More about the 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea -' Economic Reform ' never existed in the first place !

There is no doubt the hostile forces did not like the holding of the historic 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea and now they are coming out all kinds of slanders , distortions and exaggerations .

 The headline ' North Korea shut the door on Economic Reform ' is to be seen . Certain so-called 'experts ' on the DPRK ( in reality hired hack writers of the CIA and south Korean puppet bourgeoisie) have spent the past 8 or 9 years talking about ' reform ' 'opening up ' and 'marketisation ' in the DPRK , now they are throwing up their hands in horror screaming that the DPRK reversing 'reforms' or 'clamping down ' on reforms . Of course the 8th Congress of the WPK stressed the need to enhance the leading role and unified guidance of the state over the economy as well increasing self-reliance.

However the so-called' economic reforms’ , really never existed in the first place . If you study the writings of respected Marshal KIM JONG UN  you will find no reference to ‘economic reform ‘ or ‘opening up ‘ etc .  In fact in 2012 respected Marshal KIM JONG UN stated that " Efforts should be directed to holding fast to the socialist principles in the economic work and enhancing the sense of responsibility and role of working people, undertakers of production and construction, so as to increase production to the maximum." and also that" Efforts should be directed to holding fast to the socialist principles in the economic work and enhancing the sense of responsibility and role of working people, undertakers of production and construction, so as to increase production to the maximum." . On the 29th of July 2012 the Committee For Peaceful Reunification of the Country issued a statement refuting that idea of ' reform ' and 'opening up ' in the DPRK which said in part 'Upset by this, the puppet group let experts in the north affairs and others interpret the stirring situation of the DPRK in a self-centered manner, vociferating about "signs of policy change" and "attempt at reform and opening". This ridiculous rhetoric only revealed its ignorance and sinister intention against the DPRK.'

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 During a visit to People’s Korea in October 2019 our delegation spoke with members of another delegation , one of whom insisted that the DPRK had adopted ‘perestroika ‘ , that the DPRK was similar to the USSR in the 1980s and that there were ‘hundreds of private markets selling expensive foreign goods’ . Of course we saw no such thing !. When I repeated the allegation to our guide that the DPRK was supposedly ‘ restoring capitalism ‘ she replied that this was very untrue , very wrong . Later in our discussions with a senior Professor from the Korean Association of Social Scientists , we were told that the stories circulated by the south Korean and Western media in 2018 about the DPRK opening a McDonalds and joining the IMF were just nonsense , in fact laughable .

  Visiting the DPRK many times since 2012 , I can say I saw virtually no sign of ‘ reform’ and ‘opening up . Prices remained the same in the shops over several visits

Now the DPRK is being condemned by some so-called experts for apparently ditching a mythical ‘economic reforms ‘  . It is not bad that the DPRK does not have ‘economic reform’ , in fact it is a good thing . The so-called ‘reforms ‘ adopted by the former USSR and East European socialist countries after the early 1960s proved to be a two-fold disaster ; firstly , economic growth rates slowed down for example in the USSR from about 10-15 per cent per year in the 1950s to 8 per cent in the 1970s and eventually 2 to 3 per cent in the 1980s , secondly the reforms undermined socialism from within and led to the collapse of socialism ,

Bravo to People’s Korea guided by Juche , for not going down this route! . Economic planning is the scientific way to run a modern economy.

The DPRK will enter an era of a great leap forward in production and construction by dint of self -reliance and increased planning !