12/01/2009

North Korea: Characterized by the Year 2012

As busy as a beaver, domestically and economically, North Korea is preparing for the 100’s birthday of its “eternal president” Kim Il Sung in the year 2012. In order to increase the industrial production and to strengthen “the ideological spirit of the population”, a large-scale campaign, the “100-day-fight”, publicized on XXL-bill-boards all over the country, has been launched.

"The Party is calling. All of us join the 100-day-fight"

On another long journey to the DPRK, the resident representative of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty in Korea, Walter Klitz, could gather own impressions of the country’s efforts and the current state of the nation.

Centerpiece of the journey was a two-day lecture on “Aspects of Sustainable City Development”. Within four sessions, measures for an ecological and sustainable city development in different fields were addressed by prestigious experts from Germany, Italy and Nepal. Klaus Sedlbauer, the director of the prestigious Fraunhofer-Institute for construction-physics, shed light on the field of construction materials and room-air condition. Frank Schröter of the University of Braunschweig lectured on proper instruments to be taken in the range of soil, water, air, climate, traffic and noise. Finally, two experts of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Marco Silvestri and Purna Chandra Lall Rajbhandari, examined possible measures in energy- and waste management.     

"Powerful and strong nation. All of us join the 100-day-fight"

Apart from the described successful event at the Institute for City Planning and Design, which drew more than 50 Korean experts of the Institute of City Planning, The Paekdusan Architecture Institute, the Ministry for Construction and Development, the Building Control Department, the Ministry for Environment and the Technical University, the delegation was offered a sophisticated and demanding program. The agenda included comprehensive discussions with the Section Chief of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Ri Yong Chol, and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Construction and Development, Kim Jong-Hun. Field trips to the cement factory Sangwon and the steel plant “Chollima” in Kangson allowed catching a glimpse of “100 days-fight” atmosphere and interesting insight into the “worker’s paradise”. A spontaneous visit to the packed Tongil-market, that seemed to offer products in a large variety, revealed another detail: prices dropped two zeros, due to the revaluation of the North Korean Won, what caused some irritation.

Thanks to a good working relationship of the FNF regional representative to the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party, a journalist of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, Patrick Welter, was issued visa and accompanied the delegation. Allowing a German newsman entry to the secretive state is to be understood as a premium token of trust, giving utterance to the great appreciation and recognition of the work of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty.  

The FNF Resident Representative, Walter Klitz, and the Deputy Minister, Kim Jong-Hun

In a separate meeting, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry for Construction and Development, Kim Jong-Hun, once more thanked the experts and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation explicitly for making such a thriving event in Pyongyang possible. Authorities would expect manifold stimuli and a lasting impact of the lectures on environmental city development within the DPRK. With the help of those “nations”, sharing “friendly relations” with the north, the plan to build 100 000 new habitations in “revolutionary Pyongyang” until 2012 would take shape. 60 000 apartments are planed in the street of “Kwangbok” (renaissance) alone. All this, was only a part of the efforts that were taken in order to “open the gate to a prosperous and strong nation until 2012”.   

The Korean discussion partners seemed very (probably too) optimistic, that the upcoming visit of the US- chief-negotiator of the six-Party-Talks, Stephen Bosworth, would lead to an establishment of the eagerly awaited bilateral relations with the United States of America. Despite of multiple inquire by the FNF representative, the Korean side seemed keen not to draw any coherence of bilateral relations to denuclearization. In his political talks Walter Klitz appealed to his counterparts, “not to stress inconsolable differences, but to focus on commonalities instead”.

With great attention and apprehension people within the DPRK followed the TV coverage of the latest journeys of the “Great Leader”, who, to the furthest degree respected, and visibly strained, rushed from one appointment on site to the other.  

Click here to take a look at our video

Click here to read an article on our trip in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung