The Marxist-Leninist Daily

Toronto Public Meeting
Eye-Witness Account of Life in the DPRK
SLIDESHOW PRESENTATION

New housing is being built across the DPRK (left), while light industry
like this textile mill is further developed.

Saturday, March 19 – 2:00-4:00 pm
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Room 5170
252 Bloor Street West (St. George Subway Station, Bedford exit)
Organized by: Korea Truth Commission, 6.15 Declaration Committee
For information: (416) 570-3377

Dave Thomas will present a slideshow and speak about his August 2010 trip to the DPRK. Introductory remarks on the DPRK’s program for modernization, development
and prosperity in 2011. To download a poster, click here.

In 2011, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is pursuing its all-sided nation-building project aimed at consolidating the gains of the revolution and decisively improving the well-being of the people. This particular program has been underway since 2009 designed to build a "great, prosperous and powerful nation" by 2012, the centenary of the birth of the founder of the DPRK, Comrade Kim Il Sung.

This aim of improving the scientific and technological capacity of the DPRK reflects the Juche philosophy of self-reliance that is central to guaranteeing the well-being of the DPRK and its people, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles as a result of the economic blockade and sanctions by the U.S. and other powers that wish the DPRK ill. The hard work and dedication of the Korean people to develop all sectors of the economy is guided by this aim and is producing positive results that provide the people and their rights with a guarantee, no matter what the plots hatched by hostile forces or which unforeseen circumstances arise, the DPRK news agencies report. In this, the DPRK's aim to deploy science and technology in the service of its socialist nation-building project, including the drive to expand light industry, is also decidedly aimed at frustrating the criminal U.S. blockade in which Canada is also participating.

By resolutely sticking to this principle of self-reliance and refusing to conciliate with attempts by the U.S. and other powers to undermine it, the DPRK has time and time again overcome great hardship through planning, sacrifice, hard work and innovation. In this regard, in a country that has held its own against the U.S. for more than 60 years and rebuilt itself into a modern nation following the devastation of the Korean War, there is no shortage of examples of this spirit of self-reliance from which the present generation draws inspiration.

In this issue, TML reports on the underscores the tremendous success of this program, based on a joint New Year's editorial published in the DPRK's major newspapers, Rodong Sinmun (the organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea); Joson Inmingun (the organ of the Korean People's Army) and Chongnyon Jonwi (the organ of the government), and other reports from Korea Today, New Korea and the Korean Central News Agency. These reports totally belie the anti-communist propaganda of the U.S. imperialists and their monopoly media about human rights violations, starvation and corruption of the government circles. The aim of these alleged human rights advocates is to foment the overthrow of the communist system in the DPRK. The proponents of this propaganda include Canada's Harper government and various so-called human rights organizations it supports. Their main tool of disinformation is to remain silent about the real problems of life in the DPRK and how the people resolve these problems under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and their leader Kim Jong Il.

In the DPRK, by ensuring the people exercise sovereign control over their affairs, tremendous possibilities are created for innovations which raise the people's standard of living entirely on the basis of their own efforts. Thus, the DPRK continues to increase its capacity to self-sufficiently feed, clothe, house and educate the people and look after their all-sided well-being in the spiritual, cultural and recreational sense, all of which renders the U.S. blockade ineffective as an instrument of enslavement. This bold work to advance the human-centred nation-building project in the DPRK is worthy of the attention of Canadians who are fed a non-stop pablum that it is not possible to live free of the imperialist dictate and foreign know-how.

This project is also of great interest to all the justice- and peace-loving peoples of the world as the DPRK remains implacable in its aim to peacefully reunify Korea so as to create an homogenous Korean nation and establish a bulwark against U.S. plans for aggression, war and domination of the Korean Peninsula as a stepping stone for the domination of Asia and then the world.

