Our attention has been drawn to all kinds of reports and videos being circulated by some privileged and entitled middle class visitors to the DPRK . Here we will answer some of the things they said . We will focus on one such person who goes by the name of Harry Jaggard(is this a made up name ) who made two videos “Pack your bags boys, I’m running in North Korea” and “ Inside North Korea – The Strangest Country on Earth 🇰🇵” .
In both videos , Jaggard constantly refers to the DPRK as “North Korea “ instead of by its proper title , the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or DPRK for short or People’s Korea . Jaggard’s first video is full of orientalist cliches about the DPRK using words like “surreal “ and “secretive “ ( if the DPRK is so secretive, why has such a hostile person as Harry Jaggard been let in ) . Jaggard trots out the usual mainstream media /elite narrative about the DPRK being a “dictatorship “ and “ oppressive “ etc and ignores the actual reality of the DPRK in front of him . Did Mr Jaggard see any actual evidence of oppression in the DPRK such as the police beating people up and dragging them off the streets or pointing guns at people’s heads (which this writer actually saw in one country he visited but not in the DPRK ) . Where were the massive “concentration camps “ that the Western media tell us exist ? There was no sign of them in Mr Jaggard’s video !
In fact, far from being “oppressive “ and a “dictatorship “, the DPRK’s democracy is second to none .Respected Marshal KIM JONG UN is a genuine people’s leader who is elected by the people and supported by them . In capitalist countries governments are elected by a minority of the electorate whereas in the DPRK they are backed by 100 per cent of the electorate . The DPRK is a democracy from the top to the bottom; from the Supreme People’s Assembly down to the local people’s committees and people’s neighbourhood units.
Jaggard even says after visiting the Kangdong Greenhouse Farm “ that everyone is starving “ his own videos show that this is simply not true . In fact in the DPRK everyone is supplied with basic foods at low cost so no one starves .
However , one myth is broken by Mr Jaggard’s video ; that there is no internet in the DPRK as it is clearly shown that there is internet access in the DPRK at the Grand People’s Study House (and other places ).
Overall Mr Jaggard comes across as gormless , ignorant , silly and flippant . He wrongly calls the Grand People’s Study House in Pyongyang , the DPRK National Library ( and includes a clip where he supposedly receives an email from Marshal KIM JONG UN , of course this is not true ). He talks about “Korean Nationalist Party “ music but no party with such a name exists in the DPRK . This shows Mr Jaggard as a truly ignorant man lacking in any understanding .
Lastly the title of one of Mr Jaggard’s videos “The Strangest Country on Earth” is simply a cliched demonisation of the DPRK . What is strange about a country that is clean , that lacks vandalism and graffiti , that has no beggars or homeless and has free education , free health care plus free housing ? . Surely a strange country is one where the homeless sleep on the streets but there are empty houses and also people with second or third homes or a country that imports products like steel and coal which it could easily produce at home ?
Our KFA UK Chairman Dr Dermot Hudson visited the DPRK last year in April and was the first British visitor to the DPRK for 5 years but the mainstream media ignored his account and instead focussed on hostile vloggers like Mr Jaggard.
Supporters of People’s Korea should ignore the twaddle of the likes of Harry Jaggard and read accounts of people like Dr Hudson.
https://archive.org/details/dermot-hudson-travels-in-the-land-of-juche-korea
