(Machine translation + slight editing)

The first rally in support of Palestine is held in Korea... The debate over the 'Israeli-Palestinian War' ignites

October 11, 2023

Since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Palestine (Israeli-Palestinian War), rallies in support of both sides have been held all over the world. Even in Korea, demonstrations in support of Palestine are being held led by civic groups, and related debates are heating up.

Workers' Solidarity and Korea Islam (Kore de Islam) held an emergency rally and march in solidarity with Palestine near Gwanghwamun, Jung-gu, Seoul around 12:30 pm on the 11th.

A total of 200 participants from Egypt, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, including Koreans and Palestinians, participated in the rally. They held posters such as 'Israel must stop bombing the Gaza Strip' and 'We support the Palestinian resistance' and continuously shouted slogans such as 'Free Palestine'.

!Crowd of people with banner that says "Stop Israeli bombing of Gaza! Victory to Palestinian Resistance! Solidarity with Palestine!"

Palestinians and members of social civic groups are holding a rally in support of Palestine in relation to the Israel-Hamas war in front of the Seoul Finance Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 11th. 2023.10.11

The organizers claimed, “Ethnic cleansing and discriminatory oppression by the State of Israel against Palestinians have continued for decades since the founding of the State of Israel,” and “Israel is massacring innocent people.”

At the ensuing rally, Korean Islamic officials, including Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, gave speeches. In the speech, Mr. Amer, a Palestinian, was interviewed over the phone by an acquaintance in the Gaza Strip and said, "Food has been cut off, so there is a huge shortage, and even the means to provide treatment, such as water, electricity, and medicine, are now extremely lacking," he appealed.

The interview was interrupted due to poor connectivity due to the air raid.

Akela, an Egyptian who participated in the rally, unfolded a piece of paper with pictures of Palestinian children listed like a checkerboard in both hands and said, "It seems like the only language Israel uses is terror and oppression. Are the children in these pictures even the youngest terrorists?" raising their voice.

When the speech ended, these groups held a march around the Israeli Embassy from the steps of the Seoul Finance Center, where the rally took place, to Cheonggyecheon Buk-ro.

Initially, they planned to approach the Israeli embassy and deliver a letter of protest, but due to opposition from the police, they had to return to Musan and stop at reciting the contents of the letter near Cheonggyecheon-ro.

Those who participated in the rally appealed for recognition of the Palestinian people, but also appeared to support the airstrikes carried out by the Palestinian armed political faction Hamas against Israeli residents on the 7th.

Karim Hussein (31), an Egyptian who participated in the rally with his family that day, said, "As Muslims and human beings, we participated in the rally regardless of nationality." He added, "This Hamas airstrike is a 'reaction' to the long history that Palestine has experienced so far," he said.

Jeong Dong-seok (61), a member of the Workers' Solidarity Party, also argued that the cause of the war was, "I think the problem is that Israel has been expelling and massacring the native Palestinians for about 70 years."

The group plans to continue supporting Palestine by holding an additional rally in Incheon on the 13th.

Meanwhile, as the war between Palestine and Israel unfolds, rallies in support of Palestine and Israel are being held all over the world.

According to Reuters, on the 9th (local time), citizens in solidarity with Israel held a march in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Additionally, on the 10th (local time), a rally supporting Israel and Palestine was simultaneously held near the Israeli consulate in New York.

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, USA, thousands of pro-Israel protesters gathered to condemn the surprise attack by Hamas, while in Chicago, Illinois, on the 8th (local time), Palestinian Americans, mainly, showed solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Street protests were also held.

In addition, 4,000 citizens demonstrated in support of Palestine in Amman, the capital of Jordan, and movements in support of Palestine are seen in the Arab world, from Ramallah in the West Bank to Beirut in Lebanon, Damascus in Syria, and Cairo in Egypt.

However, some Western countries are wary of the spread of anti-Semitism and attempts at terrorism.

Three protesters were arrested at a demonstration in support of Palestine held in front of the Israeli Embassy in London on the 9th (local time). British Home Secretary Suela Braverman called for a strong response, saying, "Waving the Palestinian flag may not be lawful if the intention is to glorify terrorism."

In Marseille, France, about 200 Palestinian supporters protested despite a police ban, and some protestors were fined.

After a rally in support of Palestine was held in front of the Sydney Opera House on the 9th (local time) and an Israeli flag was burned, Australian police warned citizens not to attend the pro-Palestinian rally planned in Sydney this weekend, saying it had not been approved.

Summary: PDP gave a speech in front of US embassy in Seoul and a speech in front of the White House in Washington DC. The speech expressed that only when Palestine is liberated can the conflict be resolved, and that the "US and Israel are one body and it is public knowledge in the whole world that the US aggression forces are behind the indiscriminate bombing and aggression of the Palestinians" and "the imperialist powers led by the United States have turned the world into a powder keg of war" using Zionism in the Middle East, NATO in Europe, Japanese militarism and the formation of an "Asian version of NATO" in Asia, strengthening the war alliance against DPRK and plotting a war in East Asia.

The speech concludes: "the deeper imperialist aggression becomes, the stronger a unity of anti-US independent forces become. The Palestinian people, who seek independence and justice, will defeat the aggressive US imperialist and win their liberation. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"

---

Link to English statement

Click to read statement here

We condemn the US imperialist aggression! Free Palestine!

The clash between Hamas and Israel is escalating to all-out war. In the early morning of July 7, Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel and its militants infiltrated, reportedly capturing dozens of Israeli soldiers and a number of civilians. In the statement, the Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif said, “Today is the great day to end the occupation. We have decided to put an end to all of the occupation’s crimes. The time is over for them (Israel) to act without accountability,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that “we are embarking on a long and difficult war,” and that “we have begun the offensive, which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved.”

