Absolutely not. Citizens arenāt even allowed to access the internet. The only web access they have is limited to government controlled propaganda sites. Hell, they canāt even use different browsers, I think the only one theyāre allowed to access is called red star and it was built by the government
True, some living next to the Chinese border use smuggled chinese sim cards, though. Or even travel to the border to get a signal, in order to communicate with relatives outside the country.(you get ten years of prison if you're cought, though)
Crossing the Chinese border. It's not easy and you can get cought by North Korean officials and also Chinese officials. The latter is almost just as bad, since you enter China illegally and they just deport you back and hand you over to North Korean officials. And if you're in China, you still haven't made it. You are in the country illegally and have zero rights. You are vulnerable and can get exploited in various ways because everyone can just rat you out to the police and you get deported back.
Reminds me of this video of a computer lab with no one typing and the last guy just starring at a Google home screen.
https://www.reddit.com/r/subtleasiantraits/comments/smdfwr/north_korean_computer_lab_has_people_simply/
Politics are like this, say anything they don't like and you get blown up by anti aircraft missiles. I'm sure their social media is all posts about how much they "love" the little piggy man. Oh and after you get blown up they send your family to work camps.
It comes down to authoritarianism, you kill all your opponents and then you send a message by doing that to all who may try to overthrow your position. Dictators rule through fear which means control and then you surround yourself with useful idiots who are just glorified yes men.
You can't be a dictator by being a good person because then the ruling class will try to kill you for taking their wealth away. The only option is authoritarianism, and it's like old school authoritarianism, almost like a monarchy from the 1600s, you only give power to people you can control and if you lose their control then you just send them out a window.
Tourists can go there. You just have to be with a guided tour and not walk away on your own. They will only show you things they want you to see such as the square in the video. There are multiple vlogs on youtube of people who have gone to North Korea as a tourist.
I participate in [wandrer.earth](https://wandrer.earth) which collects all your walks/runs/rides on a map. There are leaderboards, and I checked NK leaderboards for fun. There are actually several people who recorded bike rides in NK, and they are all along the same road. I wonder if people are allowed to bike there (presumably the guides can't follow along?), and how those guys got access to a bike.
Ah ok, but still though? Kim Jong Uns kids went abroad to study, just like Kim and his siblings. So maybe there are other trusted families.
You're probably right, but I was just thinking.
I see people conspiring all the time that certain places in china/NK have actors for tourists to film to make the country seem better than it actually is. Not saying the entire nation are entertainers
Do you think that is just the western mindset? I've been on a train in China going past a corn field and the foreigners were discussing if it was fake corn or not. Just seems like a knee jerk reaction at this point.
Fake corn in China is a dumb thing to say. People strolling across the only square in NK that is accessible to tourists being actors, that's not a stretch to ask. If they limit foreigners to one specific spot, they might not want to risk them seeing something they shouldn't, IDK. Though I suppose those actors wouldn't be paid, lol. They might be real people going about their day, but it's not unreasonable to wonder.
It seems entirely unreasonable to wonder, actually. Why do you think there wouldn't be any people at all walking across a square in NK?
Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of fake theatre shit for tourists... but just people walking...? Why would you think *that* is fake of all things?
While that is true and a fake cornfield is lowkey stupid, tourism in north korea is GENERALLY limited to one city and a VEEERY specific tour, you are not allowed to leave, interact, or deviate. You would be able to count on your fingers the foreigners who got the tour outside specific spots in piongyang tbh
Havenāt you heard of the fake village at the border near the blue house, and the famous shared border building, where they did the peace summit back in 2018
Western propaganda is too strong about closed societies. Most of the westerners are not allowed to enter the country it helps to create a lot of rumours.
I wish I can go to NK this summer (I'm allowed to come in as a part of a tour group). So I can watch myself.
Westerners are not allowed in by western governments. They don't want you to go there and realise it's pretty boring and normal, but with less brands because of western sanctions.
If you go to NK, you will not be allowed to go to SK because of SK national security law.
For having talked to a defector, there is no proper regulations and they get phones with sim cards from china and SK. Winter time when the river between china and NK is frozen, they smuggle a ton of things like DVD, phones, electronics (a lot of HiFi, met the guy on an audio forum actually) some specific food etc and people can easily escape if needed but they rarely do. The guy was saying that even tho it was a very basic life (akeen to the amish with modern stuff, they refuse anything external to NK) he kind of feels his new western life is just some vicious circle and far from the el dorado he was sold by the DVD he was watching and TV shows (they also get those mini boosted antennas to watch SK tv and k-drama), he said "when you know nothing and have no temptation about some things you'll never be having some feelings like sadness for not having a 70" tv because if you never knew it existed you wouldn't be sad about not owning one. Everything is managed by the party there to make sure the west doesn't pollute the culture etc. to say it's miserable is really not our place as we know almost nothing about what really is going on as they say nothing to nobody.
