[pizza234]

NK is politically aligned with the red countries, and positioned against US. Especially after the Otto Warmbier accident, some believe that Americans/Westerners in NK are in constant danger (my opinion: O.W. did something stupid while drunk; the accusations were obviously fabricated but the incident was not unprovoked), so to those, it may seem surprising that somebody can feel safe there.

[rtkwe]

The author is British working for the British embassy, UK-NK relations are strained but not as tense as US-NK relations by a mile. They had mutual embassies though the UK NK embassy no longer has an official ambassador and the NK UK embassy is closed because NK still has tight entry restrictions from COVID-19. US-NK relations are tangentially related at best.

[cyanydeez]

It also starves its citizens in all manner of ways.

If the current US admin could do this, they would.

[fragmede]

What did you think that bit with the eggs was about?

[cyanydeez]

the difference however is the level of coordination required. NK is top down, while US just has a bunch of oligarchies who may or may not be directly coordinating.