At a time when Western countries are implementing vicious cutbacks and neo liberal austerity policies,
one country in the world, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea - DPRK (North Korea) is maintaining true welfare polices for all. Unlike many countries, the DPRK’s welfare system is not funded by taxation or contributions, but is funded entirely by the State. Taxation was abolished 36 years ago in 1974.
However the people of the DPRK receive great benefits:
Free education including free university education
Free holidays, paid leave. There is no unemployment in North Korea
Free universal health care including medicines and dental treatment
Food supplied at low cost
Housing free of charge or at low cost. There is no homelessness in the DPRK.
Old Age Pensions at 60
All these benefits are thanks the socialist system of the DPRK, the Juche idea and the leadership of the Workers Party of Korea. Imperialist reactionaries are trying to destroy these gains. Let us defend the D P R K!
MYTH 1. “North Koreans are fearful of contact with foreigners (because they may just end up in a prison camp).”
THE REALITY: Foreigners visiting North Korea have found the people to be very warm and friendly and more than willing to chat. Tour guides do not separate foreigners from the general public of North Korea and they are free to approach and talk to them-for those who don’t speak Korean, translators are more than willing to be of service.
MYTH 2. “Pyongyang the capital of North Korea is a showcase city prohibited to cyclists, pregnant women, the elderly, mentally-ill and disabled.”
THE REALITY: Pyongyang is not the only very attractive city boasting impressive architecture, fantastic city planning and stunning monuments. Plenty of Pyongyangites enjoy cycling in the city’s streets. Pyongyang, like anywhere has its share of the
elderly and disabled people, and ALL people are guaranteed universal free health care. As for pregnant women, the Pyongyang Maternity Palace, built in 1980, provides modern facilities and 60,000 square meters of floor space for childbirth and treatment of women’s diseases, which explodes the myth that pregnant women are banned from Pyongyang.
MYTH 3. “North Koreans endure very austere lives.”
THE REALITY: The Mangyondae Fun Fair is an impressive theme park in Pyongyang with rides and facilities rivalling those in the West. And there is no shortage of locals to enjoy the rides. Pyongyang, a city of roughly 2 million, offers more park space (58 square meters of green belt per citizen), cultural facilities, health and recreational centres than most other cities of that size in the world. Other DPRK cities boast similar facilities with children’s camps that look more like luxury resorts. The camps are provided free of charge to all Korean children. Also, foreigners frequently remark that North Koreans everywhere dress very nicely, always appearing relaxed and content. This may be attributable to the social benefits of Korea’s socialist planned economic system-job security, social security and yearly paid vacations that are luxuries in most countries, but entitlements to every North Korean worker.
MYTH 4. “Ordinary North Koreans are not allowed to travel abroad.”
THE REALITY: North Koreans ARE allowed to travel abroad. For example, teachers of English come to Britain to brush up on their language skills. Countless numbers of North Korean educators, students, scientists, athletes and religionists travel abroad each year to attend conferences and competitive events.
MYTH 5. “North Korea is a chauvinistic, male-dominated society”
THE REALITY: North Korean men, by comparison to their American counterparts, seem rather modest and self-effacing. Korean women are often just as assertive, educated and well rounded as the men. Moreover, men in Socialist North Korea are expected to take an active role in household affairs and child rearing while women pursue their own career paths. Indeed, many DPRK women are celebrated for their contributions to the physical and social sciences, while many more take an active role in local, regional and national governance. North Korean women are also free from the commercial sex and beauty industries that stalk women in the Capitalist world. In this sense, women in the DPRK have achieved a level of equality and respect that their counterparts in the West continue to struggle for.
MYTH 6. “North Korea’s economy is moribund.”
THE REALITY: Construction is taking place everywhere in the DPRK-new high-rises are being erected in Pyongyang, together with housing developments in the countryside and new factories are being built. Indeed, Pyongyang and other DPRK cities are presently experiencing large-scale renovations thanks to the economic turn-up. Every store that eyewitnesses recently visited or observed in Korea, were well stocked. While North Koreans obviously don’t have access to the abundance of consumer goods forced upon Westerners, there is a decent assortment of clothing, food and other products in stores within and outside Pyongyang.
MYTH 7. “North Korea is famine stricken” and “the North Korean countryside is stripped bare of vegetation (it has all been consumed by starving peasants).”
THE REALITY: While North Koreans may not benefit from the abundance of food enjoyed by more affluent Westerners, they are certainly not starving. Not in Pyongyang, and not in the countryside. Due to a critical lack of fuel and arable land, however, Korea’s agricultural system is always quite vulnerable to crises. Ending the sanctions is vital to preventing another food shortage. The hills and countryside in the DPRK are quite lush and green and not stripped bare of vegetation..
MYTH 8. “North Koreans are demoralized.”
Half a century of US hostility and economic sanctions have not broken the will of the Korean people to pursue their own path of national development and independence. A recent visitor to the DPRK from Britain said on his return to the UK “Everywhere we visited, in the cities and in the countryside, we were struck by the prevalence of smiling faces and laughter. If the Korean people are demoralized, they do very well to conceal it. The fact is that Koreans are quite knowledgeable about their political system and way of life, as well as the alternative that exists around the world. They know which is superior. After spending only a week in the DPRK, I believe I do as well.”
MYTH 9. “Refugess are fleeing North Korea”
THE REALITY:These are defectors from the DPRK bidding for small rewards from South Korea or the US for smearing the DPRK. They once praised the benevolent policies enforced under socialism such as free education and free medical care but, finding it difficult to make a living due to the desperate moves of enemies inside and outside south Korea, they left the DPRK and their families in quest of their own luxury.
MYTH 10. “Human rights abuses in North Korea”
THE REALITY: This is one of the West’s favourite lies against the DPRK, especially by the U.S. whose human rights record is the worst. The U.S. "Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2009" have been ridiculed by the international community. The reports are nonsensical documents without any scientific accuracy as they grossly distorted human rights practices of many countries including the DPRK. In the DPRK everything is made to serve the popular masses and the state enforces free health care and free compulsory education and provides them with housing free of charge.
DEFEND THE D P R K! JOIN THE KFA!
PUBLISHED BY THE UK KOREAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION AND THE JUCHE IDEA
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