang as thousands of North Koreans lined the street to greet them.

International delegates march to Reunification Monument in Pyongyang, DPRK.

The event capped the two-day “World Conference in Support of the Inde pendent and Peaceful Reunifi cation of Korea” held Aug. 13-14 here in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Delegates came from Cuba and South Africa, Belgium and Mongolia, Ecuador and Bangladesh, Jordan and the United States and many other countries.

Parliamentarians, trade union members, anti-war activists, students, leaders of international women’s organizations, cultural performers and academics from six continents proclaimed that Korean reunification should proceed free from outside interference and as quickly as possible.

60th anniversary of liberation

The conference occurred simultaneously with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Japanese colonial occupation in August 1945. The history of Korean resistance to foreign domination under the leadership of Kim Il Sung is a source of great pride to Koreans. Veterans of that struggle were given heroes’ welcomes at numerous televised events in all parts of the country.

The Koreans were proud they were able to combine guerrilla warfare with mass organizing in the cities throughout the Korean Peninsula to wage a liberation struggle against Japanese colonialism. As World War II ended, this drove the Japanese military forces from the country.

Following Japan’s surrender in August 1945, Washington quickly moved thousands of troops into the southern part of the country and set up a puppet government under a former Japanese collaborator to thwart the national aspirations of the Korean people.

In the years immediately before the Korean War of 1950-1953, this puppet government and U.S. forces severely repressed the leaders and members of the progressive resistance movement in the south, killing, imprisoning and torturing many.

War broke out in 1950 when, under the cover of a UN resolution, the U.S. made a bid to extend its control to the whole peninsula. After three years of heavy fighting that caused over 50,000 U.S. soldiers’ deaths and an estimated 2 million Korean military and civilian deaths, an armistice was declared.

Still no peace treaty

No peace treaty has ever been signed and the U.S. has continued its hostile policy towards North Korea and its domination of the south. For half a century, no less than 37,000 U.S. troops have occupied the southern part of the country.

Military dictatorships enjoyed U.S. support while South Korean workers became a source of cheap labor for trans-national corporations, mainly U.S. and Japanese based.

At the 38th parallel, the U.S. built a towering fortified wall which crossed mountains, roads and rivers, separating Korean families, villages and farms for decades. All communications were cut off.

In the south, a series of laws made it illegal to travel to the DPRK or to even discuss reunification of the country. Never theless, after almost 50 years of U.S. enforcement of the division, on June 15, 2000, a North-South Joint Declaration was signed by both governments which established a path for national reunification.

In the last five years, there have been exchanges of cultural, political and sports delegations, families have been able to visit and communicate and joint economic ventures are underway.

Yet the wall remains and South Korea still has thousands of U.S. troops stationed at bases throughout the country. Ship ments of advanced military equipment continue as well as provocative joint exercises and surveillance activities.

President Bush included the DPRK along with Iraq and Iran in his bellicose “axis of evil” speech. Bush has repeated his threat of a preemptive military strike in the dispute over nuclear development in the DPRK.

The achievements of socialist Korea are unknown by many in the U.S. who are subjected to a never-ending slander campaign about the country as a whole, but especially about the now-deceased President Kim Il Sung and his successor, Kim Jong Il.

In the days before the Aug. 13-14 conference, delegates traveled throughout the capital city of Pyongyang. Some took an additional trip to Mt. Paektu, where the guerrilla resistance to Japanese occupation was based.

All marveled at the magnificent public spaces and buildings, such as the People’s Study Hall, which houses millions of books, magazines, CDs, tapes and archival materials, and provides foreign language classes, computer skills, science and math courses and lectures on many other topics for the benefit of the people.

Delegates were delighted by the talent and artistry of children and youth when touring the Children’s Palace, a facility that offers after-school classes and activities in everything from swimming and gymnastics to painting and music.

Similar institutions exist in all of the DPRK’s reconstructed cities and towns providing free instruction in the fine arts, music and voice, and sports.

Conference participants learned that the socialist government provides free education and health-care services, including advanced degrees and complex surgery.

Construction of new housing, an expansion of the subway system, improvements in irrigation and flood control, developments in more efficient farming and increased participation in cultural and athletic activities were evident everywhere the international delegates traveled.

DPRK was
devastated by war

The DPRK is a small country that only a little more than 50 years ago was left devastated by a brutal U.S. bombing campaign that destroyed its cities and infrastructure. It lacks oil, a vital requirement for industrial development.

Despite being blocked by US-imposed sanctions and threatened daily by U.S. military moves, North Korea is establishing a society that works to provide everyone with their basic needs as well as the opportunity for cultural expression.

On the eve of the conference, the 6-Party Talks held in Beijing, China, dealing with the DPRK’s development of nuclear weaponry, were recessed.

Delegates at the conference were aware that these negotiations occurred on the 60th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first and only time nuclear bombs have been used.

While Washington declares that the threat to world peace comes from North Korea’s defensive nuclear program, the U.S. has nuclear warheads stationed on submarines and bases around the world, capable of killing millions of people.

Huge sums of U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to develop a “Star Wars” missile system and “bunker-buster” bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. Tons of U.S. armaments utilize depleted uranium, the toxic waste product of nuclear production. These DU weapons are used daily in Iraq and Afghanistan, causing long-term health and environmental damage.

Conference delegates pledged to increase solidarity efforts in their home countries to educate people about the realities of the DPRK and the history of U.S. interference and intervention.

Dianne Mathiowetz attended the conference representing the International Action Center.

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