 |
| Dermot Hudson at the rostrum for the seminar |
By Dermot Hudson
I
VISITED the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from the 6th September
to the 13th September to participate in the International Seminar on the Juche
Idea for Anti-Imperialism, Independence and Solidarity. The trip was organised
by the Korean Association of Social Scientists (KASS) and the International
Institute of the Juche Idea (IIJI) and included the celebrations of the 68th
anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK, the sacred homeland of Juche!
I made the long journey from London to the
DPRK travelling via Beijing. After a 10 hour flight from London I spent one
night in Beijing and then proceeded to Pyongyang on Air Koryo. At Beijing
Airport I was able to meet Comrade Mikel Vivanko of the Juche Idea Study Group
of Spain and KFA Official Delegate for Spain, and also some Juche Idea
followers who recognised me from Facebook.
Koryo is a most revolutionary airline, unlike
capitalist airlines; the video screens said it was the "flight of Songun
Korea". When we flew over the Amnokgang River the stewardess announced
that we were flying over the sites of the anti-Japanese revolutionary
battlefields where the anti-Japanese guerrillas lie buried. Our plane glided
into Pyongyang.
I was met at the airport by the
vice-director of KASS and my guide for the visit, Ms Ri from the Pyongyang
University of Foreign Studies. She had been my guide in October 2015, and had
been a most helpful and kind guide who made me feel at home. I also met the
chair of the Writers Union of Korea at the airport.
Although some parts of Korea had been
affected by floods, the situation in Pyongyang was quite normal. Looking out of
the window of the bus I could see abundant and lush crops of rice and maize
growing well in the fields. Later, on the road to the Pyongyang golf course, I
also saw fine crops that were beautiful to look at. There was no sign of the
crop failure or famine that the lying imperialist media continually claim exist
in the DPRK. Indeed, living standards in the DPRK are continuously improving.
The DPRK is pushing ahead with massive construction projects such as Ryomyong
Street.
When I visited the DPRK in April, Ryomyong
Street had simply been flat ground with many construction lorries running up
and down. But this time I saw futuristic buildings towering high into the sky;
they looked totally out of this world. When the DPRK build streets these are as
big as small cities and house up to 20,000 people. The streets have not only
apartments but also shops, service facilities and even hospitals. The flats are
given to people free of charge – something Londoners could only dream of. Housing construction was also evident in the
rural areas.
Pyongyang is a city of construction and
People's Korea is a country of construction. It is amazing that the DPRK is
capable of such large scale construction. In London it is said that it costs
£150,000 to build one flat (which is then sold for up to £500,000 or more) so
the cost of building 20,000 flats would be at least £3 billion!
This shows a number of things: firstly,
that the DPRK is putting the people first and investing huge amounts of funds
in raising living standards; secondly, the DPRK is also carrying out massive
defence construction including the bolstering of the nuclear deterrent – this
is the dual line of building up the economy and nuclear force in parallel. Only
Juche Korea can carry out such a line.
In the past the revisionist USSR put
emphasis on defence build-up but was unable to maintain a high level of
economic growth. They asserted that it was impossible to develop the economy
and defence in parallel. This is not true of course, as the experience of the
DPRK proves. The USSR failed to maintain the building of both the economy and
defence because of the malady of modern revisionism and lack of militant
anti-imperialist spirit.
In the DPRK the massive construction is
being carried out in the face of sanctions by the US imperialists and their
executive enforcement agency, the UN Security Council, as well as other
imperialists and big power chauvinists. The great self-development first idea
and the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance enable the Korean people to carry
out a high level of construction, despite the sanctions.
Dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un said
that the construction of Ryomyong Street would deal a blow against the
sanctions and blockade of the imperialist reactionaries. The self-development
first idea is a contemporary application of the great Juche idea and the
revolutionary spirit of self-reliance. Some reactionaries and class enemies
maintain that People's Korea should abandon Juche and adopt "reform"
and "opening up". Such a course would be worse than death. Those
countries that adopted "reform" and "opening up" have
suffered disaster, despair, crisis and conflict.
