President Kim Il Sung and Britain

by Dermot Hudson

The highly significant 105^th anniversary of the birth of the great Korean communist leader, comrade Kim Il Sung, is a reminder of how important it is to reflect on the relevance of his teachings and ideas to Britain. How are the ideas of Kim Il Sung applicable to Britain?

Firstly, the great Juche idea is applicable to Britain because it teaches that every country and every people should be independent and masters of their own destiny. The Juche idea is expressed in practical terms as Juche in ideology, independence in politics and self-reliant in defence. These are policies that a new progressive government could and should implement. Although Britain is an imperialist country it is at the same time deeply subordinate to US imperialism and pursues the so-called special relationship.

A new government in Britain could apply Juche by leaving NATO and kicking out

US troops. This would be a basic prerequisite to achieving independence in politics. Kim Il Sung understood the need for capitalist countries to be independent, saying:  "Ours is an era when the people demand independence. Today even the people of the capitalist countries, to say nothing of the socialist countries, want to take the road of independence and especially the people of the Third World who were exploited and oppressed by the imperialists over a long period are advancing under the uplifted banner of independence."

            Kim Il Sung showed the way to independence for the peoples of the capitalist, socialist and Third World countries. Indeed, the Juche idea reflects the aspirations of the peoples of all countries for independence – this is an undeniable fact.

            To establish Juche and achieve both political and economic independence, Britain would need to break with international capitalism and imperialism by leaving the European Union (EU), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The British people recently voted, decisively, to leave the hated EU. President Kim Il Sung condemned the predecessor of the EU, the Common Market, pointing out that: "The ‘European Common Market’, the ‘integration of the world economy’ and the like, loudly advertised by the imperialist powers today, all pursue the heinous, aggressive aims of strangling the economic independence of the newly independent states and subordinating these countries to their rule."

Indeed, as Britain prepares to withdraw from the EU the teachings of Kim Il Sung on building an independent national economy are highly relevant to the British people. When some big power chauvinists and revisionists tried to force the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to join the former Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA or COMECON), a Soviet-led economic bloc dominated by the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies, this was opposed by President Kim Il Sung. The leader of the Workers Party of Korea upheld the banner of self-reliance and the independent national economy, saying later that: "It has become more clear today that our decision to build socialism by our own efforts on the principle of self-reliance and not enter the CMEA was quite correct."

He defined the building of an independent national economy as: "Building an independent national economy means building a diversified economy, equipping it with up-to-date technology and creating our solid bases of raw materials, thereby building up an all embracing economic system in which every branch is structurally interrelated so as to provide domestically most of the products of heavy and light industry and the agricultural produce needed to make the country wealthy and powerful and to improve the people's living conditions."

            Instead of trying to strike free-trade deals with countries such as the USA (who will only exploit and plunder Britain through so-called ‘free trade’) and lowering wages in order to be 'competitive', Britain could take on board the Juche idea, the line of self-reliance, and build an independent national economy like the DPRK.

              The example of Juche-based socialism, which is the fruit of the leadership and teachings of the great leader Kim Il Sung, is an inspiration to the people of Britain in their fight for socialism. Democratic Korea has provided people with the right to work, housing is provided at a very low cost or even totally free (one could only sigh when you contrast this to the recent headline about house prices in London going up even faster). Education is also free up to all levels, including university and post-graduate study. School clothes and other things for children are either free or sold at 50 per cent of cost price. Mothers with more than three children can work a six-hour day but be paid for eight hours. The retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. Taxation, including local autonomy tax, was abolished in 1974.

            Free medical care was introduced in 1953 and buttressed by further legalisation in 1960 and 1980. All treatment including medicine is free and the state even pays travelling expenses to the sanatorium!

Such measures have not been taken in all socialist countries nor in rich countries, but have been taken in the DPRK because of the profound concern of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung for the people and the belief that the country should shoulder full responsibility for the destiny and well-being of the people. President Kim Il Sung made sure that improvement of the people’s living standards was enshrined in the principles of both the Workers Party of Korea and the DPRK. Juche Korea became the model of socialism for the world, including Britain.

            Lastly, President Kim Il Sung always supported the struggle of the working people of the capitalist countries, including Britain, for their rights and for socialism. In 1983, for example, he declared: "firm solidarity with the working classes and peoples in the capitalist countries battling against oppression and exploitation by capital."

