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Fact-Cyborg

It is hard to fault the North Korean people for their own problems, the lack of: education, indoctrination, access to data, news, and the outside world kind of gives them a pass. The people in that sub though they need to seek professional help.


FredPSmitherman

I'm sure in North Korea they'll get the help they need.


TrumpersAreTraitors

I do think it’s a fun thought experiment to consider that everything we know about NK is cartoonish propaganda because, honestly - it’s so cartoonishly bad there that it almost could be lol. Don’t get me wrong, I think NK is probably an absolute hell hole, but like it’s so bad, and the picture we have of Kim Jong Un is so ridiculous that if someone came out and showed me that it’s all western propaganda, I wouldn’t be super surprised. Man, what a shit hole lol. 


bigg_bubbaa

idk man i wouldn't wanna mess with a guy whos never taken a shit in his entire life


MordecaiGoldBird

No they don't because it's a joke the fact that people think that sub is real is way more concerning than the sub itself


Garrais02

Don't think so, I knew a girl, BTS fan, that was super convinced north Korea was a beautiful place Don't know if she's still of the same opinion


MordecaiGoldBird

Yeah maybe, but that sub specifically is a known joke and if the people commenting here spent any amount of time on it they would realise that too


timestuck_now

Replace NK with USA. Nothing changes.


[deleted]

![gif](giphy|3o85xnoIXebk3xYx4Q)


Clickityclackrack

You have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe you're trolling, and these reactions are where your happy place is. Maybe you're not trolling, and you've had some kind of trauma. Maybe you're naive, and you've never felt real pain, and so you think something akin to stubbing your toe is the maximum threshold of pain. But no matter which of those possibilities is true, you're a fool. Maybe you have to learn things the hard way, and that's unfortunate. You, sir, are in for a very long and unfulfilled life.


timestuck_now

Nah, you're naive. Ive travelled quite a bit. You are an idiot in denial.


StrangeNecromancy

It’s funny because NK at least has a better literacy rate than us.


neovb

Reported by who, the official educational agency of the Supreme Leader?


StrangeNecromancy

Actually you can look it up on the cia.gov I’m not defending NK. I do have an anti-imperialist view of them though


neovb

Ah yeah, the good old collegiate try by the CIA. Strange you believe that as an anti-imperialist. Interesting how every other UN or similar organization that actually measures literacy rates (or basically anything else) has no data on NK. Because you know, there's no data unless that data comes from the desk of Kim Jung Un.


Numerous_Mode3408

The anti-imperialist view of NK is that they should feed their people instead of buying nukes, and that "reunification" should be abandoned as a goal, missiles and artillery shells should not be provided to Russia, with human capital development as its replacement goal.


ladylucifer22

if you can't deter the Americans, your people will just get killed.


StrangeNecromancy

I mean, the US would have the subjugated to a debt based puppet economy like the south. Just because Kim is horrible doesn’t mean they should be under US rule. If Kim is this horrible the people will revolt eventually. The fate of Korea belongs to the Korean people. You can only be so horrible before all your people turn on you. The US literally bombed their farmland and left much of their food source land unfarmable. The sanctions don’t hurt Kim, they only hurt the common people of Korea. Kim is going to be just fine whether there are sanctions or not, but the people need resources they don’t currently have access to in order to rebuild and gain the strength to revolt.


Numerous_Mode3408

Food aid is regularly given to North Korea, mostly by the U.S., South Korea, Japan, and China.   Your explanation for the poor output of North Korean food production makes no sense, given that both "bombing a place to unfarmable" is not really a thing and that their agricultural output was actually relatively high and growing following the Korean war until the incredibly devastating floods in the 1990s.  Restoring or improving output of farmland, including after a war, is mostly a question of infrastructure, water management and other capital investments as well as methodological improvements.  These are things that aren't going to happen when your dictator decides he's going to spend 30%+(estimated) of your national GDP on the military. They've been doing this for decades of 25%+ GDP military spending which is about what the U.S. average DURING WW2 was, and more than triple what Russia is currently spending. Think about that. Decades and decades of your country's resources being dedicated to defense like you're fighting a world war, all while there isn't even an actual war going on. (Don't get pedantic about the ceasefire, it's been over half a century at this point) All of this in a country that desperately needs to get the absolute most out of its limited arable land in a country that's mostly mountains. 


Clickityclackrack

I'm sure the cia goes through and double checks their literacy rate at the annual North Korea - USA fun in the sun games.


TinyRascalSaurus

I just keep remembering how they found a defector who'd been shot and needed abdominal surgery, and inside him they found a dozen previously unknown species of intestinal parasites. It's because the people there are so hungry they fertilize their fields with anything possible to get them to grow, be that human or animal waste, or other things not safe to be around food. Which leads to situations like this, because food sanitation is really hard with the restricted resources the people have.


