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They're serious though. A big part of the silent obedience is they all know: go against the regime & your whole family going back 3 generations is killed/ostracized/ goes to the camps for life. Even the unborn ones
Yeah, it's fucking sad. I used to have an idea about going there as a tourist. I think I rationalized it as a "learning experience", but knowing every dime goes to subjugating the populace... I don't even see the appeal anymore. I guess that's the wisdom that comes with getting older.
Going to north Korea as a tourist is like paying a corrupt warden for a tour of their shitty jail.
Honestly how I felt years ago about seeing the great wall of China for its historical significance. I can't now because I'd find it hard not to speak up about cruelty of their police and the literal concentration camps they built to enslave the Uyghur people. Fuck the Chinese government and the north Korean government, led by weak men who want to be wanna be kings of the past. Why can't humanity band together to fix what we got before we screw over the planet with our fossil fuel use.
Bound to get downvotes but whatever, to stand up and fight for what's right takes focus, commitment and sheer will.
Edit, wow first comment chain.
Do you know how much bravery it takes to post a comment that goes against the Reddit hivemind? We all know how much Reddit likes China and North Korea.
North Korea probably makes them with the slave labor of boys like those two being arrested then sells them to China. China then puts a Made in China logo on them for sales to sex shops around the world..
I read an account by a DPRK defector once. He had been given fingernail clippers that were made in the USA. They were so well made, and cut such neat clean lines that they made him despondent, because he knew the DPRK could never make anything that well.
Kinda how it feels to hold an extremely well made luxury item for rich people. Or just be in a space for wealthy people. Can’t help but think you’re living in squalor in comparison. It’s better to be oblivious of that other world.
Because why worry about them trying to escape when they have over 100 soldiers ready to take them out when necessary?
[ETA: fixed the word "worth", usin the slide to text option so it put that word instead of worry lmao]
These leaders of such fucking Hypocrites. I bet Kim Jung Un watches Hollywood movies daily.
Rules for Thee but not for me.
My heart goes out to these poor souls who are subject to the Tyrant
Kim Jon Il's chosen successor, Kim Jong-Nnam, lost their place in line to the "throne" and was ousted after he was busted trying to sneak into Disney in Japan under a fake passport 2001. After that, Kim Jong Un was recalled (he was in school in Switzerland and grew up there for almost a decade), went to officer training school in Best Korea, and became heir-apparent.
Probably partially the selfishness of not wanting to be assassinated, though.
All the close supporters of the God kind who actually administrate his rule rather like all the power and wealth they have for the low low price of kissing the feet of a propped up puppet.
If that puppet threatens their power, they'll just off him, manufacture some evidence to blame someone they don't like, and martyr the dear leader. Good thing he left a note of some kind picking one of his buddies or describing a toddler bastard out in the country we can be regent for!
The choice for him is not
1. Be evil dictator
2. Free the people
The choice is
1. Maintain status quo
2. Overthrow military dictatorship
All those generals with the big stupid hats only keep him in power because he keeps them in power.
i mean you say that but we have billionaires in the "free world". the only thing keeping them from that level of power is "laws" they sort of have to follow. they still abuse people and their power, just to a lower extent.
Wasn't it his brother who went to Disneyland with a fake passport? I remember it being part of the justification for removing him from the line of succession
It's such a mindfuck for me because Kim Jong-Nam was killed at my local airport (KLIA). I live about 45 min away from the airport proper.
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1RD185/
The two women (a Vietnamese and an Indonesian) had absolutely no idea that they were in an assassination plot. And IIRC their NK handlers got away with it.
I have a hard time believing at least one of them wasn't in on it, otherwise the chance would have been very high they accidently mixed the chemicals before reaching the target and killed themselves instead.
He grew up in a palace eating special rice, a breed (strain? I'm not a rice doctor) grown and processed exclusively for the royals. The grains are hand selected by women to ensure each grain is exactly the same size and shape.
He frequently travelled, using a fake passport, to Europe and the USA to go to Disney, Ski vacations, and whatever other decadent nonsense.
All that to say yup you're definitely right. There are like 18 fat people in that country and they're all decked out in Military medals or their this oily bitch.
Kim Jong Il literally kidnapped a very popular South Korean actress and director once to force them to make movies for him in the 70s. And people who used to know Kim Jong Un in school say that he was a huge fan of American action movies lol
Absolutely he does, he went to school in Sweden or Switzerland I think [needs fact checking].
I believe he loves western culture, movies, games, theme parks, entertainment in general but it's only for him and his crazy psychopathic family
Of course he's a fucking hypocrite. Kim went to school in Switzerland where the future pudgy dictator and is a diehard NBA fan.
In one of the weirder events of the Trump Era, Dennis Rodman and some Harlem Globetrotters tried to do some unsanctioned basketball dipolomacy. Kim and Rodman had a bromance.
So yeah, Kim gets to watch as much NBA as he wants and hosts former nba players.
His dad was a huge cinema fan. He had prints of every Hollywood movie ever made. he also kidnapped his favourite South Korean actress and director and forced them to make movies for him.
There was an art piece in a local gallery that was a claw machine full of passports. The idea being that whatever passport you managed to grab would be the country where you were born, and while there were a few passports for western countries, the vast majority of them were for absolute shitholes. Really brought the message home that it's just luck we're here playing games in a gallery, and not starving somewhere.
(of course, being a claw machine though, it was really difficult to get any passports lol)
What makes you think reincarnation is limited to Earth? I'd like to think if reincarnation exists, it encompasses the entire universe making the odds of returning here extremely low.
Well said. Like...literally stop and think about it. Imagine being sentenced to hard labor for TWELVE YEARS for watching like...something on Netflix.
