Firstly , thank you for inviting me to speak at this historic inaugural meeting of KFA Scotland , it is a great honour to be here today in Scotland .
When people switch on the tv or look at the internet , the very words 'north Korea ' provoke a negative reaction because the country has been so abused and demonised in the mainstream media. Indeed the very term 'North Korea' is a media creation because there are actually no such country as north Korea or indeed south Korea , Korea division’s was totally artificial, basically being imposed by the US imperialists . Before 1945 there was no geographical or physical or racial division in Korea but a US army colonel took a pencil and ruler and drew a line across the map of Korea. This was a crime of great enormity, dividing a whole people ! By not using the correct name of the country , the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK for short), the media are defaming the DPRK from the start . Friends of the DPRK like to refer to it as People's Korea or Socialist Korea or Juche Korea , all of which have real meaning and reflect the true nature of the country .
Today the DPRK is the most demonised and abused country on earth with lies about the country being produced on an industrial scale. Much misinformation comes from the south Korean puppet propaganda machine which is then recycled by the Western mainstream or if you like bourgeois or imperialist media who in some cases print stories which they know are untrue. Then you have shadowy outfits and think tanks that are closely linked to the CIA and the south Korean National Intelligence Service. One example is NKNews , an Internet based news service that is in fact includes on its staff former US and south Korean army officers . The head and founder of of NK New Chad O Carroll who worked for the CIA linked Marshall Fund had previously been writing on the so-called colour revolutions in Libya, Tunisia and other middle eastern countries but was suddenly reinvented as “north Korea expert “. Anther malicious anti-DPRK outfit , which is known as LINK or Liberty in north Korea .This is actively trying to recruit in UK universities . On their website , it openly says that their revenue increased by 27% but expenditure increased by 49 % , a big gap ! . It is not hard to guess where the money for that shortfall is coming from ! The CIA and NIS , US multi-nationals and wealthy right wingers in capitalist countries. !
So what is the real situation of the DPRK , what is the truth . I have visited the DPRK 17 times since 1992 and visited the DPRK twice this year in February and April.
There is much talk in the mainstream media about food shortages ,poverty and even famine . However during my two visits I did not see any evidence for this . I can truthfully and honestly say that during the course of my two visits I did not see anyone sleeping rough on the streets or begging. On February 16th , the anniversary of the birth of comrade Kim Jong Il , I was taken to a pizza restaurant on the futuristic Mirae Scientists Street.We were entertained by a Karaoke singer who sang Korean , Chinese and Russian songs. We had a meal of pizza and spaghetti and a cup of Korean barley tea. I saw Korean families tucking into very large and hearty meals in stark contrast to some of the recent reports about the DPRK alleging hunger etc.
Visiting the DPRK in February meant I was visiting the DPRK at one coldest times of the year . I found my room adequately heated as it had a portable radiator and hot air coming through the air con. in fact one or two nights I felt too hot ! . There were definitely no power cuts despite the imperialist sanctions and the high demand for electricity. On the morning I was leaving there was really heavy snowfall covering the roads . On the way to the airport at 7am in the morning I witnessed literally dozens and dozens of workers in high vis vests with big shovels and brooms clearing the snow . Tractors with snowploughs hurtled up and down the streets especially near to the airport , clearing the snow away .It was a real testament to Juche , socialist efficiency,everyone working together with a common goal and purpose. You would not get this kind of efficiency in a British city .In fact during the last snowfall in the UK I think I can truthfully say that I did not see one person clearing the snow away . UK public services have been devastated by years of cuts and austerity plus incompetence of the authorities . Seeing the DPRK workers clearing the snow away I was inspired by a vision of how society should be..
Indeed during the course of my two visits I could see that the DPRK is fighting back against the unjust imperialist sanctions through self-reliance and that the sanctions have no effect on the internal economy of the DPRK and the lives of the people. In February I was able to visit both Mirae Scientists Street (completed in 2016) and Ryomyong Street (completed in 2017 ) both extremely futuristic streets which are more like towns than streets as they house thousands of families . In the West these streets would cost billions to build but People's Korea built these streets under the difficult conditions of sanctions and blockade . Both streets were constructed in the space of a year.