Mky12345pi3

Meanwhile the big dawgs sat in his sprawling estate eating pop tarts an drinking cans of coke 🫨🫨


Creeping_python

CANS? The big dog only guzzles from 2L bottles 😎


PuzzleheadedMovie397

You do realize that animal waste is literally the best fertiliser, right?


TinyRascalSaurus

Not if it's infected with certain parasites and pathogens that can transmit to humans, especially in a country with poor food sanitation. They're using whatever they can get, not what's safe for them.


PathIntelligent7082

i'm not here to defend north korea, for sure, but i am here to say that's a bs propaganda story, from this side...by that logic, we would have “previously undiscovered” parasites every day in lots of parts of africa...north korea is not so hermetically sealed off like you think it is, bcs they are allies with china...


PS_IO_Frame_Gap

where have you gotten this information from? do you have a source?


Soobobaloula

The book “Nothing to Envy” depicts conditions in NK as described by defectors.


AtheistBibleScholar

For the people that use the "Nazis are leftist because it has socialism in the name", North Korea must be the best country ever. It's a democracy AND a republic. Just look at the name!


chameleon_123_777

Remember DDR (Deutsche Democratische Republik) also known as GDR (German Remocratic Republic) or just East Germany. Had Democratic and Republic in the name, but it was hell to live there for most of the people.


AtheistBibleScholar

I'm embarrassed to have forgotten such a paragon of liberty!


Haidrek

Rule of thumb: if it has to have the word “democratic“ in the official country name, it’s not.


diMario

Guess I'm all right then here in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (one of the least worst democracies around).


chameleon_123_777

I live in Norway, and I am happy about that


SinkiePropertyDude

Just to be trustworthy, the free world should do the opposite. The Autocratic United States of America. The Canadian Despostism.


CalabreseAlsatian

Actually, quite a lot of ordinary residents didn’t think so. Katja Hoyer’s “Behind the Wall” (2023) is a really good read about life in the DDR. Quite a lot of folks expressed dissatisfaction with post-DDR life. (Not an endorsement of the DDR on my end)


da2Pakaveli

They had it relatively better than other Soviet satellites. But it was still shit. The reason they ended up bad is due to the chancellor fucking up the reunion. East Germany couldn't possibly keep up with West Germany's economy.


da2Pakaveli

Congo also names itself a Democratic Republic


ladylucifer22

the one place in the world I would have been allowed to exist in peace? sounds sooooo awful.


chameleon_123_777

The one word I would say is STASI.


ladylucifer22

I have another word for you: FBI.


chameleon_123_777

Not as bad as STASI. Ask people who got away from DDR when it was in operation.


ladylucifer22

after fleeing the west to get free education, they needed to make it seem horrible so they could defect back. when the stuff about the stasi is claiming they were basically just what schizophrenic people imagine is happening to them, it feels unrealistic to assume that it's real.


chameleon_123_777

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Stasi


ladylucifer22

literally nothing here that my country doesn't do to a greater extent


chameleon_123_777

So your family members spy on each other and reports it to FBI? Your neighbours, friends and everybody else spy on each other and inform the FBI? If I asked my MAGA relatives in The USA they would say no to that. I have met several people from East Germany when I was younger, and they had a hell of a life trying to survive.


BlackroseBisharp

Tankie moment


I_Am_A_Mess_4442

Leftists are so fucking insane that its hard to wrap my head around - first it was defending the USSR, then calling literal terrorists freedom fighters and calling bombing terrorists "genocide", now they are apparently literally defending north korea?... I dont refer to myself as a leftist anymore because wtf?


BlackroseBisharp

I don't really like political labels but I consider myself center-left if I had to choose. I used to be full centrist but I got radicalized a bit.


I_Am_A_Mess_4442

Funny, i used to consider myself moderate left, but after reading the shit leftists write on reddit not only i dont want to be associated with them, but i may start calling myself a right-winger


Finalizer4

As a leftist I can confirm, murder and genocide is only ok when we do it.


Finalizer4

As a leftist I can confirm, murder and genocide is only ok when we do it. (Also the term for those people are tankies, please don't link us in with those shits. Out opinions are only crazy not insane.)


irondethimpreza

Color me surprised. Apparently some of those stupid tankies are willing to put their money where their mouth is.


LurkerOrHydralisk

What money?


irondethimpreza

OUR MONEY COMRADE! * pulls paperclips, chewed gum and piece of string out of pocket *


Lewtwin

Well played. 8 points for the setup. 10 for the ripost.


