So I heard someone mention not too long ago that whole thingy about apparently needing government approval to go to another city as a North Korean, and how this is supposed to be this really terrible thing meant to Control the Population or whatever... and like, I didn't argue against what that person said because truth be told I don't know much about it and learning more about it is Kinda Difficult, but I just thought... aren't things in practice already pretty similar where I live?
Like, if I am employed, then I need to clock in every day, and notify and get the approval of my employer in order to be absent from my workplace. So if I randomly decide to spend the night in the next town over and miss or am late to work or perform worse at work because of it, then I could be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including getting fired and all that entails. And if I move to a new city, then the government expects me to notify them of my new address, because that could have implications for welfare and taxation and voting and census statistics and so forth. If I don't notify the government when I move to a new city, then that is Illegal and Bad and I'll get fined for it.
To me it then makes sense that if the state is my employer, that there would be a similar system in place, and that a centrally-planned economy would have a greater need for statistics as well (companies do well keep track of who's in which department, too, don't they!). And so to me it follows that inter-city travel would be expected to be documented and approved. Because "needing approval" does not equal "99% of applications are denied", right? That much should be obvious.
But all of this is really just me making assumptions about a country I've never actually been to and honestly know way too little about, based on what I feel makes more sense than "it's a literal 1984 hellscape where they eat babies".
If anybody actually knows anything about this topic or similar domestic travel restrictions in other AES states, then I'd love to hear about it.
Did the person who said this to you back up their claim in any way? I'm not a Korea expert but people say the weirdest things about the DPRK without any substantiation, just regurgitating talking points they are fed uncritically.
Honestly, you already know the answer: it was exactly that, just some rando regurgitating some half-remembered Wikipedia article.
I dunno, you could try pushing back and asking for a source or warn that there's a lot of misinformation out there if they're the sort of person who can be reasoned with, but I can guess how productive that would be on average. And who knows, internal travel laws aren't unheard of. It's just that the average person will probably interpret any attempt at nuance as a sign you're a tankie or the like. It's hard to engage productively.
Idk about internal travel restrictions in the DPRK, but i think you nailed how many of the putative oppression and putative freedoms of the west are mostly propaganda and perspective. You can't get on a plane in most of the US without a special government issued internal passport, but no one talks about realID that way.
You can't get on a plane in most of the US without a special government issued internal passport, but no one talks about realID that way.
It's probably just literally not true. Any time someone tells you anything about the DPRK ask them for a source, and if (when) they give you Wikipedia or Yeonmi Park or some shit just laugh them out of the room
When I was in Morocco, a driver was taking us to another city about 3 hours away from Tangier. He needed to take one of our passports to the police station to get a document that would allow him to travel to that city.
I don’t really know more than that due to the language barrier, but it might be easier to research Morocco than NK.
Dang, I can't remember, but I feel like I read or listened to something about travel within the USSR within the past year. It might've been Kristen Ghodsee, but I can't be sure. Soviet System of Government by Hazard had an interesting chapter on employment by the state, but overall it was a very Parenti quote kind of book. Actually... Maybe the the folks from the Reimaging Soviet Georgia podcast? I only listened to the first ep though. Oh, or Revleft Radio who has had them and Ghodsee on at separate times.... I need to start taking notes. My brain is pudding.