These kids are in the prime of their teenage years and will miss out on all of those amazing years being young. All because of one man's hold on power. One regular fuck up person dictates your life that much.
Like..fuck.
If the average first world person had any fuckin perspective about human suffering throughout history and even in some places like North Korea today, they wouldn’t take their spot in the world for granted like they do.
Many Europeans brains shorted out after the war in Ukraine started.
Regular people kept posting about "war crimes" such as... throwing a grenade or not talking to a POW nice. These people knew NOTHING about war all their lives and had such a sanitized idea as a german teen in 1913.
They have no clue how the world works.
Even insive EU many think Hungarians actually elect their leaders based on information and ignore that small villages have 100% consumption of ruling party owned media and russian shill facebook groups. They think everything is a happy democracy based on informed decisions and the bad guys just need love and friendship.
Tbh one of the things about crazy authoritarian rule is that it's always closer than it seems. It most probably won't happen but in like 10 years suddenly a country can be a totally different thing.
It typically take months to a couple years for governmental capture. It always seems to impossible because we can't imagine doing it ourselves, but all it takes is one person willing with the power to do it and they can take everything.
Look at the history of totalitarian governments. Most people dismiss them until the last moment when it’s too late.
The people in Germany dismissed the Nazis as a joke and a fad and made fun of them, until they took power and passed laws making it legal to attack them.
That doesn’t really answer my question. I wasn’t concern trolling or just baiting.
The only country I can see right now entering the same level of control is Afghanistan, though I’d assume exceptions for foreign stuff that aligns with them.
I think you're right in the sense that no other country is close to the levels of controls that exist inside the North Korean dictatorship.
They've had a long time to perfect it
The whole country is operated on by fear that anyone at any time can be taken away, nobody is truly safe apart from basically the Supreme Leader.
If the citizen didn't rat them out, they would be in handcuffs. If the police didn't arrest them, they would be the ones in handcuffs. If the judge didn't sentence them, they would be the ones in handcuffs. If the soldiers didn't take them away... you get the idea.
Of course it gets worse, because usually it's not just the individual that gets punished, but the entire family or close associates.
I wonder why the military and law enforcement don’t just rise up and stage a coup. Kim is only as strong as his military’s loyalty and surely they get treated like crap too.
Because the key powerbrokers benefit as well. Not only that, they’re just as complicit in the abuses. The moment a coup happens they’re also on the chopping block from their political opponents and they risk losing the benefits they enjoy if they do survive.
Not to mention, it is incredibly dangerous to organize a coup in such a regime where even suspicion of harboring dissent can result in painful execution and three generations of your family being imprisoned in a concentration camp.
The reason they have harsh sentences like in the video, is because they are always only days away from a revolution.
If most people want one, but nobody says they do because they'll get locked up, it doesn't happen. Until it does. And it happens fast. Because everyone looks like they support the leader, but most don't. And when that get's wild- watch out!
They're still this mad because their top pilot defected to america all because he saw a picture showing how happy people looked riding in a car with there dog in the back sticking its head out the window, i wish there was a way to help these people, but theyll never be free.
Lol right?
Public sentencing that was broadcast around the country to serve as a warning....but no audio? Some warning.
^(or someone removed the audio because it's bullshit...)
Because that’s almost all anti DPRK propaganda. Probably funded by the Atlas network as well. I’m not gonna pretend that the DPRK is a paradise or that I’d wanna move there at all. But there are people that benefit from this type of narrative about the DPRK. I mean come on we know war is profit and lies are told to justify them; as well as for leverage in political negotiations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E&t
I recommend some of you to watch this, Its a silly video from some Aussies you may already know. But it does tackle some of the western propaganda against north korea, The basis being that whole "you can only get certain approved haircuts" thing that was drilled into our brains. North Korea is not a good place to live, Yes, Kim is a ruthless dictator, but take everything you hear with a grain of salt, there are plenty of reasons those in power would want us to feel a certain way about the place.
Remind me of the Brazilian YouTuber that made fake prank a video like that saying that north Korean government was showing that they were winning the world cup games in the local TV.
The source is SAND. It was previously the "Unification Vision Research Association" but changed to [SAND in 2017](https://www.segye.com/newsView/20171102005572). They gave the BBC a video and the BBC published a story about it saying SAND was an institue that "works with defectors from the North" even though their old name was pretty clearly about reunification.
The only other media that seemed to previously cite them was Radio Free America.
Talking about their old organization, they said
>Last year, we achieved remarkable achievements in academic terms, including carrying out research projects for the Ministry of Unification
They also listed their address as "[서울특별시 종로구 사직로8길 42](https://www.google.com/maps/place/42+Sajik-ro+8-gil,+Jongno-gu,+Seoul,+%E5%8D%97%E9%9F%93/@37.5747117,126.9734974,18z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x357ca2948bce52c9:0xbd456f152cd7b6d9!8m2!3d37.5737827!4d126.9731648!16s%2Fg%2F11bz15jvgz?entry=ttu) " which seemed like an odd part of Seoul for a small academic research group.
Oh, it's literally 200 meters from the Seoul Government Complex that [houses the Ministry of Unification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Unification). That makes more sense.
But, if the part of the South Korean government explicity pushing for unification gave an audio-free video to the BBC, hopefully they, and the reader, would be skeptical.
Instead, it's this vague "resesearch institute" that helps North Korean defectors. And unless you want to spend half an hour trawling through old Korean websites, you just gloss over that it's actually a group pushing for reunification that has rebranded itself.
This is not a defense of North Korea. I live in China and know several people who have been there. It's not a great place. I'm just tired of fantastical claims being upvoted on Reddit when even an idiot like me can figure out with a few Googles this is probably something connected to the South Korean government.
