This comes every now and again such the other day on Twitter . Reactionaries insist that everything in People's Korea is for the 'elite ' ( which is never actually clearly defined as to who they really mean ) . It has become an old horsechestnut , a stock in trade cliche of anti-DPRK propaganda . Ironically it is produced by the mainstream media of countries which are run by the top 1 per cent and usually the journalists and academics writing these kind of nonsense ( such as Rupert Wingfield -Hayes of the BBC a few years ago) are from privileged background backgrounds.
Yesterday I was in Crystal Palace Park , London and saw some people having BBQs . Now I had written on Facebook or Twitter ' BBQs are only for the bourgeois middle class elite in Britain ' , people would think I am bit mad or at best exaggerating or perhaps a bitter person ! However this kind of thing is written about the DPRK all the time without a scrap of evidence.
There is no 'elite ' in the DPRK . The ruling Workers Party of Korea has millions of members and in fact almost every single family in the has a member of the Workers Party of Korea. Its members are drawn from all walks of life in the DPRK from road sweepers and waitresses to generals and government ministers .
President KIM IL SUNG believed that ' The People Are My God'. He was strongly against elitism . He created the Chongsan Ri method and Chongsan ri spirit in February 1960. He visited the Chongsan Co-Op Farm and stayed there for 15 days in an ordinary house . The Chongsan ri method is based in the central idea of leaders going among the ordinary masses and the superior helping his subordinates .
In People's Korea officials must perform a certain amount of manual labour and every Friday they do a day of manual labour . Now can you imagine some of the reactionary journos and academics here doing the same ? Cor Blimey, no !.
Wage differentials are low in People's Korea , only 2 to 1 , of course such differentials exist reflecting different levels in experience and skill .
Lastly visiting the DPRK many times I saw with my own eyes that the idea of an elite is not true . I visited Mt Myohyang with my guides comrades Choe and Han . We enjoyed a picnic by river . There were two groups of people near us enjoying a BBQ . They seemed well off , they had a portable gas BBQ ( no messing around with charcoal and matches for them !) and a video camera . 'Ah the elite !" say the DPRKphobes and bashers of People's Korea . Well no actually . We spoke to them , one group was from a brewery , they had brought plenty of their own product with them ( they also demanded a free tour of London ) and the other group were some proud coal miners .
Elite in People's Korea ? Pull the other leg there is a bell on it !
Dermot Hudson
UK KFA
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