Report from the SLMK delegation to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

12th to 16th of June 2007

Aim:

The delegation aimed at strengthening the relationship with the Korean Anti-Nuke Peace Physicians (KANPP), the DPRK affiliate of IPPNW, raising awareness on nuclear weapon issues among medical students and doctors, and to increase our own knowledge about the health care situation in DPRK.

 
Background:

KANPP was founded in 1992 and had some activities during the 90s. Since the end of the decade the organisation was put to rest and it was not until an IPPNW delegation, including German and Swedish delegates in 2005 went to visit DPRK that it was revived again. SLMK funded a KANPP delegation to attend the IPPNW World Congress in Helsinki 2006. The German affiliate is now working on arranging clinical practice for DPRK doctors and students. After the DPRK nuclear test explosion in October 2006 SLMK decided to try to support an increased activity of KANPP, the IPPNW affiliate in DPRK. A meeting with the DPRK Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden was arranged where nuclear weapon issues and a new delegation was discussed. The Delegation was finally set to 12^th to 16^th of June 2007.

 
Delegates:

Invitations were sent out to SLMK board and the NWIP-server to ask for delegates that wanted to join this delegation. Unfortunately it is very complicated (if at all possible) for American citizens to visit DPRK at the moment. The delegates from Australia and Norway had to cancel their participation in the end. The delegation turned out to consist of the following participants,

Martin Tondel, MD PhD, Vice Chairman of SLMK

Wenjing Tao, Coordinator of NWIP

Johannes Norberg, Student Representative of Sweden

Thomas Silfverberg, Member of SLMK Election Committee

Material:

On the delegation information material from IPPNW and SLMK was brought, including publications such as “Instead of Nuclear Weapons”, “Human Factor” and flyers on the risk of nuclear weapons and its medical effects from NWIP and the PSR affiliate. Dr. Martin Tondel brought his newly published thesis on the medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident. CD-ROMs were brought with power point presentations, the “Learn about Nuclear Weapons” file, photos and a lot of other information material. Medical literature such as a copy of Harrison’s Internal Medicine and a Pathology book was brought and handed over to the Pyongyang University of Medicine.

Program:

An extensive program was worked out with the help and efforts of Mr Kang Mun Ryol, executive secretary of KANPP. He also arranged for accommodation, car hire and airport pick-up. Mr Kang Mun Ryol and a student named Rim met us at the airport and helped us getting all of our material through the customs. From this point they accompanied us everywhere.

 
June 12^th

After a (quite amazing) circus performance directly after arrival we met with Mr Kim Il Bong chairman of KANPP and we discussed DPRK and our organisations over dinner.
 

June 13^th

First we paid a compulsory visit to Mangyongdae – the place of birth for the forever President Kim Il Sung.

Then we visited Ansan General Clinic, a basic health unit where we discussed medical questions and the health services of DPRK. Apart from district consultations they also performed obstetrics, gynaecology, internal medicine and dentistry. The most frequent complications that the patients are suffering from are diarrhoea in the summer and respiratory diseases in the wintertime. We saw very few patients there and even less medicines (they were basically just traditional). The head physician explained that every child gets there own doctor that follows them throughout their life and that the health care is free since 1952. She further explained that traditional medicine is used for chronic patients.

Next visit was to the People’s Grand Study Palace – an impressive public library where people go to study preferably the Great Leader Kim Il Sung’s publications. From the computer hall in the countries largest library you could reach 50 homepages in the DPRK intranet.

In the afternoon we were showed around the Pyongyang University of Medicine including a lot of anatomic samples and some of their research labs, where scientists and students were struggling with molecular research without proper instruments and material. But then we had a 2 hour meeting with 9 medical students and the Dean of the university. First we had a short introduction to SLMK and IPPNW. Then we explained the IPPNW Student Movement with a power point presentation that included photos from many countries. We wanted the show the medical students what their colleagues involved in the same organisation are doing in other parts of the world. Dr Martin Tondel had a presentation on health consequences after exposure to radioactivity. At first we had everything translated but because the students were sufficiently fluent in english we decided to talk english directly to them. We asked the students what kind of activities they were doing. They explained that they had seminars, discussions and meetings at the university as well as sessions where they are educating people in the countryside about the nuclear risks and threats. They said that there are about 50 student members in KANPP in 3 different cities. We exchange opinions about the importance of working with nuclear weapon related issues. In the end we had a very informal discussion and handed over material including IPPNW and SLMK publications and medical literature. As a conclusion we were quite surprised how openly we could discuss nuclear weapons issues. They shared our opinions in a great extent though what they said seemed somewhat rehearsed.

