To all full-grown hexbears, NO DUNKING IN MY THREAD...ONLY TEACH, criminal scum who violate my Soviet will be banned three days and called a doo doo head...you have been warned
To all full-grown hexbears, NO DUNKING IN MY THREAD...ONLY TEACH, criminal scum who violate my Soviet will be banned three days and called a doo doo head...you have been warned
What’s it truly like to live in communist north korea right now? I know that most of the buzz around how it’s a failed state and they’re starving the people are mostly propaganda, but it’s so hard to tell fact from fiction especially since there’s propaganda within the state as well.
I don’t claim to be an authority, but I have spent the last couple years trying to learn about the DPRK as much as I can from more independent sources (like from people from China who go there as tourists).
From a material perspective… very broadly it seems like it’s better to live in the DPRK than to be poor in the United States, but someone in the US who isn’t poor is probably better off than most DPRK citizens. That of course should not be a surprise, given how heavily the DPRK is sanctioned and how restricted their trade is. Interestingly from the time shortly after the Korean War (after the DPRK was able to recover from having every bit of its industrial capacity destroyed and ~20% of its people killed) up through the 80s, the DPRK was seen as the wealthier of the two countries on the Korean Peninsula.
Honestly, the only way to deny that the people of the DPRK are doing ok materially is to use the line about how whenever you see videos of people having fun a water park or whatever, they’re all just actors. For that, idk I think any application of critical thinking would tell you how ridiculous that is.
That said, there’s some truth to the famine thing, but that’s more an artifact of recent history. There really were famine conditions and suffering in the 90s. But that was more a function of some unique weather/climatic conditions plus the collapse of the USSR. The environmental and terrain conditions in the DPRK are not ideal for farming (cold and mountainous), so there’s a lot less margin for when things go bad. The famines could have been alleviated if the DPRK was allowed to have normal relations with other countries, but at the time the US and their allies used that suffering to try and put the screws to the DPRK instead.
I don’t know enough about the political situation to be able to speak to it with confidence.
What a cruel thing the US did to use the suffering of the north koreans as ammunition against north koreans
Wait till you read about what the US did to the people of Nicaragua by supporting the Contras (who were for all practical purposes a part of the US military), if we’re talking more recent US atrocities…
I've known people who've been there. I've known an Indonesian guy for instance who used to go on vacations to the DPRK to go skiing. Apparently it's a fairly normal vacation destination for Indonesians because they can get into the country easily.
From what's described to me, day to day life is pretty comparable to any other poor country in Asia. Life out in the countryside is probably the hardest. It seems like the worst aspects of living in the DPRK all relate to poverty rather than the cartoonish goofy dictatorship that westerners claim the country is like. They don't have great internet access, but from what I'm told nearly every person in the DPRK buys USB drives full of pirated stuff anyway.
Other than their media, the DPRK is pretty normal, and in fact doing quite well considering their decades of sanctions and international aggression. They haven't had widespread food insecurity in a while. Their healthcare system seems stable. They had energy instability for a while in the 90s they seem to have managed.
This is a fascinating documentary called My Brothers and Sisters in the North by a South Korean woman who had dual citizenship in Germany and then used that German Citizenship to visit the DPRK.
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=nSd48emp0lI
She goes to a number of different places in the DPRK and visits people living much different lifestyles.
Things to remember when watching vids regarding inside DPRK is that they are basically under siege by Western Powers for almost a century now. So when they're being interviewed, they're basically talking to extensions of their oppressors and they're very aware of that.
There's also The Haircut by BoyBoy. https://yewtu.be/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E
You'll probably recognize some of the locations they went to from the documentary as there's a basic tour every tourist goes on and then people who visit as part of the DPRK's cultural exchange program get to visit more relevant locations to their project in addition.
Speaking of. If you can find a torrent of Aim High in Creation you'll get to see a much more behind the scenes look of people in DPRK just doing their job and living their life. The facade of stiffness falls to the wayside and you get to see Filmmakers who aren't typically dealing with tourists just being themselves and shooting the shit. See if you can tell when the Australian director is being inadvertently rude to them.
Trailer https://yewtu.be/watch?v=CvrWdj79aT4
Keep in mind that the DPRK had 20% of its people killed off in a matter of 3 years and much of its land destroyed.
So, while there have been a famine in recent memory (during the 1990s), this has been a result of the economic embargo and sanctions on the country.
I'm trying to be as honest as I can with you here.
Yeah that’s wild, i just listened to the Blowback podcast and during the korean war the US military ran out of north korean targets to bomb.
People keep referencing that north korea is a hermit kingdom and that it actively does not want to participate in the global economy and … that makes sense? I too would be paranoid and disinclined to negotiate with the outside world after having the outside world literally burn me into rubble.
Keep in mind that North Korea, or the DPRK, can't really trade except for with countries like China and the Russian Federation (and even then illegally while those two countries look the other way).
