Wednesday, 24 April 2019

On the achievements and experience of Juche Korea introduced through visits to Pyongyang-speech of Dr Dermot Hudson to the Seminar on the Juche idea Pyongyang 14th of April 2019



Firstly, it is a great honour to be here in Pyongyang , the capital of Juche Korea  , for the 17th time , to mark the 107th anniversary of the great leader comrade KIM IL SUNG ,the founder of Juche Korea .
 I am grateful for the invitation to address this seminar.
There is a Korean saying that seeing once is better than saying a thousand times .in many countries, they say ‘seeing is believing’. Therefore the best way of learning about the achievements of People’s Korea and studying the Juche idea is to actually visit the DPRK .Visiting the DPRK in person is one of the best ways of dispel the poisonous propaganda of the imperialist mass media which demonizes and vilifies the DPRK. Though my visits to Juche Korea , I came to know about the invincibility and durability of Juche-based socialism and became more deeply convinced of the correctness of the Juche idea which was authored by President KIM IL SUNG and developed in depth by the great leader Chairman KIM JONG IL.
 I became a Juche idea follower in the 1980s but first visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in May 1992 and have visited the DPRK  over 16 times. Sometimes it seems only like yesterday when I first stepped off the plane and placed my foot on the soil of the Juche socialist motherland for the first time. Each time I visit the DPRK I learn something new.
After a few days in the DPRK I became more certain of the superiority of the Juche idea and Juche-based socialism. As a Korean comrade said to me “As you can see socialism is victorious in our country “.One night I lay awake in my comfortable apartment and reflected on how solid and durable the DPRK,was, that it would last for eternity that it could never collapse. I recalled visiting revisionist Hungary in the 1980s, where bourgeois ideology and culture had infiltrated deeply. Hungarian people had negative attitude to socialism.  I could tell that socialism in Hungary would collapse like a sandcastle which it at the end of the 1980s.Compared to Hungary the DPRK was the real thing, a genuine socialist country centred on the popular masses , it was socialism that had been chosen by the Korean people themselves not something imposed from the outside or a gift or a special favour of another country . Great President KIM IL  SUNG led the 20 year long anti-Japanese armed struggle ,liberated Korea  and  set up a new people’s country  in 1945. The Juche idea, the guiding idea of the revolution and construction in Korea was authored by President KIM IL SUNG not in a living room or a quiet library but on the fierce battlefields of the anti-Japanese armed struggle. I learnt of the anti-Japanese armed struggle not just by reading books but by visiting the Korean Revolution Museum and the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery in Mt Taesong .
   Visiting the Korean Revolution Museum again last September I learnt about the original , Juche-orientated path to socialism that the Korean people hewed out under the leadership of President KIM IL SUNG. After Korea was liberated from Japanese imperialist colonialist rule, Comrade KIM IL SUNG set about the work of carrying out deep and thorough going democratic reforms . Number one on the list was the land reform .The land question had existed for centuries and still exists in many countries of the world .The question is a simple one but some do not dare to solve it ! . It is basically that that there is uneven distribution of land and those who work the land do not own it. Comrade KIM IL SUNG solved this is a simple and direct way by redistributing the land of landlords over 5 hectares to the toiling farmers free of charge  without paying compensation to the landlords. This was unique in the world , I read how the other socialist countries actually paid some compensation to the former landlords . In some neo-colonial countries  land was sold rather than being redistributed. In the UK today it is a fact that most of the land is owned by big landowners, monopoly capitalist corporations and property companies and banks .Basically comrade KIM IL SUNG smashed feudalism and landlordism into the ground.
Visiting the DPRK many times I could see that imperialist propaganda against the country was and is false .During the most difficult period of the mid 1990s  when the DPRK faced recurrent natural disasters and the blockade of the enemy, the imperialists talked about “famine “ and “mass starvation” . Yet visiting the DPRK in 1996 we There was absolutely no sign of any 'famine' or even queues for food. Indeed visiting the Changgwang Kindergarten in 2008 I learnt that each child receives  5 meals a day.Each child gets 120g of rice per day a far cry from the alleged starvation that the imperialists press claims takes place. Similarly visiting the Pyongyang Orphans school I saw well stocked dining room and kitchen.
The DPRK has full employment, people are guaranteed the right to work by the Constitution and this is underpinned by socialist planning and the independent national economy. Taxation was abolished back in 1974 and the agricultural tax in kind was abolished in the period 1964-1966.Housing is supplied virtually free of charge. The Pyongyang Metro is one of the cheapest in the world with a flat rate fare of about 2p and I am told an annual travel card costs less than 50 cents but in London it costs £2000!
Education at all levels is free started from kindergarten right up to university level. DPRK university students are not burdened with heavy debts, their accommodation and clothing is supplied free of charge. Education has good quality facilities.
Health care is also free including prescriptions and dentistry. The DPRK public health system is a self-reliant people centred socialist healthcare system. There is no hidden fees or costs either in DPRK hospitals() It includes the section doctor system whereby doctors actually give check-ups to patients in their homes and make rounds of localities. . I saw the Ryugyong Opthamlic Hospital opened in 2016 and constructed in the space of 7 months .It is was very clean and has a high staff ratio.
In recent years the hostile forces have imposed sanctions on the DPRK but from my recent visits I could see there is no effect
Going around Pyongyang , there seemed to be economic stability . There were plenty of cars on the roads and a lot of construction work going on .Not only were the prices in the shops the same  but the shops were well stocked with many different products available ..People looked well dressed .
    How is the DPRK able to maintain a stable economy , a high level of social benefits and a high rate of construction in the face of such severe sanctions by the imperialists .What is the secret weapon of the DPRK in combating the sanctions ? It is self-reliance . Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN defined self-reliance as  the treasured sword for prosperity. Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN said in his New Year Address for 2019 that
"What we are convinced of once again as we proudly review the past year when we made rapid progress while paving our way by our own efforts with belief in our own strength in the face of harsh economic blockade and sanctions, is the truth that our state is fully capable of dynamically advancing along the road of development of socialism of our own style by dint of our people's great strength and efforts, without any external assistance or any other's help"                                
 The DPRK's self-reliance is not an abstract concept but a basic principle that is applied in real life. I saw this for myself at the Ryugyong Kimchi Pickle Factory where imported machinery had been replaced with DPRK produced machinery. Seeing the reality of the DPRK I realised that self-reliance based on the Juche idea, is  the road to true prosperity and increasing living standards . Importing equipment means that growth does not benefit your own country but benefits others. Money that was spent on importing foreign machinery can instead be spent on accumulation, on improving public and cultural services , on improving living standards. I am convinced that the sanctions of the hostile forces will fail and that the DPRK will build socialism even stronger and purer than before.
To conclude visiting the DPRK many times I have become convinced of the superiority of  the Juche idea and that the road charted by  President KIM IL SUNG and Chairman KIM JONG IL ,which is today carried forward by dear respected Marshal KIM JONG UN , is the road to final victory and an example for all humanity .
Thank for listening.
GLORY TO THE MEMORY OF THE GREAT LEADERS COMRADES KIM IL SUNG AND KIM JONG IL !
LONG LIVE JUCHE –BASED SOCIALISM!
LONG LIVE DEAR RESPECTED MARSHAL KIM JONG UN !
Dr Dermot Hudson
Chairman Juche Idea Study Group  of England
President Association for the Study of Songun Politics UK


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