The socialist group that counts Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a member endorsed an event defending North Korea’s totalitarian regime against Western critics.
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and its International Committee were “endorsing” and “supporting” organizations, respectively, for a “People’s Summit for Korea” held from July 25-27 in New York City, the event’s website shows. The forum called for “reunification” of South Korea with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s regime and promoted claims that “imperialist” forces have unfairly disparaged the communist nation.
The left-leaning publication Peoples Dispatch quoted activists such as Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition Executive Director Brian Becker defending the “DPRK,” or Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, at the summit.
“One of the problems that we face in the United States is the nonstop demonization and caricaturing of the DPRK,” Becker said, according to the outlet.
“Imperialism wants us to believe that the government of North Korea, and the people of North Korea, are completely distinct, and fundamentally antagonistic,” a member of the activist group Nodutdol reportedly told her audience while describing a trip she took to the country. “This lie facilitates any number of imperialist maneuvers, ranging from sanctions, to conducting war drills, as it allows the imperialists to say that they are carrying out these actions on behalf of North Korea, and against their government.”
North Korea has declared itself to be “at war” with its southern neighbor and is widely considered one of the worst human rights violators in the world due to state-sanctioned slavery, extrajudicial killings, torture and other documented abuses. The New York City summit’s narrative aligns with the North Korean government’s own propaganda that denies its human rights record.
Attendees also chanted “death to imperialism,” according to footage shared by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
Mamdani’s campaign, the DSA’s national chapter and the People’s Summit for Korea did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, officially became the Democratic nominee for mayor of America’s largest city in July, signaling what analysts have anticipated to be a potentially radical shift in the party. The DSA took a victory lap after the win, announcing that membership had skyrocketed due to Mamdani’s appeal.
The mayoral hopeful has promised leftist programs for the city that he describes as free, such as state-backed childcare and government-run grocery stores. Mamdani has proposed higher taxes for corporations and the wealthy to pay for the initiatives.
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