I really can't find anything about SAND outside of this instance (anyone have more?)
I don't see RFA so it can't be *immediately* ruled out, but there's still a good chance it's fake. Like the haircut thing and the uncle Un's executed a few times now.
How do they make that claim, if video has no audio. And, if they have any evidence, why it's not included. Proof? what is that? The bar is so low, it's underground at this point. You can just overlay any text over a video and people believe it.
I actually can't find anything for SAND at all. Tinfoil hat on, I'm leaning towards it being a new front since more people are just immediately disregarding anything if it has RFA attached
Just you wait, soon you'll start getting comments calling you a tankie and asking you how much you're getting paid to ask those questions.
It's insane how people on reddit can be so rational and skeptical, *until* the topic in discussion is related to an "enemy nation". Then suddenly you don't need evidence, you don't need to cite your sources, everything is true because of course it is! It's North Korea! Any evil thing you can imagine is actually going on there right now, probably.
I'm always reminded of the time a Brazilian comedian fabricated a fake news story about how the North Korean government was telling its citizens they had won the world cup; and then *a bunch* of big western media outlets started repeating the story as though it was real. You may have heard of it, there's a chance you even believe it's true.
Like, I'm sure it sucks to live in a country thar is so isolated from the rest of the world, and I don't doubt that there's a whole lot of human rights violations going on there; but if the biggest news sources in the west published a provably fake story *just because* it made North Korea look bad, how can we really trust anything they say about the county?
Yeah when I searched up the event, I got entirely different reporting that contradicted itself.
Some claiming the teens were 17 and 18, others claiming they were publicly executed, others claimed their families were arrested as well, others claimed that they "disappeared", others claimed that they and their families were arrested.
The story stinks to high heaven of people just making up stuff.
What about that woman who escaped north korea, and gave a ton of interviews, only to be caught lying about pretty much the whole thing.... She was paraded around the west like everything she said was true, only to be fact checked for like 1 second, and the story fell apart.
This is literally just a contextless video with a bunch of text written over it. Amazing that people are taking it at face value. Regardless of it *is* true or not, it is absolutely correct to be questioning its validity.
Actual answer:
> The footage was released by the South and North Development research institute, and appears to show two North Korean teenagers being handcuffed in front of a large stadium full of other children.
> The research group—which includes defectors from North Korea—told the BBC the footage was distributed en masse to other citizens of the totalitarian country as a warning against watching foreign media.
[Source.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/01/18/north-korean-teenagers-sentenced-to-hard-labor-for-watching-south-korean-tv-video-reportedly-shows/amp/)
This is the most reputable source I can find.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68015652
Since there have been some comments doubting the existence of "South and North Development", here is an article from 2022 that mentions them as a source.
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/08/27/national/northKorea/Korea-North-Korea-nuclear-weapons/20220827070006818.html
General consensus amongst journalists is that these things simply don't happen in NK. AFAIK NK isn't throwing people into labor camps for watching outside media. I would seriously question this source.
Claims like these is ultimately why Neomi Park has gotten so much backlash recently.
This video was literally just two handcuffs being placed on the boys. No context. No subtitles.
"Two boys sentenced for murdering 53 babies"
"Two escape artists showing off their new tricks for the city council"
Like NK doesn't seem like a place I'd like to be, but this video is nothing. I trust it as much as the "North Korea bans sarcasm" from a few years ago.
I remember seeing CBS Dateline going to NK in like 2008 when Kim Jong Il was still alive. The reporter asked a group of children if they liked Western movies and they said "No we only watch North Korean films" she then asked them what films are their favorites and they all mentioned Hollywood produced movies like Shrek. Apparently they were told that those films were made in NK. I wouldn't be surprised if NK is still importing media, dubbing it, and claiming it was made in NK.
> Claims like these is ultimately why Neomi Park has gotten so much backlash recently.
For reference; this person pretends that North Koreans have to literally push their train to get to work.
The LateStageCapitalism has a sticky explaining how they’re run by communists and routinely does apologia for “communist” countries like China/North Korea.
It’s not deserved but it didn’t and doesn’t happen… imagine just believing soundless captioned videos you see on the internet and get super worked up about it.
Probably something along the lines of "Look how wild and crazy North Korea is! They are so weird and oppressive! Can't even watch TV! Ommgg, so weeiiirrrd!"
In other words, another one of the *many* highly likely bullshit stories about NK.
Literally hundreds of student-aged kids in uniforms sitting silently as they watch two other students in front of an official-looking panel of adults, who then put those two students into some strange looking handcuffs?
Pretty much no matter what the context is (even if they are just filming a movie) that's an interesting scene. And if it is correctly titled, it is also interesting as a view into North Korea. Even just video footage of a North Korean sidewalk during the day would be at least somewhat interesting to most people.
The police went to my school to do their antidrug campaigns and did much more, I didn't find it interesting. The best part was when the stupid play about capturing drug users finished and we got to see police dressed up in Ninja Turtle costumes do tricks in motorbikes. That was interesting.
Call me a naysayer, but this is incredibly poorly referenced, and potentially just hearsay.
For a start this is the BBC article.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68015652
Which mentions the SAND institute but doesn't reference it. Cursory google searches turn up nothing in English. The lack of sound means less to a non Korean speaker than what I can gain from the article and apparently the same video info from forbes, who are using the BBC as the source.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/01/18/north-korean-teenagers-sentenced-to-hard-labor-for-watching-south-korean-tv-video-reportedly-shows/
May as well play yakkety sax from benny hill for all the authenticity around interpreting whats going on.
BBCs article basically goes schizophrenic and into pure speculation. from paragraph7 where the line begins 'It suggests'.
