[briandear]

Are we really comparing the DPRK with the US? This thread has jumped the shark. Anyone in the US could be a dissident -- it's called the first amendment. Unless you are from the People's Republic of Fantasia, there's a good chance your country isn't a shining example of freedom either. But, it seems that the fashion on HN is to complain about the US at every opportunity -- even within an article about North Korea.

This could be a story about Hilter and people would find a way to engage in moral relativism.

[PerfectDlite]

> fashion on HN is to complain about the US at every opportunity -- even within an article about North Korea

See "Whataboutism"

[fit2rule]

The point is that the USA is not the shining beacon of moral authority that it, and its peoples, claim it to be - and before we go off launching yet another military-industrial misadventure to 'solve' the problems of the world, we might ought to use some of those resources locally, at home, in our own - free, so far - societies, in order to improve the lives of our fellow humans.

It makes not one iota of difference if the human lives we improve are in Kaesong, North Korean, or Jackson, Indiana. Does it? Then, start at home: get rid of the NSA. Close Guantanomo. Cancel privatized prison systems that incarcerate more prisoners in the world than any other nation.