It's literally in an embargo that's been going on for decades now.
That too. Although, I wonder what the terms of the embargos are, and what north korea has to do on their side to appease the west and allow trade.
Oh why is this country so corrupt and backwards! Let’s put more sanctions in to restrict its trade and starve its citizens.
Western logic 😵💫
Cuba tried to ask for such terms and was told no terms would be offered.
Per Blowback, Che offered to the US, in exchange for lifting the blockade:
No exporting Revolution
No military alliance with the USSR
Cuba wouldn’t / couldn’t directly pay back the US for appropriated property, but were willing to reimburse the US over time through terms of trade
Really, the only non-negotiable was that Cuba was a communist country, and would have communist governance and a communist economy. JFK thought it was a sign of weakness on Cuba’s part and turned them down.
Yeah, there are virtually no terms (from what I've read), as the country's leadership is seen as undemocratic and dictatorial and, therefore, the United States and its allies dictate the terms (and DPRK has to follow them) while North Korea doesn't get a say. It is called a rogue state partly for that reason (as opposed to a country like Saudi Arabia, which has often been a staunch partner of the United States).
But we know that it has a functioning democracy at various levels; certainly no worse than most Western democracies.
Most of the recent-ish embargoes (last few decades) are most directly the US and friends punishing the DPRK's development of nuclear weaponry. This is plainly because the nuclear arms are one of the DPRK's strongest deterrents to US invasion, since it's not as though the DPRK wants to use those weapons or intends to except under the circumstances of being invaded by foreign powers.
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There are a dozen of stories like this, because I feel like every president has tried to be the one to "fix" the North Korea situation.
Bill Clinton actually negotiated a standown of the DPRK's nuclear program during his presidency - in return, the US would fund and oversee the construction and operation of two large power plants in the country to make up for the loss of nuclear power.
When he brought the deal back to Congress, they refused to ratify it. You could build two power plants with spare change in Congresses couch cushions, and the US was running a surplus at the time thanks in part to Clinton gutting welfare, but they refused on the grounds that they didn't want to pay for it and after waiting six months the Kim Jong Il government realized it wasn't going to happen and started up their nuclear program again.
Imagine what else could have happened over the last thirty years if we had gotten the snowball rolling with this one deal cooperating with the DPRK.
If you're interested in what the UN sanctions resulting from their nuclear program are, they're here and they are very very broad.
They used to trade with other countries. They were unique in the communist world for how much they traded with capitalist countries. It's why they outperformed south Korea for so long. The embargo against them crashed their economy (along with the collapse of the USSR) which led to the crisis of the 90s until now
Oh, also regarding defectors. Most that you hear about are monetizing their story through USA backed Libertarian think tanks. Atlas Network being the big one. Freedom Factory is another if I remember correctly.
i swear. Propaganda, propaganda everywhere. We talk about America having “free speech” but it feels like the only ones able to speak and have their voices heard are the ones that are able to buy their way into the ears of millions through social media and mainstream media.
Manufacturing Consent machine goes
Noam Chomsky - The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine - this is a quick little 5 minute primer on the topic, if you're not familiar.
I see you've listened to Blowback, have you had the opportunity to watch Yellow Parenti yet?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP8CzlFhc14
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Yeah, NK's state media has always had a very off and somewhat idealist view of the DPRK. Most information you find on the nation doesn't pass the sniff test. They also seem to be the oddball of the socialist countries.
This is one that made me question the western narrative on NK. An article about a stoner getting some North Korean weed and smoking in a restaurant like it was no big deal.. Very good read
The demonization of marijuana is such a bizarre thing. The US wanted to criminalize black culture so they deemed weed in the same category as meth or heroin, and countries in the imperial core and imperial periphery followed suit. But in places untouched by US influence weed is just … a part of their lives and culture. Just another plant that made you feel funny, like tea. And it’s refreshing to see places where weed isn’t just a drug that was decriminalized and made legal again, but actually had its legality preserved throughout and had no taboo associations stemming from it.
Anyway, fuck US culture for demonizing weed and shrooms. The US single-handedly destroyed a source of innovation for mental health research globally for having such a draconian stance on them and sheeple countries follow suit.
As someone with schizophrenia, I can say that the west demonizing psychedelics (shrooms and DMT specifically) has probably set back the treatment of schizophrenia really hardcore. There is a very heavy DMT presence in schizophrenia. I don't know what role is plays exactly, but it is clear as day that DMT is partially responsible for the visuals. And people around me say I pretty much always act like I'm on shrooms. Psychedelic trials are essential to ever getting good schizophrenia treatment.
