A short report about north Korea in October 2000.
In the connection of participating the Juche seminar in Pyongyang last week
I had a good possibility to have a look at the country, also at the
countryside. I heard other visitors� experiences all around the country,
too.
Actually it is not often the best way to evaluate phenomena on the basis
what they seem to be just here and now. Trends of further developement are
more important. The Koreans look for the future. Yet there are some
special visible issues which the western mainstream media distorts
intentinally.
A very special Korean psychological feature is the collective way of
thinking and working. Quite evidently its basis is the strong common
ideology based on the Korean model of carrying out marxism-leninism. During
the school system from kindergarten up to the end of eleven years
obligatory education people grow for collective life in all social sectors.
Seeing a performance at the stadium of 100 000 young artists is an
unforgettable experience. No doubt the same type of collective teamwork
appears in the army, in factories, in offices and in the agricultural
work. According to the bourgeois media collectivism is slavery. The Koreans
enjoy this "slavery".
It is easy to see that there are no drug problems in north Korea. That
kind of a phenomena seems impossible in those circumstances. Any forms of
criminalism could not be seen. No beggars or smugglers. Instead of those
western-type phenomena you see children in their beautiful dresses and
well-dressed adults with Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Il badges.
The ideologically leading bodies are the Workers Party of Korea and the
Association of Social Sciences. Both organizations do also in practical
work on all levels. You meet those people everywhere, working in offices
and on rice fields.
There are also social democrats and Buddhist parties. All organizations
have a strictly anti-imperialist character.
The army is strong with their high-tech equipment. Yet the soldiers are
mostly seen on fields with spades, not with rifles. Kim Jong Il�s Army
first -politics has guaranteed DPRK�s independence but this idea has also
many kind of civil dimensions in the north Korean community.
Koreans� hate against imperialism is natural. The first American military
vessel has been sinked in a Korean river in 1866. After that Koreans have
suffered by both Japanese and American imperialism continuously. This
history unites the Koreans.
A police state? The only polices seen were young women in their tidy
uniforms in traffic control work. Some police cars can been seen in street
and road control duties. North Korean people are happy and friendly in a
natural and free way. An idea of some kind of a police state style of life
is ridiculous. The necessary discipline has its origin in people�s
mind.
There has been not hunger at least in this year. The rice and Chinese
cabbage harvests have been good. Yet there are no reserves. That is why
foreign aid would be very welcome because the weather conditions cannot be
forecasted.
Energy is an actual problem. North Korean nuclear reactor project was
interrupted after making an agreement with USA that American supply oil
and/or light water plants for DPRK. Americans bitrayed the agreement
like its has been their manner everywhere. Koreans� own light water plant
project has been started but it takes a long time for producing energy.
Pyongyang is a monumental city of two millions of people. Old houses in
the center are rapidly replaced with new and modern suburbs. The city is
especially clean and tidy. The monumental new buildings for children,
education, sports and for many public purposes form the figure of the
city.
There are not very much cars in DPRK. Practically all vehicles belong to
the state departments. Heavy trucks are not allowed to enter the centers of
cities without a special permit. Correspondingly, the city air is clean.
There are no private enterprises in the country. The community works well
without these elements. The Korean people work hard.
Basicly DPRK produces everything necessary herself. No disposable
commodities are produced. DPRK is an industrialized country.
No poverty was seen. However, people in the countryside live at the
moment in rather difficult circumstances because of shortage of
electricity.
DPRK has succesfully opened new foreign commercial and political relations
but more new foreign relations are necessary.
According to the western mainstream media north Korean economy has almost
collapsed. In the Finnish TV we saw today poor peasants in desperate
circumstances. These views have been shown before. They are simply fakes.
The country has specific problems because of the criminal commercial
blockade, but the economy in general is not in difficulties.
Dear recipient, if you have possibilities to contact the government of your
country in order to promote the drive for new Korean commercial or
diplomatic contacts in your country, please do it. Correspondingly, if you
have any appropriate contacts in order to arrange food aid to north
Koreans, please do it. The governments of US-backed countries will not
give any aid because they support imperialist politics.
Also south Korea has suffered by floods and dryness, but they are given
the external aid automatically by certain governments. Private people and
people�s organisations may be able arrange aid to the people in the north
of Korean peninsula.
You may go to north Korea and take a look with your own eyes. No doubt
the Koreans welcome you warmly.
North Korea has overcome the worst flood years and she will definetly go on
stronger.
Korean people are extremely persistent and they feel their future bright.
Yet in the circumstances of strangling of US imperialism all help for DPRK
is important not only to north Korea but also to the future of mankind.
Heikki Sipila
KOMINFORM
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