Propaganda against People’s Korea is on an industrial scale, with anti-DPRK stories appearing almost hourly on the internet. All kinds of myths about the DPRK have been produced from tales of executions by starving dogs to more sophisticated myths . Here KFA UK and People’s Korea Today present our top twenty myths each with a refutation
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 rapidlytaking 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.“Refugees 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's 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.
MYTH 11. ‘ DPRK is an ethno-nationalist state ‘ or ‘ DPRK is fascist ‘ etc
The Reality The DPRK distanced itself from narrow nationalism and chauvinism which chairman KIM JONG IL specifically condemned .
The DPRK was founded on the basis of anti-fascism and outlawed fascism in 1946 .
The DPRK voted for the UN resolution against fascism whereas south Korea abstained .
MYTH 12 - ‘State sanctioned/approved haircuts ‘
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The Reality Visiting the hairdresser at the Munsu Water Park We told the hairdresser the story about the 'state sanctioned haircut law '. They were well and truly shocked to hear it . They explained that the pictures just showed the most popular styles and that if a customer asked they would try to give them the style they asked for .
The DPRK Supreme People's Assembly has never passed a ' State Haircut Law ' .It is another myth created by the mass media.
MYTH 13- ‘Women Not Allowed to Wear Trousers ‘
The Reality - visiting the DPRK many times our delegations have seen numerous women wearing trousers . In fact women wearing trousers appeared to outnumber those wearing skirts !
MYTH 14 - ‘ DPRK is based on a Caste system ‘ called ‘Songbun ‘
The Reality - The word Songbun(not Songun) does not appear anywhere in the works of President KIM IL SUNG , Chairman KIM JONG IL or Marshal KIM JONG UN . In actual fact President KIM IL SUNG strongly argued against discriminating against people on the basis of family background . Such as caste system would go against the basic idea of the socialist system in the DPRK and would be contrary to the people-centred policy .
MYTH 15 - ‘north Korea is feudal ‘
The Reality -Feudalism is defined simply by the Freedictionary Online as "political and economic system of Europe from the 9th to about the 15th century, based on the holding of all land in fief or fee and the resulting relation of lord to vassal and characterized by homage, legal and military service of tenants, and forfeiture.". In the DPRK feudal landlordism was abolished in 1946 by the Agrarian Reform law , which redistributed free of charge all land over 5 hectares ,one of the most radical land reforms in history
MYTH 16- ‘The DPRK is a monarchy ‘
The Reality- Marshal KIM JONG UN is the elected head of state and was elected as general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea . Under a monarchy the head of state is not elected .
Article 101 of the 'Socialist Constitution of the DPRK states
"The Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is elected at the Supreme People’s Assembly ' and article 102 says that
"The term of office of the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the same as that of the Supreme People’s Assembly.'
This is really quite different from Queen Elizabeth's role and position .
Also ' The Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is accountable to the Supreme People’s Assembly ' according to article 106 of the DPRK Socialist Constitution . This is a contrast to HM the Queen who is not accountable to the UK parliament . In fact the Queen has the legal power to dismiss parliament , this was last used in 1830 but still exists
MYTH 17 ‘ north Korea is run by an elite and everything is for their benefit ‘
The Reality- This is really turning the truth on its head .There is no 'elite ' in the DPRK . The ruling Workers Party of Korea has millions of members and in fact almost every single family in the has a member of the Workers Party of Korea. Its members are drawn from all walks of life in the DPRK from road sweepers and waitresses to generals and government ministers .
President KIM IL SUNG believed that ' The People Are My God'. He was strongly against elitism . He created the Chongsan Ri method and Chongsan ri spirit in February 1960. He visited the Chongsan Co-Op Farm and stayed there for 15 days in an ordinary house . The Chongsan ri method is based on the central idea of leaders going among the ordinary masses and the superior helping his subordinates .
In People's Korea officials must perform a certain amount of manual labour and every Friday they do a day of manual labour. Wage differentials are low in People's Korea , only 2 to 1 , of course such differentials exist reflecting different levels in experience and skill .
MYTH 18 - ‘ DPRK was the aggressor in the Korean war ‘
The Reality - The Korean War or Fatherland Liberation War began on 25th of June 1950when south Korean troops under the command of the US Military Advisory attacked the DPRK and intruded 1-2 kilometres into the territory of the DPRK . US envoy John Foster Dulles had visited south Korea just one week before the war started to give final instructions to south Korea . Documents captured by the Korean People’s Army showed that south Korean dictator Syngham Rhee had planned to start a war against the DPRK with support from the USA.
In 1950 the south Korean puppet army had 95,000 troops most of which were deployed along the 38th parallel or within close proximity to it whereas the DPRK had about 74,000 troops.
Some figures actually put the size of the Syngham Rhee puppet army as 150,000 troops . This would have meant that they outnumbered the KPA by 2 to 1 .South Korea’s population was nearly double that of the DPRK’s so it would have been difficult for the DPRK to “invade” the south . The US population was nearly 20 times than of the DPRK and its landmass many times greater than the DPRK.
MYTH 19 - ‘ DPRK is an aggressive nuclear armed state ‘
The Reality - The DPRK ‘s nuclear deterrent is self-defensive . It is to protect the DPRK from US aggression .
Marshal KIM JONG UN has declared several times including at both the 7th and 8th Congresses of the Workers’ Party of Korea that the DPRK would not use nuclear weapons first unless it was attacked . The DPRK developed nuclear weapons only after the US declared the DPRK along with several other countries as a target for a US pre-emptive nuclear strike . It is admitted by the US that on several occasions such as during the Korean War , the 1968 ‘Pueblo incident ‘ and the 1976 Panmunjom incident the US came close to using nuclear weapons against the DPRK . During the Korean War the US wanted to drop nuclear bombs on a number of DPRK cities and even China.
It was the US that introduced nuclear weapons into south Korea in 1957 - at one point the US had 1750 nuclear weapons in south Korea . The DPRK conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 , 59 years after the US introduced nuclear weapons into south Korea ‘
It is the US that has over 6,000 nuclear weapons and has carried out 1054 nuclear tests compared to a mere 6 nuclear tests carried out by the DPRK
MYTH 20- The DPRK is both ‘isolated ‘ and ‘isolationist ‘
The Reality - The DPRK has diplomatic relations with 164 countries including the UK (diplomatic relations were established on the 12th of December 2000) . The DPRK is a member of the United Nations and actively participates in a number of UN bodies such as the World Health Organization ,
In recent years the DPRK held summit meetings with a number of countries such as China , Russia , Vietnam and Cuba.
The DPRK does not pursue an ‘isolationist ‘ policy , its foreign policy is based on the principles of independence , peace and friendship . It believes in developing friendly relations with countries that respect the social system of the DPRK and its independence . It will not tolerate any attempt to infringe on its sovereignty.
The DPRK has given internationalist assistance to many countries including Cuba , Vietnam and Egypt .
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