Anniversary of Kwangju uprising observed
KCNA
Pyongyang, May 18 (KCNA) -- Newspapers here today dedicate articles to the 23rd anniversary of the heroic Kwangju Popular Uprising in South Korea.
On May 18, 1980, youth and students and other people in Kwangju turned out in an armed popular uprising against the U.S. imperialists and their stooges who attempted to revive the military fascist dictatorship with the "May 17 military violence," stamping on a bud of democracy sprouting with the end of the "Yusin" dictatorship.
The uprisers fought bravely under such slogans as "Lift the emergency martial law", "Dismantle the Yusin system" and "Yankees, go home". They armed themselves with weapons taken away from martial law troops and defended the city of Kwangju for ten days after putting it under their control.
Rodong Sinmun says that it was a just anti-U.S., anti-fascist resistance for democracy and an armed uprising of the South Korean people to terminate the fascist rule of the U.S. imperialists and South Korean military fascists and achieve national sovereignty, democratization of society and the reunification of Korea.
20 odd years have passed since the heroic Kwangju uprising, but the desire of the uprisers has not yet been realized, the paper says, and goes on:
The South Korean people are under the U.S. imperialists' yoke of military aggression and murder even in the new century and there is still a stumbling block in the way of national reunification.
The U.S. imperialists hinder in every way the process of reconciliation and reunification of the Korean nation and bring a storm of nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula, further revealing their criminal colors today when the Korean nation's desire for independent reunification is rapidly growing with the adoption of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration.
As long as the U.S. policy of aggression against the DPRK and its military occupation of South Korea are allowed, it is impossible for the Koreans to live in peace even a moment, remove the danger of war from the Korean Peninsula and reunify the country.
Minju Joson says that all the Koreans will join efforts to wage a nationwide anti-U.S. struggle so as to implement the June 15 joint declaration and achieve the independent reunification of the nation without fail.
