North Korea

[Rouge]

I'm not sure if there is already a thread on this buuuut.... how is it really in North Korea? All I hear is very biased reports over here in America and I was wondering what people here had to say about it and I'm trusting you guys to be unbiased! :P

[LeninBalls]

There are some videos on youtube, showing the average (mundane) life in the DPRK, in contrast to the hellhole Fox and co. present to us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwfH9wd6wYw&feature=channel_page (awesome)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUvYVZvGUC0

Life there doesn't seem anything spectacular, but like I said it's nonsense when you compare it to the vids the West shows, likely from the 90's famine.

[Socialist Scum]

There was a article I read recently showing how Seoul and Pyongyang are not too different these days, an how Pyongyang has restaurants and shops open just as Seoul does. Its just outside of Pyongyang we are not sure of.

[rednordman]

There was a article I read recently showing how Seoul and Pyongyang are not too different these days, an how Pyongyang has restaurants and shops open just as Seoul does. Its just outside of Pyongyang we are not sure of.This article sounds interesting, I think that if you where to look at the media nowadays they tend to portray Soeul as a bustling metropololis, and Pyongyang as a desolate cave. But thinking about it, Pyongyang from the outside really does look like an older version of any large asian city, but with less people and cars in it.

Indeed, is there any media that examine the other towns and cities or NK. Because pretty much all I see is stuff from the 'Showcase' city.

Back to the first question, I have read a bit of stuff that goes into the sort of lives that N Koreans live, and to be fair, so long as there hasnt been something that has killed food supplies (floods etc) it isnt quite (and i stress 'quite') as bad has everyone says it is. Obviously there is problems with freedom of speech however.

I have even heard stuff like the actual WPK, beneath the ruling elite isnt as corrupt as it seems and is rather democratic in a not so direct way. Basically unless your considered 'an enemy of the regime' you can apply for a post in the hope of getting elected. Of course, this could very easy be properganda I must stress.

[cb9's_unity]

No one knows exactly because for the most part the NK government is not allowing people to see their country for themselves.

[rednordman]

No one knows exactly because for the most part the NK government is not allowing people to see their country for themselves.Which for me, poses another big question: Exactly how much can they cover up from the rest of the world? Because whenever I see stuff that makes North Korea seem 'not so awfull', people just reply by saying its all staged.

[teenagebricks]

Personally I don't think DPRK is half as bad as its reputation, pretty awful? Yes. "Communist" military prison? Probably not. That said there is probably still a lot that the government are hiding. DPRK issue visas to tourists of all nationalities except Americans, they are only really allowed in during the Mass Games as far as I know, so while going on holiday to Korea is easy, you are only shown certain parts, you are only allowed to take your camera out when they say you can, they have a history of bugging the hotel rooms of unsuspecting travellers. Couple this with DPRK's hostility towards foreign journalists, the only people who really know Korea are the Korean people.

[Communist Theory]

North Korea is a rebel.

[Rouge]

Thanks for the links Leninballs, I liked the videos. Pyongyang looks pretty decent actually. And it's very clean.

[SocialismOrBarbarism]

Indeed, is there any media that examine the other towns and cities or NK. Because pretty much all I see is stuff from the 'Showcase' city.


Pictures are easy to find. This guy has pictures from some of the other large cities:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kernbeisser/sets/

[Wanted Man]

There are pics of several locations here too: http://www.enlight.ru/camera/dprk/index_e.html

According to these Russian guys, the countryside in NK is pretty much like in Russia.

[Rusty Shackleford]

There are pics of several locations here too: http://www.enlight.ru/camera/dprk/index_e.html

According to these Russian guys, the countryside in NK is pretty much like in Russia.

on here they say the military does all of the construction in the nation. so, my guess it the west uses the huge military size as just for military purposes when really its also for development.

these pictures are pretty nice

[Fireonmyhand]

Just adding something to the conversation :
Isnt it fascinating that the US invade iraq afghanistan and are all over irans ass about their nuclear progamm ect. but when Korea launches (allegedly) nuclear testing missles the us dont even phone kim-jong-il ( i think hes the president right?) ???
Somewhere in the back of my head i keeping thinking oil...wonder why?

[Rusty Shackleford]

because the U.S. knows that North Korea DOES have nuclear weapons, and is actually a threat to their power. not that DPRK is going to attack the U.S. but that they cannot actually do what they want in the peninsula as they have in Iraq and Afghanistan. plus, there may be nothing to gain from wiping out DPRK for the U.S. anyways. Oil is a huge factor or Afghanistan and Iraq.

