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As Prof. Jose Ma. Sison, the Chairperson of the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS), noted during the 100th birth anniversary of the great revolutionary leader President Kim Il Sung back in in 2012:
"All of us benefit from the ever lasting legacy of President Kim Il Sung of resolute and militant struggle for national independence, democracy, socialism and peace against Imperialism and all reaction. His revolutionary record of 70 years is as magnificent as Mt. Paektu, the ancestral home and bulwark of the Korean people. We firmly and fully support the continuance of his historic efforts to reunify Korea on the basis of independence, peace and unity.
"Comrade Kim Il Sung excelled in fighting for the national liberation of the Korean people. He led victoriously revolutionary wars against Japanese imperialism and then against U.S. imperialism which unleashed a massive war of aggression. To achieve every victory, he mobilized the Korean people.
He upheld working class leadership through the Korean Workers' Party in completing the people's democratic revolution and in carrying out socialist revolution and socialist construction in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in accordance with the principle of self-reliance.
"Guided by his wise leadership and indomitable spirit, the Korean people scored great feats of achievements in the social, economic, political, cultural, scientific and educational fields under the banner of socialism. At the same time, they heroically withstood and overcame armed provocations, economic blockade and all kinds of pressures, interferences and maneuvers by the imperialists and their agents. In this regard, we support the Korean people in upholding, defending and further developing all the victories that they have won under the leadership of Kim Il Sung and his successors.
"Comrade Kim Il Sung is a great revolutionary leader who is inspiring not only to the Korean people but to all the people of the world. His revolutionary ideas and deeds shed a powerful light on the road of revolution and mass struggles against imperialism and reaction. They are relevant and useful to the people of the world as they face the devastation being wrought by the grave crisis of the world capitalist system, involving the escalation of exploitation and oppression and the spread of state terrorism, fascism and wars of aggression."
In the Philippines, on the national level, we have had many tributes to the legacy of President Kim Il Sung. For us, it is not enough to extol his revolutionary achievements and praise an everlasting friend of humankind. It is also imperative upon us that we denounce, fight and smash our common enemy to the end -- U.S. imperialism. Only thus can we truly pay sincere homage to President Kim Il Sung as a great revolutionary leader.
I have visited the DPRK. I saw countless memorials to the great leader and the heroism of the Korean people. I was impressed by the economic successes, scientific breakthroughs and cultural advancements made by the working people. All these would not have been possible if General Kim Il Sung did not lead his people to fight and defeat U.S. imperialism and establish socialism in his homeland.
The heroic struggles of the Korean people and the world against fascism has led to the victorious establishment, consolidation and development of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It was supported by the former socialist camp of Russia and China.
However, the United States spawned wars of intervention and aggression in the world and divided the Korean Peninsula into two. Russia and China have since been reintegrated into the world capitalist order. The pivot of U.S. imperialism into Asia and the recent Japanese military expansion once again endanger the democratic gains made by the Korean people.
The powerful U.N. Security Council is attacking the DPRK. Yet, it has kept silent as the U.S. holds joint war preparations with its client government in the south. Japan is intent to expand its own military, encouraged by the U.S., using territorial disputes in the East and South China Sea as a pretext.
The U.S. has expanded military bases and troops both in Japan and South Korea and deployed strategic stealth bombers in Australia. It is now expanding military access and presence in the Philippines. The US extended its "war on terror" in Iraq and Syria with Operation Pacific Eagle - Philippines.
We are one with the Korean people in seeking a peaceful reunification in the Peninsula. Given the intensifying rivalry of big powers, our celebration needs to emphasize that this reunification is to be done with complete, unhampered independence – free from any kind of foreign intervention and bullying of big nations against small nations.
The recent Winter Olympics and the latest North-South talks demonstrate that dialogue is possible without outside interference. The threats of US Pres. Donald Trump to unleash "fire and fury" against the DPRK is all bluster.
The real threat of nuclear weapons for aggression comes from the US. North Korea embarked on a legitimate nuclear program for defense.
The brilliant leader Kim Il Sung lived by the principle of serving the people as the true masters. He stood for independence in politics, self-sufficiency in the economy and self-reliance in national defense. Hence, not even the U.S. or its lackeys in the United Nations can bully the DPRK.
As I myself had seen, what really matters in Socialist Korea are the relations of people not money relations, the public good and not private profit. It is the complete opposite of what is happening today in the crises-laden world capitalist system -- global land-grabbing, plunder of resources, environmental destruction, privatization of state assets, financialization of the economy, joblessness, mass poverty, cultural decay, state repression, militarization, foreign intervention and wars of aggression.
We expect the struggle and legacy made by President Kim Il Sung to continue ever more vigorously not only in Korea and in the Philippines but throughout Asia-Pacific and the world. More and more peoples and nations are applying his wisdom and counsel that all countries and nations must firmly maintain full independence, defend sovereignty, fight against domination and subjugation by the imperialists, establish an equal international order based on independence, oppose aggression and war, and safeguard world peace and security.
Long live the ever-victorious revolutionary leader Kim Il Sung!
Long live the principled, resolute and brilliant leadership of President Kim Il Sung!
Long live the Korean working people and the struggle for Korea reunification!
Long live the 70th Anniversary of the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea!
Down with imperialism and long live international solidarity! [kk]
Mr. Rafael V. Mariano
Presidente
Philippines-Korea Solidarity Committee
for Peace and Reunification in the Korean Peninsula