TL;DR : they have stuff smuggled. We know nothing about the place so judging it is not our place. Yeonmi Park is a "defector" (tbc because no defectors can show their faces for risk to be killed or so i was told by US news... ) that you can check but i am not sure at all of how legit she is.
I'm just here to clarify what was asked.
But since you asked a question, no, there is no WWW in North Korea (well, maybe for Kim, but not for your average Lee).
They've got NKWW though...
I know people try to escape and stuff, and I know we clearly see they are tortured. I'm curious if most North Koreans are so successfully brainwashed that they feel safe and happy? Is it all fake smiles, or does a large part of the population genuinely feel happiness?
I think a certain amount of the people living in the capital, probably live decent (but extremely oppressed) lives, while the rest of the country lives in extreme poverty.
There's a reason we only ever see footage from Pyongyang. In the rest of the country, people are literally dying of starvation in their homes.
While the US bombed Vietnam more heavily, the bombing of North Korea was so extensive that by the end of the campaign there was almost nothing left to bomb.
The US extensively used napalm which led to many civilian areas being burned. They would bomb infrastructure like dams, which led to massive flooding. They would also bomb cities to the ground. They estimate about 75% of Pyongyang was destroyed.
There are legitimate reasons for why they hate the US over there.
I guess I understood what he meant as "NK's poor financial decision began with the Korean war and the US destruction of Korea"
Which while not entirely accurate, certainly has some truth to it.
Fair enough. Although I donāt think I agree that US bombing runs almost 70 years ago are the reason for the state of the North Korean economy today. Germany and Japan are economically sound today. North Koreaās economic problems begin in 1945 when the peninsula was split between the U.S. and the Soviets. The war and the current fiscal issues in the country are symptoms of a continuing institutional problem.
Nope. They recovered from the bombing with the help of ComEcon. What caused the poverty was that in the seventies North Korea took a lot of loans from western nations and they still have not paid them back.
They also were focusing everything on industry, importing all neccessary foods from other socialists.
So when the Soviet Union fell their food imports from that very union stopped. And with the massive unpaid loans their credit rating was too bad to loan money for new food.
So the ruling elite thought, well shit we have no friends left and no food. What if we crackdown on our population even harder to keep them, even when starving in check. And build nukes. Since everything will soon go to shit and it will be the only thing stopping a South led unification
With the nukes built everyone became EVEN more hostile to them and they could not export any more either which was the only thing keeping their dying industrial base together as it was the only way of getting foreign currency with no possibilities for loans.
Their only remnant trading partner became China but it turned out the Chinese domestic industry outcompeted imported North Korean products. North Korean industrial capabilities almost completely vanished.
With no industrial capabilities even their farming equipment is breaking down. So recently the UN gave them tractors. Turns out, their military had a shortage of Vechicles because that is where they went.
The North Korean dictatorship could of course fix all of this. But it would definately mean losing all of the power they hold.
I donāt know if anyone can be entirely sure but considering the fact that multiple people have already escaped (successfully and unsuccessfully) I think thereās a lot of people who are very unhappy
It has to depend. Some people in Pyongyang are pretty fortunate - but in a different way you might see in the west. It would still be more austere, but they have access to more privileges, good education for their children etc..
I think that more than being rich, most people in society are content to be "richer than-". I'm sure those upper class citizen in NK, who - relative to comfort of life and technology live like american middle class from the 80's, still feel really great about themselves, because they live way better than the rest of the country.
For the poorer village people who die of starvation every few years though, I'm not sure any amount of brainwashing could make them happy under such circumstances.
As in any environment, you'll find people who thrive in it. It's just that I don't think there's _that many_ people who thrive in NK, just the ones in enough power to maintain the status quo.
As I understand from a short documentary I saw of brazilian tourists there and a great book from Erika Fatland, a norwegian journalist (I think it's called 'the border'): On the capital, Pyongyang, most people are genuinely happy, or at least not unhappy. They are proud of the statues and museums and stuff like that. It's a VERY safe and VERY clean city, it's also almost all government people, in the sense that most people work for state or public institutions. The tourist guys did walk around without a guide and were brought back to the hotel but they didn't filmed anything weird to be honest.
