[fndex]

I'm sure you learned all that from other US/South Korean articles like this one, right?

I watched a documentary about North Korean defectors that wanted to go back to North Korea, one of the many reasons was to be with their families. They never mentioned their family were imprisioned. And it wouldn't make much sense to want to go back if their family was imprisioned.

Again, I'm no North Korean supporter or whatever, I just think there is a LOT of propaganda and misinformation about NK, and I think we should take everything with a grain of salt... Unless you think the US is a saint and would never lie about enemy countries.

And about the sanctions, I dind't mention any sanctions, you are just assuming that I support X or Y, when I never said such thing.

[peppermint_gum]

The reason why we learn about North Korea almost exclusively from the Western sources is because it's a totalitarian dictatorship that suppresses information. You can check out their media online and see for yourself that it's full of propaganda.

We don't get tourists from North Korea because they aren't allowed to leave the country. We don't talk with North Korean people on the internet, because their access to the internet is tightly controlled.

There's no grand western conspiracy to suppress information about NK. It's North Korea itself that does that.

I know that on HN many consider blind contrarianism to be synonymous with rationalism, but seriously...

[p_j_w]

None of what you've just said justifies believing what the media or government say about North Korea, though, does it?

[fiso64]

Apparently, "blind contrarianism" is when you don't take random blogs and news articles spouting ridiculous and unsubstantiated claims as gospel.

[CWuestefeld]

Unless you think the US is a saint and would never lie about enemy countries.

You seem to think the USA is just a monolith, and as such can be modeled as what the face of our government says. This is silly.

While it's true that business and especially the media is "in bed with" our government quite a lot of the time, it remains true that all have distinct interests.

[nullandvoid]

I'm not the most educated in this area, however this episode of darknet diaries (which seems to be well researched of the many I have listened to) paints a similar picture to OP https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DsGyzP9fYQ9LM6YiT5NS7?si=L... and includes interviews from several defectors.

It seems disingenuous to try and brush off the well documented brutality that is the way of life in North Korea, as being something made up by US / South Korea..

[fndex]

"A big thanks to Yeonmi Park for sharing her story with us"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeonmi_Park#Veracity_of_claims

[ornornor]

Oh come on

[fndex]

Now that's a good argument.

[mopenstein]

The US isn't the only country in the world. Find sources from European or British agencies, unless the U.S. has them under control too?

[fndex]

I'm not the one insinuating that North Koreans are indoctrinated into thinking the great leader has magic powers. You should be the ones to present the sources to such bizarre claims.

Jesus, the guy is saying people are indoctrinated into thinking the great leader "didn’t defecate ever". Do you really think North Koreans are that stupid and have zero biology knowledge? Or maybe, uh, this is just fake? Pure propaganda? Are you really that dumb to believe something like that?

[FormerBandmate]

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/story-of-a-former...

Yoyre like someone who thinks gravity doesn’t exist. Literally everyone knows this, they’re not stupid, they’re lied to their entire lives. There are tons of defectors who will back this up and you can’t talk to anyone in North Korea outside of carefully guided tours set up by the state

[fndex]

And what does this article proof? Again, it has zero evidence. If everyone knows, should be easy to back up your claims with atual evidence.

[CWuestefeld]

I suspect that it's not that they really believe Kim has never pooped, but that doesn't mean that North Koreans don't tell each other these stories. I think it might be closer to "Chuck Norris Facts" that we tell ourselves. Obviously nobody believes any of those things about Chuck Norris, but we continue to do so, and in so doing confer to Norris some degree of reverence.

Or maybe even more mundanely, it's like Santa Claus. Adults don't believe that he lives at the north pole with flying reindeer. But we continue to teach children that he does - not because it's literally true, but because we seem to feel that having children believe this somehow makes our culture better.

I imagine that similarly, Kim is getting this reverence - but since it's channeled into a framework of him being their supreme leader, it reinforces his hold on the nation.

[fndex]

That is a much better analysis. I believe they do have some weird cult of personality going on, but that is very different from being "indoctrinated".