Return to the Land of Juche Korea!

Dermot Hudson with the head of KASS

By Dermot Hudson

I visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK ) from the 11th to the 18th April. I was the first British citizen to visit the DPRK for five years .The last time I was in the DPRK was in October 2019. For several years it was not possible to travel to the DPRK because the border was closed at the end of January 2020 as a countermeasure against Covid 19 . Only recently has the DPRK started allowing groups of visitors into the country. Some anti-Covid 19 measures were apparent when we arrived such as staff spraying sanitiser onto our hands when we arrived in the hotel.
I travelled to People’s Korea  to join in the celebrations of the 112th  anniversary of the birth of President Kim Il Sung and take part in the international seminar on the Juche Idea  on the theme of  Independence, Justice and The Future of Humanity organised by the Korean Association of Social Scientists (KASS) and the International Institute of the Juche Idea. The seminar attracted delegations from more than 20 countries including Brazil, Britain, Germany and Russia. Some countries like Russia and Brazil sent more than one delegation. The fact that so many delegations travelled to Pyongyang  proved that it is a lie that the DPRK is isolated or that there is no support for the DPRK outside the country. Indeed the Juche Idea is attracting interest from around the world .
Arriving at the Air Koryo, the DPRK’s national airline, check in counter at Beijing Airport on the morning of the 11th April I ran into many veteran supporters of People’s Korea such as Martin Lotscher of KFA Switzerland and Javed Ansari from Pakistan as well as newer friends of People’s Korea such as Lucas Rubio of Brazil.
In the course of our stay in the DPRK we visited the Mangyongdae School-children's Palace , the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm , the Natural History Museum at Pyongyang Central Zoo, the Tower of the Juche Idea , the National Gift Exhibition House, the Monument on Mansu Hill as well as the national art gallery, a circus and the stamp museum. We went to a concert at the Moranbong Theatre as well as participating in an international friendship gathering . Some of the delegates attended an excellent dinner hosted by the DPRK Committee For Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
I arrived at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport on the afternoon of the 11th April and was met by my guide O Su Jin of the Korean Association of Social Scientists . We travelled by coach to the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel .  Sometimes it seemed hard to believe that I was really back in the DPRK , it seemed like everything was in a dream. Everywhere we went we encountered friendly people . People on the streets waved at our convoy and the hotel staff were very friendly.
During the visit I witnessed that the situation in the DPRK is calm and stable .The DPRK had closed its borders for four years but survived ,a truly amazing feat when you consider that some countries would only last weeks or even days with their borders closed . However the DPRK is based firmly on self-reliance and the independent national economy .

