Anti-American Propaganda Posters from North Korea

[The Vegan Marxist]

The reason I'm posting these in the Politics section is because of the political significance it brings & how I feel these posters need to be discussed within a political manner. So bear with me:

http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_1.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_2.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_3.jpg

http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_4.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_5.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_6.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_7.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_8.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_9.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_10.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_11.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_12.jpg
http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_13.jpg

[Rusty Shackleford]

holy fucking shit those are some sadistic pictures.

[Nolan]

Might as well be snapshots of Vietnam.

[Coggeh]

lol.......seriously like..

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

I like it.

Such are the realities of war anyhow, granted the North Koreans might be a bit selective as to subject matters-

[RedSonRising]

These really serve no purpose in a society aiming to build a better world. They are pretty sadistic, and their exaggeration takes away from the brutal reality of the abuse that does come from imperialist violence. Unless some of the specific scenarios have roots in documented events (I don't doubt yankee soldier's harming civilians historically, but nailing leaflets to women's heads?), it's a little cheap and anti-constructive.

[Gravedigger01]

It seems that the North Koreans are attempting to demonise the Americans and create an enemy of the state

[Nolan]

Here are real pictures from the war in Vietnam.

http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/imagesBBB/VTHUMBSb/3War_Remnants_Museumb/DSCk00042_small.JPG

http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/imagesBBB/VTHUMBSb/3War_Remnants_Museumb/DSC00043_smallb.JPG

Torture of a resistance fighter:

http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/imagesBBB/VTHUMBSb/3War_Remnants_Museumb/DSC00047_small.JPG

http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/imagesBBB/VTHUMBSb/3War_Remnants_Museumb/DSC00049_small.JPG

http://www.downtheroad.org/Asia/imagesBBB/VTHUMBSb/3War_Remnants_Museumb/DSC0045_small.JPG

So no, the North Korean propaganda is not too far from what the US actually does at war.

These are only the pictures that happen to get out.

[The Intransigent Faction]

Nobody in their right mind with even limited knowledge of the Cold War denies that U.S. troops committed atrocities in the name of "freedom".

That said, if these pictures are an attempt to justify a repressive regime which abandons its people to starvation while the "Dear Leader" gulps down Cognac, they are a poor one.

[Jeoh]

Exactly how are we supposed to discuss the political message of these pictures? Americans butchering the Korean people, there's not a lot of depth here.

[manic expression]

Something that interests me in these paintings is how the compositions recall those of Baroque works. I see some echoes of Caravaggio (not as much in the lighting or Caravaggio's linear style, but in the poses and arrangement), Titian (the woman being tied to a bull vaguely reminds me of Rape of Europa), Poussin's early work (the DPRK painting of imperialist torture bears some similarities to Martyrdom of St. Erasmus) and others (like the Korean patriot about to be hanged, it seems almost influenced by depictions of St. Sebastian).

Something else I see as being taken from the Baroque is the focus on a decisive and dramatic moment in the scene. The artists here have chosen to depict the subjects just before the climax, giving us a sense of suspense, as well as showing the heroism of these brave Korean freedom fighters.

Artistically, these paintings show a very relevant, thoughtful and humble continuation of some of the best traditions of western art.

-----------------

On the paintings themselves...really terrifying stuff, it's a reality of imperialism that we cannot forget; our sisters and brothers in Korea certainly won't.

[black magick hustla]

A nail on someone's head? C'mon, i really doubt they did that...

[manic expression]

A nail on someone's head? C'mon, i really doubt they did that...
I mean, I don't know of course, but compared to some of the stuff that happened at My Lai, a nail in someone's head is par for the course at least.

[Spawn of Stalin]

Well they nuked the shit out of Hiroshima, then Nagasaki two days later, so I wouldn't put it past them.

I mean a nail in someone's head is nothing compared to that, in fact, it's nothing compared to the shit we see on the news every single day.

[Robocommie]

Looks more like the Spanish Inquisition than the Korean War.

[The Vegan Marxist]

U.S. Troops carried out mass-killings of civilians in Korea
Seán Mac Mathúna
http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/korea.bridge.jpg (http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/nogunri/story.html) The railway bridge at No Gun Ri, Korea where U.S. troops slaughtered 300 Korean civilians

