Some facts on the old cliched argument "south Korea is more developed
than the DPRK " . Not true , not by a long chalk . Just reading two
books from the 1970s . One by the highly respected UK social scientist
Malcolm Caldwell who was a lecturer at SOAS . In his book "The Wealth of
Some Nations " he notes that from 1954 to 1970/71 the DPRK rate of
industrial output growth was 23.5% whereas that of south Korea was 15.3%
so the DPRKs rate of growth was over 50 % higher . In agriculture
the he estimated the DPRKs per capita rice production was 230kgs
whereas south Korea was 123kg , so the DPRKs output was nearly double .
Caldwell concluded "what is clear is that deprived of massive loans, US
military propping , and integration into the international capitalist
economy south Korea would collapse whereas abiding by Juche north Korea
can stand independent indefinitely.It can be added that today south
Korea is still occupied by the US and its industry and services are 80 %
to 90% owned by the US and Japan.
Earlier, in 19964 renown
Cambridge economist Prof Joan V Robinson had written "Eleven years ago
in Pyonygang there was not one stone standing upon another. (They reckon
that one bomb, of a ton or more, was dropped per head of population.)
Now a modern city of a million inhabitants stands on two sides of the
wide river, with broad tree-lined streets of five-story blocks, public
buildings, a stadium, theaters (one underground surviving from the war)
and a super-de luxe hotel. The industrial sector comprises a number of
up-to-date textile mills and a textile machinery plant. The wide sweep
of the river and little tree-clad hills preserved as parks provide
agreeable vistas. There are some patches of small gray and white houses
hastily built from rubble, but even there the lanes are clean, and light
and water are laid on. A city without slums."
Finally in the book
"Korea Promotes Revolution and Construction " the Danish writer Arne
Herlov Petersen pointed out that " in 1976 the DPRK produced 500 kg of
rice per capita but south Korea only 175kg so the DPRKs output was more
than double that of south Korea
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