North Korea is a completely closed country because of the situation it is experiencing. Will the country ever extend?

Korea is always ready to engage with other countries of the world. It is closed to protect their dignity and sovereignty and not to ignore other peoples or to maintain relations with them. Gradually people are coming closer to us and there will be changes in that direction. It happens that people use the concept of “change” or “openness” many times with the meaning of becoming capitalism. That will never happen. I think it is more the West that does not dare to approach Korea than the opposite.

You are a representative for International Cultural Relations and Korea is officially at war with the United States. Have you ever felt fear?

Of course, my position has caused me a lot of problems. There are so many lies that have spread around Korea that the name of any person or thing that relates to the country is dirty. I've had problems with many childhood friends, who thought they were going to be locked up by the simple fact that they were my friends. I've been kicked out of three workplaces for my ideas. In addition, I am under enormous pressure from the system, my packages are constantly being recorded at airports. But I've never felt fear. As for fear, it is better to put aside the struggle of ideas. If I have come to a position that no one has reached in the world, it is because I have not been afraid.

One of Korea ' s great aspirations is to unify a nation divided into two states. In what situation is this possible unification?

Now it's very difficult to unify. Between 2000 and 2007, a number of agreements were signed, centred on a confederal republic with two systems. With the support of the majority of Koreans. From respect to ideologies, the commitment to collaborate in everything else was signed. Unfortunately, Park Geun-hye, daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee, has destroyed all that. The last has been the closure of the Kaesong shared industrial estate, which some three months ago employed thousands of Koreans from all over the north and south of the country.

Separation, borders and, above all, war have had a direct influence on Korean culture. How has it evolved in both states?

In the North, a culture of its own is maintained, without foreign influence. In the South, on the contrary, American culture has had a great influence. The K-Pop (Korean Pop) is a version of American pop, but with oriental faces, and Seoul’s best-known cultural expression is break dance. Imagine. Young people know everything about American culture and, on the contrary, nothing about Korean culture. Language is also slowly being lost, and that is terrible for the nation. Still, we believe that unity is possible.

What does the Korean know about Western culture?

They know Don Quixote and the Spanish Civil War. But, above all, he knows what the “jungle” looks like. We call capitalism “the jungle,” “the place where people eat.” When I brought the Koreans to Madrid, they were frightened. It's a shock to them, because they see you have to pay for everything. Also to go to the toilet.

Journalists and tourists visiting Korea have a constant guide by their side. The Government exercises absolute control over foreigners. Why?

Yes, it is. For us, Korea is our home. We are a family. It's a country without prostitution and without drugs, and we don't want these kinds of problems to come into the house. Foreigners are always accompanied by a guide, because we do not know what their true intentions are. The media infiltrated journalists as tourists and subsequently published sensationalist reports. That is why we took action.

To let journalists walk freely, making public perspectives of contrast of reality, wouldn't manipulation be evident?

Quite the opposite. Journalists, as I said, take a picture at a monument and then say they've been in a concentration camp. This journalist has not left the capital, Piongyang, but he writes about the regions of Nampo, Wonsan and Haeju, literally copying what the cia says. If this happens now, what will happen if the doors are opened?

How is democracy understood in Korea?

Democracy means that the people have power. Its regime is entirely the opposite in the capitalist countries that consider it democratic. The people of Korea have control over the means of production and all property and use it cooperatively for the benefit of society as a whole. On this basis, every five years the people elect their 687 delegates to the General Assembly. By universal suffrage, all citizens over the age of 17 have the option to stand or vote for these elections.

Is it a democracy that since 1948 all heads of state have been of the same family?

The love for the leader, the passion and the image of the highest leaders everywhere coincide with the idiosyncrasies of the choirs. The union of the Corean family is of vital importance. The microcosm of the family is generalized to the macrocosm of society, where our leader is the father. A center of gravity that allows the unity of society. It cannot be denied that he is a paternalistic figure. But be careful! In no case is it authoritarian.