Last year, under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) modernization projects were dynamically promoted in the industrial sectors related to the people's living, such as light industry as well as the chemical and metal industries, the latter setting the stage for mass-producing steel according to the Juche policy of self-reliance. Hundreds of major projects, including the Taegyedo tideland reclamation and Ryesonggang Youth Power Station No. 2, were brought to completion. In 2011, work will continue to consolidate the basic sectors of the economy with a particular emphasis on light industry as it relates to providing possibilities for local industry and supplying the consumer goods required to raise the people's standard of living as well as for export.

Light Industry

The emphasis placed on light industry is to ensure speedy local supply and ensure the quality and quantity of goods and services. Last year, key industries were built up, as well as a strong force of scientists and technicians to support the push to develop light industry, and the valuable experience of having taken the work this far. This year the newspapers in the DPRK report that particular attention is being paid to ensuring the factories are running at high efficiency and that the output is of high quality so as to meet people's needs, comparable to that produced elsewhere in the world.

The DPRK is also keen to ensure that the production of consumer goods is put on a modern and scientific footing with an eye to upgrading the capacity of its light industry sector so that its techniques are not only cutting edge but address the requirements and needs of the future.

Within the light industry sector, in developing local industry, attention is paid to make sure it is suited to a particular area by drawing on locally available materials.

Key Sectors of the Economy

To ensure the success of the campaign to develop light industry attention is paid to develop the basic sectors of the economy which provide the required raw materials, funds and fuel. A full scale offensive is being launched on the overall economic front to improve the capacity in other key sectors such as energy, steel, machine-building, rail transport, agriculture and construction.

So as to increase the output of coal, the coal-mining industry concentrates its efforts on mines with large deposits and favourable mining conditions as well as work to open new fields. Coal is a fundamental source of energy in the DPRK and is also crucial for the development of new techniques in producing steel and for the petrochemical industry where it is used as a feedstock to make fertilizers and fibres. On a related front, the renovated large-scale chemical-industry based in the Hamhung, Namhung and Sunchon areas will establish normal production levels, thus turning out more fibres, plastic goods, various kinds of basic chemical goods, fertilizers and agrochemicals essential to improving the people's standard of living.

With respect to the iron and steel industry, a central component of any nation's economic well-being, newspaper accounts report on the achievements in perfecting the Juche-based steel-making system which are being consolidated while ensuring production targets for iron and steel are met.

Self-reliant iron and steel production is being further strengthened in 2011 by implementing the latest techniques,
renovating and adding new facilities, and increasing productive capacity and the range of products.

Transportation by Rail

Rail transport is vital for knitting together the different parts of the country and economy, the joint editorial of Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun and Chongnyon Jonwi points out. Its central role in ensuring the further development of the national economy means that this sector must also increase its capacity in accordance with the demands of the overall economic development campaign. Technological innovations are being made to build better trains.

Machine-Building

The DPRK also has a modern machine-building sector without which it would not be possible to have a self-reliant economy. The staff, workers and technicians at the various machine building factories are able to conceive, design and assemble the equipment needed by other sectors.

Agriculture

At left, workers harvest fruit. At right, farm workers were joined by officials from Pyongyang
this past January for the work of preparing the fields for the planting season.

In 2011, the modern agricultural techniques developed under the guidance of the Workers' Party of Korea will be further implemented. These include broadening the implementation of double cropping, revolutionizing potato and soybean farming, and actively introducing advanced farming methods and techniques including organic farming. The developments in the agriculture sector have a two-fold purpose: to improve the well-being and level of development of the rural areas and to solve the country's food problems. The DPRK has a territory of 120,540 sq. km of which only 25 per cent or so is arable land and the remainder is mountainous terrain. This means that every inch of land has to be used for growing crops and cannot be used as pasture for dairy herds or dairy production. Other sources of protein such as aquaculture and soy products are utilized, in combination with goat herds as a source of meat and dairy products, which can be raised in mountainous areas. Land reclamation and land realignment projects have provided more arable land, while irrigation projects ensure that croplands will receive sufficient water. Modern greenhouses allow possibilities for not only growing crops year round, but also aquaculture and the raising of livestock.

