Report of Online Meeting on Experiences in travelling to People's Korea 20.07.2020

On Monday 20th of July the UK Korean Friendship Association , Staffordshire branch of the Korean Friendship Association and the Juche Idea Study Group of Ireland held an online meeting on Experiences in travelling to People's Korea .
Shaun Pickford the chairman of Staffordshire KFA said he visited the DPRK in 1989 for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students and stayed in a flat in Kwangbok Street . He was very surprised by the high level of development of the DPRK , he had expected to see a third world country full of bomb craters and destroyed buildings but instead saw a modern and prosperous country . Andy Brooks said that when he visited the DPRK in 1990 he thought the DPRK was better than Eastern European countries.
Dr Dermot Hudson chairman of UK KFA recalled his visit to the DPRK when he traveled via Berlin and Moscow to Pyongyang by plane .In those days the DPRK airline was not called Air Koryo but Chosonminghang which is short for the Civil Aviation Commission of the DPRK . Dr Hudson said that he was impressed by the solidity of Korean socialism . He made a comparison to his visit to Hungary in the 1980s when he was confronted by black market currency dealers as soon as he got off the train in Budapest but in Pyongyang there were none.
The meeting also discussed food in the DPRK and travelling by train to the DPRK as well as rail travel within the DPRK.
It was pointed out that People's Korea has its own unique national identity and culture .
Many countries have lost their identity , becoming incredibly Americanised and globalised . Instead of having their own culture they have a plastic, artificial culture that lacks real identity . Sometimes you could be anywhere .
However when you are in the DPRK , you know that you are in the DPRK and nowhere else . This is really thanks to the great Juche idea.