Sarah Cundy, from Canterbury, Kent, said she would rather have solidarity with North Korea than the USA
A Labour youth officer has sparked outrage online after she expressed ‘solidarity’ with North Korea.
Sarah Cundy, 18, is chair of Canterbury Momentum – a grassroots group which backs leader Jeremy Corbyn – and said that she would ‘rather have solidarity with North Korean than the USA’.
The teenager was criticised after a picture of the North Korean flag appeared on her Twitter page which she has since removed.
The youth officer of the Canterbury Constituency Labour Party also displayed the flags of Venezuela, Cuba and Palestine on her profile.
It comes as North Korea and its supreme leader Kim Jong-un have faced international condemnation for missiles tests and nuclear weapons programmes.
She posted online: ‘The flags in my bio represent countries I have solidarity with. I have solidarity with countries willing to stand up to imperialism.
‘The DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] have weapons to keep themselves and their population safe from invasion – they don’t want to end up like Libya.
‘I do not endorse their strikes over Japan but three million Korean people were killed in the Korean War by America, I’d rather have solidarity with DPRK than the USA.’
Miss Cundy, from Canterbury, Kent, faced a backlash online with Twitter users questioning her stance on North Korea.
Critics on the social media site accused her of being a ‘friend of dictatorship’.
Sarah Cundy (pictured) caused controversy when she had a picture of a North Korean flag on her Twitter profile
The teenager tweeted that she would rather have solidarity with North Korea than America
Emma Wasp wrote: ‘Happy to see you are aligned with a communist dictatorship which aspires to kill 51 million in a nuclear war.’
Miss Cundy, who was educated at the Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School, was mortified and apologised if she offended anyone.
She told MailOnline: ‘I really regret my comments and apologise if I’ve caused anyone any offence.
‘As somebody who believes strongly in democracy I am not supportive of oppressive regimes, and the flag was intended in support of the citizens.
‘I would also ask people to remember some of the silly things they said and did when they were 18 and regard my comments in the same light.’
A Momentum spokesperson added: ‘What she has said isn’t in line with Momentum’s view and is not representative of the views of Momentum’s membership.
‘While she regrets her comments, we are currently investigating these comments and will take appropriate action based on our code of ethics and constitution.’
The flags on her page saw her receive criticism online and she was quick to justify the decision to have them on her profile