Moscow, October 10 (DPRK ISG Information Bureau - RSTV)   

[all photos]

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On September 26, the Year of Korean-Chinese Friendship (2024), at the initiative of the Chinese Solidarity Group with the DPRK, an international conference "Global Diplomacy: Significant Dates in the History of the PRC and the DPRK" was held, dedicated to the National Day of the People's Republic of China (October 1) and the Founding Day of the Workers' Party of Korea (October 10).

The conference was organized by the University of World Civilizations and the DPRK International Solidarity Group (DPRK ISG).

It was attended by representatives of the embassies of Korea and China, international solidarity figures, students and activists of the primary cells of the DPRK ISG from the University of World Civilizations, State University of Management, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration and Russian State University for the Humanities.

The conference was moderated by Maria Bulavina, Vice-Rector for Research at the University of World Civilizations, and Andrey Romanov, Deputy Head of the Department of World Politics and Intercivilizational Development.

The Chinese side was represented by Lu Xiaojun, Minister-Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Russia, accompanied by representatives of the diplomatic corps.

The Korean side was represented by Kim Sung U, Advisor to the DPRK Ambassador to Russia, as well as international solidarity figures: Alexander Mostov (Chairman of the Coordination Committee of the DPRK ISG) and Viktor Petrov (Deputy Chairman of the Coordination Committee and Director of the 1st Department of People's Diplomacy of the DPRK ISG, Director of the Soviet Peace Foundation's programs for cooperation with China and Korea, Chairman of the Russian Society of Friendship and Cultural Cooperation with the DPRK).

Comrade Lu Xiaojun delivered a report entitled "The Day of the Founding of the People's Republic of China: a significant date and an important historical event."

『Dear Vice-Rector Maria Aleksandrovna Bulavina!

Dear Comrade Viktor Alekseevich Petrov!

Dear Comrade Kim Sung U!

Dear teachers and students!

I am very pleased to visit the University of World Civilizations and talk about traditional friendship with comrades from Russia and the DPRK.

On October 1, 2024, the People's Republic of China will celebrate its 75th anniversary. Over the past 75 years, the Communist Party of China has combined the basic principles of Marxism with the concrete realities and centuries-old traditional culture of China, and led the multinational peoples onto the path of great achievements in socialist revolution and construction, reform and opening up, socialist modernization, and the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

At present, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee headed by Comrade Xi Jinping, socialist China has embarked on a new path of comprehensively advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization. Next, I would like to briefly introduce China's achievements in development and construction over the past 75 years in figures.

First of all, the national economy has developed rapidly, and China's economic strength has increased significantly. New China was built on an extremely weak economic foundation, with a GDP of only 67.9 billion yuan in 1952, rising to 367.9 billion yuan in 1978. After the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, China's economic development entered the accelerated development path, exceeding 1 trillion yuan in GDP in 1986, 10 trillion yuan in 2000, 100 trillion yuan in 2020, and 126 trillion yuan in 2023, becoming the second-largest economy in the world. At constant prices, China's GDP in 2023 will have grown 223 times compared with 1952, showing an average annual growth rate of 7.9%.

In just a few decades, China has completed the industrialization process that took centuries in developed countries, and has established a full-fledged and independent modern industrial system. The added value of China's manufacturing output has ranked first in the world for 14 consecutive years, accounting for about 30% of the world's share, making China an important driving force for the development of the world's manufacturing industry.

In just a few decades, China has completed the industrialization process that took centuries in developed countries, and has established a full-fledged and independent modern industrial system. The added value of China's manufacturing output has ranked first in the world for 14 consecutive years, accounting for about 30% of the world's share, making China an important driving force for the development of the world's manufacturing industry.

Since 2012, when Comrade Xi Jinping was elected General Secretary of the CPC, poverty alleviation has become a key task in all-round building of a moderately prosperous society. After eight years of continuous efforts, by the end of 2020, nearly 100 million rural residents below the current poverty line had been lifted out of poverty, and 832 poor counties had broken the absolute poverty line. Thus, the difficult task of eradicating absolute poverty in China was successfully accomplished. China achieved the poverty eradication target of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years early, making a significant contribution to reducing global poverty.