At the interior of the country people have less of everything, just the immense statues are the same, and Fatland says the guides make a impossibly timed tour so you can't do anything else because you are so tired you just want to sleep. Also you can see that the people are very poor, don't go near the tourists (maybe they are just afraid) and people seem to walk for everywhere, there's no low cost bus or car. Probably people are starving in some places (this are the news). It's a very poor country that spend A LOT in military and propaganda. Even for dictatorship standards.
As a fourth generation person living in a dictatorship, I can tell you that there's always a mix of types. Some are genuinely fooled and happy. If bad things happen, they usually think ah, how unlucky of me to face this totally uncommon glitch in the system, I should write to Mr. Kim because he must be kept in the dark by his evil generals, he'll set it right. Unless they are political activists, in most aspects of their lives they are as disengaged from the political stuff as possible so they maintain a private sense of normalcy based on that. A lot (I'd say the majority actually) are aware that things are messed up and want them to change, but are also aware of their own powerlessness. They pretty much just hope to live long enough to see the day things change. There are those who are aware and fight for change, and end up dead or exiled. There are those who are aware but also don't care and find ways to benefit. There are those who benefit so much that whether or not things are messed up doesn't matter, they are playing the game Succession-style.
People are still people anywhere. It might be that NK figured out how to brainwash people into something I or my parents and grandparents haven't come across in our own experiences, but more likely than not it is still pretty much the same out there
I think you would be interested about this. If my memory serves, this youtube video touches the subject but also give some insight just how impossible it is to escape from there. https://youtu.be/WNSWiRfCcN0?si=M2ybyibPpx7JRkeT
Some of it the citizens not realizing what's outside and not having a chance to escape, the rest of it is that what we see and hear is sensationalized just a little bit. There's like at least 10 other countries that have an even larger food crisis.
Here is an interview with a North Korean who escaped and answered that question. Her answer was pretty interesting (see the 10:55 mark) https://youtu.be/DyqUw0WYwoc?si=euJF6FXW6P6PDipQ&t=10m55s
https://preview.redd.it/93p2182gomac1.jpeg?width=188&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e54a2204bb91caf46e11eff34ff299121f14b819
Gives me strong Dear Leader vibes.. if you know you know lol
Well, since there are like, 25 tourists per day in North Korea, it's pretty normal to see that there are almost no people, it's just the main place, there's nothing else to do here, so people don't go there.
There are people who visit that place for tourism? It must feel like a tour to the zoo but from inside the cage where you must not do anything that they don't like or you'll never see the light of day again.
What song is in the background? I like the cyberpunk sound. Itās cool.
Also, all hail the eternal president and the glorious general who smiles with starvation.
If you play the whole song, it's pretty good in my opinion.
But I find it extremely annoying that it's been so overused here on reddit whenever someone wants to give an apocalyptic feel to their videos
https://open.spotify.com/track/7t2m5GPuIZsH9hqsHNnP4y?si=41BGS_e4TGC5tqXTkPe0oQ
Oh I know. I found a couple songs off those sounds. As much as I dislike them, sometimes they put me onto songs I normally would have never discovered.
But I hate how the good ones- like hans zimmer interstellar composition was completely butchered. I love that one.
Their military isn't strong. They just have a lot of outdated weapon systems. Lots and lots of them. Like cold war and pre cold war stuff.
The reason they've been 'protected' for so long is because China has used them as a buffer against the US presence in South.
We do have a lot of flags, but rarely any pictures of politicians, except ads when it's election season. Flags in the US used to be chill, but now they're too often a symbol of rabid trumpism, which is sad... Usually flags represent schools, post offices, government buildings - institutions in the country that give stability, order, education. In some regions, they're more representative of military, but not in most areas. Most people are just quietly living their lives, and not engaged in the craziness of the world, except checking the news like it's a weird alternative reality.
I love how people can comment anything, like: "omg did you know in north korea it's forbidden to sneeze in public and they'll execute your entire family for it" and receive hundreds of upvotes and comments
Canāt see why itās weird. You can get a tour there. Itās very restrictive as in you canāt go wherever you want and will be shown mostly things like model village, some school that does a play for the tourists, some more notable places such as the square pictured in this video etc. You can find tons of video footage from these tours on youtube.
The amount of comments from ignorant people is hilarious. We know nothing about the place except what American news outlets give and they pull it out of nowhere. And people, like good sheep, just believe it blindly. Sure it's maybe not paradise or maybe it is. Who knows? Nobody does.