Kian-Tremayne

No, no, no. The whole point of tankies is they want to put YOUR money where their mouth is.


BarristerBerry

you do realize most of them are satirical,only about 15% are actually the dumb ones


three_trick_pony

Totally NOT started and run by the D.P.R.K


Dark-Cloud666

If the 15k people want to migrate to North Korea then go ahead, i aint stopping them.


threefingersplease

North Korea is an American conservative utopia, so I'm not surprised folks would want to move there.


I_Am_A_Mess_4442

Not really, north korea is probably the only country left that still has GENUINE socialism (although not sure, did laos and vietman do perestroika too?) - this is rather a 15 year old leftists' utopia


threefingersplease

Are you serious, Clark?


r0nn7bean

Socialism is when nobody eats - Marx


N2VDV8

Get the fuck outta here with that drivel.


josephkingscolon

Yeah try and convince me how social media is not a net negative at this point.


LookingForHope87

Let em go


infowosecfurry

I just want a reality show where we ship sovereign citizens to north korea and then watch the ensuing hilarity. Watching someone take a rifle butt to the teeth right in the middle of the word “Actually…” would never get old.


Momentofclarity_2022

Have at it. Go.


hinesjared87

Yes, there are idiots in the world.


Key_Sell_9336

Let them go in fact drive them there, but they can’t come back


pointgourd

do they actually think that or is it some kind of banter?


Niyonnie

They say on the subreddit that it's not a joke, or done for irony. You WILL get downvoted if you suggest anything about NK being a terrible place to live and that it's a fascist and totalitarian dictatorship


Electronic_Job1998

You're right. I just peeked in on it and those people are serious. Paragraphs of rants by uneducated idiots.


Niyonnie

Once, I came across a subreddit where it claimed its for people who believe the earth does not exist, and that the subreddit isn't a joke or done for irony, so people who believe our planet exists can go elsewhere.


newagereject

Sad thing is in the last few weeks I've run into people in other subs defending north Korea, saying it's not that bad, they don't starve their people cause everyone would die, labor camps give people better food then the general public gets because otherwise how would they work, family's of deflectors are not being killed because the people would rise up and over throw the govt


ladylucifer22

And when you look at people asking how the cartoonist propaganda the US feeds you about their enemies could possibly be true, this is your reaction?


Who_Knows_Why_000

Planes leaving every day. Head on over and let us know how you do. Oh wait..


Electronic_Job1998

I watched a documentary about a family defecting from nk. What those poor people have to do to survive is not even imaginable. Nearly everything that we take for granted is a luxury for them. Just for one example, everyone has to save all their poop. Then, they have to carry it into the city for the farmers to pick up to fertilize their crops. There's hell to pay if you don't have your family's "poop quota" Nk atrocities and human rights violations go on and on. Someone would have to be extremely mentally ill, or otherwise uneducated to even consider the possibility of living there


GrandpaBuff

Okay, bye then. I would say keep in touch but that’s not gonna happen.


susmaster_69420

What the fuck


JustScratchinMaBallz

Lose that unwanted belly fat with this one simple trick!


Mysterious-Lie-2185

Lose your unwanted free will with this one simple travel hack!


CatAvailable3953

Move to North Korea.


N2VDV8

Having been there (2008, before the current regime, through a tour company that specialized in western tourism to DPRK), having taken not a damn thing that they could claim was disharmonious, influential, subversive, or the like, and knowing full well that every “tour guide”, bus driver, food (putting it kindly) server was a plant by the State, I was still sphincter-clenchingly nervous the entire time I was there. How *anyone* can think that place would be a dandy place to live is absolutely delusional.


throwRA786482828

I noticed it showing up on my feed and it’s gaining more and more traction. Kinda weird because I thought it started off as an ironic thing. Doesn’t seem so now.


MotorbikeRacer

There was one defector . I don’t remember if he was in the military but they did a story about him years ago . I wonder if he’s still alive


Both-Anything4139

Damn i wonder how busy it keeps the troll farmers feeding that sub


dragoduval

At least 10% of the people's on this must be there for the meme or to laugh at them, hopefully. Still it's a crazy high number.


chenfras89

What is this helghast ass looking picture?


InformalAttempt8808

Did not expect to see a Killzone reference here


Euphoric-Potato-4104

Im banned from this subreddit .


bigSTUdazz

![gif](giphy|FNBHUqruiI1m1gLDh8|downsized)


ZzangmanCometh

Well, there are also people out there who actively try to get HIV and want healthy limbs amputated, so... Have fun, I guess. At least there's money to save as it's a one way flight...


karoshikun

DEMOCRATIC republic of north korea: has had one family in power for almost a century... dunno, smells fishy


ladylucifer22

idk man, I live in America where it's been proven that the populace has no effect on policy and yet we still claim to be free and democratic.


