Rainer Shea
The DPRK backed Russia because it refuses to appease imperialism. This policy is now causing the U.S. to retreat.
href="https://substack.com/@rainershea">RAINER SHEA ☭
How has the DPRK pressured Trump into reducing military drills, and effectively begging socialist Korea to become open towards any kind of negotiation? By not responding to Trump 2.0’s false “peace” rhetoric by treating this ploy as something to take seriously. The DPRK has given up the old policy of entertaining negotiations, having stated in July 2025 that Washington can only hope for more contact between the two. This stern stance amid the Trump 2.0 offensive is part of a larger shift in posture, one that the DPRK first began to outwardly show right after October 7.
The Workers Party of Korea knew that Russia’s anti-fascist war represented a strategic win for the anti-imperialist cause, as did the recent advances by Palestinian resistance; it was in part because of Russia’s success at beating back NATO that the resistance pursued its Al-Aqsa Flood operation. 2023 had also seen a series of revolutions in Africa, where the peoples of the Sahel countries kicked out the neo-colonial forces. This uprising had also taken advantage of the momentum that Russia’s action created; and because the revolutionary energy from this action was translating into so many other places, at that point the world’s revolutionary forces were on the advance. Socialist Korea knew that a counteroffensive was coming, though, so it was preparing by closing itself off to Washington’s inevitable “peace” offers.
After Washington had orchestrated the December 2024 coup attempt in South Korea, and its plans to start a new Korean war became thwarted by the people’s resistance, Trump 2.0 came in to try tempting the DPRK with promises of fair treatment. The Trump White House’s strategy, at least at first, was to offer bribes to the corrupt officials inside countries that are partnered with China. The hope was that this would draw them into the empire’s orbit, and leave China isolated. But the DPRK is the least corrupt country, even out of all the other anti-imperialist states; so its only reply towards these manipulation attempts has been to close off any potential for becoming “friends” with the aggressor. Because pursuing “peace” with a country that only intends to advance a genocidal global blitz would only mean becoming a collaborator in this assault, and selling out your own people to the imperial blob.
Washington has been successful in getting such capitulation from countries like Armenia, which has pivoted to the United States even though it was the U.S. empire that orchestrated Azerbaijan’s 2022 invasion of Armenia. But the DPRK’s leadership foresaw how growing closer to Washington would put it at risk of becoming subservient, and avoided the risk altogether. This strategic intelligence comes from the philosophy towards anti-imperialist resistance that Kim Il Sung articulated:
That is why one should dispel all illusions about imperialism and fight it out. Only when a principled stand is maintained against imperialism and a staunch anti-imperialist struggle intensified, can the oppressed nations win freedom and independence and the liberated peoples check imperialist aggression, consolidate national independence and achieve prosperity for their countries and nations.
There are limits to how far the DPRK itself can go in spreading this struggle; but those of us within the world’s working class and revolutionary organizations can carry forth the mission ourselves, taking example from these recent victories the DPRK has gained. It’s urgent that we rebuild the power our cause had in the 20th century, because without this proletarian strength, more countries than not will succumb to Washington’s pressures.
The success of Trump 2.0’s diplomatic assimilation strategy in Armenia is a symptom of this proletarian weakness; this is both because Armenia’s own government is a comprador one, and because Russia’s working class isn’t yet strong enough to make its government back up places like Armenia. Moscow’s refusal to assist in the fight against Azerbaijan was what the compradors used to justify switching to Washington’s side; which shows how easy it is for the imperialists to manipulate events in their favor, unless their opponents have adopted a framework that doesn’t allow for such manipulation.
What’s guided the DPRK to properly navigate our third world war is Juche, Kim Il Sung’s ideology of self-reliance in building the revolution. Even among many people who are anti-capitalist or antiwar, Juche is not yet understood, because U.S. propaganda endlessly demonizes the DPRK and its system. But with the rise of mass support for the Palestinian resistance among the post-Covid generation, we have a new opening to bring Juche’s thinking to the people. For those who’ve already grasped why Gaza is right to resist, we have the perfect way to describe Juche: Juche is what a civilization has embraced after it’s already defeated the genocidal forces. Juche is the logical conclusion of everything the Axis of Resistance is doing, the consolidation of popular revolutionary power into a formidable collective. It’s through this process that ever-more DPRKs will appear, and expunge the liberal bourgeois influences that have held the masses back for so long.
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