Stephen Cho | Coordinator of the Korean International Forum 

There is no end to imperialism’s war provocations. Just as they have been occupying Palestinian territory and massacring Palestinian people, the imperialist and Zionist forces are endlessly trying to provoke a “regional war” in West Asia (Middle East). While there is no end to provocation, there is an end to patience. Zionist Israel’s infinite provocations have finally resulted in a strong retaliation from Iran. Israel’s barbaric terror has killed the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, burned Lebanon’s capital Beirut, and massacred countless civilians, including children and women. The devastation suffered by Palestinians in Gaza is indescribable. Eight percent of the population have been killed or injured, and 90 percent of the buildings were destroyed. There is no future for Zionism, which denies the truth that human beings are equal. Since the essence of the Palestinian problem and the West Asian problem is the Zionist occupation of Palestinian land, there can be no solution until the Zionist occupation is ended. Since the Zionist’s fascist atrocities are impossible without imperialism, which is the mastermind and manipulator, the anti-Zionist struggle in West Asia is inherently an anti-imperialist struggle.

The imperialist forces are using Israel in West Asia, like Ukraine in Eastern Europe, as storm troops for a world war and as a puppet to wage proxy wars. At their very front are the neo-Nazis in Ukraine and the Zionists in Israel. Neo-Nazis and Zionists are the representative fascists of our time. It is clear why the imperialist forces try to turn the world into a sea of fire―World War 3, using the fascists. It is because of the boundless greed of monopoly capital, the domestic expression of imperialism, just like the background of World Wars 1 and 2. The greed of capital creates its own crises and then creates bigger crises to escape them. The crisis of the corporation becomes the crisis of the country and then expands into the crisis of the world. The only option for imperialism to escape the unprecedented political and economic crisis it has created and is experiencing today is a war on a global scale. The economic rise of China and the improvement of Russia, which belong to the anti-imperialist camp, have forced the imperialist camp to establish the “Grand Chessboard” strategy. NATO’s eastward policy and the imperialist-controlled “color revolutions” have emerged and are being pursued relentlessly in the direction of dismantling Russia and China like Yugoslavia was. After the collapse of the unipolar system, the imperialist forces delude themselves that they would be the final winner, as they were in the “Cold War,” by establishing the “New Cold War” system, provoking World War 3 to slander the main countries of the anti-imperialist camp―Russia, Iran, China, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)―as the “new axis of aggressors.”

Russian President Putin’s visit to the DPRK and signing of the June 19 Treaty with Chairman Kim Jong Un, which established a powerful military alliance surpassing the DPRK-Soviet Union Treaty in 1961 and the current NATO rules, was a major blow to imperialism. It is of particular significance that the DPRK, the most steadfast socialist country, has become a nuclear missile power armed with hydrogen bombs and hypersonic missiles like Russia and China. The DPRK, which was not defeated in a three-year war against US imperialism in the 1950s with only machine guns and artillery, is now armed with a variety of nuclear weapons and missiles. The US, which has been dealing with the DPRK for a long time, is well aware that the DPRK has the will and ability to retaliate with intercontinental ballistic missiles against the US mainland in the event of an emergency. The ongoing war in West Asia and the impending war in East Asia have more in common than just the fact that Iran and the DPRK are dealing with the same imperialist power. Just as Iran, the most thorough Islamic country in West Asia, has formed an “Axis of Resistance” against Israeli Zionism and US-European imperialism and waged an anti-Zionist anti-imperialist struggle, abandoning its strategic patience and launching Operation “True Promise 1 and 2,” the DPRK, the most thorough socialist country in East Asia, has formed an “anti-imperialist front” against fascism in the “Republic of Korea (ROK)” and US-Japanese imperialism and is waging an anti-fascist anti-imperialist struggle, through which it is expected that the DPRK will likely be forced to abandon its strategic patience and carry out the “subjugation of the ROK.”

Yoon Suk-yeol of the “ROK” is a fascist and imperialist puppet, like Zelensky of Ukraine and Netanyahu of Israel. While Zelensky and Netanyahu are currently attracting the world’s attention by pushing for war and revealing the true colors of their fascist regimes, Yoon will soon be recognized by the world as a fascist and warmonger who surpasses them. As Yoon’s approval ratings plummeted due to corruption, irregularities, incompetence, economic crisis, and devastation of public livelihoods and he was pushed to the brink of impeachment, he is keen to impose anachronistic military fascist rule, going beyond the “prosecutor dictatorship,” with the pro-presidential coup through which he tries to declare “martial law under war” by inducing a local war. This plot, which was exposed by the National Assembly in August, is still being secretly promoted. Like the Pinochet coup in Chile, Park Chung-hee’s coup in 1961, and Chun Doo-hwan’s coup in 1980 in the “ROK,” it is being manipulated by the CIA and the US military in the “ROK.” In late August, the Yoon government began the fascist repression. It carried out a search and seize raid on the People’s Democracy Party (PDP) and the former ruling party, the Democratic Party, at the same time. The PDP is the leftmost party of the political spectrum in the “ROK,” while the Democratic Party is the rightmost party of the political spectrum if we exclude Yoon’s far-right fascist party. In summary, Yoon is repressing all opposition parties, whether they are left or right. It is a clear sign that “wartime martial law” is on the horizon. 