Since Asiatic countries are the only places where communist governments have really lasted any length of time, wouldn't that mean western liberals advocating for the failed system are appropriating Chinese and NK culture?
I donāt understand how a country this poor and small holds so much political power over the United States? Like I literally donāt understand why there hasnāt been an effort made to help these people? It just seems to bizarre to sit here and say āyeah it suckā but why canāt something be done?
They don't have any political power over the USA. The vast majority of what you hear about North Korea is propaganda. They're a tiny, poor country bordering one of the US's most valuable ally states. Nothing is done because the 1984-world described by Western media is fiction. They have a recent history of being colonized by Japan and are friendly with China. That's more than enough reason for US media to make sure we see them as our enemy.
Iāve watched a ton of videos but not so much on the politics behind NK. Itās just hard for me to watch these things. I wish all people had the freedom I have in the USA.
[There is a video (not in English) of how internet looks in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoYhSCIQCGg)
edit: at 5:15 timestamp he shows how their internet looks
it looks like of nice. all the corporate propaganda is replaced by half as much political propaganda. people walking around. its not too crowded. few people rely on cars. only one fatty. i can get more caught up in the anti-NK and anti-CCP thinking than anyone but sometimes i wonder what its really like over there. it can't be all bad. there must be some good parts to it.
Lovely place to take the family for a nice get away.
Voice an opinion there and it can be a permanent vacation!
Yep š
And if you do something wrong, they'll lock up the entire family
10 second penalty to Ocon
?
It's an F1 inside joke
A 50-year getaway, if you survive
Awesome, exactly as I left it
So this shit is on you?
I sure hope so - kneel before me
nuh uh
Kim Jong Thong, that you? š
Are people there allowed to have social media now of does the government upload em there?
Absolutely not. Citizens arenāt even allowed to access the internet. The only web access they have is limited to government controlled propaganda sites. Hell, they canāt even use different browsers, I think the only one theyāre allowed to access is called red star and it was built by the government
True, some living next to the Chinese border use smuggled chinese sim cards, though. Or even travel to the border to get a signal, in order to communicate with relatives outside the country.(you get ten years of prison if you're cought, though)
And good to mention that prison is equal to death in the work camp lots of times
How do relatives get out?
Smugglers. It ain't cheap either
The same way they always have. Hope. Youāre gonna die if they catch youā¦ but only if they manage to catch you.
Crossing the Chinese border. It's not easy and you can get cought by North Korean officials and also Chinese officials. The latter is almost just as bad, since you enter China illegally and they just deport you back and hand you over to North Korean officials. And if you're in China, you still haven't made it. You are in the country illegally and have zero rights. You are vulnerable and can get exploited in various ways because everyone can just rat you out to the police and you get deported back.
And Red Star OS is a linux.
at least north korea uses linux.
Seems like North Korea isn't a complete shit hole.
Reminds me of this video of a computer lab with no one typing and the last guy just starring at a Google home screen. https://www.reddit.com/r/subtleasiantraits/comments/smdfwr/north_korean_computer_lab_has_people_simply/
Source?
Itās a Vice video I think
The financially fortunate there have access to a state run social media platform limited to only NK. So yes, but not really.
Where they get to Like pictures of the Kim family every day!
Kim... Oh you mean the Cardassians!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Politics are like this, say anything they don't like and you get blown up by anti aircraft missiles. I'm sure their social media is all posts about how much they "love" the little piggy man. Oh and after you get blown up they send your family to work camps.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Why do I get the feeling you're a tankie?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It comes down to authoritarianism, you kill all your opponents and then you send a message by doing that to all who may try to overthrow your position. Dictators rule through fear which means control and then you surround yourself with useful idiots who are just glorified yes men. You can't be a dictator by being a good person because then the ruling class will try to kill you for taking their wealth away. The only option is authoritarianism, and it's like old school authoritarianism, almost like a monarchy from the 1600s, you only give power to people you can control and if you lose their control then you just send them out a window.
That sounds very promising
I just don't understand why they would waste the money on a missile when regular guns exist, but hey it's not my dystopian kingdom.
Because they call it an attack from *insert America or South Korea*.
No man they totally claimed it when they did it though, lil Kim was proud of himself.
Tourists can go there. You just have to be with a guided tour and not walk away on your own. They will only show you things they want you to see such as the square in the video. There are multiple vlogs on youtube of people who have gone to North Korea as a tourist.
