ABSTRACTED from North Korean newspaper Nodong Sinmun

by Ri Hak-nam

Text of article, entitled: `Pathetic reality brought on by reinstating capitalism`; published by on 28 September

The great leader [Korean: yongdoja] Comrade Kim Jong-il pointed out as follows:
`Due to the criminal manoeuvres of imperialists and reactionaries, a catastrophic crisis is taking place in the countries where capitalism has been reinstated.` According to a foreign news report, about 165 million Europeans are currently living below the poverty line. The majority of them are said to be residents of East European countries where capitalism has been reinstated. This situation facing the people of former socialist countries, which had enjoyed a prosperous life in the past era, is the result of having indiscriminately dragged in capitalist filth, blinded by a fantasy about capitalism. Taken in by the imperialists` deceitful propaganda, they opposed socialism and called for `reforms` and `opening`. And what was the result? As soon as they opened the door to `reforms` and `opening`, the imperialists reached out deep into these countries, seized their economic life, and pushed their economy into a bottomless pit. And the people of these countries ended up with a bankrupt economy and poverty as their share. Due to the economic confusion, production decline, and serious management difficulties, the life of the residents in the countries that have reinstated capitalism is becoming increasingly difficult each day. Due to poverty, all kinds of diseases, including AIDS and tuberculosis, are spreading rapidly, and the residents` life span is shortening. What with the soaring prices, heavy taxes, and declining income caused by the economic crisis, an increasing number of people despairing of their situation are taking their own lives. According to a foreign news report, the average life span in East European countries is 10 years shorter than that of the people in Western countries. The poverty in the countries where capitalism has been reinstated is placing teenagers, the future of the nation, in an even more miserable situation. The youth in East European countries that have reinstated capitalism do not receive any kind of social protection as they suffer from poverty and mental agony. According to the officially announced data, from 50,000 to 120,000 young men are becoming unemployed every year in Hungary and Bulgaria. In Romania, 22.9 per cent of the jobless are high school graduates, and 3.5 per cent are university graduates. Due to the worsening living conditions in East European countries, the divorce rate among young people is rising, because of which countless children are living as vagabonds. In the Czech Republic, over 30,000 couples out of the 55,027 couples who got married in 1998 became divorced. Teenagers, with no hopes or aspirations in their life, are becoming deeply mired in corruption, depravity, and crime. The number of people drinking, smoking cigarettes, and using drugs is rising sharply in the Czech Republic. A large proportion of the smokers are said to be young people. In Bulgaria, 57.5 per cent of the female students and 49.5 per cent of the male students reportedly smoke cigarettes. This is the tragic situation brought on by reinstating capitalism. As these facts show, the capitalist society is not a society of `prosperity`, `civilization`, and `welfare for all`, but a world unfit to live that brings nothing but starvation, poverty, and death to the working popular masses. The reinstatement of capitalism in former socialist countries is forcing a pathetic fate of poverty, suffering, misery, and death upon the working popular masses.

* Title, edited by the Editorial Staff of Breaking News