Part 7:

Hermit kingdom? No photos? No non-government accounts?

Do we have photos from dprk? Can foreign citizens travel out of pyongyang? Foreign citizens experience in DPRK

• everyday life in pyongyang in photographs
• Every day life outside pyongyang, in rural north korea in photographs
• Rapper Marcel cartier travels in DPRK, 13 misconceptions corrected
• traveling from wonsan to pyongyang
• tourists take photos of happy people in DPRK
• A huge collection of photos from DPRK.
• A huge collection of videos from DPRK, given to us by SAO documentary
• another collection of photos
• My brothers and sisters in North korea
• What about Michael huniewicz "kim jong un does not want you to see" photos? Laughable, here is the response, if one is even needed
• Is DPRK truly "isolated"? :bugs-no: .
• Greek journalist resided for two years in DPRK, shares her opinion
• The north korea the western media does not want you to see
• Norwegian coach in DPRK
• The happiest country on earth
• An african american journalist in DPRK
• The Propaganda in North Korea Documentary

TL;DR:

If you believe Amerikan propaganda about the DPRK, then you are lazy, racist, and an imperialist yankee bastard. READ AND INFORM YOURSELF. If you are from the imperial core, you have internalized chauvinism.

This effort post bought to you by Juche Gang.

:juche-WPK: :juche-boi:

Me: Breaking up information into sections and bullet points helps make effortposts more accessible to comrades with ADHD

@JucheGang: :gigachad-hd:

Me: :meow-knit:

uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire

Went over text limit. Please upvote.

Part 2

DPRK for the Palestinian struggle (cont.)

:palestine-heart:

• DPRK sent soldiers and weapons to Palestinians against Israel in the Yom Kippur war
• Israel considers DPRK an enemy
• DPRK suspected of sending help to Hamas
• DPRK relations with PLO since 60s
• DPRK provides military training for PLO

DPRK - Libya relations

:gaddafi-happy:

• DPRK sent arms to Libya before United States coup

DPRK - Vietnam relations

:uncle-ho-2:

• DPRK soldiers fought in the Vietnam war against Amerika

DPRK - Ireland

:anti-thatcher-action:

• IRA-DPRK relations
• In the 80s

DPRK - Zimbabwe relations

• DPRK armed liberation fighter during the Zimbabwan war of liberation
• After liberation, DPRK trained soldiers, and alliance continiues till today

DPRK aiding naxalites

• DPRK possible aiding naxalites

DPRK aiding Hezbollah

• Solidarity of DPRK and hezbollah

Turkey

• Turkish socialists in DPRK

Allende

:kim-il-young: :unity: :allende-rhetoric:

• Kim il-sung and allende

Venezuela

:chavez-salute: :maduro-salute:

• Comrades in arms. Venezuela and dprk
• Venezuela opens embassy in DPRK in 22 of August 2019, as an "act against US imperialism"

Thank you so much for this effort post comrade! This will be an incredible resource to learn from and also use whenever someone starts repeating western propaganda

:juche-WPK: :heart-sickle:

Part 3 -

What about the defectors?

Claims of concentration camps and defectors drama

So, what is the deal with the supposed work camps? Do they exist? If so, are they the horrific things we hear about from profesional defectors i.e (defectors who are paid to lie)?

The three main sources for the lies we hear are Amnesty international, defectors, and the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Yep, you guessed it, these orgs and these defectors are paid by and are based in US, and they are nothing more than propaganda tools for obvious reasons.

So, the two main supposed reports and books, are these:

• Hidden gulag
• the amnesty report

A fun fact about these, which is also the same with defectors is that they dont have avidence. They are all supported by testimonies, which cannot be verified, and many times fall apart and the defectors are saying a different thing in monday and different thing in saturday.

:zenz: Doesn’t this tactic sound familiar?

There are also the famous satellite images. You know, those images that can very well be prisons... Is there really a country that has no prisons? I could show you a satellite image from a prison in Norway, you would not distinguish from where it came and what it actually is.

So, there is no evidence. Not a video, images, official sources. Nothing. Just testimonies of people, which often fall apart. Are prisons in DPRK hard? Propably, as in most countries in the world.