Third, China's overall strength and international influence are becoming increasingly evident. In 1978, China's economy accounted for only 1.7% of the world economy. After reform and opening up, China's economy has grown rapidly, becoming an important engine and stabilizing force for world economic growth. In 2023, China's economy accounted for about 17% of the world's GDP, and its average annual contribution to world economic growth was 24.8%, ranking first in the world.

China has become the world's largest manufacturing country, the world's leading commodity trader, the second-largest consumer country, and the holder of the world's largest foreign exchange reserves. With the development of national power, China has gradually become an important participant, builder, and co-founder of the international system. Especially since Comrade Xi Jinping took office as General Secretary of the CPC in 2012, the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation has become a universal public good and a platform for international cooperation. The vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, first proposed by China, has gradually transformed into a broad international consensus. The initiative of global development, security, and civilization has received wide attention, and China's influence on the international stage, inspirational power, and emerging strength have further increased.

Comrades and friends!

The successful achievements of the past 75 years cannot be imagined without the unity, hard work and desire for progress of the entire Chinese people. They are also inseparable from the solidarity and mutual assistance between China and its fraternal neighboring countries.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia. The relations between China and Russia over the past three-quarters of a century have demonstrated that the continuous strengthening and development of good-neighborliness, eternal friendship, comprehensive strategic coordination and mutually beneficial cooperation are in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and their peoples, and meet the expectations of the international community and the current development trend. All of this is of utmost significance.

This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the DPRK. The friendly relations between China and the DPRK were established and consolidated by the previous generation of revolutionary leaders of both parties and countries. They have withstood the test of the changing international situation and are our common asset. We must always view China-DPRK relations from a strategic height and a long-term perspective. Our unwavering commitment is to uphold, consolidate and develop the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between China and the DPRK.

Today's world is undergoing unprecedented and major changes, the balance of international power is changing radically, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. The historical trend of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit cannot be stopped. At the same time, unilateralism, hegemonism and the Cold War mentality pose a serious threat to world peace and development. China is willing to work with Russia and North Korea to uphold and implement genuine multilateralism, jointly safeguard international fairness and justice, comprehensively implement the Global Security, Development and Civilization Initiative (GSDI), and make unremitting efforts to promote the building of a Community with a Shared Future for Humanity and achieve sustainable and peaceful development in the world and its regions.』

Comrade Kim Sung U delivered a report on the history of state building in Korea.

『Dear conference participants, my report today is devoted to the history of state building of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

On September 9, 2024, the DPRK celebrated the 70th anniversary of the DPRK Foundation Day

On September 9, 1945, the first state of genuine people's democracy, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, appeared in the east of the globe.

Until 1945, Korea was a colony of imperialist Japan. Kim Il Sung, the hero of the Korean nation, led a super-large anti-Japanese military struggle to return the country taken away by the occupiers in time. In August 1945, the general attack of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army began, which, combined with the nationwide resistance, finally led to the liberation of Korea.

After the country's liberation, the construction of a new Korea began - a state of people's power, free from exploitation and oppression, where all people can live in harmony and be equally happy:

• Land reform made the peasants happy.
• The law on the national leading industry follows the working economy at theenterprise.
• Thanks to the law on equality, women, locked in the walls of rooms, became worthy of the economy and society.

People previously offended by oppression were elected as representatives of the people, discussing and deciding political affairs of the state. Koreans became the masters of their own country for the first time in their millennia-long history. The birth of the DPRK marked the bright history of the struggle of the Korean people to create the destiny of a new independent state.

The 76 years of the DPRK were years of overcoming an incessant trial and pride. The path to independence that it chose was not easy at all, there were difficult trials on the way: the Korean War of 1950-1953, the ongoing sanctions and pressure, as well as the extreme economic difficulties in the late 1990s caused by the attempts of the imperialist ideology to strangle the last stronghold of socialism, etc.

This country has gone the way from beginning to end in the name of its people, having thwarted all sorts of challenges, built an independent economy capable of self-defense. The country, emerging from agrarian colonization, created, in some fourteen years, having completed the centuries-old task of socialist industrialization.

An independent national economy with all branches, powerful branches of industry was created. Artificial satellites of the Earth, machines, CNC machines and examples of modern light industry, etc. were confidently developed.

In our socialist country, which puts the interests of the masses first, everything is always at the service of the people. The state carries out all political activities in the interests of the people, including free medical care, free education and free housing.