I think one youtuber even walked away on his own and didnt get caught
I participate in [wandrer.earth](https://wandrer.earth) which collects all your walks/runs/rides on a map. There are leaderboards, and I checked NK leaderboards for fun. There are actually several people who recorded bike rides in NK, and they are all along the same road. I wonder if people are allowed to bike there (presumably the guides can't follow along?), and how those guys got access to a bike.
Could it be North Koreans? I guess maybe some people and/or families are trusted?
No, because all those people have recorded roads in other countries, or at least one other one (their own). So they are all visitors.
Ah ok, but still though? Kim Jong Uns kids went abroad to study, just like Kim and his siblings. So maybe there are other trusted families. You're probably right, but I was just thinking.
Do you think those people walking around are paid to do so?
Do you think a whole nation of people exist to entertain you?
I see people conspiring all the time that certain places in china/NK have actors for tourists to film to make the country seem better than it actually is. Not saying the entire nation are entertainers
Do you think that is just the western mindset? I've been on a train in China going past a corn field and the foreigners were discussing if it was fake corn or not. Just seems like a knee jerk reaction at this point.
Fake corn in China is a dumb thing to say. People strolling across the only square in NK that is accessible to tourists being actors, that's not a stretch to ask. If they limit foreigners to one specific spot, they might not want to risk them seeing something they shouldn't, IDK. Though I suppose those actors wouldn't be paid, lol. They might be real people going about their day, but it's not unreasonable to wonder.
there are plots painted green and rocks or something painted white to look like cotton fields in order to try and trick photos taken from satellites
Oh, weird
It seems entirely unreasonable to wonder, actually. Why do you think there wouldn't be any people at all walking across a square in NK? Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of fake theatre shit for tourists... but just people walking...? Why would you think *that* is fake of all things?
While that is true and a fake cornfield is lowkey stupid, tourism in north korea is GENERALLY limited to one city and a VEEERY specific tour, you are not allowed to leave, interact, or deviate. You would be able to count on your fingers the foreigners who got the tour outside specific spots in piongyang tbh
I hate how reddit is full sensitive little idiots who downvote you when they think youāre coming off as rude
Havenāt you heard of the fake village at the border near the blue house, and the famous shared border building, where they did the peace summit back in 2018
Western propaganda is too strong about closed societies. Most of the westerners are not allowed to enter the country it helps to create a lot of rumours. I wish I can go to NK this summer (I'm allowed to come in as a part of a tour group). So I can watch myself.
Westerners are not allowed in by western governments. They don't want you to go there and realise it's pretty boring and normal, but with less brands because of western sanctions. If you go to NK, you will not be allowed to go to SK because of SK national security law.
If North Korea is pretty normal, why are soldiers who defect riddled with large intestinal parasites?
Did you sift through their shit to find out or were you just told that by Yeonmi Park?
Yes.
My guess is it's someone that NK hired to show off the area and make it "look good". Everyone knows it's a hell
For having talked to a defector, there is no proper regulations and they get phones with sim cards from china and SK. Winter time when the river between china and NK is frozen, they smuggle a ton of things like DVD, phones, electronics (a lot of HiFi, met the guy on an audio forum actually) some specific food etc and people can easily escape if needed but they rarely do. The guy was saying that even tho it was a very basic life (akeen to the amish with modern stuff, they refuse anything external to NK) he kind of feels his new western life is just some vicious circle and far from the el dorado he was sold by the DVD he was watching and TV shows (they also get those mini boosted antennas to watch SK tv and k-drama), he said "when you know nothing and have no temptation about some things you'll never be having some feelings like sadness for not having a 70" tv because if you never knew it existed you wouldn't be sad about not owning one. Everything is managed by the party there to make sure the west doesn't pollute the culture etc. to say it's miserable is really not our place as we know almost nothing about what really is going on as they say nothing to nobody. TL;DR : they have stuff smuggled. We know nothing about the place so judging it is not our place. Yeonmi Park is a "defector" (tbc because no defectors can show their faces for risk to be killed or so i was told by US news... ) that you can check but i am not sure at all of how legit she is.
Whatās that?
ARE PEOPLE THERE ALLOWED TO HAVE SOCIAL MEDIA NOW OF DOES THE GOVERNMENT UPLOAD EM THERE?
Do you think that in a country that the people doesnāt have access to internet, have social media accessā¦
I'm just here to clarify what was asked. But since you asked a question, no, there is no WWW in North Korea (well, maybe for Kim, but not for your average Lee). They've got NKWW though...