Are guards feeding childs to dogs? You could be a racist and a very indoctrinated person to believe this thing without evidence. Also, there is a big number of defectors who want to go back to the DPRK, but you wont hear their stories frequently do you? I really wonder why! :thonk:

Here is some material to read and watch about defectors:

Debunking the defectors and destroy their hopes for oscars for best acting

• North korea lies and truth part 1
• North korea lies and truth part 2
• North korea lies and truth part 3
• Shing dong hyuk exposed
• Yeonmi park: A proven liar
• Yeonmi park: the defector who fooled the world

So, what about that dramatic NK soldier who defected in the south, and the "evil" NoRtH KoReAn soldiers dared to shoot??? Well, he was a murderer. This is why he defected

• Why do NK defectors keep changing their stories?
• South korea pays defectors $86,000 to lie
• South quadrupled the money in 2017, a time of political heat with dprk and the west. I wonder why🤔
• Cash incentives and the western media's endless appetite for shocking stories encourage refugees to exaggerate, Jiyoung Song argues
• Shin dong hyuk recants parts of his story after his father appears alive on tv
• Swiss-born businessman who lived and worked in North Korea for seven years until 2009 has frequently questioned media portrayals of the human rights situation in the country.
• 12 North korean waitresses were kidnapped by Seoul’s spy agency

What about defectors who speak the truth, and many times return back to (or want to) the dprk?

To sum it up, what about the defectors who are not professional liars?

• North Korean defector and her six-year-old son starve to death in South Korea after being denied welfare
• DPRK woman defected to south. She realized that in the south the state does not cover housing, medical treatment, e.t.c. She now wants to go back to DPRK, back to her family, but she not allowed by the south
• loyal citizens to Pyongyang
• Defectors suffer in dept
• Defectors want to return to DPRK
• "I feel uneasy living in the Republic of Korea as I believe people's hearts, not money should be prioritized. My desire to go to the North will not be changed even if the South gives me gold."
• Defectors treated like dirt
• "Everything I said on TV was scripted ... to make North Koreans look barbaric, ignorant and stupid."
• South korea rejects defectors request to go back to north
• North korean defector proud of nuclear weapons, says kim would rather die than give up
• North korea defector to the south, arrested for praising kim jong un
• South korea intelligence agencies lure people from the north to defect
• Couple re-defects in dprk after they were cheated to go to south korea
• "Even though North Korea is poorer, I felt more free there. Neighbours and people help each other and depend on each other."
• Choe in-guk: Son of south korean defectors moves to North
• I wanted to stay in North Korea: American
• After fleeing DPRK, some defectors want to go back
• South's hidden problem: Suicidal defectors
• North korean defector interrupts UN human rights event, pleads to go back to DPRK

I already knew most of this and am a pretty big fan of the DPRK, but it is always very convenient to have this stuff so neatly compiled. Thank you for the effort :kim-drip:

Mixed feelings about this. Just like my support for the USSR and China is strong, but not unreserved, my support for the DPRK is not unreserved.

In hindsight, Juche did contribute to austerity / resource deprivation in the DPRK. Juche is a very interesting philosophy and I think it has a lot of really cool ideas. But just as with some of Mao's well intentioned but poorly executed ideas, the initial execution lead to a significant dependency on the Soviet Union, which goes directly against the ideals of Juche thought. North Korea needed more time and help to become self-reliant, and the attempted transition to self-reliance was not done very well, at least with respect to agriculture and some other basic necessities/supplies. In terms of science and technology, the DPRK has fared much better, though a greater investment in renewables would make strategic sense as part of a self-reliance strategy.

The DPRK also resembles as a hereditary monarchy in many respects. The fact that this structure is consistent with confucian traditions doesn't convince me that it is, in fact, a good thing. However, it is also not a cardinal sin, and the west is quite content to engage with much more problematic monarchies, like Saudi Arabia.

The treatment of prisoners also warrants criticism. This is true everywhere in the world and throughout history, save for a few European countries. (:eu-cool: , but I will acknowledge that this one aspect of one thing has been done right.) Poor treatment of prisoners is extremely common and widespread, and warrants criticism wherever it's encountered.

Finally, I don't entirely buy arguments that it is necessary to isolate the general population to the degree that they are isolated in the modern DPRK. Communication outside of the DPRK is overly limited, imo, and it seems unnecessarily strict about entering/exiting the country, both for citizens and visitors. Free movement is important.