Whereas before the liberation of the country there was not a single university, after the formation of the DPRK many scientific and theoretical workers appeared. Now you can’t find even one illiterate person with fire. Our country has more than a hundred higher educational institutions and a large army of intellectuals.

The DPRK is the first country in the world without taxes, fully ensuring the human rights of the working masses.

The whole country seems like one big friendly family, where everyone helps and supports each other. A country small in its territory and population, whose people in the past experienced the bitter fate of colonial slavery, in no more than 70 years has acquired a completely new appearance, which we see today. All this became possible thanks to the outstanding great leader President Kim Il Sung and Chairman of the National Defense Committee of the DPRK Kim Jong Il, who went down in history as Korean leaders of previous generations and great people of the era, enjoying universal, boundless respect and esteem.

Comrade Kim Jong Un is now showing himself to be the most outstanding political leader of the modern world. He is oriented towards the climate of peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. The whole world does not hide its admiration for his outstanding politically intelligent abilities. There is no doubt about it.

It is certain that under his leadership Korea will take a new flight into a brighter future.

Thank you for your attention!』

Comrade Viktor Petrov gave a report on the programs of the Soviet Peace Foundation for developing relations with China and Korea at the level of people's diplomacy.

『Dear Maria Alexandrovna,

Mrs. Lu,

Comrade Kim Sen U,

Dear Comrades, Friends!

First of all, my deepest gratitude to you all for inviting me to your esteemed meeting, to your diplomatic living room.

In the 1970s, I had just started working at the Soviet Peace Committee (it was the most important international socio-political organization in the Soviet Union) and found myself in the same office with Vladimir Zhirinovsky, whom I then simply called Volodya. Our desks were opposite each other, and I sat with him in the same room for a year. And I want to tell you, as a person who knew him well: I saw his telephone conversations, his hectic work, and I knew how he was already fighting hard for truth, justice, against the routine that reigned in many ways in our organizations.

I want to tell you about the huge role played by socio-political international organizations.

There is official diplomacy – the Foreign Ministry diplomacy. But in those years we worked under the leadership of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. As a boy, I used to report to the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee on our activities. And then my job was to coordinate actions with Vietnam, which had just emerged from a state of war (the war actually continued until 1975, when Vietnam was reunited).

In socio-political terms, we made a colossal contribution to the victory of the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian peoples. The thing is that the USSR Foreign Ministry had certain limits that they could not go beyond. And socio-political organizations could allow themselves almost anything – of course, under the watchful leadership of the CPSU Central Committee, what can I say.

In particular, we supported national liberation movements that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not support.

For example, the Soviet Union officially had ties with the King of Laos, but supported the National Patriotic Front for the Liberation of Laos along our lines. The country pursued a "dual policy": that is, of course, there was one official policy, but what we could not officially carry out in those years was done by socio-political organizations, from which, in fact, there was nothing to ask. The same applied to Cambodia and our African departments, which were engaged in supporting the national fronts of South African countries.

Vladimir Volfovich began his most active political activity precisely with a socio-political international organization, which was the Soviet Peace Committee. And you know, I think that those who go after the University of World Civilizations into public political diplomacy, into people's diplomacy, will not lose either. Because there is simply an unplowed field of work here in the area of ​​public friendship, in the area of ​​various international organizations that are not part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government, and so on. That is, there is a huge scope for socio-political activity, for the implementation of one’s ideas, one’s thoughts, one’s plans.

I would like to emphasize once again that we will continue to support in every possible way the excellent relations that have developed with the People’s Republic of China. In the late Soviet years, we had big problems with China. Ms. Lu knows very well what kind of conflict there was between our countries. But public organizations stood firm on one path: we are the closest friends, we are the closest neighbors and closest comrades – we simply cannot be against each other!

We must definitely be friends, and we have firmly pursued our line of strengthening friendship and cooperation not only with China, but also with the DPRK.

I will never forget how they laughed at us in 1991, when we first formed the Society for Friendship and Cultural Cooperation with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Everyone said, "We must be friends with rich South Korea"... But our war veterans, our pilots who fought in Korea, great pilots (of whom 13 were the founders of our society, Heroes of the Soviet Union and two were twice Heroes), great people, said: no, we will have friendship with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea!