Hamas’s armed offensive is fundamentally aimed at freedom and liberation of Palestine. Israel has launched an extensive invasion of Gaza since 2000 to eliminate Hamas, the armed force for Palestinian liberation. Israeli massive air raids in 2008, 2012, and 2014 are just a few examples. More recently, in May 2021, Israel’s violent suppression of Palestinian protesters led to the “11-day war,” in which 242 lives were lost in Gaza, and in 2022, Israel indiscriminately struck Gaza day after day. Israel is also responsible for the routinized pain of the Palestinian people. By blockading all land and sea to Gaza, Israel has turned Gaza into the world’s largest prison. Only when Palestine is liberated can the regional conflict be fundamentally resolved.

The cause of the war is the US imperialist aggression. As soon as the conflict broke out, the US ‘president’ Biden did not hesitate to make most hostile remarks towards Palestine ‘The US stands with Israel’, ‘military to military, intelligence to intelligence, diplomat to diplomatᅳto make sure Israel has what it needs.’ The US and Israel are one body and it is public knowledge in the whole world that the US aggression forces are behind the indiscriminate bombing and aggression of the Palestinians all time. The founding of Israel itself is the result of rob territory by the US and British imperialist after World War II, and the US puts Israel first to invade the Middle East in order to have its hegemony. It’s an undeniable fact that Palestine people are the biggest victims of the US aggressors.

The imperialist powers led by the United States have turned the world into a powder keg of war. The aggressive US imperialist is simultaneously carrying out invasion against anti-US independent states and forces, using Israeli Zionism in the Middle East, NATO in Europe, and Japanese militarism in Asia. In the Middle East, the US aggressors put Israeli Zionists up to murdering the Palestinian people while in Europe, they have been encouraging NATO to expand eastward and trigger war in Ukraine by massacring the Russian people in Ukraine. In East Asia, they are establishing an “Asian version of NATO”, strengthening the war alliance against North Korea and plotting a war in East Asia. Including Iran and Lebanon, Anti-US armed forces’ support for Hamas shows the deeper imperialist aggression becomes, the stronger a unity of anti-US independent forces become. The Palestinian people, who seek independence and justice, will defeat the aggressive US imperialist and win their liberation.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

"The combined number of those seeking to stay in China and those wanting to return to the North is actually greater than those hoping to reach South Korea."

"The more South Korea and the international community get involved in defector issues with their own political agenda, the more likely it is to end up further cementing our national division."

Lee Sung-hwan (pseudonym): "I hate being called a ‘defector.’ I didn’t leave because I’m opposed to the politics in North Korea. I’m just someone who left to earn money, and I plan to return once I’ve made some."

---

Note: Hankyoreh is a center-left liberal newspaper from South Korea.

Excerpts:

> Since 1997, Cho has met with North Korean defectors primarily in China’s Yanbian prefecture and the North Korean-Chinese border region. Other than last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to visit China, he has met with defectors virtually every year for the past two decades or so. Based on his meetings, they presented quite a different image from the one commonly perceived in South Korea, he said.

> For example, Cho administered a survey to 100 female North Korean defectors whom he had met with three or more times between August 2001 and October 2003. Forty-one of them said they wanted to travel to the South, while the other 59 did not: 34 wanted to return to North Korea, 21 hoped to remain in China, and four wanted none of the above. Indeed, Kim Ryon-hui, the so-called “Pyongyangite in Daegu,” has demanded repatriation ever since she arrived in the South in 2011, insisting that she only came because she had been “deceived by a broker.”

> Lee Sung-hwan (pseudonym), one of the defectors who hoped to return to the North, is quoted as saying, “I hate being called a ‘defector.’ I didn’t leave because I’m opposed to the politics in North Korea. I’m just someone who left to earn money, and I plan to return once I’ve made some.”

> Pak Kyong-hwa (pseudonym) is a native of Onsong, North Hamgyong Province, whom Cho met in the Chinese city of Yanji in 2014. “If it’s someone who left after committing a crime, someone who’ll be punished if they go back, you’ll never hear them talk about going back to North Korea. But people like us just quickly earn money and go back,” she explained.

> “Certain brokers, NGOs and missionary groups have been orchestrating and expanding North Korean defections to South Korea for political purposes. And as certain far-right and conservative media in South Korea and Japan have either parroted the things they say or actively orchestrated things themselves, things have really crossed the line,” Cho said. > > The primary victims of actions like these are the defectors themselves. Orchestrated defections lead to intensified controls on the North Korean-Chinese border, leaving far fewer options available to those who seek to remain in China or return to the North. > > Some defectors, NGOs and missionary groups have also taken advantage of this “defector myth” to perpetrate fraud. As a representative example, Cho mentioned the Yerang Mission incident, which the Supreme Court declared a case of fraud in 2008. Beginning in the early 2000s, the mission appropriated over 2 billion won (US$1.8 million) in donations raised through internet posts about “risking death to evangelize in North Korea” and the “martyrdom and defections of North Koreans.” In 2006, the church was tried amid accusations by congregation members, and most of the messages it posted were found to have been false.

> “The more South Korea and the international community get involved in defector issues with their own political agenda, the more likely it is to end up further cementing our national division,” he warned.

---

Related:

• Nearly 1 in 5 North Korean defectors say they regret coming to South Korea
• Interview: A North Korean mother’s quest to return home to Pyongyang
• [CW: Child abuse, SA] S. Korean pastor under investigation for molestation at the boarding school he established for N. Korean defectors
• "Spy Nation" (2016): Film Shines Light on South Korean Spy Agency’s Fabrication of Enemies
• Unreliable witnesses: The challenge of separating truth from fiction when it comes to North Korea
• The insidious threat of fake news surrounding North Korea