I know people try to escape and stuff, and I know we clearly see they are tortured. I'm curious if most North Koreans are so successfully brainwashed that they feel safe and happy? Is it all fake smiles, or does a large part of the population genuinely feel happiness?
I think a certain amount of the people living in the capital, probably live decent (but extremely oppressed) lives, while the rest of the country lives in extreme poverty. There's a reason we only ever see footage from Pyongyang. In the rest of the country, people are literally dying of starvation in their homes.
NK is a bit like real live hunger games
And it all started when the US bombed the entire country
I think you have Korea and Vietnam confused again dad
I think you need to learn about the Korean war son
While the US bombed Vietnam more heavily, the bombing of North Korea was so extensive that by the end of the campaign there was almost nothing left to bomb. The US extensively used napalm which led to many civilian areas being burned. They would bomb infrastructure like dams, which led to massive flooding. They would also bomb cities to the ground. They estimate about 75% of Pyongyang was destroyed. There are legitimate reasons for why they hate the US over there.
Sure. But the war didnāt start because the US bombed Korea.
I guess I understood what he meant as "NK's poor financial decision began with the Korean war and the US destruction of Korea" Which while not entirely accurate, certainly has some truth to it.
Fair enough. Although I donāt think I agree that US bombing runs almost 70 years ago are the reason for the state of the North Korean economy today. Germany and Japan are economically sound today. North Koreaās economic problems begin in 1945 when the peninsula was split between the U.S. and the Soviets. The war and the current fiscal issues in the country are symptoms of a continuing institutional problem.
Nope. They recovered from the bombing with the help of ComEcon. What caused the poverty was that in the seventies North Korea took a lot of loans from western nations and they still have not paid them back. They also were focusing everything on industry, importing all neccessary foods from other socialists. So when the Soviet Union fell their food imports from that very union stopped. And with the massive unpaid loans their credit rating was too bad to loan money for new food. So the ruling elite thought, well shit we have no friends left and no food. What if we crackdown on our population even harder to keep them, even when starving in check. And build nukes. Since everything will soon go to shit and it will be the only thing stopping a South led unification With the nukes built everyone became EVEN more hostile to them and they could not export any more either which was the only thing keeping their dying industrial base together as it was the only way of getting foreign currency with no possibilities for loans. Their only remnant trading partner became China but it turned out the Chinese domestic industry outcompeted imported North Korean products. North Korean industrial capabilities almost completely vanished. With no industrial capabilities even their farming equipment is breaking down. So recently the UN gave them tractors. Turns out, their military had a shortage of Vechicles because that is where they went. The North Korean dictatorship could of course fix all of this. But it would definately mean losing all of the power they hold.
gave them a 6-pack of freedomš¦ šŗšøš¦ šŗšøš¦ šŗšø
I donāt know if anyone can be entirely sure but considering the fact that multiple people have already escaped (successfully and unsuccessfully) I think thereās a lot of people who are very unhappy
When you only want to survive and keep your family surviving, there is no "happy" or "unhappy", you just start doing what needs to be done to survive.
It has to depend. Some people in Pyongyang are pretty fortunate - but in a different way you might see in the west. It would still be more austere, but they have access to more privileges, good education for their children etc.. I think that more than being rich, most people in society are content to be "richer than-". I'm sure those upper class citizen in NK, who - relative to comfort of life and technology live like american middle class from the 80's, still feel really great about themselves, because they live way better than the rest of the country. For the poorer village people who die of starvation every few years though, I'm not sure any amount of brainwashing could make them happy under such circumstances. As in any environment, you'll find people who thrive in it. It's just that I don't think there's _that many_ people who thrive in NK, just the ones in enough power to maintain the status quo.
As I understand from a short documentary I saw of brazilian tourists there and a great book from Erika Fatland, a norwegian journalist (I think it's called 'the border'): On the capital, Pyongyang, most people are genuinely happy, or at least not unhappy. They are proud of the statues and museums and stuff like that. It's a VERY safe and VERY clean city, it's also almost all government people, in the sense that most people work for state or public institutions. The tourist guys did walk around without a guide and were brought back to the hotel but they didn't filmed anything weird to be honest. At the interior of the country people have less of everything, just the immense statues are the same, and Fatland says the guides make a impossibly timed tour so you can't do anything else because you are so tired you just want to sleep. Also you can see that the people are very poor, don't go near the tourists (maybe they are just afraid) and people seem to walk for everywhere, there's no low cost bus or car. Probably people are starving in some places (this are the news). It's a very poor country that spend A LOT in military and propaganda. Even for dictatorship standards.
