07/11/2010
Germany impresses North Koreans
From July 3rd to 10th the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty invited a delegation of eight North Korean senior officials of the Worker’s Party, the country’s administration and further institutions to travel to Munich, Dresden and Berlin to explore German engineering, environmental city development and lifestyle. In November 2009 some of those specialists had already participated in a highly successful two-day workshop on “aspects of sustainable city development”, organized by the foundation in Pyongyang, that had attracted great attention within the DPRK. For the third time since 2005 the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty’s office in Seoul arranged a study tour to Germany for high ranking North Korean delegates.
It was an ambitious and demanding program, allowing valuable insights and conveying both: professional expertise and individual impressions. Especially those personal “imprints” are most likely to leave their marks and have effects on the participant’s work in their home country. The perception of Germany, as innovative and driving force in regards to environmental- and health protection on construction sites was especially fostered during appointments at the Fraunhofer Institute in Holzkirchen and practical excursions to the compound of the former airport in Riem and the competence center Hellersdorf.
After closing down the old Munich airport in 1992 - considering social, urban and environmental aspects - a trend-setting new part of the town was carefully developed. Riem is mostly free of cars and designed family-friendly. Where aircrafts used to touch down, kicked off the new trade fair city. A green and friendly neighborhood with convention centers, apartment buildings, childcare- and shopping facilities, short commuting and leisure time activity.
The competence center Hellersdorf came to fame within Germany for its exemplary sanitation of prefabricated industrialized apartment blocks. Exceptional – and startledly noted by the Korean guests – was the high degree of involvement and participation of residents into the reconstruction of their homes.
The appointments were embedded in a lecture of the foundation’s accompanying resident representative in Seoul, Walter Klitz, who introduced the structure of the German democratic system as well as the principles of decentralization and local autonomy and pointed out political, economic and social differences to the centrally planned and socialist DPRK. Against the backdrop of city development even “hot topics” like social market economy, civic participation or the importance of private property fell on sympathetic ears.
To get a first hand impression take a look at our eventbox.