During the period of my visit, Juche Korea
carried out its 5th nuclear test, on the 9th of September, fully displaying the
spirit of Juche and self-reliance. It was an act of militant anti-imperialism
that defied the sanctions, blockades and threats of the US imperialists and
their followers, as well as the big power chauvinists, revisionists and class
enemies. I saw on TV the veteran DPRK news announcer Ri Chun Hee announce the
nuclear test. Earlier, on 6th September, the DPRK had conducted the most
impressive test of a road-launched Inter Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).
Both the ICBM test and nuclear test dealt heavy blows against US imperialism. I
feel excited to be in the DPRK at a time when the DPRK conducted these tests.
Anti-Imperialism, Independence and
Solidarity were the themes of the International Seminar on the Juche Idea,
attended by delegates from Spain, Germany, Britain, Russia, Italy, Sri-Lanka,
Nepal, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Uganda, Democratic Congo and Japan. The
seminar was presided over by Dr Harish Gupta of the IIJI and was held in the
presence of comrade Kim Ki Nam, vice-chair of the Workers Party of Korea (WPK).
The speeches were very lively and militant, with diverse opinions given on the
situations in various countries but with overall unity around the Juche Idea
and Songun Idea. Of particular note were the speeches by Dmitri Kostenko of
Russia, by Mikel Vivanko of Spain, Mr Jain of India and one of the Nepalese
delegates.
We had excellent video lectures on human
rights, the dual line of building the economy and defence in parallel, and
Korean folk traditions, which had been prepared by KASS. These lectures proved
very useful and increased greatly my understanding of the DPRK. We will share
them amongst our members.
We were also given an excellent lecture by
Professor Mun Jong Suk on the 7th Congress of the WPK. This lecture was packed
full of information. I learnt a lot about the self-development first idea of
the DPRK – for example that the DPRK even produces its own sugar Okdang from
maize. Truly the DPRK is the most self-reliant country in the world that can
stand on its own two feet.
I had the honour of meeting with
vice-chair Kim Ki Nam of the WPK twice during my visit. I was also happy to pay
a visit to my old friends at the Pyongyang Mission of the Anti-Imperialist
National Democratic front of south Korea, which is headed by veteran south
Korean revolutionary comrade Zo Il Min.
We had excellent discussions and my hosts
showed me two excellent videos, which I enjoyed. We had detailed discussions on
the struggle and I met the comrades from the Korean Committee For Cultural
Relations and had cordial discussions. The KASS organised a wonderful Joint
Friendship Gathering for us at the Pyongyang Golf Course. This consisted of
some sports games, then a barbecue and picnic lunch, rounded off by a singing
performance.
Sports
are a big challenge for me because I have never played any sports since I was
at 6th form college 36 years ago. For singing I chose to sing the song the Red Flag, which is common to both Korea
and Britain but the Korean version is much faster and differently paced to the
British version, which is slow and a bit sombre. In Britain the Red Flag used
to be sung at Labour party conferences until arch-traitor Tony Blair banned
them from singing it. I think my rendition of the Red Flag was appreciated by
the audience. All the foreigners sang the song We will go to Mt Paektu but this was a challenge to me because I
think it would take several months for me to learn properly to do the song justice.
All Korean people are like professional singers and seem very talented.
On this visit I was able to see the newly
constructed Pyongyang Orphans Secondary School on the outskirts of Pyongyang.
This has 21 classrooms including an anti-imperialist class education room. It
has all the latest facilities and equipment. The school has a massive swimming
pool, as well as a multi-use sports hall and a splendid dining room. This
dining room did not look like a school dining room at all but like a hotel or a
restaurant.
On display in the anti-imperialist class
education room were pictures showing the history of US imperialist aggression
on Korea. By carrying out anti-imperialist class education the DPRK makes sure
that the US imperialists and capitalists do not sneak their ideology into
People's Korea. Bourgeois ideology is highly corrosive and poisonous; it can
spread insidiously unless resolute and decisive preventive measures are taken.