Also, the coca leaf was a lot like this before the west came in. Chewing a coca leaf doesn't get you super high, it's like a slightly harder cup of coffee, not even particularly addictive when treated right. America literally ruined every common plant medicine. Even starting to fight kratom even though kratom is essential for alleviating the fentanyl crisis in the nation. The US wants criminals, not functioning people
Yeah I've had coca leaf tea and it was just a mild stimulant like caffeine except smoother, felt calm but focused
If leaf was available to me, I'd never touch caffeine. I don't react well to caffeine, but find low dose nicotine or cocaine to be insultingly effective. I can't really handle doing coke recreationally, it's just too much on my body. But it was the stim that hit me the way stims are supposed to hit people with ADHD. So the few times I've gotten actual leaf, it's been an amazing few days of functional medication.
Coca isn't addictive until it's extracted out of the plant. One line of coke is probably like taking 10+ leafs at the exact same time in a way that's far faster than chewing.
I don't think anyone here really knows. The only people who know are defectors, and not only are defectors themselves not always reliable (Yeonmi Park being the obvious example), documentaries and interviews where defectors tell their experiences will often be edited to fit certain narratives. Not even necessarily for nefarious purposes, but for the same reason that spooky, ominous music plays when a documentary shows a lion sneak up to a gazelle. Telling scary stories about how kim jong-un will execute your family for wearing a tie he finds ugly will keep audiences more interested than "it really isn't all that special over there, you guys" and since there's 0 consequences for making up outrageous lies (since nobody is able or willing to fact check you), that's what we get.
I'm more inclined to believe what I hear from the DPRK itself, but I don't think anyone here can truly tell you what life over there is like.
I have distant second hand experience I guess. I've known two people who lived in the DPRK as transfer students, both Indonesian. They describe it to me as like most other places in Asia, just poorer. But you're right, I have no idea what it's like living there long term and I've never spoken with someone born there. It's extremely rare to personally know a North Korean, so wild stories get passed around.
There are plenty of videos of people visiting. We know. It's just a country, it's full of regular people, they watch movies and play video games and read books and dance and go on walks and work normal jobs. They're very poor and have infrastructure problems relating to the fact that they've been under siege ever since every major city in the country was leveled, but they're doing pretty well with what they've got.
You could easily find footage of the DPRK from Chinese tourists to get a feel of everyday life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7vZ0NhutDM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPdEeKHuBmc
It's obviously not the same as actually living in the country, but that's true for every single country on Earth.
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2:
I have a friend that spent six months in the DPRK studying. She didn't have to eat rats or dogs or push trains.
I'm by no means an expert but some factors to consider are that there's a very extensive economic sanctions regime in place against the DPRK.
What that looks like on the ground is that there's very little oil because it's hard to import, meaning that there are few cars and a heavy reliance upon mass transit and electricity instead (e.g. trolleybuses).
It also means that they don't have as much access to things like cutting edge medical technology.
For farming, as manufacturing modern agrochemicals is often very energy intensive and reliant upon oil (do we even use the term petrochemicals? Lol. It feels like all of our chemicals are derived from oil these days...), they tend to be much more low-input chemical-wise and this affects yield as well as the environment (e.g. less chemical runoff in the waterways, all things being equal.)
There's the focus on militarisation of the DPRK in the western media and this is a response to the Korean war and the very obvious attempts to destabilise and destroy their political system. Their recent advances in nuclear arms and ICBM technology has given them a degree of breathing room as it's a pretty well established fact that this creates military deterrence that was otherwise being maintained through a very strong focus on a conventional military with a large financial investment in that. These days it's not as high a priority to have such a strong army, for example, and they don't need as much artillery aimed at Seoul to feel some degree of security knowing that nuclear missiles are going to fulfil the same purpose. (Am I cribbing my notes from Stephen Gowans here? You bet I am!) I would expect to see the DPRK gradually scaling down their investment in conventional military and reorienting their economic priorities towards infrastructure and other civilian purposes but I'd expect to see just as much military pageantry because they won't want to expose their flank to the rest of the world unnecessarily. This means we should see better outcomes for the average citizen of the DPRK.
The west is preoccupied with the notion of Potemkin village narratives in the media. Everyone and their dog will point out how some building with no lights on is proof that an entire residential block is just for show or how the passengers on trains in the DPRK all appear to be actors or whatever. This is largely nonsense and a product of westerner tourists coming down with diagnosable cases of Main Character Syndrome and I wouldn't give much credence to these stories. I mean, I've been hearing that China is on the cusp of collapsing for about 25 years now and that it's going to happen within this year for real this time so I'm a bit reticent towards sensationalism in the media. When the media focus on the DPRK, one of the biggest names is Yeonmi Park who talks absolute rubbish. Plenty of what she says is either absurd, contrary to basic science, or easily fact-checked and disproven. Often her stories are not even internally-consistent.