The Energy Center of the State Committee for Science and Technology has developed a multi-functional solar greenhouse. Laid out in the greenhouse are fields for crops, sheds for domestic animals, a fishpond and a tank for collecting methane gas. When temperatures outside go down to minus 20 degrees centigrade, it remains 10 degrees centigrade inside the greenhouse, making it possible to cultivate vegetables even in winter. Using sunlight and methane collected from the fermentation of manure, the greenhouses are energy self-suficient.

The massive Taegyedo Tideland Reclamation project was completed in 2010, one of many projects
undertaken to increase agricultural production.

Construction

The construction sector is identified as another sector crucial to achieving the overall aim of improving people's standard of living. It includes not only industrial mass construction projects such as the Huichon Power Station and the coal gasification project in Hungnam, but also the construction of 100,000 housing units in Pyongyang and other housing projects across the country. Consequently, production of building materials is also being boosted and the work of building modern bases for building-materials production is being vigorously pushed forward.

The size of dwellings surpasses that of world class cities while the quality of appliances and fixtures
is second to none and better than most.

Administration

Underpinning all these sectors is the aspect of economic management, which is part and parcel of ensuring the national economy is revitalized. Everyone is called on to ensure that the administration of the country's enterprises is undertaken in a scientific and profitable way and in line with the DPRK's principles of socialist economic management, with strict discipline observed in planning, finance and labour administration in all units.

Science and Technology

The DPRK places great emphasis on ensuring that its manufacturing processes are cutting edge, efficient and preserve the natural environment. The use of computer numerical controlled systems (essentially the computerized automation of manufacturing) is expanding, particularly in the machine-building industry. In general, scientific research and technological innovation are directed at improving production, with active research carried out on many fronts to continually renovate and update techniques in all sectors of the economy. Close attention is also paid to medical research aimed at further improving the quality and delivery of the country's public health care system.

Education, Culture and Recreation and Other Social Programs

Highschool students use a digital microscope.

The DPRK points out that looking after the well-being of the human person is an all-sided affair and it espouses a modern conception of the human person. This means that the rights of all are guaranteed by virtue of their being human, which requires that first rate attention is paid to the overall human development -- both physical and intellectual, as well as by cultivating an all around appreciation of all the arts and the social sciences. The educational system in the DPRK and cultural spheres seek to imbue the people with the capabilities and sense of purpose and social responsibility that assists them to contribute to their own nation-building project and to the same abroad.

As part of ensuring the human rights of its citizens, the DPRK provides free medical care to everyone. Medical workers are expanding the care provided and carrying out research into medical science to further develop this field.

Sports

The DPRK also ensures that facilities are provided for the enjoyment and physical development of the youth and the whole people. The women's soccer team in particular is a force to be reckoned with, having won the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Asian Cup in 2001, 2003 and 2008, and it is considered a contender to win the World Cup. Meanwhile, the men's team participated in the 2010 World Cup and won the AFC's 2010 Challenge Cup to qualify for the 2011 Asian Cup tournament.

Great significance is attached to the role of the youth and their development and education.

Leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea

The road taken by the DPRK from its founding to the present has never been an easy one. First and foremost is the brutality of the U.S. imperialists who killed millions during the Korean War and since then have maintained a criminal embargo on the DPRK and subject it to constant threats of another war. Within this overall context, there are also the hardships that all nations and people's face, such as natural calamities and so on.

Despite all this, the factor that has guaranteed the continued advance of the human-centred socialist nation-building project desired by the people of the DPRK is the steadfast and prescient leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), first under Kim Il Sung and now under its General Secretary Kim Jong Il. The Party and its leader are charged with the great responsibility of working out a program for the people to deal with the issues facing the DPRK.

2010 marked the 65th anniversary of the WPK. Enthusiastic and colourful celebrations in keeping with the significance of the occasion were held in Pyongyang and elsewhere.