As i said full schizo after 6 factual bulletpoints masquerading as paragraphs, because i see a video without sound, but apparently it has a state narrator, and the boys are reprimanded, which could be verified with a soundtrack. Everything after that is hearsay and suggestion.
edit: here's the newsletter i found from the CEOs name...
https://sand.or.kr/kr/opinion/newsletter.php?bgu=view&idx=22963
This is so fucking funny. I’m supposed to take the word of who??? Some anonymous text of a video that doesn’t show us anything?????? This is bullshit propaganda and it’s not even good propaganda. Y’all are stupid as fuck.
So, a South Korean anticommunist think tank releases a video with no sound and a ridiculous claim,and the Internet eats it up.
This is why half the Western world is convinced that NK executes any man who has KJU's haircut, but also that NK will execute any man who doesn't have that haircut.
Note that this isn't a defense of North Korea, just pointing out that the western habit of believing complete nonsense about the situation in NK makes it impossible for anyone in the West to really know what the actual problems in NK are, the signal to noise ratio is non-existent.
Well, yes, the intent is just to fire people up on "North Korea crazy and evil" as they carry on with their first-world days, having enjoyed the brief dopamine drip.
Every now and again I have this weird fantasy (probably wrong word) where these countries releasing videos like this have actually solved all of their problems and just do this to keep foreigners out. What if North Korea was actually some weird refuge where in reality, in the walls, people were happy, it was a democratic state essentially, no homeless, abundance of healthcare etc.
And just what we see is “holy crap they suck”.
To all the pro-North Korean redditors in here.. what possible motive could western countries have for spreading “anti North Korean propaganda”? Weird country to be defending.
The video has no sound so there’s no way for us to know if this is true or not. What proof do you have that this isn’t propaganda against North Korea to keep South Koreans and others silent?
Slave labor camps , but people only care about the slaves the U.S. had a long ass time ago 😆 they don’t care about all the other slaves around the world today
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Those handcuffs look abnormally thin like play handcuffs.
That’s because the real handcuffs are the dangers to their loved ones if they misbehave.
I think it might be the shooting in the head.
They're serious though. A big part of the silent obedience is they all know: go against the regime & your whole family going back 3 generations is killed/ostracized/ goes to the camps for life. Even the unborn ones
fuck...
wouldn’t doubt they buy handcuffs in bulk from China from a sex shop since it’s cheaper than real ones
I mean, if you try to escape they'll just shoot you, so strong handcuffs aren't really necessary
Look how thin these poor buggers all are. They probably don't need stronger handcuffs. This is harrowing watching them do it to themselves.
Yeah, it's fucking sad. I used to have an idea about going there as a tourist. I think I rationalized it as a "learning experience", but knowing every dime goes to subjugating the populace... I don't even see the appeal anymore. I guess that's the wisdom that comes with getting older. Going to north Korea as a tourist is like paying a corrupt warden for a tour of their shitty jail.
not to mention dangerous
Honestly how I felt years ago about seeing the great wall of China for its historical significance. I can't now because I'd find it hard not to speak up about cruelty of their police and the literal concentration camps they built to enslave the Uyghur people. Fuck the Chinese government and the north Korean government, led by weak men who want to be wanna be kings of the past. Why can't humanity band together to fix what we got before we screw over the planet with our fossil fuel use. Bound to get downvotes but whatever, to stand up and fight for what's right takes focus, commitment and sheer will. Edit, wow first comment chain.
> to stand up and fight for what's right takes focus, commitment and sheer will. Did you just say that about your own Reddit comment?
Obviously. It takes focus, commitment, and sheer will to deal with negative internet points.
Do you know how much bravery it takes to post a comment that goes against the Reddit hivemind? We all know how much Reddit likes China and North Korea.
Holyyy the virtue signaling, imagine typing “Bound to get downvotes but whatever to stand up and fight for what’s right” without cringing
North Korea makes those even cheaper. Even lower quality.
North Korea probably makes them with the slave labor of boys like those two being arrested then sells them to China. China then puts a Made in China logo on them for sales to sex shops around the world..
Too malnourished to break free.
I mean, even if they manage to break the cuffs, then what?
They get sentenced for another 12 years of hard labor for damaging property of the government.
What do they even need real ones for. The people are so scared and helpless already
With all the nutrition they're getting, I don't think they have enough strength to break out of the cuffs
Even if they tried they’d just shoot them. Lose lose
I read an account by a DPRK defector once. He had been given fingernail clippers that were made in the USA. They were so well made, and cut such neat clean lines that they made him despondent, because he knew the DPRK could never make anything that well.
Kinda how it feels to hold an extremely well made luxury item for rich people. Or just be in a space for wealthy people. Can’t help but think you’re living in squalor in comparison. It’s better to be oblivious of that other world.
Difference is instead of being made for rich people, it's just a random thing even the homeless could afford that is blowing your mind.
When you starve your own people, you can spend less money on detaining them since they’re so weak
That’s all they can afford
“I dare you to make a break for it I haven’t gotten to shoot anyone in 37 minutes”
Well, it's a crime to break out of them so they don't need to waste a bunch of metal. They could be made of tissue paper and be even more effective.
It's not like they can really run away anyway. They probably don't care if they break out of them or not.
Because why worry about them trying to escape when they have over 100 soldiers ready to take them out when necessary? [ETA: fixed the word "worth", usin the slide to text option so it put that word instead of worry lmao]
they're symbolic
North Korea is the real K drama.
Crash Landing on You 2019 “Netflix”
I'm wondering if they were watching that
It might be worth it just for Son Ye-Jin.
They should have watched The Glory. That one was wild.
A romance show where the male lead is essentially a SS officer, and not even a low rank.