Go shorty

It's your Juche

We're gonna party like it's DPRK

:kim-drip:

This is already a very thorough collection of information, but perhaps this article could be added:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/11/kim-jong-nam-half-brother-north-korea-leader-was-cia-informant

Puts this event in a very different light, and it being a lib-friendly source is useful to share with those who distrust AES or allegations of CIA intervention against them.

Thanks for putting together this effort post!

Fantastic writeup! :juche:

Hopefully season 3 of Blowback will help a lot of people understand the conditions that gave rise to the DPRK. Uncritical support.

Part 4 -

Contemporary economic and food conditions of DPRK

What about the malnutrition, mortality rate, and food issues in DPRK ?

• Death rate by malnutrition in DPRK in 2017 was 1.1 per 100,000 people. Lower that france, mexico or brasil, were the rates were 2.17, 7.50, and 3.99
• Whats new in NK nutrition and why it matters
• Mortality rates diminishing since 2000s
• North korea's food situation: Stable and improving
• Between sanctions, drought, and tension, what is the food situation?

Is DPRK economy collapsing? Quite the contrary, it’s growing!

• The myth of North korean "collapse"
• The economy is growing at the fastest rate since the 90s as of 2017.
• Despite sanctions, North korea's economy in 17 years high in 2016
• The truth about North korea: it’s booming
• DPRK is beating the sanctions
• trillions of dollars in untouched minerals in DPRK.
• Social and economic achievements of North korea
• The present situation in the DPRK
• economy grows 3.7% in 2018
• China - DPRK trade increased
• Re-thinking the DPRK collapse narrative
• How and why the west thinks of DPRK economy wrongly
• No homeless in Pyongyang says defector

I don't really see how it's possible to take any information about North Korea from anyone at face value. But I don't believe that enough to actually argue against this post. Good effortpost.

Appendix A: What is Juche?

Juche is, in layman's terms, a derivation of Marxism-Leninism with Maoist influences. It was first introduced by Kim Il-Sung at the Meeting of Leading Personnel of the Young Communist League and the Anti-Imperialist Youth League held at Kalun in June 1930.

It is primarily concerned with the laws of the social movement and the development of socialist ideology under the socialist socio-economic system. Marxism-Leninism, as well as Dialectical and Historical Materialism, are assumed by this ideology, so you should have some knowledge about these topics if you want to learn about the Juche Idea.

Kim Jong-Il talks about the foundations of Marxism-Leninism inherent in the Korean revolutionary philosophies and ideologies in On Correctly Understanding the Originality of Kimilsungism:

Kimilsungism was founded and has been developed in the course of safeguarding and embodying the ideological and theoretical achievements of Marxism-Leninism. The Juche Idea itself is an idea discovered in the process of the revolutionary struggle waged under the banner of Marxism-Leninism; it is an idea which has opposed all trends of idealism and metaphysics and strictly adhered to the materialistic and dialectic stand.

The revolutionary theory of Kimilsungism is also a theory which was founded and enriched in the course of protecting the revolutionary quintessence of Marxist-Leninist theory from bourgeois and opportunist theories and creatively applying and developing it in line with the requirements of the revolutionary practice of our times.

The Juche Idea is concerned primarily with elucidating the attributes of man which drive social movement. These are defined as independence, creativity, and consciousness, which complement and require each other. These attributes are explained bit by bit, shown to differentiate man from animals through his conscious, creative activity which frees him from the fetters of nature and society by advancing in the progressive struggle for communism.

If you want to talk about the economic or social policy of the DPRK, the concept you're looking for is primarily Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, not the Juche Idea.

A primary point of the Juche Idea is that each revolution must be carried out by its own people, rather than by a foreign power attempting to dominate the younger revolution towards its own interests.

Kim Jong-Il talks about this in On the Juche Idea:

The revolution in each country should be carried out responsibly by its own people, the masters, in an independent manner, and in a creative way suitable to its specific conditions. Independence and creativeness are the inherent requirements of a revolutionary movement, the communist movement.

Kim Il-Sung is not a god. He has never been such a thing, nor is he regarded by anyone in the country as such. In all my discussions with people from the DPRK, I have heard great respect for Kim Il-Sung. You should understand who he is as a historical actor to understand perhaps why people regard him as important.

