A refutation of the reports of the so-called All Parliamentary Group on north Korea"

The ASSPUK, JISGE and UK KFA wish strongly denounce the reports issued by the so-called All Party Parliamentary group on Korea. UK KFA is in no way opposed to genuine friendship and exchange between parliamentarians of the DPRK and UK but the so-called "All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea" is not doing this rather it is acting as an anti DPRK propaganda outlet. Its recent documents are peppered with slanders and lies about the DPRK socialist system and its supreme leadership. The group includes members of the House of Lords, in fact the chairman and vice-chair are both from the House of Lords How can those who have are not elected criticise the DPRK and call for democracy. The House of Lords is a residual vestige of feudalism and absolutism in the UK . Although the group is supposedly a non partisan group made up of different parties in actual reality it is dominated by right wingers of various . Lord Alton of Liverpool, a Liberal Democrat peer(the Liberal Democrats being the coalition partners of the Conservatives) . Lord Alton is a fervent anti-communist . The background of the vice-chair of the group Baroness Cox is curious to say the least. Supposedly a "crossbench" or non party peer she was previously a Conservative party member. Baroness Cox was one of the founders of the Committee For a Free Britain , once described as the lunatic fringe of the Conservative party. This body was linked to the Thatcher government but also British intelligence. Baroness Cox is an extreme anti-communist having contributed to the book "Rape of Reason " a McCarthy style book in the 1970s attacking so-called Marxist academics and calling for a purge of the universities Ms Cox was heavily involved in supporting counter revolutionary dissidents in the socialist countries with a view to destroying these countries. The "Executive Intelligence Review" even alleges that she was the British intelligence liasion with the counter- revolutionary Solidarnosc movement. One of the latest exploits of Baroness Cox was to invite Dutch far rightist politican Gert Wilders to the UK. Thus with such a person in a leading position within the group objectivity, fairness and impartiality cannot be expected. It is not unsurprising that they the All Party group invited Park Sun-Young from the far right wing party Liberty Forward party in south Korea, which is actually further to the right than the ruling Saenuri party. Park is well known for anti-communism and anti DPRK activities. Thus inviting her to speak on the DPRK is a bit like inviting the EDL or the BNP to speak on Islamic culture in Britain. Ms Park seemed to have a poor grasp of reality and understanding of history. In her speech she referred to Kim Jong Il ruling the DPRK with " an iron fist " for 37 years. This makes no sense. It can be said that comrade Kim Jong Il lead the DPRK for 17 years since President Kim Il Sung died. Comrade Kim Jong Il became chairman of the National Defence Commission in 1993 (19 years ago) and supreme commander of the KPA in 1991 (21 years ago) but where on earth does the figure of 37 years come from ? Predictably the same old rubbish about human rights and prison camps is wheeled out. Of course Ms Pak has actually seen such things. She claims that the DPRK regularly carry out public executions . However why aren-t these on KCTV or in KCNA and Rodong Sinmun . Ms Pak significantly does not name the places in the DPRK where the alleged public executions are carried out. Ms Pak goes on about prison camps . Delegations of the UK KFA and JISGE had never seen a prison camp in the DPRK. The stories about prison camps have been refuted in the book "Behind the Mirror of Lies " . Ms Pak talks a lot about defections and defections. Here is what one so-called defector had to say about defection "The defectors are dirty human scum who harbor grudge against the DPRK system or committed crimes in the DPRK before fleeing it. They are desperately escalating confrontation with the DPRK for getting some money in return for pleasing the south Korean conservative group. Now the south Korean "government" authorities leave no stone unturned in their anti-DPRK propaganda. Those disguised as "red cross organization" and "volunteering servants" allure "defectors from the north" with money and let them make invectives slandering the DPRK and justifying south Korean society and even stage demonstrations chanting anti-DPRK slogans. People do not want to go there because they are aware that they were aimed to abet anti-DPRK confrontation with false stories and fabrications and they often ended up in chaos. That is why the authorities cook up such methods as alluring the defectors with money. One time south Korean media loudly asserted that "defectors from the north" who went to China were taken back to the north. Later, it was disclosed that the authorities cooked up the story for anti-DPRK propaganda by using the names of those who went abroad unable to live in south Korea or were already dead. Asked how they came to south Korea, one man said that he was allured by a lump sum and expensive materials at a restaurant and another said that he went to a toilet being drunken and somebody threatened him to go to south Korea. There was even a man who said he was tempted by women. There were many other reasons. In fact, the worst human rights abuser is none other than the Lee Myung Bak group. The Lee group is now persistently vociferating about the issue of "defectors" and making desperate efforts to defame the DPRK by use of human scum. But, it is a foolish action." This is a quote from Pak Jong Suk who was tricked and co-erced into going tosouth Korea but recently returned to the DPRK Rather than being a "gigantic prison camp ", as Ms Park Sun Young, alleges the DPRK is a land of creativity and happiness. The delegation of the JISGE witnessed this during our visit to the DPRK in April . People gladly celebrated the 100th birth anniversary of the great leader President Kim Il Sung, . Rather than a giant prison camp we saw many happy and vigorous people celebrating. We saw the mass soirée of youth and students on Kim Il Sung square and one of our delegation actually participated in it. If the DPRK is a prison camp why bother to mobilise people through ideology ? The DPRK has a Juche-orientated and people centred socialist system of a Korean style. This guarantees people's human rights. People get free housing, free education and free health care. The right to work is constitutionally guaranteed. Unlike the capitalist countries such as the UK where parliament is corrupted and dominated by capitalists, the DPRK has a genuine people's democracy , a socialist democracy based on Juche . People have to the right to vote at 17 and to be elected (article 66 of the constitution) this contrasts to the minimum voting age of 18 and minimum age for MPs of 21 in the UK. In the DPRK deputies to the Supreme Peoples Assembly are accountable to their electors and deputies may be recalled at any time if they lose the confidence of their electors (article 7) no such provision exists in the UK or other capitalist countries. It has to be said in passing that there is a certain irony in some parliamentarians lambasting the DPRK over 'democracy' etc. These are the people who have incomes of £65000 per year plus expenses plus in many cases directorships and consultancies.Lord Alton and Baroness Cox , not not actually elected by anyone as members of the House of Lords, can receive £300 a day in expenses . It is well known that MPs were caught out fiddling their expenses in some cases on a massive scale. The report of the so-called "All Party Parliamentary Group " is slanders and lies about the DPRK . It is evident the intention of the so called all party group is to force the DPRK into 'reform' and 'opening up' in order to subvert and destroy the socialist system of the DPRK. All true friends of the DPRK must fight to expose their anti DPRK manoeuvres. ASSPUK JISGE UK KFA