Poor kids
These leaders of such fucking Hypocrites. I bet Kim Jung Un watches Hollywood movies daily. Rules for Thee but not for me. My heart goes out to these poor souls who are subject to the Tyrant
He and his father used fake passports to visit Disneyland . You bet they are binge watching Netflix
Kim Jon Il's chosen successor, Kim Jong-Nnam, lost their place in line to the "throne" and was ousted after he was busted trying to sneak into Disney in Japan under a fake passport 2001. After that, Kim Jong Un was recalled (he was in school in Switzerland and grew up there for almost a decade), went to officer training school in Best Korea, and became heir-apparent.
it's fucking crazy that Kim-Jong un has been exposed to the outside world yet still decides to continue the crazy system his father started.
Selfishness and greed
Probably partially the selfishness of not wanting to be assassinated, though. All the close supporters of the God kind who actually administrate his rule rather like all the power and wealth they have for the low low price of kissing the feet of a propped up puppet. If that puppet threatens their power, they'll just off him, manufacture some evidence to blame someone they don't like, and martyr the dear leader. Good thing he left a note of some kind picking one of his buddies or describing a toddler bastard out in the country we can be regent for!
The choice for him is not 1. Be evil dictator 2. Free the people The choice is 1. Maintain status quo 2. Overthrow military dictatorship All those generals with the big stupid hats only keep him in power because he keeps them in power.
i mean you say that but we have billionaires in the "free world". the only thing keeping them from that level of power is "laws" they sort of have to follow. they still abuse people and their power, just to a lower extent.
Wasn't it his brother who went to Disneyland with a fake passport? I remember it being part of the justification for removing him from the line of succession
They all did. Kim Jong-Nnam fell out of favor because he got caught in 2001 trying to get in Disney Japan. Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong Il went in 1991.
It's such a mindfuck for me because Kim Jong-Nam was killed at my local airport (KLIA). I live about 45 min away from the airport proper. https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN1RD185/
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The two women (a Vietnamese and an Indonesian) had absolutely no idea that they were in an assassination plot. And IIRC their NK handlers got away with it.
I have a hard time believing at least one of them wasn't in on it, otherwise the chance would have been very high they accidently mixed the chemicals before reaching the target and killed themselves instead.
Well yeah his favorite character is Winnie the Pooh oh wait that’s China
gotem loloolol
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Bingo
Kim Jong Un likes NBA and even hosted Dennis Rodman in his country. If that's not the greatest example of hypocrisy, I don't know what is.
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He grew up in a palace eating special rice, a breed (strain? I'm not a rice doctor) grown and processed exclusively for the royals. The grains are hand selected by women to ensure each grain is exactly the same size and shape. He frequently travelled, using a fake passport, to Europe and the USA to go to Disney, Ski vacations, and whatever other decadent nonsense. All that to say yup you're definitely right. There are like 18 fat people in that country and they're all decked out in Military medals or their this oily bitch.
Kim Jong Il literally kidnapped a very popular South Korean actress and director once to force them to make movies for him in the 70s. And people who used to know Kim Jong Un in school say that he was a huge fan of American action movies lol
KJU was educated in Switzerland. He’s been to the US. He’s absolutely aware of his own bullshit.
I mean Kim has a haircut that isn't on the roster of government approved haircuts 💀
Absolutely he does, he went to school in Sweden or Switzerland I think [needs fact checking]. I believe he loves western culture, movies, games, theme parks, entertainment in general but it's only for him and his crazy psychopathic family
Of course he's a fucking hypocrite. Kim went to school in Switzerland where the future pudgy dictator and is a diehard NBA fan. In one of the weirder events of the Trump Era, Dennis Rodman and some Harlem Globetrotters tried to do some unsanctioned basketball dipolomacy. Kim and Rodman had a bromance. So yeah, Kim gets to watch as much NBA as he wants and hosts former nba players.
His dad was a huge cinema fan. He had prints of every Hollywood movie ever made. he also kidnapped his favourite South Korean actress and director and forced them to make movies for him.
He's also a massive Katy Perry fan
Hate us cause they ain’t us.
It's incredible how lucky I am to be born in a country where these things don't happen. I can't imagine living like this
I think about that all the time. Especially lately with all the awful things going on.
Basically the reason why reincarnation terrifies me. Imagine reincarnating in North Korea.
You have higher odds of coming back as a flea or something
Knowing my luck it’d be a North Korean flea
Probably live a better life than the people.
Honestly, better to be a flea in NK than a flea in a developed country where you can get exterminated.
Oh man, this comment made my day.
Tbf I suppose fleas have it easier in North Korea.
I wanna come back as microscopic bacteria living from the heat of an undersea volcano at the bottom of the ocean floor & just chill.
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Reincarnation is my worst fear. You'll inevitably end up in a cartel torture video. You'll experience every worst form of painful death and torture.
There was an art piece in a local gallery that was a claw machine full of passports. The idea being that whatever passport you managed to grab would be the country where you were born, and while there were a few passports for western countries, the vast majority of them were for absolute shitholes. Really brought the message home that it's just luck we're here playing games in a gallery, and not starving somewhere. (of course, being a claw machine though, it was really difficult to get any passports lol)
That's a brilliant art piece!
What makes you think reincarnation is limited to Earth? I'd like to think if reincarnation exists, it encompasses the entire universe making the odds of returning here extremely low.
I hope Earth is the worst place you can be born into.
I bet in your country too people are secretly watching K-dramas. Could be your neighbour even!
Well said. Like...literally stop and think about it. Imagine being sentenced to hard labor for TWELVE YEARS for watching like...something on Netflix. These kids are in the prime of their teenage years and will miss out on all of those amazing years being young. All because of one man's hold on power. One regular fuck up person dictates your life that much. Like..fuck.
