People’s Korea is a Superior Socialist Civilization -special article of KFA UK , "People's Korea Today " and the British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea by Dr Dermot Hudson

                                          

The other day I had to travel into central London using the ‘Docklands Light Railway ‘ (DLR ) . I was about to sit down at the front  of the train  when a solitary member of DLR staff on the train warned me saying ‘ Now that is disgusting ‘ , I looked down in front of the seat and to both my surprise and horror that there was a big , fat piece of human excrement !!! Unbelievable! I thought but at the same time it was real  . I went and sat down at the other end of the carriage .  About a month earlier during the August bank holiday weekend I had gone on a short day trip and used a DLR train . On this occasion  the stinking aroma of cannabis wafted through the train . I looked around , some girls who could have been more than 17 years of age were sprawled on the floor smoking drugs and also drinking vodka !. What a scene of total decadence  !, Under capitalism people act like animals , like sub-humans .

  I have in the course of the past 30 years visited People’s Korea some 18 times since 1992 . I have never seen human excrement on the Pyongyang Metro or people taking drugs or drinking Vodka . The DPRK is one of the cleanest countries in the world that I have been to . The streets are free from litter and very clean . Visiting the Korean Revolution Museum in 2018 I was amazed by how clean the area around  is . In London you can see lots of litter on the streets , not just litter but sometimes grease from discarded cooking oil etc . The DPRK undoubtedly benefits from not having a McDonald’s which is a major source of litter as well as of unhealthy food.

Walking around the streets at night in the DPRK and going through pedestrian underpasses  I did not see homeless people or beggars. There was also no sign of vandalism or graffiti .

 There was no smell of drugs on the streets of Pyongyang  or drug users sprawling across the streets.  There was no one trying to sell drugs on the streets . In Britain drugs are supposedly illegal but often you can see drug dealing openly taking place on the streets . It is rumoured that the British police turn a blind eye to drug dealing . Back in 2015 I asked my guide Ms Ri , a student from Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies , about drug use in the DPRK because some dishonest elements had spread false stories about drug use being legal in the DPRK . ‘No ‘ she replied very firmly  , adding that ‘this is a problem of the capitalist world ‘.

The crime rate in the DPRK is low , virtually non-existent  . Indeed some observers such as the late Peruvian writer Genaro Carnero Checa and Russian communist leader Nina Andreeva said that there is no crime in the DPRK . I can remember once dropping some money on the floor of the dining room of the Juche Idea Academy and the next morning it was still there  . Also when I left money in the pockets of my clothes that I sent for laundry , the money was returned to me .

In the DPRK young people are orderly . They take part in mass parades and demonstrations including amazing torchlight parades .Sometimes parades of a million young people take place but in capitalist countries such as the UK , the authorities would not risk putting such a large number of young people on the streets for fear of disorder and violence.

 Also young people volunteer to do hard and difficult jobs . One young lady even adopted some orphan children and brought them up as her own children . . This would be unthinkable in a capitalist society .

 In Western countries young people are regarded as a problem . Indeed the incident I witnessed on the DLR train is illustrative of problematic behaviour of youth in capitalist societies . In the DPRK you do not see young people getting drunk or acting in a rowdy and uncouth manner in public.In People’s Korea young people are regarded as the vanguard and shock brigade .

The DPRK is free from the decadence, chaos and extreme social alienation  of the Western capitalist world which we now encounter on a daily basis. It has been said that under modern capitalism life is a ‘human jungle ‘. This assertion is basically true . However People’s Korea has reached a higher level of civilisation than the capitalist countries of the West . Some describe the DPRK as ‘one of the last remaining socialist countries ‘  or the ‘last outpost of socialism ‘ . Of course in a superficial sense this is true but it does not do justice  to People’s Korea . Instead it can be said that People’s Korea is the beginning of a new world , a role model and standard bearer for the future of humanity .

We must defend People’s Korea from  all attempts at ‘regime change ‘ and attempts to force it to ‘open up ‘ to the decadence of capitalism .

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman , Korean Friendship Association UK 

Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea.