North Korea- how to sort the facts from the fiction?

[Lobotomy]

North Korea is obviously one of the major boogeymen in the western bourgeois narrative. In western media we hear some really outlandish shit about NK, including but not limited to concentration camps, intentions to nuke the US, North Koreans having such a strong cult of personality around their leaders that they believed that Kim Jong Il could control the weather, etc.

only a fool would believe everything the western media says about North Korea. But OTOH only a fool would believe that North Korea is a haven for its people and that the ruling class of North Korea has the best interests of the proletariat as a priority. I am just not exactly sure where to draw the line. The details of life in the DPRK are held largely in secret so I don't know what to believe. I don't know if there is any such thing as a reliable source for this information since pretty much anything I could get my hands on here is bound to be tainted with the bias of the American bourgeoisie.

Please do not let this devolve into a discussion about how the DPRK is "good" or "bad"; yes, we all know that any decent communist would support the people of North Korea against western imperialism without supporting their government, etc. etc.

[Ostrinski]

I don't see where they'd have grounds to intentionally lie about it, unless the DPRK was some people's haven and worker's paradise and the only bastion keeping the masses of the globe from flocking there in droves was a method of carefully constructed fabrications.

I think a lot of what we hear about North Korea is misinformation, no doubt. But I think a more accurate description of how the media treats North Korea is sensationalism, not intentional lying.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

I recommend watching Maoist Rebel New's videos about North Korea. They should teach you some critical perspective while at the same time giving you a healthy level of contempt for anyone who sympathizes with the North Korean regime.

[Fourth Internationalist]

only a fool would believe everything the western media says about North Korea.

The only thing I would disagree with Western media about North Korea is that it is is any way leftist. Other than that, the evidence is on the media's side.


I recommend watching Maoist Rebel New's videos about North Korea. They should teach you some critical perspective while at the same time giving you a healthy level of contempt for anyone who sympathizes with the North Korean regime.

Are you being serious?

[Captain Ahab]

The only thing that'll let anyone know for certain is a regime collapse and the opening of whatever archives they have. But that won't happen until China stops keeping the government alive.

[Red Enemy]

The only thing I would disagree with Western media about North Korea is that it is is any way leftist. Other than that, the evidence is on the media's side.



Are you being serious?
Read the other sentence carefully... watching MRN2 will make you, rightfully, despise NK sympathizers and apologists.

[Lowtech]

If you're insearch of communism, you won't find it in totalitarian states or authoritarian systems.

capitalism is itself just as authoritative and planned as any of these so-called examples of communism tracing it's roots to Stalin.

The solution is found in the mathematics of economics and the necissary logistics of sustaining a civilization

[Goblin]

Are you being serious?
His videos on the DPRK are actually pretty good.

[Fourth Internationalist]

Read the other sentence carefully... watching MRN2 will make you, rightfully, despise NK sympathizers and apologists.

My comment was more about the "critical perspective" part. (She means by that a critical perspective at the attacks made against North Korea, right?)

[ArrowLance]

Don't believe anything specific about North Korea.

Obviously only statements that make sense should even be considered. The majority of anti-DPRK statements make no sense.

[Prof. Oblivion]

I don't see where they'd have grounds to intentionally lie about it, unless the DPRK was some people's haven and worker's paradise and the only bastion keeping the masses of the globe from flocking there in droves was a method of carefully constructed fabrications.

I think a lot of what we hear about North Korea is misinformation, no doubt. But I think a more accurate description of how the media treats North Korea is sensationalism, not intentional lying.

Since probably the 90's the only information that we have on the country, in the West, is composed primarily of refugee accounts, NGO visits and whatever reports make it through the long road of translation to English from Chinese, Japanese and Russian visitors.

In other words, we don't really know that much. And most of what we do know, or claim to know, is based on refugee accounts and very personal experiences. So pretty much everything we know must be taken with a grain of salt.



Don't believe anything specific about North Korea.

Obviously only statements that make sense should even be considered. The majority of anti-DPRK statements make no sense.

Nor do the majority of pro-DPRK statements. As Sartre said, we read into the signs how we want to see them. Even in the extreme case of the DPRK where we know almost nothing, people read the tea leaves and conclude that their views on the DPRK are completely and 100% correct.

[ArrowLance]

Nor do the majority of pro-DPRK statements. As Sartre said, we read into the signs how we want to see them. Even in the extreme case of the DPRK where we know almost nothing, people read the tea leaves and conclude that their views on the DPRK are completely and 100% correct.

The releases by the DPRK press, DPRK diplomats, and observations made by China and South Korea often make a surprising amount of sense.

[Prof. Oblivion]

The releases by the DPRK press, DPRK diplomats, and observations made by China and South Korea often make a surprising amount of sense.

Some of them do, certainly, but you still must be critical. Not everything is propaganda, but they still do put out a hell of a lot of it.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Read the other sentence carefully... watching MRN2 will make you, rightfully, despise NK sympathizers and apologists.

This, yes he is good at disproving individual myths, but at the same time just because maybe NK isn't as "hilarious" as the media portrays it doesn't mean that half of the stuff MRN2 isn't absolutely disgusting on all accounts.

