The Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front (AINDF) is a banned

popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

organization in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The AINDF is guided by ''

Juche ''Juche'' ( ; ), officially the ''Juche'' idea (), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and ...

'', the official state ideology of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, and aims to carry out a popular revolution in South Korea, achieve independence by removing the

United States Forces Korea United States Forces Korea (USFK) is a sub-unified command of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). USFK is the joint headquarters for U.S. combat-ready fighting forces and components under the ROK/US Combined Forces Command (CFC) – a ...

, and hasten the reunification of the country. The AINDF is identical in organization to the

Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea The Democratic Front for the Reunification of Korea, also known as the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) or the Fatherland Front, is a North Korean popular front formed on 22 July 1946 and led by the Workers' Part ...

, the ''

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally ...

of North Korea, and has missions in the North Korean capital of

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

(the only ostensibly South Korean organization to) and another in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The AINDF is banned in South Korea under the National Security Law as a spy group for the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...

, the ruling party of North Korea, but operates clandestinely within the country and is regarded as a legitimate organization by North Korea.

History

The Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front was officially founded on 25 August 1969 by Kim Jong-tae (, ), who published a magazine named ''Chongmaek'' (, ), and Choi Yong-do as the Revolutionary Party for Reunification (, ), with a history dating back to the 1964 formation of a preparatory committee. The group was established during the period of the

Third Republic of Korea The Third Republic of South Korea was the government of South Korea from December 1963 to November 1972. The Third Republic was founded on the dissolution of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction that overthrew the Second Republic and ...

, an

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

under President

Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...

, and both founders were executed along with other leaders of the organization; other members were sentenced to long prison terms. Kim Jong-tae's wife and two children were never seen again. On 27 July 1985, it renamed itself to the National Democratic Front of South Korea (), and renamed its propaganda broadcasting station (that had a main station in

Haeju Haeju () is a city located in South Hwanghae Province near Haeju Bay in North Korea. It is the administrative centre of South Hwanghae Province. As of 2008, the population of the city is estimated to be 273,300. At the beginning of the 20th century ...

) from "Revolutionary Party for Reunification" (, ) to "Voice of National Salvation" (, ). It adopted its current name on 23 March 2005.

Notes

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External links

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English website
{{Workers' Party of Korea 1969 establishments in South Korea Banned political parties in South Korea Banned communist parties Anti-imperialism in Korea Korean nationalist parties Far-left politics in South Korea North Korea–South Korea relations Political parties established in 1969 Popular fronts Socialist parties in South Korea Juche political parties