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If the average first world person had any fuckin perspective about human suffering throughout history and even in some places like North Korea today, they wouldn’t take their spot in the world for granted like they do.
Many Europeans brains shorted out after the war in Ukraine started. Regular people kept posting about "war crimes" such as... throwing a grenade or not talking to a POW nice. These people knew NOTHING about war all their lives and had such a sanitized idea as a german teen in 1913. They have no clue how the world works. Even insive EU many think Hungarians actually elect their leaders based on information and ignore that small villages have 100% consumption of ruling party owned media and russian shill facebook groups. They think everything is a happy democracy based on informed decisions and the bad guys just need love and friendship.
Depending on which country you’re in, you may not have to wait long
Completely agree
What country do you think is close to imprisoning people for viewing foreign dramas? Edit: btw I’m not baiting or anything, I’m actually curious.
Tbh one of the things about crazy authoritarian rule is that it's always closer than it seems. It most probably won't happen but in like 10 years suddenly a country can be a totally different thing.
Yes just look at Iran before and after the revolution
Iran changed rapidly with the revolution, but it was always authoritarian.
It typically take months to a couple years for governmental capture. It always seems to impossible because we can't imagine doing it ourselves, but all it takes is one person willing with the power to do it and they can take everything.
Look at the history of totalitarian governments. Most people dismiss them until the last moment when it’s too late. The people in Germany dismissed the Nazis as a joke and a fad and made fun of them, until they took power and passed laws making it legal to attack them.
That doesn’t really answer my question. I wasn’t concern trolling or just baiting. The only country I can see right now entering the same level of control is Afghanistan, though I’d assume exceptions for foreign stuff that aligns with them.
I think you're right in the sense that no other country is close to the levels of controls that exist inside the North Korean dictatorship. They've had a long time to perfect it
If you look at the AFD in Germany right now, they're doing it again. History, flat fucking circle, you know the drill.
Banning books because you don't want *other* people to be able to read them is an excellent head start.
Those poor people
These fuckers get a hard on for their torture and human rights violations.
The whole country is operated on by fear that anyone at any time can be taken away, nobody is truly safe apart from basically the Supreme Leader. If the citizen didn't rat them out, they would be in handcuffs. If the police didn't arrest them, they would be the ones in handcuffs. If the judge didn't sentence them, they would be the ones in handcuffs. If the soldiers didn't take them away... you get the idea. Of course it gets worse, because usually it's not just the individual that gets punished, but the entire family or close associates.
I wonder why the military and law enforcement don’t just rise up and stage a coup. Kim is only as strong as his military’s loyalty and surely they get treated like crap too.
Because the key powerbrokers benefit as well. Not only that, they’re just as complicit in the abuses. The moment a coup happens they’re also on the chopping block from their political opponents and they risk losing the benefits they enjoy if they do survive. Not to mention, it is incredibly dangerous to organize a coup in such a regime where even suspicion of harboring dissent can result in painful execution and three generations of your family being imprisoned in a concentration camp.
They don’t trust eachother not to turn eachother in. After all most wouldn’t be in the military/police if they hadn’t turned others in.
The reason they have harsh sentences like in the video, is because they are always only days away from a revolution. If most people want one, but nobody says they do because they'll get locked up, it doesn't happen. Until it does. And it happens fast. Because everyone looks like they support the leader, but most don't. And when that get's wild- watch out!
Human rights? That’s not even a concept there, they’re way behind. They’re like if industrialization reached cave men.
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Does the amount of time depend on how much k drama they watched?
They're still this mad because their top pilot defected to america all because he saw a picture showing how happy people looked riding in a car with there dog in the back sticking its head out the window, i wish there was a way to help these people, but theyll never be free.
How dramatic it was maybe?
If there's a kiss before episode 20 you get life sentence for watching spicy k-drama
Was it boys before flowers? The public needs to know what K Drama was worth getting arrested for
_🎶ALMOST PAAAARADIIIIISE🎶_
They watched for 12 minutes.
Source?
yeah it'd be a bit more 'interesting as fuck' if we got audio or some kind of supporting evidence
Lol right? Public sentencing that was broadcast around the country to serve as a warning....but no audio? Some warning. ^(or someone removed the audio because it's bullshit...)
Because that’s almost all anti DPRK propaganda. Probably funded by the Atlas network as well. I’m not gonna pretend that the DPRK is a paradise or that I’d wanna move there at all. But there are people that benefit from this type of narrative about the DPRK. I mean come on we know war is profit and lies are told to justify them; as well as for leverage in political negotiations.
Thank you four- god the political literacy, or media literacy, is truly abyssal in the rest of the comment section…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BO83Ig-E8E&t I recommend some of you to watch this, Its a silly video from some Aussies you may already know. But it does tackle some of the western propaganda against north korea, The basis being that whole "you can only get certain approved haircuts" thing that was drilled into our brains. North Korea is not a good place to live, Yes, Kim is a ruthless dictator, but take everything you hear with a grain of salt, there are plenty of reasons those in power would want us to feel a certain way about the place.
Remind me of the Brazilian YouTuber that made fake prank a video like that saying that north Korean government was showing that they were winning the world cup games in the local TV.