[teflon_john]

Comrades, have you tried reading articles from the Huffington Post (it's the CPUSA's news site) about this so-called "North" "Korea"?? The place is pretty fucked up, man! I heard they wear shoes on their hands, and that over there...hamburgers eat people!!! Death to the Workers Party of Korea! Long live Liberal Democracy!

[Aussie Trotskyist]

I'm not sure if its been said or not, But I was watching a documentary called 'Crossing the Line' a while ago.

You could find someone saying its all scripted but:

-Its done by the BBC
-The interviewee states he occasionally breaks the law (on minor issues)
-He seems distraught that he was fed during the famine, while millions of Koreans died
-A contrasting, western depiction of the DPRK is presented. The Interviewee has not seen it before, and slams it (Its also stated that he and the author of the western opinion have been at odds for years, and the western guy is under threat of severe jail time in the US for dessertion).

[Flying Purple People Eater]

How about taking a look?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awQDLoOnkdI&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24R8JObNNQ4

Also, fuck all you 'marxist' fascistic shits who support the DPRK. I'd rather support fucking neolibs over you monsters.

[Prometeo liberado]

Comrades, have you tried reading articles from the Huffington Post (it's the CPUSA's news site) about this so-called "North" "Korea"?? The place is pretty fucked up, man! I heard they wear shoes on their hands, and that over there...hamburgers eat people!!! Death to the Workers Party of Korea! Long live Liberal Democracy!

Is this the official PSL line or just a product of it's cadre program?;)

[China studen]

Comrades, have you tried reading articles from the Huffington Post (it's the CPUSA's news site) about this so-called "North" "Korea"?? The place is pretty fucked up, man! I heard they wear shoes on their hands, and that over there...hamburgers eat people!!! Death to the Workers Party of Korea! Long live Liberal Democracy!

Imperialist lackeys!You also do other things in addition to the rumors, bark?

[p0is0n]

How about taking a look?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awQDLoOnkdI&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24R8JObNNQ4

Also, fuck all you 'marxist' fascistic shits who support the DPRK. I'd rather support fucking neolibs over you monsters.
Seen the North Korea visit one, but never seen nor heard about the labor camps in Russia. Terribly interesting. I believe on the DPRK official website they are advertising how cheap North Korean labor is... How anyone can defend or apologize for North Korea, or claim that it is in any way socialist remains a myth to me...

[Yuppie Grinder]

According to people who have escaped NK recently, starvation has returned to the country. The media isn't lying about the police state brutality and work camps, they don't need to.

[piet11111]

The one story that always stuck with me is how in a political reeducation camp the prisoners were lobotomized and used for target practice by the north korean army.

Obviously its impossible to determine if that one is true or not but i really hope its bullshit.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

The one story that always stuck with me is how in a political reeducation camp the prisoners were lobotomized and used for target practice by the north korean army.

Obviously its impossible to determine if that one is true or not but i really hope its bullshit.

According to a bourgeois history of North Korea Nothing to Envy, Refugees from North Korea who enter South Korea are sent to re-education campts and taught to uphold the southern form of government. Of course the author of the text doesn't describe them as re-education camps but if you read the description it's hard not to come to that conclusion.

[Red Enemy]

Anyone see the Vice documentary where Shane Smith goes into North Korean labour camps in Siberia?

[Yuppie Grinder]

Anyone see the Vice documentary where Shane Smith goes into North Korean labour camps in Siberia?

Tight. I am about to go watch that.

[p0is0n]

Anyone see the Vice documentary where Shane Smith goes into North Korean labour camps in Siberia?
It is interesting as fuck. I think Shane Smith has kind of a condescending attitude a lot of the times, but aside from that, drunk russians with guns, gold teeth, vodka and north korean labor camps, what more could one ask for in life?

[Crabbensmasher]

All the media attention that North Korea receives in the west kind of bothers me. Take BBC for example; have you seen their website within say, the past year? It's like every tenth article is dedicated to North Korea. North Korea this, Kim Jong that.
Like, I understand it's pretty big news if their planning another rocket launch, but honestly, it seems more like a petting zoo or freak show with them. I'm not going to say anything definitive, but from my perspective, a lot of it seems like sensationalist bullshit.

That being said, North Korea is really a destitute country. Their leaders are probably the most out of touch with the people that you can get. It's almost like back to the feudal system, where the noble would preside over his peasant labourers.
I support anti-imperialism, but in my opinion, the North Koreans would have been better off if they weren't divided following the Korean war, and ended up in the same boat as South Korea.

And I did see those Vice documentaries where they traveled to North Korea. What really opened my eyes, was when Shane said how the N. Koreans were "all about the show; obsessed with a show", which I think is completely true. For them, it's all about lavishness, going out with a bang. No wonder Kim Jong Il was obsessed with American cinematography.

[Delenda Carthago]

So,

The West thinks that Kim Jong Un is going to make a gesture of friendship towards the South Korea and USA. That kind of reports come up.


q7jjib83088
:scared:

After they found out that not only its in his agenda this, but also DPRK did the 3rd nuclear testing, "rumors" about baby cannibalism comes up from the same media. Cmon man! You are taking us for idiots?


The only way to know whats up with anything, is knowing.This (http://www.revleft.com/vb/north-korea-t177611/index.html)is everything I could learn about that country. Not much, obviously.