The war planned by the pro-US fascist government of Yoon Suk-yeol is a preemptive strike against the DPRK, as it has declared since the last presidential election, and a preemptive nuclear attack in which US nuclear strategic assets are mobilized under the control and operation of the US. To this end, the Yoon government has completed the US-Japan-“ROK” triangular military alliance by acting as a fascist stormtrooper for the US and overreaching to attract Japanese militarism. This alliance is essentially the “Northeast Asian NATO,” a dangerous invasion alliance that threatens not only the DPRK but also China and Russia. As everyone knows, imperialism has been promoting NATO’s eastward policy from the European viewpoint and westward policy from the US viewpoint and finally completed the “Pacificization of NATO” organizationally and practically through the Washington NATO Summit in July 2024 and various war exercises such as the “RIMPAC” exercise. To this end, the imperialist forces formed subordinate military blocs such as the US-Japan-“ROK” “Northeast Asian NATO,” the US-Japan-Australia-Philippines’ “Squad,” and the US-UK-Australia’s “AUKUS,” and from June to August of this year alone, they frantically carried out invasive joint military exercises such as “Freedom Edge,” “Pitch Black,” “Pacific Skies,” “Pacific Dragon,” and “Ulchi Freedom Shield” in the Western Pacific, in addition to the “RIMPAC.” These invasive exercises mobilize various US strategic assets and include drills to launch tactical nuclear weapons from the air, sea, and ground, with the main targets being the DPRK, China, and Russia. It is significant that Yoon visited the US Indo-Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii, in mid-July to deliver a speech just before participating in the NATO Summit in Washington, and that the US-Japan defense and foreign ministers held the “2+2” talks in Japan at the end of July, announcing an agreement to create the Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command and a Joint Forces Headquarters of the US Forces Japan by March next year. In other words, the imperialist forces are fully prepared to expand the wars in “the ROK” and Taiwan, when they break out, immediately into a war in East Asia involving Japan and the Philippines and a Western Pacific war involving Australia and New Zealand. 

The storm of World War 3, caused by imperialism, is blowing from Eastern Europe through West Asia to the Western Pacific. All wars since the last century have been planned, manipulated, sustained, and expanded by imperialism. Imperialism, with its nature of aggression and plunder, is the root of all wars. As long as imperialism exists, war will never be eradicated from the face of the earth. This is why the anti-war and peace movement must be united with and must orient the anti-imperialist struggle. Today, the world is divided into two camps: the imperialist camp and the anti-imperialist camp resisting it. The imperialist camp is endlessly trying to start and escalate wars, while the anti-imperialist camp is strategically patient to prevent war and its escalation. Just as Iran could tolerate Zionist provocations no longer and finally retaliated, Russia’s patience with the Kiev fascists’ provocations would have its end. If NATO lifts restrictions on missiles provided to Ukraine, Russia could be forced to lift restrictions on its tactical nuclear weapons. As history has shown, it is doubtful that Russia’s firm stance will stop NATO’s provocations. Imperialism will not stop provocations for anti-Russian war, such as fascist Kiev’s invasion of Kursk, like the Israeli Zionists already bombed Beirut and Tehran in order to push the tide of World War 3 to the point of no return. The expansion of war in West Asia is fueling the escalation in Eastern Europe, and the escalation in these two battlefields is fueling the outbreak in the other battlefields, East Asia and the Western Pacific. Just as the war in Ukraine in Eastern Europe spilled over into the West Asian battlefield, it is only a matter of time before the Eastern European and West Asian battlefields spill over into the East Asian and Western Pacific battlefield imperialism has expanded the war in Palestine into a “regional war” to make World War 3 irreversible, and is using the war in West Asia as a breakthrough to decisively provoke other “regional wars”: expansion in Eastern Europe and outbreak of war in East Asia and the Western Pacific. 