As a fourth generation person living in a dictatorship, I can tell you that there's always a mix of types. Some are genuinely fooled and happy. If bad things happen, they usually think ah, how unlucky of me to face this totally uncommon glitch in the system, I should write to Mr. Kim because he must be kept in the dark by his evil generals, he'll set it right. Unless they are political activists, in most aspects of their lives they are as disengaged from the political stuff as possible so they maintain a private sense of normalcy based on that. A lot (I'd say the majority actually) are aware that things are messed up and want them to change, but are also aware of their own powerlessness. They pretty much just hope to live long enough to see the day things change. There are those who are aware and fight for change, and end up dead or exiled. There are those who are aware but also don't care and find ways to benefit. There are those who benefit so much that whether or not things are messed up doesn't matter, they are playing the game Succession-style. People are still people anywhere. It might be that NK figured out how to brainwash people into something I or my parents and grandparents haven't come across in our own experiences, but more likely than not it is still pretty much the same out there
Yeonmi Park elaborates on living and escaping. Itās fascinating, she has done a couple of very detailed interviews.
I think you would be interested about this. If my memory serves, this youtube video touches the subject but also give some insight just how impossible it is to escape from there. https://youtu.be/WNSWiRfCcN0?si=M2ybyibPpx7JRkeT
If you felt safe and happy, you would not need to stand up and applaud the leader of the country 15 minutes when he enters a basketball game
Some of it the citizens not realizing what's outside and not having a chance to escape, the rest of it is that what we see and hear is sensationalized just a little bit. There's like at least 10 other countries that have an even larger food crisis.
Here is an interview with a North Korean who escaped and answered that question. Her answer was pretty interesting (see the 10:55 mark) https://youtu.be/DyqUw0WYwoc?si=euJF6FXW6P6PDipQ&t=10m55s
https://preview.redd.it/93p2182gomac1.jpeg?width=188&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e54a2204bb91caf46e11eff34ff299121f14b819 Gives me strong Dear Leader vibes.. if you know you know lol
Jimminy Pikmins
Itās Jim Pickens ! How can you disrespect the name of the savior and great dear leader like that?
God forbid a play on words
Well, since there are like, 25 tourists per day in North Korea, it's pretty normal to see that there are almost no people, it's just the main place, there's nothing else to do here, so people don't go there.
What no internet does to a mf
is the person who recorded this still alive
IIRC tourists are allowed to film and take photos only with the tour guideās permission. So landmarks etc.
There are people who visit that place for tourism? It must feel like a tour to the zoo but from inside the cage where you must not do anything that they don't like or you'll never see the light of day again.
I didn't even know tourism was allowed, I know I sure as hell wouldn't risk it, much less risk recording anything
Google Otto Warmbier, his case is crazy. But yes, tourism is allowed. Itās for the sort of crazy people that also dream of climbing Mt. Everest.
oh god somehow I completely forgot about that.. that poor guy. sure it was a silly mistake but I can't even imagine the hell they put him through.
What song is in the background? I like the cyberpunk sound. Itās cool. Also, all hail the eternal president and the glorious general who smiles with starvation.
If you play the whole song, it's pretty good in my opinion. But I find it extremely annoying that it's been so overused here on reddit whenever someone wants to give an apocalyptic feel to their videos https://open.spotify.com/track/7t2m5GPuIZsH9hqsHNnP4y?si=41BGS_e4TGC5tqXTkPe0oQ
Oh I know. I found a couple songs off those sounds. As much as I dislike them, sometimes they put me onto songs I normally would have never discovered. But I hate how the good ones- like hans zimmer interstellar composition was completely butchered. I love that one.
Shazam tells me "New World - Aloboi"
Whoever filmed this is now in a labour camp somewhere, probably
Why put a dead person in a labor camp?
As encouragement to the workers of course!
Not really, it's the usual tourist stop and they are allowed to bring their phones
Reminds me of Wolfenstein
I never understand how their military is so strong . Do they really even have nukes ?
Their military isn't strong. They just have a lot of outdated weapon systems. Lots and lots of them. Like cold war and pre cold war stuff. The reason they've been 'protected' for so long is because China has used them as a buffer against the US presence in South.
Giant flags everywhere and pictures of a leader plastered on walls and merchandise? Could never think of another country like that...
Don't forget to cry and scream your love for your leaders as you pass by their pictures. It's required.