            At a time when many British progressives and communists had lost heart because of the overthrow of socialism in the USSR and the people’s democracies of eastern Europe, the DPRK stuck to the socialist road, showing that socialism was alive and not dead!

President Kim Il Sung met with a delegation of the New Communist Party of Britain in 1990 and also with a delegation of the Communist Party of Britain at a later date, as well as a leading British social scientist. Twenty-five years ago on the 20^th April, 1992 President Kim Il Sung unveiled the Pyongyang Declaration: Let Us Defend and Advance the Cause of Socialism, which was adopted by 70 parties. Now over 258 parties, including five British communist parties, have endorsed it.

            In conclusion, the revolutionary activities and teachings of the great leader comrade Kim Il Sung are vitally relevant to British people today. The Juche idea authored by comrade Kim Il Sung lights the road of independence for the British people.

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.

The Propaganda Game

Review

The Propaganda Game (2015)

98 minutes
Classification: 15

by Dermot Hudson

 

Spanish director and actor Álvaro Longoria has won critical acclaim for films about Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara  over the years. Last year he set out to investigate and explore the theme of the propaganda war against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). This film is a result of his visit to the DPRK arranged by the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) and the DPRK Committee For Cultural Relations.

  The primary strength of the film is that the fascinating footage of the DPRK, showing the carefree lives of working people in the DPRK and the fact that Alejandro Cao de Benos, the founder  and President of the KFA, plus officials of the DPRK Cultural Relations Committee and ordinary working people are able to put the case for the DPRK. They are able to point out that housing is free of charge and that the people of the DPRK do not pay taxes.

Some of the Koreans interviewed expressed surprise and dismay at some of the lies being peddled about the DPRK, such as the story about laws about hairstyles!

  Unfortunately, probably as a concession to capitalist commercial interests, the film does include some anti-DPRK material from various 'defectors' and so-called experts on the DPRK including Andrei Lankov, a Russian “liberal” academic who is professor of Korean Studies at Kookmin University in Seoul, the capital of the puppet south Korean regime, along with some prominent members of the so-called “human rights” gang.

            The audience is also treated to theatrical and plastic celebrity defector Yeomi Park, who also appears in the film. The DPRK has made a documentary exposing this unsavoury young lady and her background. Others have also taken apart her story.

  “Seeing is believing” as Koreans say and basically the reality of the DPRK disproved these ill-minded and hired slanderers. We saw Korean people at work and at play, relaxing or at wedding ceremonies. Longoria said that he saw no evidence of the black market capitalist economy that some so-called experts claim exists. Longoria, though, is clearly neither a socialist nor a communist because he seemed to be puzzled by how the DPRK's construction boom is funded. “Where is the money coming from?” he asked twice. Well we can tell him that is socialist planning, socialist ownership and  Juché that provides the wherewithal for all the construction.

  Regrettably and bizarrely Longoria appears to doubt that the Catholic church in Pyongyang is genuine and he also has a one-sided take on reunification, seeing it only as meaning south Korea absorbing the DPRK. He appeared to be totally ignorant of the DPRK proposals for a Confederal Republic and the inter-Korean agreements of 2000 and 2007. The possibility of the south Korean people rising up in a revolution against the puppet regime and reunifying with their brothers and sisters in the north also appears to have escaped his mind.

            Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings the DPRK and the KFA in the form of Alejandro Cao de Benos shine through in the film. The film contains a rare interview with Alejandro's parents for the first time. The no-nonsense, straight talking style of Alejandro in defending the DPRK is impressive. Some so-called friends of the DPRK have often shied away from such a robust defence of the DPRK but Alejandro was there in the film defending the DPRK, hammering the lies.

            If you are prepared to stomach some extreme anti-DPRK material and take some things with a pinch of salt then this is a very good film to watch. It is on a very limited UK release now.

Democratic Korea: 70 years of victory!

by Dermot Hudson

I VISITED the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) for the 10th time in October at the kind invitation of the Korean Association of Social Scientists, to attend the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).        Seeing the DPRK countryside I realised that the stories about crop failure and famine are untrue. Some elements also spread false stories about "reform", "opening up" and even the "restoration of capitalism", but in the countryside you could see the Red flag proudly displayed in the collective farm fields.                                         

            Highlights of the trip included the massive military parade to celebrate the foundation of the Workers’ Party of Korea, a torchlight parade by tens of thousands of youth and a 10,000-strong gala performance on a floating stage.