Kim Il-Sung was a Communist, a Marxist, and a fierce guerrilla fighter against the brutal Japanese colonial domination over Korea. His entire life, from a young child to the end of his days, was involved in the anti-Imperialist struggle.

He founded the Workers Party of Korea, enacted land reforms to crush the landlord class, dissolved the petty-bourgeoisie class, formed a state and cooperative-owned economy, and established a firm vanguard party which held no patience for infiltrators or revisionists. He commanded the Fatherland Liberation War and maintained Korea's sovereignty and independence from the US Imperialists.

There's so much problematic about viewing the DPRK's struggle against Imperialism as "a myriad series of woes", let alone taking what I assume is a reference to their subjective poverty in comparison to the capitalist puppet nations and attempting to attribute that to perceived failings of ideology rather than as the result of the material conditions of the struggle.

Source: Original comment on :reddit-logo:

Fun fact: The term "juche" was originally coined by Korean anarchists and the revolution itself included many anarchist comrades. Anarchists are one of the leftist tendencies still present in the DPRK to this day.

Part 6:

What about the "democratic" south korea and the attitude of the "democratic" west against DPRK? Imperialism against DPRK, both then and now.

Contemporary imperialism towards DPRK during Kim Jong Un's time 2011 - present

• Most things you hear about North korea are racist nonsense
• The weaponization of Human rights as a means of the imperialists to undermine DPRK
• Why the west wants the workers party of korea out? Rare earth minerals is one of the answers
• How the cia and western media deceived the world into thinking that north korea is a dictatorship
• How NASA manipulates satellite images to present a "north korea is falling apart" view
• West sanctioning DPRK because they exercised their right to technological innovation; Launching a satellite into space.
• Youtube censorship and deletion of pro-dprk chanels. So much for western freedom of speach.
• Why privilege discourse predominates: Case on DPRK

western academics complained about this youtube censorship campaign, stating that these channels gave a view you could not see in western media, helping them form opinions

South korean army killed person swimming back to DPRK

• Reality and hypocrisy: DPRK nuclear tests condemned by the nuclear powers
• North korea and UN propaganda machine
• Human rights imperialist campaigns. Who are they fooling?
• The dangerous tone of US media towards DPRK
• Christian missionary spies send to DPRK by United States. This is a very common tactic used by the US. Western missionaries are racist colonists who deserve death regardless, but they are also frequently spies.
• The racist dehumanization of North korea
• On the DPRK: Isolated, demonized, and dehumanized by the west
• Alek singley: An imperialist agent
• Darwin, an imperialist bastion of US in Australia
• Botswana leaders, nothing more that imperialist puppets working to undermine socialism
• Israel calls for quick responce against DPRK. Once again, their imperialist nature is shown
• According to Israel, the axis of evil, is Iran-Syria-DPRK. According to them, they are the worst threat for the world. For this only, all of us should support these three states unconditionally
• Understanding and defending DPRK
• DPRK punished for helping to liberate africa
• Brazen american imperialist aggresion
• Genocide by sanctions: UN double standarts
• The real reason US is worried about Koreas ICBM test
• US bans entry to south korean anti-war activists
• Media complicity increases possibility of a new korean war
• Imperialism's drive to war in korea
• geriatric amerkian bastard threats DPRK with extinction
• What is the US military presence close to DPRK?
• Tillerson talks of pre-emptive strikes on DPRK
• US aggresion after park government
• Dangerous tune of South korea
• 300,000 troops under pentagon command ready to attack dprk
• How are koreans in Japan treated?
• South's plan to assassinate Kim jong un
• "North korea should be destroyed"
• Pentagon:Ground invasion to destroy DPRK nuclear program
• Better a million dead north korea ex US army official said....You can understand now, that US army is nothing more than some paid murderers with approvement
• “Kim jong un Decapitation unit” in the South korea army
• The Interview' in historical perspective: endless war against North Korea
• Korean crisis:1994-present
• One of the reasons CIA targets DPRK is opium
• Human rights watch, an imperialist tool part 2 {Part 2}
• UN report could be about US or ROK
• UN report a propaganda tool
• US image of DPRK is not reality
• Was otto warmbier tortured?

:reddit-logo: links:

• This is from comrade u/Prettygame4Ausername The otto warmbier case