One of the last acts of the Clinton administration in January 2001 was the admitting that its troops had carried out the massacre at No Gun Ri in 1950. Outgoing US Defense Secretary William Cohen announced plans for a memorial and commemorative scholarships "as a symbol of our deep regret". It was in June 200 that the President of South Korea, Kim Dae-jung, called on the US government to conduct an inquiry into the alleged mass killing of Korean civilian refugees by US soldiers at a railway bridge No Gun Ri, South Korea on July 26th,1950. Recent investigations by the Associated Press (http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/nogunri/story.html) news agency, started by the journalist Charles HanIey in 1997, into a number of incidents, have shattered the conventional picture that all the atrocities in the Korean war were committed either by the North Koreans or their Chinese allies. The attack is similar to another massacre carried out later by U.S. troops in My Lai, Vietnam on March 16th 1968 when U.S. soldiers went on a rampage, raping, looting and killing as many as 400 unarmed Vietnamese civilians.
According to the AP investigation, early in the Korean War, U.S. soldiers had machine-gunned hundreds of helpless civilians, under the railway bridge at No Gun Ri. The AP investigation is supported by 12 ex-U.S.. soldiers who have supported the claims made by South Korean survivors surrounding the massacre. As well as at least 300 civilians killed in this attack. another had 100 died in a preceding air attack. U.S. commanders had ordered units retreating through South Korea to "shoot civilians" as a defense against disguised enemy soldiers - itself is a major war crime.
Six former members of the 1st Cavalry Division say that they fired on the refugees trapped under the bridge at No Gun Ri, and AP found six others who say said they witnessed the mass killing. Some soldiers refused to shoot what one described as "civilians just trying to hide." Another soldier at the scene described the event as "wholesale slaughter".
The massacre had started when U.S. planes strafed an area near the tunnel where the refugees were resting. With scores killed, terrified parents dragged their children into a narrow culvert beneath the tracks. After this, the survivors were directed into the bridge underpasses - and after dark, U.S. soldiers opened fire on them from nearby machine-gun positions. Apparently, one senior officer, Captain Melbourne Chandler, after speaking with superior officers by radio, had ordered machine-gunners from his heavy-weapons company to set up near the tunnel mouths and open fire after saying:
"The hell with all those people. Let's get rid of all of them"The bursts of gunfire killed those near the tunnel entrances first, which left Korean civilians pulling dead bodies around them for protection. During three nights under fire, some trapped refugees managed to slip away, but others were shot as they tried to escape or crawled out to find clean water to drink. Some U.S. soldiers said that the massacre at No Gun Ri didn't have to happen: As the U.S. army was scared that these refugee columns contained agents from North Korea, the refugees could have been screened up on the road or checked out under the bridge. But the US army command took the decision to massacre them all.
When the AP research team investigated the period of 1950/51, they also found other alleged war crimes by the United States military, such as when US jets repeatedly attacked groups of Koreans in civilian clothes on the suspicion that they harboured enemy infiltrators. In another strike, US aircraft used firebombs which killed 300 civilians trapped in a cave. Apparently, some pilots expressed concern that they were machine gunning innocent people. In another incident, on a single deadly day in August 1950, and six weeks into the Korean War, a U.S. general and other Army officers ordered the destruction of two strategic bridges as South Korean refugees streamed across, killing hundreds of civilians, according to ex-GIs, Korean eyewitnesses and U.S. military documents.
Not only have Korean newspapers have called for a full investigation of all the incidents, the South Korean defence ministry in Seoul is said to have heard of nearly 40 similar cases of alleged civilian killings by US forces. Apparently, more Korean civilians were killed by US bombing during the war, particularly during the saturation bombing of Pyongyang in 1952 when, all in all, some 10,000 litres of napalm and 697 tons of bombs were dropped, resulting in the killing of some 8,000 people. Other allegations include:


South Korean soldiers and police, observed at times by U.S. Army officers, executed more than 2,000 political prisoners without trial in the early weeks of the Korean War, according to declassified U.S. military documents and witnesses.
In 1950-51, as war refugees flooded South Korea's roads, American jets repeatedly attacked groups of Koreans in civilian clothes on "suspicion" they harbored enemy infiltrators, according to declassified U.S. military documents and Korean and American witnesses.

As the real history of the conflict comes out, we find out that the war - with echoes of the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident - itself was essentially another U.S. instigated conflict: South Korean troops had attacked the North a year before the Korean war broke out. The AP research team described this as the "latest disturbing revelation" about the conflict which almost led to global war. In one such incident, more than 250 guerrillas from the South are said to have launched an attack on North Korean villages along the east coast in June 1949. Some reached the town of Wonsan, but all but 50 were killed in two weeks.

http://www.fantompowa.net/Flame/usa_massacre_in_korea.htm

[Scary Monster]

^ I was just about to mention this. I just found out about this from one of the members of my organization, who has actually been to North Korea, i think in the '90s, when he met with many people who were around during the US invasion. I was incredibly shocked to hear of it. Not only did the Americans kill south Korean civilians before the "official" korean war, but deliberately too. There was a mass socialist movement in Korea, and the US was killing every single person who had leftist intentions, and carpet bombed much of the south's cities, before putting Rhee into power. He then told me that most south koreans arent even aware of this, due to the US massacre, which was apparently successful because of this.

Also, he has said that the west's critiscisms, especially how north Korea is starving its own people, is outright slander. The US has had a heavy embargo/blockade of goods for north korea for a long time now. Yet the north has plenty of soy milk, so everyone gets some kind of nutrients, with infants as a priority. Because of this, the north's people put all their trust into Kim Jong Il, because they view him and his government as the only thing standing between them and US imperialism and even worse poverty. I think this is why they have a "personality cult".

Ill make a post about this once i read up on all this a bit more, because even everyone on this site has some complete misconceptions on north Korea, due to an information black out on north Korea on its recent history. Ive always thought that north korea's people isnt suffering simply because kim jong il is evil. I still gotta get some book recommendations on it. But anyway, i dont have much doubt that much of the crap depicted in the OP's pics really did happen.

