An Eyewitness Account of North Korea and Its People:
Bravely Building a Friendly, Socialistic Society While in the Cross Hairs of Imperialism
Typical housing in North Korean cities.
Heavy traffic in Pyongyang. The western mainstream media claims that there are hardly any cars on the road in North Korea.
North Korean children during a school excursion.
Karachi, Pakistan, May 2013: Pakistani trade unionists and leftists hold a determined rally in defence of the DPRK. Speakers and slogans at the rally not only hailed North Korea’s struggle against imperialist aggression but pointed to its socialist foundations. Unlike in imperialist countries like Australia, where anti-communist media propaganda has at the moment bred popular suspicion of North Korea, North Korea’s defiance of imperialist threats has won it much sympathy from the masses of the many ex-colonial countries (like Pakistan) still suffering under neocolonial domination. Politically aware sections of the masses in “Third World” capitalist countries like Pakistan are also aware that despite the DPRK being ground down by sanctions and imperialist encirclement, workers in socialistic North Korea enjoy more humane working conditions and better access to health care, education and housing than they do in their own countries. A pro-working-class, DPRK solidarity movement needs to be built in Australia by cutting through the anti-DPRK propaganda and by pointing to the pro-working class character of the DPRK state.
A North Korean policewoman. Police in North Korea do not carry guns or even batons.
Children having fun learning to dance at the Chang Gwang Kindergarten in North Korea. North Koreans love their music and dance and the education system gives children every opportunity to enjoy these pursuits.
A common sight in North Korea – children having fun at a playground.
North Koreans take photos at the Pyongyang Aquarium.
A large crowd watches a dolphin show in Pyongyang aquarium.
Young musicians practice at the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace – a centre of excellence where the most talented students from different schools in North Korea come to develop their artistic abilities.
Pedestrians around an entrance to a Pyongyang underground metro railway station.
A Korean Peoples Army (KPA) soldier and civilians on a ride at one of North Korea’s many amusement parks. North Korea’s civilian population is very relaxed around KPA soldiers.
Sydney, June 22: United front rally calls to defend socialistic North Korea.
A scene from the 2012 Arirang performance hails the socialist alliance between North Korea and the Peoples Republic of China.
A juggling act during a performance of the popular Pyongyang Circus.
A luxury BMW vehicle in Pyongyang. Although differences in wealth are much less than in a capitalist country there is a privileged bureaucratic layer in North Korea that, for example, has access to prestige vehicles owned by government departments.
U.S./South Korean building with spy telescopes at the tense border between capitalist South Korea and socialistic North Korea. North Koreans live under constant military and economic pressure from U.S. imperialism and its allies.
Effects of sanctions and constant imperialist pressure: in the rural areas of North Korea, bicycle is the main mode of transport.
A scene from North Korea’s Arirang festival where thousands of people take part in a beautifully choreographed combination of dance, music, gymnastics and drama. The background which changes throughout the performance is a mosaic created by 30,000 students holding flags.
As my trip to North Korea approached, I started to feel excited. I was going to see for myself what this country was really like – this country that has been so vilified by the mainstream Western media.
I will not pretend that I went to North Korea with no pre-conceived ideas. This is unlike the Western capitalist media who pretend to be “unbiased”, “neutral” observers who are supposedly “shocked” when they go to North Korea for an “investigative” report. Before I went to North Korea – or, as it is properly known, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea – I understood it to be a workers state. By this I understood that capitalist rule had been smashed in North Korea and a state defending socialistic, collectivised property to be ruling there. This represented a huge step forward for social progress and for the global struggle of socialism against capitalism. However, the way that the socialistic system was run in the DPRK was somewhat deformed from the way a truly socialist order would be run because the administration of the country was monopolised by a bureaucratic layer that kept the masses out of real decision making power. Nevertheless, the DPRK was courageously holding out for socialism in the face of both economic sanctions and the most intense military threats from U.S. imperialism and its South Korean capitalist and Japanese and Australian imperialist allies. I understood that this intense pressure on the DPRK brought hardship to the North Korean people and made the bureaucratic deformations to its socialistic system more significant. Yet despite these difficulties, as a workers state embodying great gains for the exploited and oppressed of the whole globe, the DPRK must be unconditionally defended from military or propaganda attacks by capitalist countries and from external or internal forces seeking to undermine socialistic rule there. Continue reading An Eyewitness Account of North Korea and Its People→