I was met at the new Pyongyang Sunan International Airport by an official of the Korean Association of Social Scientists and by my guide for the trip, Ms Ri. All traces of the old Sunan Airport were replaced by a new modern airport that is spacious and bright. Many countries boast of modern airports but these are constructed with the help of foreign capital. Sunan Airport is 100 per cent Korean in construction and design, built by the soldier constructors of the Korean People’s Army in the Juché spirit. There are no HSBC, McDonald’s, Starbucks nor KFC – everything is Korean owned and managed, in stark contrast to a certain neighbouring country where the first thing you see on coming out of arrivals is a McDonald’s.  Although Sunan Airport now has bigger capacity it still has a calm atmosphere and lacks the stress of Heathrow Airport. In some capitalist countries airports have been over expanded, drawing anger and protests. The DPRK has struck a balance between the need for international air travel and the need for environmental harmony.

Pyongyang was in a festive mood ready for 10th October. The red flag of the WPK, with its distinct hammer, sickle and writing brush, could be seen flying on many street corners. At the Party Foundation museum I learned that the sickle, brush and hammer are upright to symbolise the single-hearted unity of the masses, and the writing brush is higher to reflect the importance of intellectuals in society.

            The DPRK is one of the few countries in the world where the Red flag flies on street corners, reflecting that the DPRK upholds the red banner of socialism, frustrating all attempts to undermine socialism as dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un said in his recently published work The Cause of the Great Party of Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il Is Ever-Victorious: "We must keep a watchful eye over all sorts of moves by the enemy to undermine our socialist system from within, approach these moves with political awareness and never allow any poisonous weeds of capitalism, however trifling, to sprout in the garden of socialism."

Dermot in Pyongyang

      DPRK unity was demonstrated by the massive military parade, civilian demonstration and torchlight procession of youths. The parade was a superb pageant, led by a column representing the anti-Japanese guerrillas and was symbolic of the continuity of the revolution down the generations. There were original tanks from the Fatherland Liberation War including tank no 312, the first tank into Seoul on the 28th of July 1950. There was an impressive display of tanks and missiles, including long-range missiles and a nuclear suicide unit, showing that if necessary the KPA under the command of Marshal Kim Jong Un can strike back at the US imperialists worldwide.

There was an aeronautical display of the WPK symbol and of the number 70, followed by a civilian demonstration of army-people unity, quite impossible in capitalist society where there is conflict between the people and the armed forces. Later I explained this conflict to my guide, in my home town there was an army barracks in the centre of town but it had to be moved into the countryside far outside town because each night the soldiers would go out, get drunk in pubs and beat up the civilians.

Kim Jong Un addressed the parade, his voice clear, strong and full of conviction: "For our country and people, 10^th October is a meaningful revolutionary holiday when we celebrate the birth anniversary of the genuine vanguard of the revolution, its militant General Staff, which has taken responsibility for their destiny and leads them."

Military parades in the DPRK are different from those in former socialist countries because in the DPRK they march with vigour, enthusiasm and colourful displays. In the latter the military parades seemed gloomy. Some big powers may put on big military parades but these are just for show with no real content

            In the evening there was a military torchlight youth parade followed by a colourful firework display.                                

            The 10000-strong joint performance Great Party, Rosy Korea was performed on a floating stage on the River Taedong. It was started by schoolchildren but centred on veteran artistes of the DPRK. The famous Pochonbo and Wangjaesan bands performed classic numbers such as My Country is the Best. The history of the DPRK was represented by music and stunning choreography.

the heart of the capital

This anti-imperialist, anti-US spirit was demonstrated at the new Sinchon Ri museum. Sinchon Ri is where the US and local class enemies murdered 35,383 people – one quarter of the population. Can you imagine the death toll if the same thing was done in London, 2.2 million people dead. It is an understatement to say the US imperialists are as bad as Hitler’s Nazis, they were worse!