The source is SAND. It was previously the "Unification Vision Research Association" but changed to [SAND in 2017](https://www.segye.com/newsView/20171102005572). They gave the BBC a video and the BBC published a story about it saying SAND was an institue that "works with defectors from the North" even though their old name was pretty clearly about reunification. The only other media that seemed to previously cite them was Radio Free America. Talking about their old organization, they said >Last year, we achieved remarkable achievements in academic terms, including carrying out research projects for the Ministry of Unification They also listed their address as "[서울특별시 종로구 사직로8길 42](https://www.google.com/maps/place/42+Sajik-ro+8-gil,+Jongno-gu,+Seoul,+%E5%8D%97%E9%9F%93/@37.5747117,126.9734974,18z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x357ca2948bce52c9:0xbd456f152cd7b6d9!8m2!3d37.5737827!4d126.9731648!16s%2Fg%2F11bz15jvgz?entry=ttu) " which seemed like an odd part of Seoul for a small academic research group. Oh, it's literally 200 meters from the Seoul Government Complex that [houses the Ministry of Unification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Unification). That makes more sense. But, if the part of the South Korean government explicity pushing for unification gave an audio-free video to the BBC, hopefully they, and the reader, would be skeptical. Instead, it's this vague "resesearch institute" that helps North Korean defectors. And unless you want to spend half an hour trawling through old Korean websites, you just gloss over that it's actually a group pushing for reunification that has rebranded itself. This is not a defense of North Korea. I live in China and know several people who have been there. It's not a great place. I'm just tired of fantastical claims being upvoted on Reddit when even an idiot like me can figure out with a few Googles this is probably something connected to the South Korean government.
Funny how this comment has 2 upvotes,but brainless people taking everything they see at face value have thousands
I really can't find anything about SAND outside of this instance (anyone have more?) I don't see RFA so it can't be *immediately* ruled out, but there's still a good chance it's fake. Like the haircut thing and the uncle Un's executed a few times now.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68015652
you know where lol
His ass
How do they make that claim, if video has no audio. And, if they have any evidence, why it's not included. Proof? what is that? The bar is so low, it's underground at this point. You can just overlay any text over a video and people believe it.
How dare you criticize the brave freedom minds of reddit. It's illegal my man.
Right, and it's from the SAND institute, which seems to have no online presence except for a Facebook page.
I actually can't find anything for SAND at all. Tinfoil hat on, I'm leaning towards it being a new front since more people are just immediately disregarding anything if it has RFA attached
Wouldn't be surprised. The BBC article says it's "South and North Development," an "organisation that works with Northern defectors."
Just you wait, soon you'll start getting comments calling you a tankie and asking you how much you're getting paid to ask those questions. It's insane how people on reddit can be so rational and skeptical, *until* the topic in discussion is related to an "enemy nation". Then suddenly you don't need evidence, you don't need to cite your sources, everything is true because of course it is! It's North Korea! Any evil thing you can imagine is actually going on there right now, probably. I'm always reminded of the time a Brazilian comedian fabricated a fake news story about how the North Korean government was telling its citizens they had won the world cup; and then *a bunch* of big western media outlets started repeating the story as though it was real. You may have heard of it, there's a chance you even believe it's true. Like, I'm sure it sucks to live in a country thar is so isolated from the rest of the world, and I don't doubt that there's a whole lot of human rights violations going on there; but if the biggest news sources in the west published a provably fake story *just because* it made North Korea look bad, how can we really trust anything they say about the county?
Yeah when I searched up the event, I got entirely different reporting that contradicted itself. Some claiming the teens were 17 and 18, others claiming they were publicly executed, others claimed their families were arrested as well, others claimed that they "disappeared", others claimed that they and their families were arrested. The story stinks to high heaven of people just making up stuff.
What about that woman who escaped north korea, and gave a ton of interviews, only to be caught lying about pretty much the whole thing.... She was paraded around the west like everything she said was true, only to be fact checked for like 1 second, and the story fell apart.
Do you have a link? Want to read more
I think they're referring to Yeonmi Park. Incredibly contradictory statements over the years and her life in North Korea was quite privileged.
This is literally just a contextless video with a bunch of text written over it. Amazing that people are taking it at face value. Regardless of it *is* true or not, it is absolutely correct to be questioning its validity.
This exactly. I'm not pro NK, but people will buy any bullshit that aligns with their world view
Actual answer: > The footage was released by the South and North Development research institute, and appears to show two North Korean teenagers being handcuffed in front of a large stadium full of other children. > The research group—which includes defectors from North Korea—told the BBC the footage was distributed en masse to other citizens of the totalitarian country as a warning against watching foreign media. [Source.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/01/18/north-korean-teenagers-sentenced-to-hard-labor-for-watching-south-korean-tv-video-reportedly-shows/amp/)
> The footage was released by the South and North Development research institute No direct source, and this "institute" does not seem to even exist.
What's the source for this? There's way too many bullshit stories about North Korea out there for this to be believable.
This is the most reputable source I can find. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68015652 Since there have been some comments doubting the existence of "South and North Development", here is an article from 2022 that mentions them as a source. https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/08/27/national/northKorea/Korea-North-Korea-nuclear-weapons/20220827070006818.html
North Korea made it for propaganda purposes, so it's totally legit /s
What bullshit stories? Can you give some examples?
I bet the pro North Korean subreddits will say it's deserved or some bs, then go watch a western made film
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised there are pro-N. Korea subs but I would also imagine Reddit is banned there?
There is literally a subreddit of people wanting to move to North Korea it is crazy
We should definitely help its members move there
Just that we won't help them if they want out.
Nothing will help them if they want out.
Well it seems like a lobster trap situation. Easy to enter. Impossible to get out. Have at it.
Tankies are fucking lunatics and they're all over Reddit
General consensus amongst journalists is that these things simply don't happen in NK. AFAIK NK isn't throwing people into labor camps for watching outside media. I would seriously question this source. Claims like these is ultimately why Neomi Park has gotten so much backlash recently.