In World War 3, the anti-imperialist camp has an overwhelming advantage over the imperialist camp in all aspects―justification, force, and operation. Anti-imperialism itself is the greatest justice of our time, but also, anti-fascism, liberation, and reunification are objective causes that even the imperialist camp cannot overtly deny since some imperialist countries used to fight for them in history. Under the unfortunate condition of increasing the possibility of tactical nuclear use in World War 3, it is noteworthy in terms of nuclear war deterrence that Russia, China, and the DPRK, the leading countries in the anti-imperialist camp, are nuclear missile superpowers. The DPRK, the most steadfast socialist country, is breaking through the imperialist blockade of isolation, as evidenced by recent decisions of the UN Security Council and developments in the diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Russia and the DPRK and China. The substantial unity of China and Russia in the anti-imperialist camp is also a prominent point in world anti-imperialist history. It is a strategic mistake of the imperialist camp to put the most steadfast socialist country and other anti-imperialist countries in the same camp and promote the unprecedented unity of China and Russia in one anti-imperialist camp. Add to this the strategic mistake of bringing 2 billion Muslims, including the “Axis of Resistance,” such as Iran, into the anti-imperialist camp, and the anti-imperialist camp is now building the strongest force in history. The rise of anti-imperialist movements in Africa, the Pan-African movement, and the Latin American independence movement against imperialism, such as the Bolivarian Revolution are also important in confirming the superiority of anti-imperialist forces over imperialist force. The imperialist camp’s foolish operations of proxy, expeditionary, and hybrid warfare pale in comparison to the anti-imperialist camp’s wise operations. Raising the banner of all-people’s resistance, which combines armed struggle and mass struggle into one, the anti-imperialist camp is trying to wage an all-out war in which the leading countries of the anti-imperialist camp are directly engaged in war, taking full advantage of their proximity to the mainland, and wage a desperate total war mobilizing all their forces, including tactical nuclear weapons, to win. This is evidenced by the fact that Russia is consolidating victories in the war in Ukraine, where NATO is fighting with all its might. In West Asia, Israeli Zionism is also increasingly isolated and pushed to the brink. The imperialist camp, which is already on the defensive in the first two battlefields, will face a decisive crisis if the war in the third battlefield, East Asia and the Western Pacific, also breaks out. While aware that both Zelensky and Netanyahu are being shunned by the public and fear that they could be ousted from power at any moment, we note that if Russia, China, and the DPRK inevitably abandon their strategic patience and enter the anti-imperialist war in earnest, as Iran has done in response to the endless provocations of imperialism and Zionism, the imperialist camp will be shocked and horrified by a series of devastating blows and will be forced to follow in the footsteps of the defeated fascist forces in World War 2. The anti-imperialist camp never wants war, but it is not afraid of a just war if it is unavoidable to achieve permanent peace and to end imperialism, the root of war on earth. Suppose the imperialist camp misidentifies the anti-imperialist camp’s consistent will for peace and strategic patience and ends up fully turning a world war into an irreversible stage. In that case, it will be a fatal error that will drive itself toward destruction, just as the fascist camp did in the past. 

The World Anti-imperialist Platform (the Platform) was launched in Paris, France, in October 2022, with three major goals: strengthening the world anti-imperialist struggle, the ideological battle against pro-imperialist opportunism, and the international communist movement. Since then, it has been working and struggling to achieve the three goals through international conferences, colloquia, and meetings with anti-imperialist communist forces in Belgrade, Serbia in December 2022; Caracas, Venezuela in March 2023; Gwangju, the “ROK” in May 2023; Athens, Greece in November 2023; and Washington, the US, in July 2024. Platform delegations recently visited Guinea-Bissau to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Amilcar Cabral’s birth and Venezuela to participate in the International Congress on Antifascism. The Platform actively promotes meetings and joint actions with anti-imperialist forces in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia, including the three main battlefields in Ukraine, West Asia, and East Asia-Western Pacific. The reactionary theory “Imperialist Pyramid” of the revisionist leadership of the Communist Party of Greece has been completely interred within the international communist movement as its pro-imperialist nature has been exposed by the principled ideological battle of the Platform and the fierce practice of the anti-imperialist struggle in World War 3. Exposing the logical contradictions between the imperialist camp’s anti-Russian and its pro-Israeli propaganda, we will continue to organize and call on the pro-Russian and pro-Palestinian masses to stand in solidarity and struggle together under the banner of anti-imperialist independence.

With the 2024 Dakar International Conference, held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Cabral’s birth, we have learned deeply about the revolutionary significance of his ideas and line, which contributed to the Pan-African Movement and the anti-imperialist movement, and we realize the need to fight together shoulder to shoulder through joint anti-imperialist events and actions in Africa. We also call for the release of Lebanese communist anti-imperialist fighter Georges Abdallah, who will mark 40 years of imprisonment in France in October 2024 for his struggle for the Palestinian liberation, and we will not stop our solidarity struggle as the Platform until his will is realized. We will continue to strengthen the international anti-imperialist and anti-fascist solidarity struggle, raising awareness of the rapid fascistization around the world in line with the imperialist camp’s war provocations. Unity is our best weapon. The slogans “The working class of the world, unite!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated” are our two main slogans. The African people are already united under the banner of anti-imperialism and Pan-Africanism and under the ideology of independence and liberation. The anti-imperialist and independent feat of the people of Africa and the whole world, as well as the revolutionary feat of the working people being the true masters of society, will surely be victorious. The people of Africa and the world, our people, will make it so.