BANNEDTHOUGHT

North Korea — Democratic People’s Republic of Korea


      North Korea, officially called the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is undoubtedly the most closed society in the world. Reliable information about the country is extremely hard to come by—which itself serves in part as a serious condemnation of the regime there. Yet it is also true that an additional major reason for the scarcity of information about the DPRK is that foreign imperialism—and especially the United States—routinely lies about the DPRK, exaggerates its negative features, and does everything it can to block the publications from the DPRK from reaching the rest of the world. Under the near total economic embargo which foreign imperialism has placed on North Korea, it seems to be currently illegal even to buy books and magazines from the country! Fortunately, however, the DPRK itself has in this situation posted a great many materials on the Internet which can be downloaded for free, at: http://www.korean-books.com.kp/en/ Many of the more recent documents and magazines posted below come from there, and that site can be checked for additional and newer publications not yet posted here.

      At the same time, the people of North Korea are also prevented by the authorities in the DPRK from receiving almost all news and information from the outside world, or to organize themselves in any way and for any purpose that the government disapproves of. It will be our goal here to do what we can to break down the suppression of information and free speech in both directions—at least with regard to English-language publications.

      Is North Korea actually a socialist country, as it claims? It is certainly almost entirely an economy owned and managed by the government. But one of the central requirements of genuine socialism is that the people themselves, through a political party they supervise, control the economy and the society as a whole, and do so in the genuine interests of the masses. As near as we can determine, this simply is not the case in the DPRK. Although the DPRK calls itself a socialist country, it is very doubtful that Marx would have agreed; it is more like the perverted “barracks socialism” that Marx and Engels ridiculed.

      However, it is also true that the DPRK has become what it is today largely because of the decades-long attacks by United States imperialism and its allies. This took the form of one of the most horrendous genocidal wars of the 20th century during the early 1950s, massacring millions of Koreans and leading to the destruction of virtually every significant building or structure in all of North Korea. And ever since then the military and other imperialist threats against the DPRK have continued unabated. At the present time (early 2018) President Trump is once again seriously threatening to attack North Korea—possibly with nuclear weapons—and start a new Korean War. One can only imagine what life would be like in the U.S. today if it had suffered anything approaching a comparable historical experience.

      Some of the documents below have the file extension “.djvu”. These files require the WinDjView program to read them. This reader can be obtained for free at: http://www.windjview.sourceforge.net   (Linux users have the capability to read .djvu files integrated into their PDF readers of the major desktops: Okular in KDE, Evince in GNOME.)

      In general, within each section below, the more recently published items occur first. If you know of other documents or items which should be made available here, please contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.org


General Information about North Korea (DPRK)


Human Rights and Freedom of Expression in the DPRK
       [This section consists of documents expressing the official views of the DPRK
       regime. Foreign criticism on these topics is at the bottom of the page.]


Documents of the Workers’ Party of Korea


Ideology of the DPRK: Juche and Songun Ideas


Kim Il Sung: Writings


Kim Jong Il:


Kim Jong Un:


Relations with South Korea and Korean Unification


The Korean War (1950-1953)


Foreign Affairs of the DPRK


Economy of the DPRK


Other Publications from the DPRK


Magazines from the DPRK


Foreign Commentary and News Articles About the DPRK


Foreign Academic Works About the DPRK




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