The Scotland branch of the UK Korean Friendship Association held its second meeting on Saturday August 3rd in Glasgow, commencing at 14:30. The premises are council owned and it was the general opinion of the meeting that, although not as centrally located as the previous meeting, it was better in terms of disabled access and value for money.
A message of support from UK KFA chair Dr Dermot Hudson was read out and then a brief outline of recent developments in DPRK-US relations was given by Scotland zone delegate Mitchell Wells.
Grant McPhillips (Scotland organisation officer) then gave an in depth presentation on the early life of Kim Il Sung, his role in the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and also about his family, especially his parents and grandparents who were steeped in revolutionary struggles to free Korea in the 19th and early 20th century. A discussion on this period in Korean history followed.
It was planned to show the classic DPRK movie “Traffic Controller at the Crossroads” but a technical problem involving the subtitles meant that we had to abandon this idea. Hopefully this movie can be shown at a future meeting.
There followed a discussion on ideas for future events and promoting the work and message of KFA to a wider audience. It was decided that we should have a presence by way of a stall in Edinburgh city centre (and possibly Glasgow) on a Saturday in the near future. This could involve merchandise and literature for sale and leaflets being distributed (eg the KFA myth busters leaflet). It was also agreed that the next branch meeting should be held on a weekday (in the early evening) as this was more likely to attract a larger attendance. It was also suggested that we should build links with other anti-imperialist and progressive solidarity groups such as Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Cuba Solidarity Campaign etc, although it was noted there was a certain amount of sectarianism amongst some left and progressive organisations with regards to the KFA and the whole idea of supporting Socialist Korea.
One comrade suggested that we should go on the offensive by heavily pushing the message that the media lies to us about Syria, lies to us about Venezuela etc and therefore anything they tell us about the DPRK is bound to be a lie.
Literature was on display for perusal and sale.
The meeting concluded at 16:30