A museum was built at the site of one of the massacres not simply as a memorial to those who died but also as a centre of anti-US, anti-imperialist class education. Kim Jong Un instructed that the museum should be rebuilt, modernised and moved to the site where the massacre took place in the Chestnut valley. It is much larger than the old one, and has more detailed and graphic displays some with sound effects, showing the horrendous crimes committed by the Americans against the Koreans. The long history of US aggression against Korea goes back over 150 years.

The USA used religion as a means of creating passivity and infiltrated many missionaries into Korea to spread the worship of the US, and to recruit spies and collaborators.  My eye was caught by a depiction of a Korean, a former landlord, shown helping the US imperialists. The US imperialists were the external enemy but were helped by internal class enemies like former exploiters; the two were hand in glove.

Today the reactionary exploiting class in south Korea, led by Park Geun Hye, is hand in glove with the US in their anti-DPRK moves. My guide explained that the nature of the US imperialists is unchanging. I bought an excellent booklet Sinchon Accuses the Yankee barbarians.  None of the other socialist countries, former or present, carried out such thoroughgoing anti-US anti-imperialist class education, and it intends to increase it.

              Visiting the Fatherland Liberation War Museum one learns that the US provoked the Korean War and also of the crushing defeat inflicted on them by the heroic Korean People’s Army, commanded by the great leader generalissimo Kim Il Sung. Also displayed outside were numerous captured US weapons including the USS Pueblo, captured on 23rd January 1968. The US asked British premier Harold Wilson to ask the USSR to ask the DPRK to hand back the ship. The DPRK refused to, though Soviets also pressured the DPRK to do so.

           The International Friendship Exhibition is situated in Myohyang Mountains and the gift we presented to Kim Jong Un in 2013 is on display. 

             No visit to Pyongyang is complete without a visit to the amazing Pyongyang Metro. The cost of a ride on the Pyongyang Metro is approximately 0.003 pence, so it is virtually free and war veterans get completely free travel. The Pyongyang Metro is clean, free from vandalism, graffiti, capitalist advertising and dirt. I told my guide how dirty the London Underground is and she asked why they cannot keep it clean, given the high fares on the Tube. The Pyongyang Metro is very safe, the platforms are wide and each station has two "security girls" who ensure the safety of passengers. In London ticket offices are being closed and the numbers of staff reduced.

            The DPRK is building many blocks of flats such as Mirae Street and handing them over to the people free of charge. This would be unthinkable in Britain where a flat on the riverside in central London costs £12,000 per calendar month to rent or up to £1 million to buy.

Thanks to my dependable and reliable guide I was able to walk about the centre of Pyongyang, which not only afforded me the opportunity of fresh air and exercise but gave me the chance to see the reality of the DPRK even more deeply than before. Some enemies of the DPRK say that visitors to the DPRK simply stay in hotels and go around in tourist buses but do not really know the country; this was untrue. I encountered busy and bustling streets full of people. In the pedestrian underpasses there were no homeless people as in capitalist countries.

              There was no sign of police oppressing the people, nor heavily armed police units patrolling the streets. Travelling through the countryside to  places such as Sinchon, Mt Myohyang and Nampo there was no sign of the "forced labour and concentration camps" that the imperialists claim exist in the DPRK; I saw no barbed wire anywhere in the DPRK countryside. The "human rights" propaganda of the imperialists and the stories spread by defectors are completely false.

            The DPRK boasts excellent leisure and recreational facilities, which are either non-existent or very expensive in London. The famous Munsu Water Park is incredibly big with indoor and outside facilities such as slides, a wave machine, hairdressers and an excellent coffee bar.

            I had the privilege of meeting the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front of south Korea (AINDF), the vanguard revolutionaries of south Korea. I saw a video about US/south Korean moves to tear up recent inter-Korean agreements and provoke war; also a video concerning the attempt to revise history books in south Korea so as to embellish both Japan's occupation of south Korea and the Park Chung Hee military fascist regime, and also the struggle of the south Korean people against such a revision.

In discussions with the AINDF I noted that Park Geun Hye styles herself on Thatcher but in reality Thatcher was a leader hated by many British; when she died many came out on the streets to celebrate. The same will happen to Park Geun Hye and her fate will be the same as her father's.  It was a great visit. I was disappointed to depart the land of Juché Korea to return to the capitalist world where everything seems so depressing and miserable.