[What Would Durruti Do?]

http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_10.jpg

Bringing Obamacare to a country near you.

[Wanted Man]

I thought these were used as illustrations in a war museum in NK, not as propaganda posters. Pretty sick, in any case. I wonder why some people seem to express disbelief. Were the photographs from Abu Ghraib also propaganda aimed at demonising the Americans?


^ I was just about to mention this. I just found out about this from one of the members of my organization, who has actually been to North Korea, i think in the '90s, when he met with many people who were around during the US invasion. I was incredibly shocked to hear of it. Not only did the Americans kill south Korean civilians before the "official" korean war, but deliberately too. There was a mass socialist movement in Korea, and the US was killing every single person who had leftist intentions, and carpet bombed much of the south's cities, before putting Rhee into power. He then told me that most south koreans arent even aware of this, due to the US massacre, which was apparently successful because of this.

Also, he has said that the west's critiscisms, especially how north Korea is starving its own people, is outright slander. The US has had a heavy embargo/blockade of goods for north korea for a long time now. Yet the north has plenty of soy milk, so everyone gets some kind of nutrients, with infants as a priority. Because of this, the north's people put all their trust into Kim Jong Il, because they view him and his government as the only thing standing between them and US imperialism and even worse poverty. I think this is why they have a "personality cult".

Ill make a post about this once i read up on all this a bit more, because even everyone on this site has some complete misconceptions on north Korea, due to an information black out on north Korea on its recent history. Ive always thought that north korea's people isnt suffering simply because kim jong il is evil. I still gotta get some book recommendations on it. But anyway, i dont have much doubt that much of the crap depicted in the OP's pics really did happen.

It'd be cool if you'd get around to posting some more thoughts. Another relatively under-emphasised fact is that in the Korean War, the air war against the north was just as heavy as it was against Germany and Japan in WWII, and that more napalm was used than in the Vietnam War.

See also: http://www.zcommunications.org/nuclear-threats-against-north-korea-by-bruce-cumings

[The Vegan Marxist]

http://theoriens.com/wp-content/uploads/Anti_American_propaganda_10.jpg

Bringing Obamacare to a country near you.

Don't show that to Glenn Beck, he'll take that seriously :rolleyes:

[The Vegan Marxist]

I thought these were used as illustrations in a war museum in NK, not as propaganda posters. Pretty sick, in any case. I wonder why some people seem to express disbelief. Were the photographs from Abu Ghraib also propaganda aimed at demonising the Americans?



It'd be cool if you'd get around to posting some more thoughts. Another relatively under-emphasised fact is that in the Korean War, the air war against the north was just as heavy as it was against Germany and Japan in WWII, and that more napalm was used than in the Vietnam War.

See also: http://www.zcommunications.org/nuclear-threats-against-north-korea-by-bruce-cumings

Well does the term "propaganda" necessarily mean untrue depictions? I've always been brought up to an understanding that just because something is referred to as "propaganda", one has to find out what kind of propaganda it may be.

[Robocommie]

My Lai was unbearably brutal, and there were other extreme atrocities that happened in Vietnam; the "Tiger Force" of the 101st Airborne Division got even uglier, because not only would they kill unarmed civilians and commit rape, but they used to take scalps from the enemy, and make necklaces of human ears.

So, I'm sure the US did some pretty heinous shit, though some of these paintings are a little over the top, like the one where the guy is being burned at the stake. However, I also want to point out it's likely that the North Koreans and Chinese troops had atrocities of their own. War's pretty fucked up all around.

[RadioRaheem84]

For some reason, I cannot see the pics.

[The Vegan Marxist]

For some reason, I cannot see the pics.

The ones I presented?

[Max1917]

The ones I presented?

Your pictures are visible,but no others which Captain Cuba put on board.

[Ismail]

A good read are the memoirs of an admitted anti-communist Korean (who worked with the US) named Kim Young Sik. He lives in the USA now (as a Professor), and his work is quite interesting as a narrative of the Korean War:

http://www.tparents.org/library/religion/cta/korea-j/eyewit.htm

E.g. the Battle of Hamhung:

Anybody who had any connection with the communists is hunted down, beaten up and often killed - students are beating up their teachers, neighbors are accusing each other, school friends are accusing each other - the whole damn place becomes an inferno. The bad days of post-liberation when unruly mobs hunted down Jap-lovers are back again.It isn't like the American Government portrayed Koreans as particularly nice people. As American journalist Albert E. Kahn noted in 1953:

Featuring stories of frenzied sanguinary battles, devastating air raids, murderous hand-to-hand combat and barbarous atrocities, with most of the action laid in Korea, the war comics overflow with pictures of grim-faced or grinning American soldiers smashing in the heads of bestial-looking Chinese and North Korean soldiers with rifle butts, blowing them to pieces with hand grenades, and slaughtering them with machine guns, trench knives and flame throwers. A typical cover drawing, appearing on the August 1952 issue of War Front, depicted an American GI plunging his bayonet into the stomach of a North Korean soldier with the comment: "It was either him or me! I lunged forward and felt his belly collapse before the cold steel!"