The Conference of the WPK preceded these celebrations. The conference was characterized by an indomitable spirit of unity between the Party leadership, Party members and the people which is considered decisive in dealing with all the challenges of the present and future.

Party members and Party organizations in all spheres of life are called on to ensure that this spirit of unity and the Party's leadership are more thoroughly established in politics, the military and all other sectors, paying close attention to the needs and concerns of the people and involving them in work and mass actions of all kinds that further develop the revolutionary mass line.

Songun Policy and the Decisive Role of the Korean People's Army

The Korean People's Army (KPA) has always played a central role in the defence of the DPRK. Its victories over the U.S. imperialists and their allies in the Korean War under the bold leadership of President Kim Il Sung will never be forgotten. At present, under the leadership of Kim Jong Il, it plays a central and important role in national defence and sovereignty. Attacks by the U.S. imperialists and other big powers on the national sovereignty of countries are not only done through military means, but also through trade, withholding of trade and foreign takeovers of important parts of national economies. Thus, in the DPRK, the role of the military is not only to defend against the incessant war provocations from the U.S. imperialists and its south Korean puppets, it is also the main workforce in carrying out the mass socialist construction projects. The Korean youth who make up the bulk of the army, literally move mountains in accordance with the plans given by the leadership of the Party. Such projects include hydroelectric and other facilities for power generation. This holistic approach to national defence and the important role of the KPA in society is the Songun, or military-first, policy of the DPRK.

The KPA, is held in high esteem for its serious responsibilities, particularly at a time when the U.S. puppet regime in south Korea is attempting to provoke an all-out confrontation.

As the events of 2010 have proven, the KPA will not be intimidated and its ferocity in defending the DPRK is not to be underestimated.

Steadfast Commitment to the Peaceful and
Independent Reunification of Korea

Since the division of the nation after the Korean War, the DPRK has been the embodiment and lodestone for Koreans on the peninsula and around the world and all justice-loving peoples who wish to see the reunification of Korea in a manner that favours the interests of the entire Korean people.

The 10th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration and the 30th anniversary of the proposal for founding the Democratic Federal Republic of Koryo were marked as an occasion of significance in the north, south and abroad, "powerfully demonstrating the ardent desire of the nation for reunification. The more time passes and the greater the ordeals and hardships, the stronger grows the Korean people's will to independently reunify their country," the newspapers point out.

The year 2010 was a particularly arduous one for the reunification movement, where the bellicose and reactionary forces in the south spared no effort to try and isolate the DPRK and draw it into a full-blown military confrontation.

The newspapers recount that, "Last year the south Korean conservative authorities revealed their true colours as the minions of war and anti-reunification. In collaboration with outside forces they incessantly hatched anti-DPRK plots and perpetrated war moves targeted at the north, scuttling the inter-Korean dialogue and national reconciliation. This reckless behaviour created a surge of indignation amongst the whole nation. It is only because of the DPRK's self-restraint and commitment to reunification that war was deterred on the Korean peninsula and a series of humanitarian activities were conducted between north and south even under the touch-and-go situation."

Despite the recent setbacks, the DPRK remains stalwart in its resolve to forge ahead with this historic task. Further attempts at dialogue and cooperation are being proactively pursued.

The consistent stand of the DPRK is to achieve peace in Northeast Asia and the denuclearization of the whole Korean peninsula, the newspapers point out. It is also striving to develop relations of friendship and cooperation with countries that are friendly towards it.

TML hails this bold program to continue developing the DPRK into a powerful and prosperous nation. This program embodies the revolutionary optimism that has always characterized the heroic people of the DPRK, the WPK, the KPA and the leadership of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, which is based on success after success of the DPRK's proud history.

(Rodong Sinmun, Joson Inmingun, Chongnyon Jonwi, Korea Today, New Korea, Korean Central News Agency; Photos: KCNA, TML Daily, Stephan (Flickr), David Stanley (Flickr))

Ambitious Program to Raise People's Standard of Living and the Nation's Prosperity Continues in 2011