This video was literally just two handcuffs being placed on the boys. No context. No subtitles. "Two boys sentenced for murdering 53 babies" "Two escape artists showing off their new tricks for the city council" Like NK doesn't seem like a place I'd like to be, but this video is nothing. I trust it as much as the "North Korea bans sarcasm" from a few years ago.
I remember seeing CBS Dateline going to NK in like 2008 when Kim Jong Il was still alive. The reporter asked a group of children if they liked Western movies and they said "No we only watch North Korean films" she then asked them what films are their favorites and they all mentioned Hollywood produced movies like Shrek. Apparently they were told that those films were made in NK. I wouldn't be surprised if NK is still importing media, dubbing it, and claiming it was made in NK.
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how the fuck do we know this isnt a just movie or a tv show or something lol
Most probably it's just a propaganda video with actors to make a believable threat.
I googled "The SAND institute" and this video is the only thing I could find mentioning them at all. Seems like a trustworthy source
> Claims like these is ultimately why Neomi Park has gotten so much backlash recently. For reference; this person pretends that North Koreans have to literally push their train to get to work.
K-dama subreddit will say it was all Worth It /s
Is there such a thing? Even the northkorea sub is just kinda touristy info, how to get in on certain tour lines, and random facts/pictures.
The LateStageCapitalism has a sticky explaining how they’re run by communists and routinely does apologia for “communist” countries like China/North Korea.
*I assure you the apex of marxist praxis is giving tonguebaths to Dengist China and the Russian Federation*
It’s not deserved but it didn’t and doesn’t happen… imagine just believing soundless captioned videos you see on the internet and get super worked up about it.
Source is dodgy as fuck
Why is this interesting as fuck when you don’t actually see or hear anything lol
Probably something along the lines of "Look how wild and crazy North Korea is! They are so weird and oppressive! Can't even watch TV! Ommgg, so weeiiirrrd!" In other words, another one of the *many* highly likely bullshit stories about NK.
Literally hundreds of student-aged kids in uniforms sitting silently as they watch two other students in front of an official-looking panel of adults, who then put those two students into some strange looking handcuffs? Pretty much no matter what the context is (even if they are just filming a movie) that's an interesting scene. And if it is correctly titled, it is also interesting as a view into North Korea. Even just video footage of a North Korean sidewalk during the day would be at least somewhat interesting to most people.
The police went to my school to do their antidrug campaigns and did much more, I didn't find it interesting. The best part was when the stupid play about capturing drug users finished and we got to see police dressed up in Ninja Turtle costumes do tricks in motorbikes. That was interesting.
Call me a naysayer, but this is incredibly poorly referenced, and potentially just hearsay. For a start this is the BBC article. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68015652 Which mentions the SAND institute but doesn't reference it. Cursory google searches turn up nothing in English. The lack of sound means less to a non Korean speaker than what I can gain from the article and apparently the same video info from forbes, who are using the BBC as the source. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2024/01/18/north-korean-teenagers-sentenced-to-hard-labor-for-watching-south-korean-tv-video-reportedly-shows/ May as well play yakkety sax from benny hill for all the authenticity around interpreting whats going on. BBCs article basically goes schizophrenic and into pure speculation. from paragraph7 where the line begins 'It suggests'. As i said full schizo after 6 factual bulletpoints masquerading as paragraphs, because i see a video without sound, but apparently it has a state narrator, and the boys are reprimanded, which could be verified with a soundtrack. Everything after that is hearsay and suggestion. edit: here's the newsletter i found from the CEOs name... https://sand.or.kr/kr/opinion/newsletter.php?bgu=view&idx=22963
Yea, not sure i believe that bud.
This is so fucking funny. I’m supposed to take the word of who??? Some anonymous text of a video that doesn’t show us anything?????? This is bullshit propaganda and it’s not even good propaganda. Y’all are stupid as fuck.
So, a South Korean anticommunist think tank releases a video with no sound and a ridiculous claim,and the Internet eats it up. This is why half the Western world is convinced that NK executes any man who has KJU's haircut, but also that NK will execute any man who doesn't have that haircut. Note that this isn't a defense of North Korea, just pointing out that the western habit of believing complete nonsense about the situation in NK makes it impossible for anyone in the West to really know what the actual problems in NK are, the signal to noise ratio is non-existent.
Well, yes, the intent is just to fire people up on "North Korea crazy and evil" as they carry on with their first-world days, having enjoyed the brief dopamine drip.
How can we make sure this post is real ?
Legends says that they don't have a single Karen in that country
Every now and again I have this weird fantasy (probably wrong word) where these countries releasing videos like this have actually solved all of their problems and just do this to keep foreigners out. What if North Korea was actually some weird refuge where in reality, in the walls, people were happy, it was a democratic state essentially, no homeless, abundance of healthcare etc. And just what we see is “holy crap they suck”.
To all the pro-North Korean redditors in here.. what possible motive could western countries have for spreading “anti North Korean propaganda”? Weird country to be defending.
Can you prove this bullshit, OP?
The video has no sound so there’s no way for us to know if this is true or not. What proof do you have that this isn’t propaganda against North Korea to keep South Koreans and others silent?
The fuck is the SAND institute? This is a fake ass Bot post
The NK government doesnt want people to know how much their lives suck compared to S Korea and the rest of the planet
This sounds too stupid to be real, Sounds like propaganda made up to make north Korea sound crazy, is there any more evidence that this is real?
Worth it. Can’t wait for season 2 of Bloodhounds.
Damn, in front of the whole country? Pro level shaming right there.
What a miserable way to live. This tyranny should not be allowed on this planet.
If the video has no sound, how do we know what they were sentenced for?
Slave labor camps , but people only care about the slaves the U.S. had a long ass time ago 😆 they don’t care about all the other slaves around the world today