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Behind the Veil: Inside Look at North Korea’s Developing Economy (PHOTOS)

© Sputnik / ANDREI IVANOVPyongyang spinning mill
Pyongyang spinning mill - Sputnik International
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How will the future of North Korea be affected by the seventh congress of the Workers' Party of Korea? The answer to that cannot be given based only on the analysis that was made during the conference and the decisions that were made. The Russian journalist Andrei Ivanov offers a different look at the situation.

People walk near the venue of a ruling party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea May 6, 2016. - Sputnik International
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7th Congress of Workers’ Party Kicks Off in North Korea
In his observation, Ivanov decided to start with outrageous statement: North Korea is gradually and increasingly beginning to resemble South Korea. The first signs of this can be seen during the approach to Pyongyang airport.

“Right under the plane peasant groomed fields can be seen; here and there quite decent holiday cottages with colorful roofs are visible. Sixteen years ago, during my first trip to North Korea along with the team of then head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Igor Ivanov, I saw that the fields were not that well-kept and there were no cottages but only inconspicuous gray structures of unknown material, which casted doubt on their habitability.”

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovPyongyang
Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Pyongyang

“On the way to Pyongyang we came across quite modern cars on the streets, and even good-quality beautiful villages with people moving about on foot or by bikes, albeit modest, but well-dressed people.”

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovPyongyang
Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Pyongyang

The journalist further said that even Pyongyang has changed and it has whole neighborhoods full of 40 to 50-story high-rise buildings.

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovKids play near fountain, Pyongyang
Kids play near fountain, Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Kids play near fountain, Pyongyang

Previously, the capital's streets had very long queues at the tram and bus stops, where there was almost a complete absence of trolleybuses and buses. That has now changed completely; there is now a large number of taxis and cars in the city both of North Korean, Chinese and Japanese production.

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovBasketball court, Pyongyang
Basketball court, Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Basketball court, Pyongyang

Another observation made by the journalist was that residents of Pyongyang do not experience any food deficit. According to the information received by the journalist the reason for that is the fact that a few years ago there was a sharp increase in the number of farms, growing a variety of agricultural products.

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovFlower shop, Pyongyang
Flower shop, Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Flower shop, Pyongyang

Industrialized production is also developing. Ivanov paid a visit to two factories of the city, one for the production of electrical cables and the other for silk production.

© Sputnik / ANDREI IVANOVPyongyang spinning mill
Pyongyang spinning mill - Sputnik International
Pyongyang spinning mill

The journalist saw some workers at the factory who spoke willingly, but used roughly the same language as is used during management reports by the Party. They used slogans.

© Sputnik / ANDREI IVANOVPyongyang spinning mill
Pyongyang spinning mill - Sputnik International
Pyongyang spinning mill

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un - Sputnik International
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Kim Jong Un Reelected Leader of North Korean Ruling Workers’ Party
However, hoping that Kim Jong-un will announce at the Congress the commencement of some radical reforms is, of course, naive. The word ‘reforms’ is not used in North Korea.

Back in the day, North Korea received aid from the USSR and China, and, according to some experts, the Soviet aid accounted for 80 percent. When due to the well-known reasons, this assistance declined sharply, North Korea faced economic difficulties. This forced the North Korean leadership in the late 1990s — early 2000s to allow the community to develop the co-operative sector.

© Sputnik / ANDREI IVANOVKindergarten at the territory of the Pyongyang spinning mill
Kindergarten at the territory of the Pyongyang spinning mill - Sputnik International
Kindergarten at the territory of the Pyongyang spinning mill

It has already helped to resolve some of the problems, in particularly food supplies to the population. But much remains to be done, as Kim Jong-un said in his report to the Congress: it is necessary to overcome economic backwardness, including through promotion of contracts and cooperative forms of economy.

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovWedding, Pyongyang
Wedding, Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Wedding, Pyongyang

According to some Russian experts, Pyongyang is carefully studying the experience of the Chinese, Vietnamese and Russian reforms.

However, in North Korea the ideological core figure remains Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, as well as the idea of Juche. There is, of course, the policy of Songun (先 軍), that is the priority of the army as the main guarantor of security and independence.

© Sputnik / Andrei IvanovWedding, Pyongyang
Wedding,  Pyongyang - Sputnik International
Wedding, Pyongyang

This is particularly important at a time when neither the US nor South Korea is willing to agree to any negotiations with North Korea in any reasonable manner. By tightening the sanctions against Pyongyang, the US indicates that Washington and Seoul do not want to abandon the policy of economic strangulation with regards to North Korea.

Apparently, they are hoping that they will be able to weaken the Pyongyang regime and unite Korea under Seoul's authority similar to the German scenario.

In order to avoid such a fate, the DPRK must grow its own economy and military capabilities. But doing that is impossible without real reforms in the country, be it via the Chinese or Vietnamese model, Ivanov concluded.

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