In the late afternoon we once again met with Mr Kim Il Bong to further discuss the cooperation between our affiliates within IPPNW. We could draw the conclusion that the people in KANPP are mostly interested in having clinical practise in western countries in the area of medicine. They mean more opportunities like what is soon going to be performed by the German affiliate, which has invited two doctors or students to do practice in hospitals in Germany for 3 months. Furthermore they are interested in having medical journals sent to them as well as medicines. They also pointed out the importance of meeting in conferences and on delegations.

14^th of June

In the morning we visited the Tower of Juche Idea, which is a national monument of the ideology of Kim Il Sung and DPRK. Then we went to the Academy of Koryo Medicine which is a hospital for traditional Korean medicine. Many of the Korean patients receive traditional treatment. We were shown massage, acupuncture, body-electricity measurements, incense treatments, as well as induction and vacuum treatment.

Next stop was to visit the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, which is a big hospital that has received a lot of support from WHO. Instruments and equipment has been given from other countries to support the health services in DPRK. The result in this case is a hospital with partly very modern equipment. The question is in what extent this equipment is used in the proper way. When we were shown a modern duplex machine where a doctor where doing ECHO cardiography and asked what she was looking for, she replied “Angina pectoris”. In this hospital woman were treated for a wide area of diseases and syndromes. But the focus was on obstetrics. The doctor that showed us around explained that in this hospital they had a child mortality rate of 0,4 %. This rate would be pure top of the world!

At both of these hospitals we had time to discuss our own organisation and the reason to why we were arranging a delegation like this. We discussed the importance of health care personnel getting involved in and working for disarmament in all countries. And we even pointed out that we as doctors should do what we can to treat and help people from suffering from every kind of disease, including the nuclear weapons.

For lunch we had an informal meeting at the Swedish Ambassadors Residency where we talked intensely over wonderful dishes about the situation in DPRK. Sweden was for almost 20 years the only western country represented in DPRK.

In the afternoon we went on to the Pyongyang Institute of Nutritional Care of Children which is a health centre as well as a production plant for additional nutritious products. The production part of this small institute was not running at the time for our visit. The rest of the institute seemed to be sleeping. We never saw more than a few children. Even here we had a quite long discussion about our organisation and fighting the malnutrition in DPRK. This institute was maybe one of the more open places we got to see in DPRK. Malnutrition is a great problem in DPRK, and it is quite surprising that we could visit a place that deals with that problem.

In the evening we visited the Mangyongdae Children’s Palace where we were shown around by an 8 year old girl. At this palace the children were taught to play instruments, dance ballet as well as embroidery, calligraphy and sports. The children then had performances for foreigners and other children. These performances were perfectly conducted and a bit too impressive regarding the age of the children.

15^th of June 

On the 7^th anniversary for the celebration of the Joint Declaration for the Reunification of the Korean Peninsula we dedicated our day to visit the Demilitarised zone between DPRK and the Republic of Korea. On the way to the border we could see some of the countryside and get a first impression of the conditions people living in the countryside.

On the border we were shown around by a lieutenant who was giving us his opinion on the DPRK military power in general and the United States in particular. We were shown the Panmunjom which is the village where the seize fire was signed in 1953. We could not leave without asking the lieutenant under which conditions DPRK would use its nuclear weapons. He replied instantly, “in case of the US attacking our country”. Further he explained “If the US attacks us we will take them down. They will be surprised.  We will destroy them completely”.

The afternoons visit to Kaesong Children’s hospital was cancelled because of an unforeseen restoration. Instead we had another lunch and dinner together with Mr Kang Mun Ryol and Mr Rim. In the end of our visit we established a quite relaxed relation to them where we discussed pretty much everything and laughed together.

16^th of June

We were driven to the railway station and left for Beijing. The day was spent looking out on the Korean countryside. There are hardly any tractors which mean the agriculture is totally relying on people for the production. The people from the cities get permission to leave there jobs at the time for harvest because the peasants simply can’t do it all themselves. The Korean agriculture is still lacking about 1 million tons of food a year to be able to feed its population.

 
Conclusion

The delegation to KANPP and Pyongyang was more successful than we had expected. We were able to speak more openly than we had expected both with medical students and doctors and health personnel as well as the people from KANPP. We developed a warm relationship with KANPP. We have a good idea about the next steps in strengthening this cooperation. And finally we have learned a lot about DPRK and the security situation in the North Asia region that we will try to pass on when the delegation is over.

On behalf of SLMK and IPPNW

Martin Tondel, MD PhD, vice chairman of SLMK

Wenjing Tao, coordinator of NWIP

Johannes Norberg, Student Representative of Sweden

Thomas Silfverberg, Member of SLMK Election Committee