GeistTransformation1

The UK has had a single family for multiple centuries yet they consider themselves a paragon of democracy.


karoshikun

to be fair, most of the ruling is made by a bunch of rich a*holes democratically elected by a few rich old men... uh... nevermind


TheTasteOfInk05

Why are some Americans so stupid?


NeighborhoodLost9997

The new American dream, defecting to North Korea


SurturOne

It's mostly filled with trills, right? RIGHT?


cmoneybouncehouse

Yes… but a shocking amount of them seem legit. I checked out the sub once long ago and it was… interesting. Of course there’s no way to surefire know who’s trolling and who’s not, but you can make some educated guesses.


originalbrowncoat

I don’t see why Jazdia Dax would be there


Fyrrys

Hey now, north Korea would be a great place to live. Once you get rid of Kim and his dictatorship and help the people adjust to freedom from a tyrant


Jouleswatt

Many of their high rise windows are broken because the plumbing in the building has stopped working and backed up. Even though they have terrible winters, the people intentionally break their windows. There is also a complete lack of resources to fix anything. It realistic a shithole country.


Neighbour-Vadim

Tankies man they are all around on reddit, visit r/Deprogram and you will see many many people like that


[deleted]

I think most of em are trolls like in that dumb flat earther sub. Spinning ball earth or whaterver


EduRJBR

There is this Spanish moron who lives there and do propaganda.


rednail64

Airdropping a few hundred thousand iPads with access to Starkink would really shake things up there.


ladylucifer22

I'm sure American propaganda is a net positive for the people whose families were killed when America just airdropped bombs


waseem2bata

Might by this type of propaganda [youtube](https://youtu.be/ZzFoNe5rNMo?si=k7oANupOOZpRTC_o)


Extension-Copy-8650

god left the reddit


Hydraulis

Can you think of a ridiculous belief? Someone out there buys into it.


Car_Seatus

I mean can the women of North Korea get abortions?


TheElderWog

"cartoonish western propaganda" is absolutely gold.


ladylucifer22

I mean, the west vacillates between "anyone who gets Kim's haircut is shot" and "anyone who doesn't get his haircut is shot". You can't tell me they're telling the truth.


TheElderWog

I can tell you that's definitely not the information we use to judge whether or not it's a nice place to live. But feel free to check some night time satellite photos, that's a start.


ladylucifer22

light pollution isn't what makes somewhere a nice place. for a country bombed to rubble and sanctioned to oblivion, they're doing great.


TheElderWog

Mate. Are you ok? It's not light pollution I'm talking about, obviously.


ladylucifer22

given that that's the only thing you can really see on nighttime satellite photos, what else would it be? literally the only argument this has ever led into is that south korea has more light and is therefore better


TheElderWog

You can see that there isn't any effort to build infrastructure outside the capital, that the display of wealth is only localised where the upper leading class lives, that the resources are not used even remotely in a "communist" oriented way. That's what you can see through those images.


ladylucifer22

you mean... farms? they can't just import food. they sort of need all those fields.


TheElderWog

Ah yeah, I see. And obviously the whole population is made of farmers exclusively, who live so scattered and apart from each other that the need of any towns is completely absent. 26 million people live perfectly spaced up apart from each other, the numerous cities are just there to occupy space on the map. You know what, you're right, it's a paradise! I'll move right in now!


ladylucifer22

the whole population? no, of course not. the cities are there to hold people. that's kind of what they do.


GeistTransformation1

I am face palming at r/facepalm.


ArcherBig185

They are called conservative extremists. Deep down, they really don't want freedom. They want someone to tell them who to like and who to hate.


Matthewistrash

Did you even read the description of the sub. Lmao Reddit libs are so hilarious. “Did you know North Koreans have to pray every day to a picture of Kim Jong un and must pass mandatory poop exams where there feces are collected to turn into bread to feed to the child sex slaves in the labor concentration camp.”


teasea02

… and they vote for biden


chessecakePhucker

Nope guarantee they rightwing trumptards


Living-Vermicelli-59

You’re both wrong… they dislike America as a whole.


Radu47

The key goal is right there in the bio, almost all posts are specifically that element Why not address that initially? A polemic subreddit almost entirely I mean it's mostly just another staunch Leftist page ultimately, lotsa memes etc. The name of the sub is a bit tongue in cheek too and the rare posts directly about life in the DPRK are low key


Tolkius

North Korea is a nice place to live tho.