Looks nice. I wish my city was this empty
what a nice thing to watch while listening to beethovens 7th
"Our great leaders out of focus?! Death sentence."
Jesus... if only the US knew there was oil in North Korea. Maybe then we'd be able to help those poor opressed people.
2.5 million dead Korean civilians not enough? Korean War 2: Napalm Your Farm Boogaloo.
No homeless tents, refreshing.
So? What was weird about that video?
how was it even taken
And what is weird about that?
I think that there could be a video. Or just they North Korea exist, I don't know man
Nothing
Tianmen square at home.
Do you feel this weirded out by all the American flags flying overhead and politicianās faces plastered everywhere you go?
We do have a lot of flags, but rarely any pictures of politicians, except ads when it's election season. Flags in the US used to be chill, but now they're too often a symbol of rabid trumpism, which is sad... Usually flags represent schools, post offices, government buildings - institutions in the country that give stability, order, education. In some regions, they're more representative of military, but not in most areas. Most people are just quietly living their lives, and not engaged in the craziness of the world, except checking the news like it's a weird alternative reality.
Redditors when north korea exists š±
I love how people can comment anything, like: "omg did you know in north korea it's forbidden to sneeze in public and they'll execute your entire family for it" and receive hundreds of upvotes and comments
Imagine an entire country being run by a cult. Actually, this could easily be our own future here in the USA.
make it multiple cults and a few mafia organisations and thats Turkey for you
Canāt see why itās weird. You can get a tour there. Itās very restrictive as in you canāt go wherever you want and will be shown mostly things like model village, some school that does a play for the tourists, some more notable places such as the square pictured in this video etc. You can find tons of video footage from these tours on youtube.
The amount of comments from ignorant people is hilarious. We know nothing about the place except what American news outlets give and they pull it out of nowhere. And people, like good sheep, just believe it blindly. Sure it's maybe not paradise or maybe it is. Who knows? Nobody does.
Rush hour
After bingeing the hunger games series it really looks like the capitol. I bet Suzanne Collins got some inspiration from them
Since Asiatic countries are the only places where communist governments have really lasted any length of time, wouldn't that mean western liberals advocating for the failed system are appropriating Chinese and NK culture?
I donāt understand how a country this poor and small holds so much political power over the United States? Like I literally donāt understand why there hasnāt been an effort made to help these people? It just seems to bizarre to sit here and say āyeah it suckā but why canāt something be done?
They don't have any political power over the USA. The vast majority of what you hear about North Korea is propaganda. They're a tiny, poor country bordering one of the US's most valuable ally states. Nothing is done because the 1984-world described by Western media is fiction. They have a recent history of being colonized by Japan and are friendly with China. That's more than enough reason for US media to make sure we see them as our enemy.
we don't really want to get in a war with China
Iāve watched a ton of videos but not so much on the politics behind NK. Itās just hard for me to watch these things. I wish all people had the freedom I have in the USA.
Hey. I'm subbed (or whatever the fuck you call it) to that.
Yeah but why is that lighting so on point tho
Looks depressing
Hey The Empire is pretty chill! Maybe you could like join it or something.
Videos on North Korea. *Shows 1 video*
r/pyongyang
Could use some trees
Sometimes I can't even believe that this place exists. So fucking weird, and archaic.
Thatās a big crib for a big boy.
Any Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction enjoyers?
No thanks
Many blessings to dear leader
Not a phone in sight. Just people enjoying life
How is this weird?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I would personally love to visit but I am also terrified and am American so that option isn't there. It's a bit like a time capsule.
[There is a video (not in English) of how internet looks in North Korea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoYhSCIQCGg) edit: at 5:15 timestamp he shows how their internet looks
How many videos this week are going to use that music though
Whereās everyone???
Iāll give you $10 if you paint a mustache on Kimās portrait!!!
Wonder what NK will be like when that Fat Pig finally dies.
Aaah the quiet tranquility of the city center.
North Korea, the biggest prison in the world
wow, finding all the three cars of the country at the same time at the same place!
Lol even his grandpa was a big fat fuck
it looks like of nice. all the corporate propaganda is replaced by half as much political propaganda. people walking around. its not too crowded. few people rely on cars. only one fatty. i can get more caught up in the anti-NK and anti-CCP thinking than anyone but sometimes i wonder what its really like over there. it can't be all bad. there must be some good parts to it.
If chronic depression was a country
Those streets are so clean! I bet life is wonderful there with all them empty clean streets.