(Credit -Jamahiriya’s Resistance Reports https://jamahiriya.substack.com/p/interview-with-dr-dermot-hudson-on)
The following is an interview I conducted with Dr. Dermot Hudson, Chairperson of the Korean Friendship Association UK, on the sanctions that are currently imposed on the DPRK.
JAMAHIRIYA
14 MAY 2023
Q: Can you explain the nature of the sanctions currently in place against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)?
A: Sanctions against the DPRK are not new. The US started imposing sanctions on the DPRK in 1949 and intensified them in 1950 .So the DPRK has been under sanctions and blockade by the US for 74 years,
At present, the DPRK is under sanctions from multiple sources; the US, the UN, the EU, UK, Japan and south Korea.
The last few UNSC sanctions packages against the DPRK are very severe and are really aimed at crippling, disrupting and strangling the DPRK’s economy in the hope that this will cause the collapse of the DPRK. The DPRK is only allowed to import so much oil and is banned from exporting coal, textiles etc and also seafood. These are major exports for the DPRK.
The sanctions have nothing to do with nuclear weapons but are regime change sanctions imposed because the DPRK is a socialist country and is anti-imperialist.
Q: You have been to the DPRK more than 18 times and studied the country in great depth. From what you have read and seen, what humanitarian impact are sanctions having on the people of the DPRK?
A: To be frank and honest during my visits in 2017, 2018 and 2019 I saw absolutely no effect of the sanctions. People looked okay and the shops were well stocked, there was no change in prices between 2018 and 2019 that I saw. Construction work was going on. Someone on our delegation in 2019 said that the situation was different to what he had seen in Havana, he said that Havana is crumbling but in Pyongyang ‘There is no a brick out of place ‘.
However, undoubtedly if the sanctions were lifted the DPRK’s development would be faster and easier and living standards would increase more.
Ultimately the sanctions are a hostile act against the DPRK, basically economic warfare which denies the DPRK’s right to exist.
Q: A common retort used against those who are in favour of lifting sanctions on the DPRK is that sanctions supposedly make humanitarian exemptions and are only related to the production of nuclear weapons? Is this another lie? If so, what is the truth as to what is and isn't available to the DPRK under sanctions?
A: As I said the sanctions have nothing to do with nuclear weapons but everything to do with the fact that the DPRK is a socialist country and are regime change sanctions.
The DPRK has its own uranium deposits and also a nuclear power industry that goes back to the 1960s, so any sanctions imposed will not affect the production of nuclear weapons.
Of course, the imperialists like to use the old ‘dual use‘ argument by which a anything can be banned from being exported to the DPRK on the grounds that it can have a military use for example a computer can be used in a school or a hospital but also by the military and in a nuclear weapons research establishment.
Q: A similar response used by these same people is that sanctions shouldn't impact the people of the DPRK because the DPRK trades with Russia and China. Similar responses are used in relation to the US blockade on Cuba, however the truth is that ANY business that deals with Cuba is penalized regarding any business they have in the US, meaning any company will choose America's much larger market, thus making things harder for Cuba. Do similar restrictions exist as part of the sanctions on the DPRK?
A: Yes very severe penalties are imposed on people who are seen as breaking sanctions on the DPRK. Recently British American Tobacco was fined heavily. In several countries, people have been jailed for allegedly breaching the sanctions against the DPRK.
In April 2019 the Korean Friendship Association in cooperation with the DPRK Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries organised a Crypto Currency conference in Pyongyang, DPRK. This did not breach sanctions however the US arrested and jailed a US computer expert for attending it and the FBI issued arrest warrants for KFA President Alejandro Cao De Benos and a British citizen Christopher Emms.
As to Russia and China, my understanding is that both those countries continue to implement the UNSC sanctions against the DPRK. Both Chinese and Russian companies and individuals have been sanctioned by the US for allegedly breaking the sanctions against the DPRK
Q: What measures are the DPRK and its people taking to mitigate the effects of sanctions, and resist them?
A: The DPRK has long had the line of self-reliance based on the Juche idea and has an independent national economy. Unlike some socialist countries, it did not join the “Council for Mutual Economic Assistance“ created by the USSR. The DPRK has been under blockade by the US for a long and once in the early 1960s the USSR even imposed sanctions on the DPRK. So the sanctions are nothing new. I believe President KIM IL SUNG once said to- former US president Jimmy “Mr Peanuts ‘ Carter that the US could impose sanctions if they wanted, it would not affect the DPRK.
It is worth pointing out that the DPRK has survived with its borders closed for 3 years. Also, the DPRK wiped out COVID-19 by its own efforts without imperialist aid .
The DPRK is increasing self-reliance and self-development and producing more and more at home. In recent years the DPRK has produced a new type 80 HP tractor, a tube train, buses, trams, trolleybuses and a light aircraft. The DPRK is putting a lot of effort into agriculture.
The DPRK also rapidly developing science and technology . It built a new Sci-Tech complex in Pyongyang in 2016
Q: Finally, what pressure exists internationally to lift sanctions on the DPRK?
A: KFA believes that the sanctions should be lifted. Also, some progressive organisations as well as overseas Koreans are calling for the lifting of sanctions against the DPRK.
China and Russia have vetoed new sanctions on the UN Security Council and also called for a partial lifting of the sanctions imposed by the UNSC in 2016 and 2017.
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