And now, as we see, our political forecast has come true: Korean friends are now our comrades-in-arms in all matters, when the country is faced with such difficult problems as the events around Ukraine. And we thank our Korean friends, who are always with us, supporting us everywhere.

Well, our Chinese friends understand our position perfectly, as we do theirs: we thank them, too, for their firm support of our country.

Guys, go for it! Go ahead, you have a fantastic future ahead of you! Go into official diplomacy, into people's diplomacy! In general, build our country, make it great

Thank you.』

Comrade Alexander Mostov gave a report on the history of the founding and development of the WPK.

『Esteemed Counselor of the DPRK Embassy Comrade Kim Sung U,

Esteemed Minister-Counselor of the PRC Embassy Comrade Lu Xiaojun,

Dear teachers of the Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky University of World Civilizations, students and international solidarity activists,

I am glad to see so many interested persons at this event, held at the initiative of the primary cell of our organization at the University of World Civilizations. The presence of representatives of the Embassies of Korea and China - two of the most friendly countries to Russia - is a great honor and trust for us. This hall, full of enthusiasm of international students, clearly demonstrates the prospects of this direction.

Today, my speech is dedicated to the Foundation Day of the Workers' Party of Korea. I will begin my report by saying that during the years of Japanese occupation in Korea, in fact, there was no single Communist Party that met the necessary requirements in terms of numbers and organizational structure. There were only a few factional groups that fought among themselves for the right to receive Soviet aid - this state of affairs prevented any constructive revolutionary activity and, ultimately, led to the suspension of the membership of the Korean Communist Party in the Comintern.

Against this background, the Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, wishing to liberate the Motherland from the oppression of the Japanese militarists at any cost, called on his comrades to join the Chinese Communist Party of their comrades and wage armed struggle on its side. In this way, he managed not only to realize his leadership potential and revive the Korean partisan movement, but also to strengthen the bonds of Korean-Chinese friendship. And when the time came for a counteroffensive, he fought side by side with Soviet soldiers against a common enemy within the framework of the United International Forces.

Incidentally, the monuments to the soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army are still in excellent condition in the DPRK.

In short, during the days of the bloody anti-Japanese struggle, Commander Kim Il Sung laid a solid ideological and organizational foundation for the founding of the party, thanks to which, after the liberation of the country, on October 10, 1945, the organizational bureau was successfully formed. And in August 1946, as a result of unification with friendly political forces, it took on the outlines that are already familiar to us, taking the name "Workers' Party of Korea".

It is also interesting how the emblem of the WPK appeared: not just a hammer and sickle, but also a brush. This was done in order to symbolically unite all strata of the population, including the intelligentsia.

Comrade Kim Il Sung explained the instructions for creating such a symbol as follows:

- The emblem of our party must depict the working class, peasantry and intelligentsia; only then can we symbolically show that the Workers' Party of Korea is a united party of the working masses, which includes the leading figures of the working class, peasantry and intelligentsia.

That is, he proposed to depict a hammer and sickle in the image of the working class and peasantry, and to depict the intelligentsia not with a pen, but with a brush, that is, in Korean. According to his plan, workers and peasants in the future should have rich knowledge and culture and make a great contribution to state building.

Strengthening and developing the WPK, Comrade Kim Il Sung directed the harsh anti-American war, post-war reconstruction and construction of a new socialist society built according to the ideas of "Juche", which means "self-reliance" or "sovereignty", to victory.

By the way, about independence: the WPK, being the ruling party, always tried to lead the DPRK along an independent path of development. Thus, fearing to find itself in a dependent position on the Soviet Union, Korea refused to join the CMEA and began to build a sovereign economy.

This decision, one can say, saved the country during the crisis of the 90s, caused by the collapse of the "socialist bloc" and natural disasters. United under the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK, the country not only recovered from the floods, but also developed CNC technology, and independently created its own space and nuclear programs.

Today, Korea is moving forward under the leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, General Secretary of the WPK, overcoming all possible hardships and difficulties on the path to building a powerful and prosperous socialist state, and opening a new era in Korea-China and Korea-Russia relations.』

Then there was a presentation on “Russia’s Far Eastern Diplomacy: the Trans-Siberian Railway and Count Witte,” after which the speakers answered questions from those present.

The conference participants took a joint commemorative photo.