E fundit!

09:40 CRIME

"I'm the cousin..."/ The falcon takes 60 thousand euros from the money changer, introduced himself as a relative of a businessman

A money changer in Durrës lost 60 thousand euros after bei...

Visit to Korea/ Rama: Democratic institutions are built even when history says it is impossible

2026-05-20 14:49:00, Politikë CNA

Visit to Korea/ Rama: Democratic institutions are built even when history says

Prime Minister Edi Rama, during his speech at the Asian Leadership Conference in South Korea, drew a parallel between the two Koreas, describing them as symbols of two opposing paths: one built on openness, democracy and innovation, while the other on isolation, fear and the rule of force.

Rama linked this comparison to Albania's history, recalling that our country was once called "the North Korea of ??Europe."

According to him, this is not an abstract lesson, but a lived reality, from which Albania is today breaking away through a new path of development.

He stressed that Albania is pursuing a process of building democratic institutions and modernization, aiming for integration into the European Union. The Prime Minister underlined that, despite the difficulties and imperfections, the country has chosen a fundamentally different direction from the past.

" One Korea became a symbol of renewal through openness, sustainable democracy, and innovation. The other became an emblem of darkness through isolation, the rule of force, and fear."

This has never been more than an abstract lesson for me, because during a painful chapter of its history, Albania was the "North Korea of ??Europe" and yet today it is walking on another path. A path that is not easy, imperfect of course, but fundamentally different. A path of institution building, democratic modernization, a path towards the European Union.

We, on our journey, are showing that democratic institutions can be built even when history says it is impossible, and that a country once limited by isolation can be defined by aspiration. This is just one of the reasons why it is so meaningful for me to be here in Seoul. Although geographically distant, places like mine feel so close to North Korea through the memory that greatness is not reserved only for those who are born lucky.

It can also belong to those who dare to rebuild, who choose openness over fear, determination over surrender, and optimism over fatalism.

While we were locked behind our walls, singing revolutionary songs, fascinated by China's Cultural Revolution, and waging imaginary wars against the Americans and Soviets, something completely different was unfolding on this continent, which we could neither see nor were allowed to know.

Japan was rebuilding itself into an industrial wonder, North Korea was transforming poverty into precision engineering. Singapore was proving that a city with no natural resources could outshine those nations blessed with every possible advantage. Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, each one writing its own chapter on its own terms and in its own voice.

Albania parted ways with China precisely when Xiaoping began to dismantle that ideological orthodoxy with just one sentence that sounded heretical to us at the time: “It doesn't matter what color the cat is as long as it catches mice.” Albania remained faithful to the doctrine. China chose pragmatism, and history walked with China.

"Perhaps the most extraordinary thing of all is that these countries, despite their extraordinary differences in culture, systems, history and political traditions, found a way to build something together ," Rama said.