From Brian Becker’s dispatch: Pyongyang, February 24, 2000.
“Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea [WPK], today met and conversed with the delegation of the Workers World Party of the United States headed by Brian Becker, a member of its secretariat. At the meeting the head of the delegation said that the Korean people are firmly defending socialism despite the continued isolation and suffocation moves of the imperialists, adding this is attributable to the tested leadership of the WPK led by General Secretary Kim Jong Il. He noted that his party would continue to wage a vigorous struggle for the pullback of the U.S. forces from South Korea and intensify the movement for solidarity with the WPK.”
Becker, who also serves as chairman of the U.S. Get Out of Korea Committee, was involved in a “Korea Truth Commission” project to expose U.S. “crimes against the Korean people.” The group insists that South Korea is under “occupation” by the U.S. and that North Korea was “liberated.” Its Web site features commentary from the WWP.
Established in 1958 by a communist named Sam Marcy, the WWP has taken up the role that used to be played by the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA, which has diminished in importance since the demise of the old Soviet Union. But like the CPUSA, the WWP believes in working with the Democratic Party and liberal-left groups that form its base of support.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is a link between them. He embraced the Soviet-backed World Peace Council during the Cold War and was the only Congressman to speak at the rally.
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