The expression self-reliance is in vogue in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea held in December last year called on the people for self-reliance and to strengthen their internal power.
Why is the DPRK emphasizing self-reliance?
Dependence and Brilliant Transformation
The DPRK needs external environment favourable for its economic construction, which is its main task. The hostile forces including the US are saying that they would help the DPRK achieve economic development while demanding that the latter give up its nuclear deterrent.
Suppose they keep their promise and the DPRK opt for a brilliant transformation. The core part of the economic development will be controlled by the big powers, and the developed countries will never give up their monopoly of the cutting-edge technology and development of equipment; they will offer equipment and related technical service to the DPRK, and very expensively at that, but not their core technology. The foreign forces will control the factories that constitute the lifeblood of the national economy even though the factories are situated in the DPRK. The financial system based on the dollars will tightly control the DPRK: if the DPRK would not listen to what the foreign forces have to say, they will drive its economy to ruin in a moment like Soros did to the Thai economy in the 1990s.
The same will be true of national defence. Geopolitically, the DPRK is situated in a place where interests of big powers are acutely intertwined.
If the DPRK continues to take the road of independence after giving up nuclear deterrent, it cannot escape the fate of Libya. The DPRK will have no other choice but to live as a slave of big powers.
Self-Reliance and Dignity
The people of the DPRK want to live as masters even though they may go hungry rather than to live as slaves.
From the historical point of view, the outside forces persistently tried to control the country. The imperialists started to impose sanctions on it already in the early days of its founding. The great-power chauvinists inside the socialist camp put unfair economic pressure on it. The slogan the DPRK put forward at that time was self-reliance. It realized socialist industrialization in only 14 years by dint of self-reliance. And by the 1980s it achieved a comparatively high standard of economic development by building an independent national economy.
It provided all the people with jobs and houses free of charge. Free education and free medical care systems were introduced well before the developed countries in the West did. Its people enjoyed a dignified life even though not luxurious. No big power could dare to provoke the country.
Self-Reliance and Its Destination
Today when the integration of the world economy has been realized, many people are sceptical that they could achieve prosperity by their own efforts only. The DPRK proved with the successes it achieved in the year 2019 that it is possible.
The Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea called on to take a bigger stride with the spirit of achieving prosperity by the country’s efforts. The possibility is that all the Korean people unanimously support the determination of the WPK and the government. They call it single-hearted unity. The foundation of their independent national economy is continuing to get stronger even under the sanctions. They have the strong power of science and technology. Their country has possessed ultra-modern weapons system which only the countries with advanced defence science and technology have. And all the sectors of the national economy are showing the sign of growth.
Everyone knows that the hostile forces have no more bargaining chips in their relations with the DPRK. The sanctions to check the advance of the DPRK is limited but not the potential of its self-reliance. The successes the DPRK has achieved in building up its defence capability prove this. The DPRK would prove it in its economic development, too.
