A Workers' Paradise?

Tomas van Houtryve

Freelance

A Workers' Paradise? - North Korea's guiding principle is known as Juche, a mix of communism and extreme self reliance. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, North Korea's economy hit a crisis leading to massive a famine among the population. Neither the economy nor the Juche ideology has changed much in recent years, but by building and testing nuclear weapons, North Korea has managed to negotiate increasing amounts of foreign aid out of nervous donors. That aid is the what is keeping the country's economy on track today.

Passengers put their hands outside a bus window in the rain in Pyongyang, North Korea (DPRK) on 21 August 2007

Tomas van Houtryve, "A Workers' Paradise?," in POYi Archive, Item #41582, http://archive.poy.org/items/show/41582 (accessed April 21, 2025).