Koryo Hotel

  Despite the sanctions imposed by the US and its lackeys on the UN Security Council and the Covid pandemic the DPRK is carrying out massive construction work,  Chollima was a flying horse of legend in Korea and gave its name to the mass movement for increased productivity in the DPRK in the late 1950s. Now the DPRK it is going through another great Chollima upsurge.
A new neighbourhood called Hwasong Street has appeared in Pyongyang. On the day of our arrival our coach to the hotel passed through it and later in the visit we drove through Hwasong Street both during the day and at night . Hwasong Street looks very modern and of good quality .It would cost billions to build in a Western country but the DPRK gives homes to people free of charge . Whilst we were staying in the DPRK the second stage of Hwasong Street  was opened on the evening of the 16th April in the presence of Kim Jong Un, the supreme leader of the DPRK. Also a new street is under construction in the Sopho district and was visible when we were going back to Pyongyang Airport on the 18th  April .
In fact, construction was going on all over Pyongyang . Opposite the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel there was a new block of flats under construction and several other blocks of flats under construction were visible in the near distance as well as in other parts of Pyongyang . I think that I can truly say  that although it was my 19th visit to the DPRK I had  never previously seen construction work on such a scale before. What is significant is that all this is being achieved without the so-called “aid” of imperialism or the south Korean puppets.
During the emergency situation that arose in the spring of 2022 when the south Korean puppets deliberately spread Covid 19 into the DPRK , the DPRK rejected “aid” from the south Korean puppet regime , the UN and the Americans. The Daily Worker, the newspaper of the Workers Party of Korea, later described the “aid” of imperialism as “poisoned candy”. The rapid development of People’s Korea by relying on its own resources and labour is destroying the myth that outside assistance, particularly from the Americans and other imperialists, is somehow essential for a country‘s development .
We visited the newly built Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm which was some 34 kilometres outside Pyongyang. It  had only gone into operation in March this year .It was opened on the 15th of March in the presence of the Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The farm had been built on the site of the former Mirim Airbase of the Korean People’s Army. One myth about People’s Korea created by the bourgeois media in the imperialist world is that resources are diverted away from civilians to the military but the construction of the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm shows that in fact this is simply not true. The farm has an area of 100 square hectares with 8 types of greenhouses.
The farm has 1,800 workers. We were able to taste cucumbers produced by the farm . Significantly the Kangdong Greenhouse Vegetable Farm is not a co-operative farm but actually a state farm which means that it is owned by the whole people. The aim is to create a similar farm in each county or province of the DPRK. Vegetables from the farm were supplied free of charge to Pyongyang citizens. Also dwellings for the workers of the farm were given free of charge to the farm’s workers . It can be truly said that the DPRK is actually advancing towards the higher stage of socialism, communism . Probably the DPRK will be the first socialist country to reach the higher stage of communism.
In recent years a false narrative about the DPRK has been created by some sections of the mainstream media and by so-called “academic experts” on the DPRK who in reality know nothing at all about the DPRK. They say that the DPRK is adopting “market reforms” and abandoning Juche-based socialism – lies aimed at spreading disillusion and confusion amongst international supporters of People’s Korea .The fact that the DPRK is developing a network of state owned farms to supply vegetables to the population shows that the DPRK is actually strengthening the planned economy and system of state ownership.
Although there have been massive changes in the DPRK since the last time I visited, what remained unchanged was the DPRK ‘s consistent anti-imperialism and adherence to socialist principles. Red flags were flying on street corners and there were many revolutionary slogans in large Korean characters displayed across the capital. Postcards of anti-US posters could be found in the bookshop of the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel and the Korean Stamp Museum. A friend of mine who had been with me in the DPRK in 2017 and 2018 remarked that he had been worried about what he might find in the DPRK after an absence of six years but was quite relieved as well as positive when he saw that there had been no “reform” and “opening up” in the DPRK and there was a complete absence of Western influence .
Prices in the hotel shop were the same as in 2019.Needless to say there was no evidence to back the ludicrous claim on the rabidly anti-communist NK News  website about a “250 dollar banana" and my guide just laughed and said " ridiculous" when I told him the story .There were no homeless people and I saw no one begging. Housing is given to people free of charge. My guide told me that he had lived in Mirae Scientists Street with his parents but when he got married  he was given a new flat. The neighbourhoods were spotlessly clean with no litter. Unlike Western capitals there were no muggers, drug addicts, beggars, prostitutes on the streets. I was able to leave money in my hotel room and it was still there when I returned in the evening or afternoon.
As to tales of “human rights violations”, the DPRK actually has a fairly minimal police presence compared to many other countries. The police only direct traffic. The situation seemed quite normal, calm and peaceful.
I was able to make a speech at the seminar on the Juche Idea on the theme of “Independence , Justice and the future of Humanity “ ,which was held on the 15th of April .There were 10 speakers including DPRK social scientists as well as speakers from Russia , Mongolia,  Democratic Congo and the International Institute of the Juche Idea . In my speech I pointed out that “People’s Korea under the leadership of the  respected leader Marshal Kim Jong Un represents the future of humanity .Rapid advances such as the construction of new housing as well as the launch of the DPRK’s first ever military reconnaissance satellite are taking place one after the other . People’s Korea is a country without unemployment , without beggars and without drug addicts . It is a society free from the decadence of modern capitalism which is rotten to the core ”.
A follow up course was held on the 16th of April with lecturers from the Korean Association of Social Scientists. I was sad to leave the DPRK on the 18th of April but very glad that I went.
My thanks to the Korean Association of Social Scientists for the invitation and for their work in organising the visit, to my guide  O Su Jin, to the staff of the Pyongyang Koryo Hotel and to the DPRK Committee for Cultural Relations for the excellent dinner.
See you again Pyongyang!

Defending Korea in the West Country

Alan Bolon explains Juche

by New Worker correspondent

The first ever meeting of KFA West of England was held in Taunton, in Somerset, on Sunday. Chaired by Dermot Hudson, the meeting heard a presentation on the Juche philosophy by Alan Bolon and discussed ways of building solidarity with Democratic Korea in the West Country.

Korean solidarity in Bulgaria

By New Worker correspondent

Korean solidarity activists met last weekend to take part in a Juche seminar in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. Dermot Hudson from the Juché Idea Study Group joined other European delegates for a seminar on the theme of Independence, Sovereignty and International Co-Operation which was supported by the International Institute of the Juché Idea and the Korean Association of Social Scientists.

In the western world Juché is simply described as “self-reliance” but it is much more than that. Juché elevates the philosophical principles of Marxism-Leninism as well as its economic theories and focuses on the development of each individual worker, who can only be truly free as part of the collective will of the masses.

Juché reflects the thinking of Korean communist leader Kim Il Sung, who said that working people could only become genuinely emancipated if they stood on their own two feet. The great Korean leader, who led the Korean people to victory against Japan during the Second World War, developed Korean-style socialism and the Juché idea during his life-time.

Living the Dream in the DPRK

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.