North Korean group rallies in support of ‘Palestinian martyrs’ in NYC
A rally in New York City saw supporters of Kim Jong Un coming out to show support for “Palestinian martyrs,” claiming that North Korea has been “training and arming the Palestinian resistance for decades.”
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported that on July 9, several organizations, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, held a rally in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City in support of the Palestinian terrorist battling the IDF in Jenin.
The rally also expressed support for Walid Daqqa, a 61-year-old Arab Israeli security prisoner who received a life sentence for his part in the murder of Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984. Daqqa was diagnosed with cancer and applied for early release based on his terminal illness. Daqqa was part of a cell of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) composed of Arab Israelis who kidnapped IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984, gouged his eyes out, and castrated him before shooting him dead.
In attendance was Korean activist Ju-Hyun from Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, a pro-Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) organization in the US promoting the “reunification” of Korea. The organization claims it is “[i]nspired by the democratic social movements in Korea,” and has drawn criticism and opposition from some Korean-Americans for promulgating a sympathetic view of North Korea. Nodutdol is also vocally anti-Israel.
Ju-Hyun expressed his support for Palestinian resistance “by any means necessary.” He quoted North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung as saying that the Korean people will “resolutely support the Palestinian people in liberating their homeland.” Ju-Hyun also said that Koreans and Palestinians have a common enemy and that they will have a common future when “imperialism has fallen, and we have built socialism in its stead.”
“We are struggling for national liberation and the reunification of our homeland, and we stand unwaveringly with the Palestinian struggle,” Ju-Hyun said at the rally. “We are here today because we abhor the Zionist entity’s illegal imprisonment of Walid Daqqa. We are here today because we despise the Zionist colonization of Palestine. And we are here today because we love humanity, because we love freedom, and we love Palestine and its people. We are here today because we support the right of Palestinians to resist imperialism and colonization by any means necessary.”
“As Koreans, we know that imperialism is our common enemy. There is a reason that the United States wants Korea divided and Palestine occupied at the same time. The imperialists tremble at the thought of our independence because it is our dependence that keeps them rich. There is a reason the Nakba and the division of Korea began at the same time, backed by the same interests. There is a reason that while South Korean corporations copied from Zionism, North Korea has spent decades arming and training the Palestinian resistance.”
“Kim Il-Sung Once Said That The Korean People Will Continue To Resolutely Support The Palestinian People In Liberating Their Homeland,” he continued. “Kim Il-Sung once said that the Korean people will continue to resolutely support the Palestinian people in liberating their homeland. We will always remain a close comrade-in-arms to the Palestinian and Arab people in the struggle against the common enemy. We are here today to fulfill that obligation. Do you share this obligation?”
He then led the crowd in a chant in support of “our martyrs in Palestine.”
Their anti-Israel manifesto was posted on Nodutdol’s website:
“We support the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian right of return,” Nodutdol’s website claimed. “People across the world, from Palestine to Korea, are terrorized by US imperialism and its military occupation.”
“In addition, we demand that the South Korean government end its military relations with israel. South Korea and Israel have engaged in arms trade and invested in defense upgrades, joint ventures, and co-production since opening their respective embassies in the early 1990s.
“We call on our fellow Koreans worldwide to extend solidarity with Palestinians everywhere, support the Palestinian right of return, and denounce settler-colonialism,” it continued. “Until our lands are liberated from the hands of US military occupation from Palestine to Korea to Turtle Island, we remain committed to fighting the settler-colonialist occupation further perpetrated by the ‘Deal of the Century’ and all forms of settler colonialism.”
A member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation who attended the rally said: “We do not just mourn our martyrs, we come here to be like our martyrs.”
The organization opposes capitalism and has the stated goal “to lead a revolution paving the way towards socialism, under which a ‘new government of working people’ would be formed”.The PSL has been outspoken in condemning Israel and supports the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement and the right of return for Palestinians.
“They wish to threaten us, they wish to kill us, and they wish for us to be scared of the martyrs they make of the Palestinian people,” the man said on the video. “”We do not just mourn our martyrs, we come here to be like our martyrs. Don’t we?”
The post North Korean group rallies in support of ‘Palestinian martyrs’ in NYC appeared first on Israel365 News.
Israel in the News