The Pyongyang Orphans School was a good example of the people-oriented policies
of the WPK and the dear respected leader Marshal Kim Jong Un.
In capitalist societies orphans are
regarded as rejects and outcasts. Children's homes exist in capitalist
countries but are fearful places where abuse, physical and sexual, of the
children can take place. Usually in my country children who are raised in
children's homes become unemployed when they grow up or drift into crime.
DPRK attaches great importance to youth.
Recently the 9th Congress of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League (now
renamed the Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League) was held in the presence of
the dear respected leader Marshal Kim Jong Un. On the TV I saw the massive
torchlight parade of youth. My guide Ms Ri told me that she had participated in
it. A splendid Museum of Youth Movement History has been built in Kwangbok
Street. Here we could see how the history of the Korean youth movement
developed under the guidance of President Kim Il Sung, Chair Kim Jong Il and
Marshal Kim Jong Un.
There were also pictures and relics
showing the contribution of anti-Japanese revolutionary heroine Madame Kim Jong
Suk to the youth movement. Ms Ri asked me if we have a youth league in Britain,
of course the answer is no.
Some political parties maintain small
youth leagues and there are organisations such as the Boy Scouts, which are
seen as a joke (in the case of the scouts highly discredited because of their
founder's support for fascism and numerous paedophile scandals). Only People's
Korea has its own mass youth league. The DPRK trusts young people and puts them
forward as one of the pillars of society.
We also visited the Kumususan Palace of
the Sun, Mangyondae, the Fatherland Liberation War Museum, the Sci-Tech Complex
and the Circus. We enjoyed an excellent art performance at the splendid
Pyongwha Art Theatre, which I had never been to before. The performance was
based on the legendary Korean song Aririang.
I liked the Songun Aririang and the
piece about Generalissimo Kim Jong Il ascending the steep Chol pass.
The DPRK is developing excellent cultural
facilities for people. I had visited the Pyongyang Zoo four years ago in 2012
but was surprised by the change this time. I did not recognise the entrance to
the Zoo, which had totally changed. The Zoo has been reconstructed and
expanded; it is very modern with a nature museum. Visitors can also observe
fish at close quarters because you can actually walk through a transparent
passage that is under water. There are electric cars to ferry visitors around
the zoo, thus affording great convenience to people. Ms Ri told me that
entrance to the Pyongyang Zoo is nearly free-of-charge so that working people
may visit it. But the London Zoo at Regents Park charges £25 for an adult to
visit and £29 for a fast track ticket! A ticket for a child costs £17.
In People's Korea of Juche, recreational
and cultural facilities are not a means of money making for capitalist
parasites but a means of enriching the cultural and emotional lives of the
people. The DPRK is pursuing a genuine people-oriented policy thanks to the
Juche Idea and the leadership of the dear respected leader Marshal Kim Jong Un.
was
deeply impressed by the hospitality shown by the Korean people. I was given a
big hotel room that seemed bigger than my residence (which is 50 square metres)
and had a balcony from which I could see Mirae Scientists Street and even
glimpse the River Taedong. My guide, Ms Ri, was very helpful, always working
hard to arrange my schedule and did everything possible to make my stay
convenient as well as providing some short but good explanations of the Juche
Idea.
Everyone was very friendly to me even
though I had come from a hostile imperialist country, a country that to my
eternal shame even sent troops to fight against People's Korea and to prevent
reunification.
Although I have visited the DPRK 12 times,
each time I learn something new. Being in the DPRK is like being in a dream – a
country where there are no homeless or beggars sleeping in shop doorways or in
pedestrian subways; a country without internal conflict or contradictions; a
society based on single-hearted unity! I think if I lived in the DPRK I would
only miss a cup of British tea and fish and chips, as well as my family and
friends.
I was sad to leave People's Korea and
return to London. Visiting the DPRK for the 12th time I became convinced that
the road I had taken was and is the correct one and that I should not deviate
from it. I pledged myself to study the Juche Idea and Songun Idea even more
intensely and to carry out our work better.
