Tuesday 10 September 2024

Why People’s Korea Does Not Need Aid !(article originally published in People's Korea Today )



Marshal KIM JONG UN said after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was hit by floods in the north western area of the country that “what we set as the priority in all realms and processes of state affairs is the firm trust in the people and the way of tackling problems thoroughly based on self-reliance. The Party Central Committee and the government will rely entirely on the patriotic enthusiasm and courage of our people and the potentialities of our country in the ongoing rehabilitation, too


Thus People’s Korea is overcoming the flood damage by its own efforts on the principle of self-reliance . However this is being criticized by the Western mainstream media and so-called “north Korea experts “ ( who in reality are paid by the CIA or south Korea or both ). There are even claims of “starvation “ . Of course ‘starvation ‘ is a myth , if you took mainstream media accounts seriously by now the entire population of the DPRK would have starved to death not once but four or five times . As I argued in my book  “The Famine That Never Was “ , the so-called “ famine of the 1990s was a myth , the population of the DPRK actually increased during that period .


People’s Korea does not need the so-called “aid “ of the US and other imperialists or their miserable south Korean puppets (who are unable to survive even a day without foreign aid , foreign trade or foreign investment ) because it is self-reliant and has an independent national economy . Self-reliance is not just a slogan but a coherent strategy based on a scientific philosophy and guiding idea , the Juche idea which was authored by President KIM IL SUNG and developed in depth by Chairman KIM JONG IL .


One of the many myths about the DPRK is that was “dependent on Soviet aid “ or was built by Soviet aid but In the early 1960s the DPRK came under massive pressure from the Soviet big power chauvinists and revisionists who suspended co-operation with the DPRK in 1962 . President KIM IL SUNG said in October 1962  “It is not true that we cannot live without aid. We can not only live as well as we wish even without aid, but also build socialism splendidly, and must certainly do so.


Later he referred to the “absurd argument of the revisionists who claim that socialism cannot be built without outside assistance


The DPRK under sanctions and blockade built socialism splendidly. In the DPRK between 1946 and 1984 industrial output value increased by 431 times. In the same period per capita national income increased by 65 times .Grain production increased by 5,3 times. During the period of the Chollima upsurge ( Chollima being a mythical and legendary flying horse which can cover a great distance in a day ) in the late 1950s industrial output growth hit 40 per cent in one year . This led the famous Cambridge economist Professor Joan V Robinson to describe the DPRK as the “Korean miracle “ .


In recent years the DPRK closed its borders due the global pandemic  in January 2020 and kept its borders closed for more than 3 years , some countries would have collapsed within days of closing their borders but not the DPRK . Moreover when Covid 19 was sent into the DPRK by the south Korean puppets in the spring of 2022 ,the DPRK rejected imperialist and south Korean puppet aid .


People who claim that the DPRK needs massive outside aid are unaware of the fact that the DPRK is highly self-reliant. Only a small fraction of its Gross Domestic Product comes from foreign trade in contrast to south Korea which is heavily dependent on foreign trade .  A British academic Dr Malcolm Caldwell of the School of Oriental and African Studies once wrote "‘ What is clear is that ,deprived of, massive loans ,US military propping , and integration into the international  capitalist economy, south Korea would collapse, whereas-abiding by Juche , North Korea can stand independent indefinitely' ( Malcolm Caldwell , ‘The Wealth of Some Nations ‘ 1977 page 162)


Moreover those who say that the DPRK should accept foreign aid have a hidden agenda . Aid from the imperialist countries is a poisoned candy which is used to destroy socialism . Also aid from imperialist countries actually benefits imperialism because it comes with strings , usually it means that the recipient country has to buy expensive goods from the donor country .


People’s Korea is a hundred times and a thousand times better off without imperialist aid !

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK

Chairman British Group for the Study of the Juche Idea




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