BY MARGARET JAYKO  
PYONGYANG, North Korea--During the 1950–53 U.S. war against Korea, the Pentagon carried out such heavy bombing of the northern part of the country that virtually every factory was destroyed. Pilots bombed five of the 20 major dams, causing massive flooding and loss of civilian lives. The only reason U.S. and allied forces didn't destroy all the dams was because they feared an international outcry against the indiscriminate death and destruction that would surely result.

Since then, the workers and farmers in North Korea have successfully undertaken the Herculean task of rebuilding their devastated homeland.

Impressive in this regard is the West Sea Barrage. Built along the five-mile mouth of the Taedong River, which drains into the West Sea, it stores billions of cubic yards of water to irrigate 247,000 acres of reclaimed soil--a figure officials hope they can triple. This is no small question in North Korea. Much of the country is covered by a series of north-south mountain ranges separated by narrow valleys. Thus arable land is scarce.

The barrage also supplies drinking water to several major towns and villages. A railway, motorway, and sidewalks on top of the barrage make travel between the areas on opposite sides of the sea qualitatively easier.

The barrage is a huge structure consisting of three locks and 36 sluices. The locks open to enable large ships to sail up the river.

Construction of the barrage started in 1981 and was completed in five years by the Korean People's army. More than 10 hills had to be removed to block off the sea and erect the dam, and more than 21 million cubic yards of stones were transported.

After touring the barrage, SWP leader Barnes noted that no anti-aircraft weapons or other defensive military equipment has been installed. "This is one more piece of evidence," he commented, "giving the lie to Washington's claim that North Korea is a belligerent country contemplating war against the South.

"This is simply the U.S. ruling class' justification," he continued, "for keeping more than 45,000 U.S. troops and 40 U.S. military installations in South Korea."

"It's obvious," he added, "that no one would dedicate the human and material resources that it took to build this barrage--an extremely vulnerable structure--and other large public works that exist in the North only to start another war which would result in their destruction. The West Sea Barrage is a concrete illustration of the desire of the people of the North for peaceful reunification of their country."
 

We spent more than three hours visiting the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum here in Pyongyang. We could have spent three days. The museum is a large, modest-looking building, and was built by soldiers. It has more than 80 rooms; we only had time to view a handful of them. It tells more of the real story of the Korean War than any museum, monument, or movies ever released in the United States.

Lieut. Col. Li Hwang Chung, director of the Education Department, and Han Ok Hwa, our guide, showed us around. The museum was first opened in 1953 and then rebuilt and expanded in 1974 by members of the Korean People's Army, she said.

We saw photos of secret U.S. documents that fell into the North's hands during the war. On display are some of the initial orders issued by U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1945. After Tokyo was defeated in World War II, Washington and Moscow agreed to divide Korea instead of allowing the Korean people the unity and independence that they had fought for over several decades of brutal Japanese military occupation.

MacArthur declared U.S. military control of Korea south of the 38th parallel and made English the official language in the South in a Sept. 7, 1945, proclamation.

On November 2, the military government decreed that all the laws established by the hated Japanese occupiers would be enforced in the South. Those laws that had been promulgated by the insurgent "people's committees" were annulled, as the committees were violently repressed by the authorities.

With the beginning of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, military forces from the North rapidly liberated more than 90 percent of Korean territory, including Seoul, the capital of the South. In those areas where southern dictator Syngman Rhee's troops were driven out, land reform was instituted by the northern army, a measure which was welcomed by the impoverished peasants.

Washington then sent large numbers of troops, ships, planes, and tanks in order to try to smash the North Korean forces and regain domination of at least part of Korea. It failed to deal a decisive blow to the North Korean army but was able to push its troops to the Yalu River, which borders China.

But the new workers and farmers government in China sent more than 1 million troops into the war on the side of the North. U.S. forces were pushed back, almost to where the demarcation line had been to begin with.

Large-scale bombing was carried out for more than two years by Washington and her allies, especially over North Korea, in order to try to force that country to give up. More than 428,000 bombs were dropped on Pyongyang alone--a city whose pre-war population was only 400,000.

According to museum exhibits, more than 717 million pounds of napalm--jellied fuel--was dropped on Korea, more than five times the amount used in World War II and a harbinger of what the Pentagon was to do in Vietnam a decade later.

"This museum should be required study for every young person, every veteran, every worker and farmer in the United States," commented Barnes.

"Many people in the United States don't know about the barbarous atrocities inflicted on the Korean people by Washington. And they don't realize that without the resistance of the Korean people in the 1950s that weakened Washington and ended the racist illusion of its absolute power, the Vietnamese victory over U.S. imperialism would have been much more difficult and cost an ever higher price," the SWP leader continued.

"They don't know that Korea--not Vietnam--was the first big defeat suffered by the U.S. imperialists. They don't know that the burning down of villages and foodstuffs as a pattern of action began in Korea, not in the war against the Vietnamese. They don't know that Korean workers who lived in Japan were also victims of the atomic bombs dropped by Washington.

"But these are the things that we will talk about when we return home," he promised.
 
 
Related article:
Amid U.S. threats, Korean envoys begin talks  
 
 
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