Anne Penketh è stata a Pyongyang insieme ad una delegazione britannica.
Questo il suo resoconto. Passaggi:
In a country where Christianity flourished after the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries in 1885, Kim Il Sung's policy of Juche, or self-reliance, introduced an elaborate religious mythology around a Juche Holy Trinity that placed the Great Leader at the pinnacle. His mother, Kim Jung Sook, and his son, the current leader Kim Jong Il (aka Dear Leader), form the other members of the holy family worshipped by North Koreans - the majority of whom have never heard of Jesus. Following the introduction of the Juche policy, all religions were banned in a country where until 1950, according to some estimates, there were 2,850 churches, 700 pastors and 300,000 Christians.
For the North Korean people, indoctrinated and blind to the outside world in their hermetically-sealed universe, have been brought up to believe that their impoverished state is a Communist paradise. Any imperfections are blamed on the "hostile" Americans, with whom the country is still technically at war.
Signs of the devotion of the people to their dead leader are everywhere. Last Sunday, in the driving rain, a man holding an umbrella made his way to the giant bronze statue where he laid a wreath and bowed in a mark of respect. The following day, in glorious sunshine, throngs of young couples made their way to the statue on the way to their weddings, dressed in the bright colours of the national costume.