From Alan Bolon KFA UK Organisation Secretary , head of KFA UK West of England and editor of “People’s Korea Today “
1) Is there only the state and cooperative sectors in the economy and agriculture in DPRK? If there is private economic ownership ( I think it is not ) what percentage is it? What percentage is the cooperative sector and what is the state sector?
In the DPRK there are only the state and cooperative sectors in the economy and in agriculture . Ownership by the state means all people-ownership whereas co-operative ownership means ownership by a group or collective .
Article 20 of the DPRK Socialist Constitution states “ In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the means of production are owned by the State and social, cooperative organizations.”
There is no private ownership or private companies in the DPRK , this has been stressed several times by our guides in the Korean Association of Social Scientists.
Taking the economy as a whole , state ownership is around 90 per cent but in agriculture the co-operative sector is dominant .
We should note the following from the DPRK Socialist Constitution , Article 21 ;
The property of the State belongs to all the people. There is no limit to the property which the State can own. All natural resources, railways, air transport service, post and telecommunications establishments, as well as major factories and enterprises, ports and banks of the country are owned solely by the State. The State shall protect and develop on a preferential basis State property which plays the leading role in the economic development of the country”
So basically a big chunk of the economy is owned by the state and state property has the leading role .
Lastly I would like to add something from a very hostile source the far right neo -liberal “Heritage Foundation , this published an “Index of Economic Freedom “ , of course you need to read between the lines what they mean by economic freedom is the right to exploit and the right of private ownership of the means of production . The DPRK is placed bottom of their list with 2.9 per cent. Looking at other countries that identify themselves as socialist or socialist oriented Cuba has 25.7 , Venezuela 28.1 ,Belarus 48.4 per cent , China 48.5 per cent. So basically you won’t find a country more socialist than the DPRK !”
2) What is the percentage share of cooperatives and state farms in the agricultural sector? Are there any private ones?
There are no private farms in the DPRK . All farms are co-operative farms or state farms.
I would also point out that in the late 1990s and early 2000’s the DPRK carried out a massive land rezoning campaign to not only gain new land but to wipe out the old plot boundaries so as to prevent anyone from trying to restore private farming like what happened in China in the late 1970s.
As to a breakdown of the percentage breakdown between state farms and co-operative farms ,I cannot find any exact statistics on the subject . The majority of farms are co-operative farms , some have suggested it is 90 percent but I think probably nearer to 80 per cent or 70 per cent .
However , whilst looking at this a number of things need to be taken into consideration ;
Firstly , the state farms, although fewer in number, are actually much larger than the co-operative farms . For example the famous Chongsan Ri Co-operative farm covers an area of 500 hectares but some state farms cover an area of 6,000 hectares .
Secondly , the DPRK organically combines co-operative farms with state farms through the County Co-operative farm management committee . Moreover, irrigation facilities and farm machinery stations are state owned . The DPRK did not unlike the former USSR and also I believe China (?) transfer farm machinery stations (called “Motor Tractor Stations “ in the USSR ) to the ownership of co-operative farms.
Thirdly , in his classic work “ The Theses on the Socialist Rural Question In Country “ published in 1964 President KIM IL SUNG put forward the goal of converting co -operative farms into state farms , he stated that the guidance and management of agriculture should be continually brought closer to the advanced level of enterprise management of industry, the bonds between all-people property and cooperative property should be strengthened, and cooperative property should be steadily brought closer to property of the whole people.”
Also Article 23 of the DPRK Socialist Constitution states that “ The State shall enhance the ideological consciousness and the technical and cultural level of the peasants, increase the role of the property of all the people in leading the cooperative property so as to combine the two forms of property in an organic way, and shall consolidate and develop the socialist cooperative economic system by improving the guidance and management of the cooperative economy and gradually transform the property of cooperative organizations into the property of the people as a whole based on the voluntary will of all their members.”
Lastly , from what I saw on my recent visit to the DPRK the state farm network is being expanded and the production of greenhouse vegetables being undertaken by state farms rather than co-operative farms,
3) Is the DPRK economy 100% self-sufficient in raw materials and commodities and is the society 100% self-sufficient in food?
The DPRK is basically or more less self-sufficient , Foreign trade is a small percentage of gross national product in the DPRK unlike the south Korean puppet regime which has 88% of its gross national product coming from foreign trade and is therefore highly dependent. Thus a large part of the DPRK's GDP would be unaffected by sanctions. $ 1 billion only amounts to about 3.5 per cent of the Western estimate of GDP for the DPRK but as the real GDP of the DPRK is in fact higher it is a much lower figure. SO overall the self-sufficiency rate can be assumed to 96.5 per cent ,
The DPRK economy is 75 percent self-sufficient in raw materials and in fact has some of the biggest deposits of raw earths in the world and also has its own uranium . The main product that has to be imported is oil but ways around this problem have been found such as producing substitute fuels for vehicles .Also President KIM IL SUNG forbade the construction of oil fired power stations even though they were cheaper to build . The DPRK also got rid of the need to import cotton for textile production by producing vinalon , a fibre produced from limestone , a Juche fibre .
Basically the DPRK became self-sufficient in grain by 1960 and for a long time grain was exported right up to 1993.Agricultural self-sufficiency in the DPRK was estimated in 1986 to be 99 percent compared to 55 per cent in south Korea and only 22 per cent in Japan ( A Duel Of Reason Between Korea And US Pyongyang Foreign
Languages Publishing House 2000 ).
The massive natural disasters of the 1990s as well as sanctions and sabotages of hostile states , the rate of self-sufficiency dropped; however, it is still the case that the DPRK produces most of its own food with imports being minimal . Please note that from January 2020 until earlier this year the DPRK border was closed so no imports for 4 years so the DPRK ,so it is a myth that the DPRK is dependent on China
From Paula KFA Andulacia
I'd like to ask about the animal rights laws and how animal abuse is punished in the DPRK.
At the moment there are no specific laws on animal abuse in the DPRK but maybe in the future there will be legalisation . For a long time in DPRK urban areas the main pets were goldfish and it is only in the last 3 decades that ownership of dogs and sometimes cats started to expand .
I would also reiterate that some species of animals are protected in the DPRK so killing them is an offence and the illegal catching of some animals can be punished by up to 1 year's labour .
From David KFA UK
Is it possible for a foreigner to join the Korean People's Army after immigrating to the DPRK.
The KPA does not have foreigners in its ranks . However, in theory a foreigner who has acquired DPRK citizenship could serve in the KPA . Indeed the sons of the US defector Joe Dresnok ,were officers in the KPA .
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