She claimed that she was so propagandised that she didn't recognise that Kim Jong-Un was fat. Like, she couldn't conceptually grasp that he was fat. Not that she wasn't allowed to talk about it or that there was propaganda explaining why but that she would look at a picture of him and she would be unable to see it.
I mean, come on...
Obviously there's the famous Joe Rogan interview where she said that there was one train that ran in the DPRK (completely false), that it would only come once a month (again, completely false), and that people would often have to get off the train and push it (I'm sorry, what??). This is directly after saying that people would hang around the train station starving to death and there would be children who were so starved that all their organs fell out (???) and that rats would eat the corpses of victims of starvation and that people starving at the train station would hunt the rats for food.
If that were true we would have satellite images of it. If that were true people wouldn't stand around starving to death at a train station, they'd be hunting and foraging elsewhere. If everyone was starving so badly then nobody would have the strength to walk, let alone to push a train (which is an absurd amount of weight to try and push regardless of how well nourished you and your fellow passengers are).
I have to admit that I don't follow Yeonmi Park's appearances in the media closely but if she's the leading voice in the western media for what things are like in the DPRK and, at least to my knowledge, no journalist has confronted her about her inconsistencies, her outright fabrications, and her ridiculous claims let alone challenged her on any of them then I'd say that it's a safe bet that the standard for journalism on the DPRK is abysmally low and it should be regarded with deep skepticism.
There are other things like how there's an effective blockade on people from the DPRK leaving to go to other countries. This is something which was passed by the UN Security Council as a part of sanctions on the country, although the received wisdom is usually that it's the DPRK government who imposes this on its citizens.
Same goes for starvation or lack of food. If you look at Security Council resolutions (not that I expect people to do this but...) you'll find the US pushing for outrageous sanctions on things like oil and food imports and you'll have China threatening to veto the resolution because this would cause destabilisation of the DPRK due to the measures being so extremely punitive, meaning that often before the final resolution passes it gets watered down enough that the average citizen of the DPRK isn't facing abject starvation conditions but only because China is curtailing the US' designs. I'd need to dig back into old resolutions to get a clear picture of this but there was the Deng Xiaoping era onwards where China pivoted and began playing ball with the west, in a dramatic departure from the Mao era, and they were not nearly as strong militarily, politically, or economically so I would venture a guess that China being firmer in its negotiations at the Security Council with regards to stuff like the DPRK is a relatively recent shift. But basically any country which is cut off from the rest of the world's agriculture is only one environmental disaster away from starvation. Modern agricultural practices ameliorate this to a certain extent but if your country is cut off from them as well then you're in a precarious position.
But yeah, it's extremely hard to distinguish fact from fiction when it comes to the DPRK and you're not alone in feeling that way. My default position for anything about the DPRK is false until proven true and to be wary of the interpretation of the facts, for example what I mentioned above where it's a function of the UN Security Council resolution that prevents DPRK citizens from travelling abroad rather than some cynical plot by the DPRK government to control the movement of its citizens.
The military in the DPRK handles a lot of civil works.
Lol I thought I saw this somewhere.
I'm curious to read more if you have any links.
I've got you comrade, parsing through the UN website is worse than hell. Here's the link to resolution 1718 which details the sanctions imposed on the DPRK. I'm parsing through to find the relevant bits on restriction of nationals but even if you just read through, any risk adverse nation will bar them to comply since the sanctions are so broad.
Edit:
Found them!
Dang. How did I not know this. Thanks for looking it up. Hopefully the decline on Amerikan empire will end this.
imgur album with almost 400 pictures of life outside of pyongyang: https://imgur.com/a/BybJ7DQ
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jaka parker has videos of this on youtube https://vid.puffyan.us/watch?v=e6STm0seel8
indonesian diplomat, has no real commentary, no handlers. just shows daily life in the country. its not a rich place, it is severely lacking in industry due to western sanctions, but there are some interesting things going on, particularly in regards to housing and food distribution. a lot of places in asia look a lot like north korea, there is new development that is very good, and there is dilapidated rural areas. its important to understand that this region used to be worse off than africa. china has many similar issues, but have been able to rapidly advance due to deng's reforms.
Ehh compared to Cuba North Korea has excellent industry. Honestly DPRK heavy industry looks pretty decently developed.
their methods of transportation definitely need some work, but theres a lot of stuff going on. ox carts next to trains and industrial equipment building skyscrapers.
Once again compared to Cuba it's leaps and bounds ahead. They have electrified freight and passenger rail with daily trains to Beijing, several tram and trolleybus systems and a suburban rail network in Hamhung (not sure how that weird little railway works tbh).
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on Netflix there is a Series "Crash landing on you" , watch it ! Its great and this way you will understand "how south Korea " sees it.. and this way you will then get to a more hollistic view.
on Netflix there is a Series "Crash landing on you" , watch it ! Its great and this way you will understand "how south Korea " sees it.. and this way you will then get to a more hollistic view.