I had visited the DPRK in September 2018 , the prices in the shops were still the same and the rate of exchange was still the same. My daughter remarked on how amazingly cheap everything was. Just to give an example , it costs about 3p to travel on the Pyongyang Metro and it is free for pensioners and war veterans ,now just compare that to London where Moreover the shops were well stocked with no apparent shortages .
In fact the DPRK economy has developed in leaps and bounds over the decades . We visited (my second visit) the Pyongyang Cosmetics factory and saw a wide variety of cosmetic products . I remember in the early 1990s there were few DPRK cosmetic products to be seen and the range of Insam products was limited but now the DPRK has now diversified the range of cosmetic products and insam products. Visiting the Pyongyang cosmetic factory I learnt more about it . The factory has a floor area of 29,000 square metres and has 500 workers. .
During my February visit I was shown. Ryugyong Kimchi Factory just outside Pyongyang which I visited. Here imported equipment was being replaced by domestically manufactured equipment bearing the mark 'no 26' (lathe no 26 was the lathe using by the great leader comrade KIM JONG IL when he worked as a worker at the Pyongyang Textile Machine factory ) . I was shown around the factory by the general manager , a small woman who was one year younger than me. The factory had a 100 workers .It operated a high level of technology including the use of robots . I was told how respected Marshal KIM JONG UN had visited the factory twice and had instructed that prices of products must be set at an affordable level in order to serve the people. Clearly the DPRK is not a market economy as alleged by the likes of the CIA sponsored NKNews etc and so-called 'Korea experts' . The factory was spotlessly clean . It had great cultural and recreational facilities for its workers including a volleyball court and tables to play Yut and Korean chess . You would not get facilities for workers like this in a capitalist country and indeed many workplaces in Britain lack basic facilities like a works canteen. At the end of the visit was I treated to a nice cup of barley tea.
Health care facilities for Korean people are excellent . In February I visited Ryugyong Ophthalmic Hospital. This was opened in 2016 and took only 7 months to construct .It has 8 floors with a 100 inpatient beds .The hospital offers both inpatient and outpatient treatment . There is one doctor per room.The hospital was spotlessly clean .Unlike the imperialist countries the DPRK is able to run the hospital with a 100 per cent Korean labour . The equipment looked very up to date and modern . I was shown a children's ward which had 4 beds and pictures of cartoon character and toys .It was arranged in this way so as to connect with the mentality of children.
During learnt of the struggle of the Korean people against sanctions and blockades during the 1990s by visiting the Korean Revolution Museum on the scenic Mansu Hill. The area is spotlessly clean , no litter or dirt . We saw lots of soldiers and students lining up to go into the museum. We were taken around the section of the Museum that details the 'arduous march ' period from 1994 to 1998.During that period the DPRK faced hardships because of the intensified sanctions of the imperialists and recurrent natural disasters . The Western imperialists claimed that the DPRK would collapse in 3 days or 3 months or 3 years . However great generalissimo KIM JONG IL rallied the Korean people under the banner of Songun saying that the people of the DPRK were at the crossroads between independence or becoming slaves of the imperialists . We learnt at the museum how generalissimo KIM JONG IL gave guidance to army units by negotiating difficult and dangerous roads that people advised him not to use .
Also during the April visit were able to travel outside Pyongyang and enjoyed a trip to the wonderful International Friendship Exhibition in Mt Myohyang . On our way there we could clearly see improvements as not one but two motorway service stations have been built by the roadside to offer services and convenience to those making long distance trips on the motorway . It was noticeable that a wide range of food products including fruit Looking around the International Friendship Exhibition we saw many gifts sent to respect Marshal KIM JONG UN from all kinds of parties , friendship associations , Juche Idea and Songun idea study groups and even businesses and leading political figures of the world such as Donald Trump . This shows that the DPRK is not isolated like the imperialists claim. In fact the DPRK has diplomatic relations with about 160 countries .The gifts are symbolic of the friendship and solidarity towards the DPRK and also the respect that respected Marshal KIM JONG UN enjoys throughout the world.
I have just summarised a few aspects of my two recent visits to the DPRK . To conclude please visit the DPRK yourselves and judge for yourselves who is telling the truth . As Koreans say themselves ,seeing once is better than hearing 1,000 times.
Thank you for listening
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