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| 24 Mar 2014 10:24 PM |
| but we're told that we arent... |
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| 24 Mar 2014 11:54 PM |
| then north korea isnt bad at all |
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Pakesboy
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| Joined: 09 Nov 2011 |
| Total Posts: 3044 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 05:37 AM |
IKR! I've been wondering the same.
What if people here are actually just sub-human/really poor/overworked compared to the rest of the world? What if the whole world is run by a government like North Korea, and we just don't know? What if the government lies to us about North Korea? |
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| 25 Mar 2014 10:50 AM |
| North Korea isn't the bad place the media portrays it as, it's pretty good and the people actually like Kim Jong Un. Before you say they have no internet they have a national type of internet called Kwangmyong which has around 1000 sites. |
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re567
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| Joined: 01 Nov 2010 |
| Total Posts: 4550 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 02:26 PM |
NK seems like the USSR in the 30's, and has a very difficult ideology to understand, without going through bias.
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| 25 Mar 2014 02:35 PM |
| Well, what if the government lies to us about North Korea? I guess all of reality could be subjective, but then maybe WW2 never happened, maybe the Holocaust happened and it was just to create sympathy. But as much as anything, we can be sure that North Korea absues human rights; Amnesty International etc campaign against the USA for their human rights and would not work for them, right? They take sattelite images showing the camps, we see physical harm and the traumatic effects done to dissidents. Its kind of hard to disbelieve that. |
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re567
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| Joined: 01 Nov 2010 |
| Total Posts: 4550 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 02:51 PM |
I agree with Dia.
This is why I want to go to NK, and judge for myself.
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jamkid12
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| 25 Mar 2014 03:00 PM |
@Re567
Thats great, but do you think they'll let you just wander round the impoverished parts outside of Pyongyang? Tours are limited and full of lies, all you see is the richest parts of the capital, if you go outside you'd get arrested. They even have a fake church somewhere so you believe they allow freedom of religion. |
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re567
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| Joined: 01 Nov 2010 |
| Total Posts: 4550 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 03:04 PM |
@Dia, how in the world am I going to judge for myself...
To be honest, it is like trying to figure out who is the one lying...
Is it the West, or NK... |
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| 25 Mar 2014 03:08 PM |
| Both, but to varying degrees :). |
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iamstuff
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| Joined: 26 Feb 2010 |
| Total Posts: 413 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 03:23 PM |
@re
While you have a point that the Western media might distort things, especially about our enemies, it's important to know North Korea is still a totalitarian dictatorship. Here is a report from Freedom House, (bottom of the post) outlining the DPRK's lack of electoral democracy, economic freedom, independent media, an independent judiciary, rule of law, transparency, labor rights, and so on.
Alternatively, you can watch this interview with Shin Don Hyuk, one of the only North Koreans to have ever escaped from the country - implying a definite lack of freedom of movement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqZamsQp2rA
As diamondmark said, assuming you survive your stay in the DPRK (there are many limits and arbitrary restrictions - you have to be accompanied by a tour guide all the time outside, for example, and if you want to take a picture of a statue of Kim Il Sung, you must take a picture of the entire statue, not just the head or one part of it), you will still just see the richest part of the country, Pyongyang, where the elites live. Even then, you'll notice it's a terrible place.
So this isn't a matter of "both opinions are equally right/equally wrong" but rather "one side is lying a tiny bit and one side is an entire country built on lies and dictatorship."
Report:
"North Korea is not an electoral democracy. Kim Jong-il led the DPRK following the 1994 death of his father, Kim Il-sung, to whom the office of president was permanently dedicated in a 1998 constitutional revision. Kim Jong-un became the country’s new leader after his father’s death in December 2011. North Korea’s parliament, the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), is a rubber-stamp institution elected to five-year terms. All candidates for office, who run unopposed, are preselected by the ruling Korean Workers’ Party and two subordinate minor parties.
Corruption is believed to be endemic at every level of the state and economy. North Korea was ranked 174 out of 176 countries surveyed in Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.
All media outlets are run by the state. Televisions and radios are permanently fixed to state channels, and all publications are subject to strict supervision and censorship. In January 2012, the Associated Press opened a bureau office in Pyongyang. Internet access is restricted to a few thousand people, and foreign websites are blocked. The black market provides alternative information sources, including cellular telephones, pirated recordings of South Korean dramas, and radios capable of receiving foreign programs. Cell phones were introduced to North Korea in 2010, and the one millionth subscriber was signed in 2012. The cell phone network is limited to domestic use only, with foreign residents on separate networks.
Although freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution, it does not exist in practice. State-sanctioned churches maintain a token presence in Pyongyang, and some North Koreans who live near the Chinese border are known to practice their faiths furtively. However, intense state indoctrination and repression preclude free exercise of religion as well as academic freedom. Nearly all forms of private communication are monitored by a huge network of informers.
Freedom of assembly is not recognized, and there are no known associations or organizations other than those created by the state. Strikes, collective bargaining, and other organized-labor activities are illegal.
North Korea does not have an independent judiciary. The UN General Assembly has recognized and condemned severe DPRK human rights violations, including torture, public executions, extrajudicial and arbitrary detention, and forced labor; the absence of due process and the rule of law; and death sentences for political offenses. South Korean reports suggest that up to 154,000 political prisoners are held in six detention camps. Inmates face brutal conditions, and collective or familial punishment for suspected dissent by an individual is a common practice.
The government operates a semihereditary system of social discrimination whereby all citizens are classified into 53 subgroups under overall security ratings—“core,” “wavering,” and “hostile”—based on their family’s perceived loyalty to the regime. This rating determines virtually every facet of a person’s life, including employment and educational opportunities, place of residence, access to medical facilities, and even access to stores.
There is no freedom of movement, and forced internal resettlement is routine. Access to Pyongyang is tightly restricted; the availability of food, housing, and health care is somewhat better in the capital than in the rest of the country. This disparity has increased, with the capital featuring more luxuries for a growing middle class. Emigration is illegal, but many North Koreans have escaped to China or engaged in cross-border trade. Ignoring international objections, the Chinese government continues to return refugees and defectors to North Korea, where they are subject to torture, harsh imprisonment, or execution." |
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| 25 Mar 2014 03:30 PM |
@iamstuff
Well, that was helpful :).
I should probably know this, but are you Midmyst? |
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iamstuff
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| Joined: 26 Feb 2010 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 03:33 PM |
@dia
Yes, I am. :) My alts and I all wear brown suits and brown caps. |
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| 25 Mar 2014 04:01 PM |
| Haha, congratulations to me for guessing >:D |
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re567
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| Joined: 01 Nov 2010 |
| Total Posts: 4550 |
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| 25 Mar 2014 04:02 PM |
| @Dia, I guessed from the beginning. |
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| 25 Mar 2014 04:06 PM |
| ITT: People born with too many chromosomes |
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| 25 Mar 2014 04:32 PM |
| the usa is getting kinda like nk |
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