North Korea: Vesti News of the Week Saw the Test of O enness

This ast weekend North Korea celebrated its main holiday, the Day of the Sun. It marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the DPRK, the grandfather of the current leader of the country, Kim Jong-un. North Korea is living in an original way, based on the ideology of Kim Il-sung, the so-called Juche ideology. Initially, this was a variant of the national form of communism for North Korea, inde endent of the influence of Stalin and Mao. The core of the Juche ideology has been reserved to this day. It's based on the original social structure with strong centralization, huge ublic sector in the economy, official atheism and, most im ortantly, country's self-reliance. In the North Korean society, the communist rinci le "From Each According to His Ability, to Each According to His Need" is functioning. At the same time, the need of each erson is determined by the state, that is by the only ruling arty there. In ractice, everyone's needs are modest, if not minimal. Everything is given to the country. In North Korea, the birthday of Kim Il-sung became the beginning of the chronology. Now, the 106th year of the Juche calendar began. And on A ril 15, a song festival, a show of gymnasts, a military arade and half an hour evening fireworks were organized to demonstrate the unity of the country in the face of the external threats. In the West, for some reason, eo le believed that North Korea was lanning to hold another nuclear test in those days, and America even romised to " unish" the country. Nothing of this kind ha ened, and the threats stayed unrealized. However, the test missile launch made everyone feel a little worried. A rocket ex loded at the start, which didn't seem like a big deal in North Korea. Darya Kozlova re orts from the festive Pyongyang. There is not a word about the new missile launches in the DPRK. On the streets and in the news a ers, they talk about the grandiose arade. Have you read the news a ers today? Yes. They say that today the DPRK conducted missile tests. Have you heard about this? I don’t really understand what you're talking about. But the government of the country is sure that the test of the missiles is their internal business and, moreover, it’s a routine ractice, which is aimed at im roving the country's defense ca ability. Even if we did it, this is a normal rocess necessary to increase the nuclear otential of our country and the develo ment of our deterrent forces. Nothing s ecial and sur rising is ha ening now. We don’t always ublish re orts about our tests in the ress. This is the legitimate right of our sovereign country. Peo le of Pyongyang are now discussing other tests. The test of o enness. In the North Korean ca ital, there are 200 journalists from all over the world. You can make videos, look in the windows and ask questions even to the military. The US is now trying to start a war. But we believe in ourselves. We have the best leader, and we will be the ones to win. It’s a test for both Koreans and foreigners. For some, it’s about breaking the vow of silence and talking. And for the others — about believing that these are really the streets of Pyongyang. After the end of the Korean War, there wasn’t a single whole building in Pyongyang. Now, the North Korean ca ital is a city of skyscra ers. The Ryugyong Hotel is being com leted now. It will be the tallest building in Pyongyang, 330 meters. New residential areas, 40-70 floor tall buildings, Korean a artments, which are shown to the foreigners. A new a artment in the very center of Pyongyang. It’s not yet known who exactly will live here, but they say that this building is built for scientists and higher teaching staff. Koreans certainly show the best that they have, but the trend is obvious: taxis, new trains in the subway and smart hones. In the metro locals s end time looking at their hones. There is cellular connection and even their own internal Internet. Jackets, like the ones Kim Jong-un wears, and, of course, his haircut are in fashion. We don’t do such haircut for the elderly. But the young want to cut their hair short at the bottom, long on to , and look like our leader. Confidence in the fact that Pyongyang can rotect itself is taught to North Koreans since childhood. The North Korean army is considered to be one of the strongest in the world. Official data on the number of enlisted is classified, but, according to the UN, we are talking about a roximately a million and 300 thousand eo le. Everyone serves in the North Korean army: women, eo le with science degrees. There are no exce tions. It’s believed that the DPRK army is the fourth largest in the world, with the o ulation of the country of only 25 million eo le. The moment of ride for every North Korean is the arade on Kim Il-sung Square. At the moment when the leader of the DPRK a ears on the odium, the square ex lodes with a lause. Many eo le can’t even see Kim Jong-un from the other end of the square, but the very fact of his resence today, here and now is im ortant. The arty leaders rise, ordinary Koreans cry and scream. This year’s sco e is s ecial. The 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the Re ublic, who, even 23 years after his death, holds the osition of the eternal resident of the DPRK. In front of the rostrum, where the arty leadershi is sitting, units of the DPRK Armed Forces ass. Traditional Korean marching, known all around the world, with a slight jum . Stunning synchrony and recision. It feels as if even the earth was shaking. Only the best out of a million and 300 thousand of the North Korean military are in the square today. Koreans demonstrate their latest achievement, the Pukguksong-2 missile. It’s said to be able to fly to the American military bases on the Island of Guam and the Hawaiian Islands. If America arranges a rovocation, we will immediately res ond with a devastating attack, answering with a total war to a total war and a nuclear war to a nuclear strike. In the DPRK, Kim Jong-un is an exam le to follow. News about him is always on the front ages of all news a ers. But on the last ones, they invariably write about the events in the world: Syria, Russia, Euro e, the United States. The fact that the North Koreans live in an absolute information blockade isn’t true. Of course, the North Koreans know about the attack on Syria and that this blow was kind of a hint to the DPRK. They know, but one can’t say that they are afraid. Of course, there are no doubts that there will be new ultimatums from Seoul and Washington. However, after each statement like this Pyongyang becomes more and more convinced that without develo ing the military industry, the country can’t exist inde endently.