North Korea’s Friends in America? IT’S US!
No other organization in America has stood with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea as much as the Center for Political Innovation
Text of a video message from CPI Regional Captain Noah Schenk:
Recently, this article was published in the Wall Street Journal admitting to the tremendous economic growth that is happening right now on the Korean Peninsula in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea. It has sparked a profound amount of new interest in the DPRK.
It's worth pointing out that no group has done more to promote the truth about the DPRK and to stand with the people of Korea in America than the Center for Political Innovation.
Even before the Center for Political Innovation was founded, Caleb Maupin, our founder, was leading rallies in New York City opposing the propaganda film Red Dawn while Occupy Wall Street was happening. He waved the North Korean flag and entered an AMC movie theater to make the point that Red Dawn was a disgusting propaganda film that portrayed the Korean people as warlike and eager to attack the United States. In reality, the Korean people have suffered under the boot of U.S. imperialism like few others. They have seen their country divided, and the people of Korea do not want the United States occupying the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.
CPI Founder Caleb Maupin raises picture of Kim Il Sung in NYC’s Union Square in 2012.
A year later, when Caleb went to Quito, Ecuador, for the World Festival of Youth and Students, he was able to meet with young people who were part of the Kim Il Sung Youth organization. He talks about how meeting young people from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea—meeting professional revolutionaries—was a life-changing experience for him. It started him on the journey that would eventually lead to founding the Center for Political Innovation, as he saw Americans who called themselves anti-imperialists refusing to do work that he believed was so important.
Caleb Maupin meets with Kim Il Sung Youth Organization at the World Youth Festival in Quito, Ecuador in December of 2013.
In 2023, we at the Center for Political Innovation were outside the White House with a huge banner that read, "Finish what Trump started. Peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula." Later that year, we sponsored the New York City Peace March with Manhattan Family Church.
CPI demonstration outside the White House in 2023.
We attended the World Youth Festival in Sochi, Russia, in 2024. When we did, we published a special book about peace on the Korean Peninsula and the opportunity for peaceful reunification titled A Journey of Hope. Beforehand, when we spoke at an official UN press conference raising the Uhuru case, we also talked about our hopes for the Korean Peninsula.
I was personally involved in that:
Noah Schenk speaks to United Nations Press Conference in 2024.
"Hey everybody. My name is Noah Schenk, and one of the reasons that I am so excited to be able to join the World Youth Festival is that we will be able to meet with youth from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Right now it is illegal to travel to the DPRK under U.S. law, and that's really unfortunate in light of the escalations on the Korean Peninsula. We have to remember that the DPRK is a nuclear-armed country, and these escalations could be very dangerous.
That's why I think it's so important. In combination with the fact that I, as a Korean American, feel a deep kinship with the Korean people and want to see them reunited, it's important for us to meet with them.
We've published a book to give to them, and we want to show them that there are Americans in the United States who do not hate the North Koreans. Not only do we not hate them, but we respect them. We admire their revolutionary tradition. We admire how they showed support for the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation. We admire how they welcomed the Black Panther Party into their country and showed support for Black liberation and liberation struggles around the world.
It's going to be a real honor to be able to meet with them. Thank you very much."
(Noah’s remarks to the United Nations Press Conference, February 28th, 2024)
During the World Youth Festival in Sochi, one of our members spoke on a panel with representatives from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where they discussed the future of youth movements and the role young people can play in building a world beyond U.S.-backed globalism/imperialism.
CPI meets with DPRK representative at World Youth Festival panel in Sochi, 2024.
During the 2024 elections, we held our Peace MAGA campaign, going outside Madison Square Garden and later outside Trump's inauguration. Our activities were featured in a number of major media outlets as we stood with ten-foot banners reading, "Only Peace Will Make America Great Again," alongside a banner depicting Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un shaking hands.
CPI #PeaceMAGA campaign during the 2024 US Presidential Election
There was a touching moment when Koreans gathered around the banner as we handed out pamphlets explaining our vision for a world beyond U.S.-backed globalism/imperialism.
Koreans warmly received CPI’s banner outside Trump’s inauguration ceremony in January, 2025.
CPI began distributing a pamphlet on the KimIlSungia flower in 2026.
More recently, we have begun distributing a pamphlet en masse that tells the story of the Kimilsungia, a flower that grows exclusively in the DPRK. It was originally a symbol of friendship between the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Indonesia. We would love to see the day when Americans can have access to such a flower after sanctions on the DPRK are lifted.
Why is it impossible to get this flower in America? ORDER THE BOOK
We also hold weekly Juche Study Groups and have recently published Juche for American Workers, which seeks to educate Americans about the ideology of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
As anti-imperialists, we also see aspects of the Juche ideology reflected in our own ideology of Innovationism, and we draw inspiration from it. In many ways, both of our ideologies emerge from the legacy of Marxism and Marxism-Leninism, and from what communism and the anti-colonial struggles of the twentieth century meant to the people of the world.
However, we also go one step further. While we acknowledge Marxism as part of our heritage, we emphasize human beings as a creative species. Kim Il Sung said that human beings are unique, that we are social beings who embody the spirit of creativity. We at the Center for Political Innovation, as Innovationists, very much believe that as well.
We also strive for a strong and independent country that can stand on its own beyond the system of globalism/imperialism, and the bankers who have kept us poor.
So, if you are interested in solidarity with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea—if you've read this article in the Wall Street Journal, or other articles acknowledging the remarkable economic gains achieved by the Korean people, such as the BBC article describing the economic miracle that has taken place on the Korean Peninsula—if you have come to understand the lies that have been told to us by U.S. media about the people of Korea, then you may want to consider joining the Center for Political Innovation.
Because if there is a DPRK solidarity organization in the United States, it is the Center for Political Innovation.
Thanks for watching.