[fatboy]

North Korea are Social-Monarchists. They have government distribution of goods but power is passed down from father to sun

[Communist Theory]

because the U.S. knows that North Korea DOES have nuclear weapons, and is actually a threat to their power. not that DPRK is going to attack the U.S. but that they cannot actually do what they want in the peninsula as they have in Iraq and Afghanistan. plus, there may be nothing to gain from wiping out DPRK for the U.S. anyways. Oil is a huge factor or Afghanistan and Iraq.
Well if the U.S. ever did decide to invade the DPRK I wouldn't doubt that Mr. Kim wouldn't mind detonating a Nuke on his own soil. The U.S. would also be getting rid of the most defiant country against the West.

[LOLseph Stalin]

You know, I'm not completely fond of North Korea because of the whole setup of their leadership and such, but they're still somewhat Socialist. They do have a state-run economic system. However, the whole isolationism thing bothers me, but it does make sense in a way. They are surrounded by a bunch of angry Capitalist nations who want to destroy them(which would probably explain the DPRK's focus on military). I also see it as strange that pictures and such would be so forbidden. Are they trying to hide something? I always get that impression.

[Os Cangaceiros]

North Korea is a military dictatorship. That's about the extent of my knowledge regarding the nation, but it's enough to confirm my lack of support for it.

Western media outlets can report that it's a gulag on a country-wide scale, and other sources can report that it's, well, "not so bad". I find it telling that few people actually say that the situation is good for it's citizenry (unlike, say, Cuba), but just that it's not the wretched hellhole that aforementioned Western media outlets would have us believe.

It's not a "socialist nation". Juche and the cult of the military are ideologies as reactionary as any others you can think of.

[Misanthrope]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUvYVZvGUC0



@ 5:49

Notice how they salute and how the soldiers march, scary resemblance to Nazi Germany. North Korea should not be glorified by leftists.

[Communist Theory]

@ 5:49

Notice how they salute and how the soldiers march, scary resemblance to Nazi Germany. North Korea should not be glorified by leftists.
I'm sure not that many leftist "glorify" the DPRK.

[mykittyhasaboner]

@ 5:49

Notice how they salute and how the soldiers march, scary resemblance to Nazi Germany. North Korea should not be glorified by leftists.
This is pathetic; so because they march and salute its resembling Nazi Germany? I didn't know a raised fist salute was similar to the whole "Sieg Heil" thing. :rolleyes:

[rednordman]

@ 5:49

Notice how they salute and how the soldiers march, scary resemblance to Nazi Germany. North Korea should not be glorified by leftists.They are not! Its just when someone questions the USAs opinion that its the worst place in history ever, then people accuse them of glorifying the regime. This simply isnt the case.

I think that NK puts too much emphasis on its militarism and that has a very bad effect on the rest of the population. I do not know what would happen if they where to forget the military, and focus directly on make life better for the population. I wish they would do this, but how would the neighbouring nations actually react? Would they then get a free hand to invade?

[Revy]

I'm sure not that many leftist "glorify" the DPRK.

There are a few here that do so. Others that attempt to defend the regime as socialist or democratic. They're especially sensitive to suggesting that one of Kim's sons will succeed him, though that's obvious.

[Communist Theory]

There are a few here that do so. Others that attempt to defend the regime as socialist or democratic. They're especially sensitive to suggesting that one of Kim's sons will succeed him, though that's obvious.
I defend it when people say "oh noez the N. Koreans are oppressed and starved purposely by satan himself." then they post videos from the 1990s of the famine that are labeled 2008 or something.
It gets quite annoying.

[LeninBalls]

@ 5:49

Notice how they salute and how the soldiers march, scary resemblance to Nazi Germany. North Korea should not be glorified by leftists.

Dunno if this was a jab at me or something, I'm just pointing out that the DPRK is not one massive gulag, not glorifying it k

[Revy]

I defend it when people say "oh noez the N. Koreans are oppressed and starved purposely by satan himself." then they post videos from the 1990s of the famine that are labeled 2008 or something.
It gets quite annoying.

No doubt the rhetoric on the other side is annoying. For example, posting pictures of satellite pictures of North Korea, and showing how there aren't much lights, I don't agree with debate tactics like that. And obviously, if they're threatened they need to buff up their military or defense capabilities.

I have always focused my criticism of North Korean regime on the social and political repression. Certainly if you can find yourself a livable life and not question anything you can be happy even. But I know that nobody here would jump at the chance to live under a North Korean-style state, unless they benefited from it personally.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator." - George W. Bush