Land where women are respected and valued-special article by Dr Dermot Hudson

 

 

In many countries discrimination , ill treatment and even violence against women is very common but there is one country in the world where women are truly equal, even regarded as the “flower of the country “. That country is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK) also known as People’s Korea . 79 years ago on the 30th of July 1946 the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea passed the Law on Sexual Equality which made women legally equal with men . It was profound and far reaching as it ended centuries of double and triple oppression of women .For the first time ever women could vote , something that would have been simply unimaginable under feudalism and Japanese colonial rule . Women also gained equal pay for equal work ,something that only happened decades later in capitalist countries. In fact even today in many Western countries the gender pay gap still exists.

Unlike the Western countries, People's Korea has backed up legalisation with concrete and practical measures such as free childcare , free education and other measures. There are even 24/7 creches and kindergartens in People’s Korea . I was privileged to visit the Changgwang Kindergarten in the centre of Pyongyang several times .This was a 10 story building(normally in the  UK child nurseries are usually 1 or 2 storeys).  The kindergarten had its own paddling pool as well a room with a model train donated by railworkers. In the DPRK mothers with 3 or more children of school age can work 6 hours but receive pay for 8 hours ! . In recent years the DPRK has introduced new benefits for mothers and also increased the amount of maternity leave . In People’s Korea  motherhood is not frowned upon and women are not penalised for having children . In capitalist Britain women from poor families are blamed for having children.

In People’s Korea women hold important posts such as comrade Kim Yo Jong , a vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea and Choe Son Hui the Foreign Minister of the DPRK . When I visited the DPRK in February 2019 and went to the Pyongyang Ryugyong Kimchi Pickle Factory by a woman manager .It is quite common in the DPRK for women to hold positions like director , vice director or manager or head teacher.There are  women deputies to the Supreme People’s Assembly and local People’s Assemblies . There are women merited sportspeople , merited artistes and merited actors . In Korea before liberation this would have been impossible  ,in fact unthinkable.

It is falsely claimed by the Western imperialist media that women in People’s Korea cannot ride bicycles and cannot wear trousers but this is a lie and a falsification . There are no such laws in the DPRK prohibiting women from wearing trousers or riding bicycles . Visiting the DPRK many times I have seen women wearing trousers and riding bicycles , in some cases riding a bicycle whilst wearing trousers.

Article 7 of the Law on Sexual Equality ended the practice of polygamy and made prostitution in any form illegal . In the West prostitution and the so-called ‘sex industry ‘ are a massive problem totally corrupting society . Cases such as those of Jeffrey Epstein and Andrew Tate are very well known but such a thing would be unthinkable in People’s Korea, a country where women are truly respected and valued . In People’s Korea women can walk the streets without being catcalled and can walk the streets safely at night . People’s Korea  society where equality does not just exist on paper but in practice !

Dr Dermot Hudson

Chairman Korean Friendship Association UK

Chairman British Group For the Study of the Juche Idea

Secretary General European Regional Committee For Friendship with the Korean People

Hon Secretary General Global Farmy for the Study of KIM JONG UN People’s First Policies.