I didn't realise the extent to which radical idiots like to revise history and current events towards their own ideologies. That wasn't until recently, when for some reason I found myself in a brief exchange at a party having to claim that North Korea is one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet, and that regime change would be a positive thing for its citizens. My opponent spouted all sorts of moronic nonsense, but I finally snapped and conceded defeat when they claimed that defectors from North Korea are a factual inaccuracy. I have no issue with someone having differing political opinions on a divisive issue, but to support this opposition with flat out lies is disgusting behaviour. Just so you're aware this individual went on to claim that the killer of Martin Luther King Jr., James Earl Ray, was offered to the Black Panther party instead of the US government by the Cuban dictatorship after his escape from prison, and that the US had funded the Khmer Rouge regime that decimated Cambodia. In reality James Earl Ray was captured three days after his escape in the state of Tennessee, which is famous for being nowhere near Cuba, and evidence that the US government funded a communist regime is patchy at best. It would simply be jumping to conclusions to insinuate that the US solicited this particular genocide. As you can see even some basic research can easily demonstrate the level of idiocy here, but let's take a closer examination at the arguments these revisionists use to support the brutal regime of modern day North Korea.
To begin to understand where these morons are coming from we need to understand that they are self proclaimed radical socialists, and that by defending North Korea they are defending one of the last socialist strongholds on the planet. Of course in turn they're also defending a totalitarian state with a democratic body comprised of pre-approved members known as the Supreme People's Assembly. This assembly, which is forbidden from initiating legislation, has surprisingly never been shown to have ever amended any bill put before them. Some idea of democracy. In reality this socialist paradise ironically resembles a feudal monarchy, with absolute power given to the ruling family. Citizens are even ranked according to how loyal they are to the government, with the most loyal citizens being granted a higher social status, in a process known delightfully as 'songbun'. Korean refugees claim this is a critical part of everyday life, yet the government and supportive socialists claim each citizen is equal. The socialist support is clearly oblivious to these breaches of liberty, and there is even these hidden gems on the internet that read like a fucking propaganda piece funded by the North Korean government itself. I'll be returning to these sorts of pieces a number of times, so I'd recommend giving them a read. These are articles that glorify the actions of a brutal dictatorship through poor comparisons and a lack of perspective, which makes them a perfect tool to highlight the idiocy of this whole argument.
You may be wondering how a supposed monarchy persists in what is described as a socialist state. Well, that would be through mass indoctrination. A key method in this subordination is the nationwide surveillance of public communications by the government. Owning a foreign television or other method of communication is obviously prohibited, as then citizens would be unable to solely view the propaganda spewed by the government owned media outlets. North Korea is not surprisingly placed last on the Press Freedom Index thanks to the malicious control of information. The leaders of North Korea are seen as a cult of personality by the national populace, and this is reflected in their behaviour. In response to this behaviour observed after the death of Kim Jong-il one of the socialist blogs mentioned earlier contains the following line: 'It doesn’t make sense that any army could compel an entire nation with near unanimity to weep and publicly display grief in a public way.' Why not? If you create a cult of personality through isolation and relentless propaganda it's entirely possible to indoctrinate a whole population. We've seen mass levels of mourning from the deaths of Mao Zedong and Princess Diana, and psychological experiments have shown the effects of obedience towards authority figures, so why is this behaviour out the reach of an oppressive regime?
This video apparently shows perfectly normal behaviour. I understand grief can have huge consequences on the behaviour of individuals, but this is a whole fucking population exhibiting the same behaviour in response to a national tragedy. Why aren't alarm bells ringing in the heads of those that support this state?
A point made by my opponent was that despite my claim the borders of North Korea are not in fact closed, and that there are populations of North Korean migrants found outside of their homeland. Remember this person also refused to accept that thousands of defectors leave North Korea every year, whilst simultaneously citing double defectors as evidence that North Korea isn't the hellhole that Western nations perceive it as. Well here's the statistics on defectors, and here's the statistics on double defectors. Not only is defecting a real issue, but significantly less individuals double defect despite being treated like shit in South Korea. Funnily enough I've found no evidence of these supposed North Korean exclaves in foreign lands, and this idea is incredibly hard to believe considering the borders of North Korea are categorically closed, most notably along the DMZ, where any intruder is immediately shot. Traveling abroad is absolutely forbidden, so unless these exclaves are defectors they physically cannot exist. This fact can be easily demonstrated by looking at the range of ethnicities found within North Korea, or lack of I should say. To add to this there is evidence that double defection is supported by the North Korean government by brutally torturing the poor souls that decide to return. Tourism however is not banned, and my opponent stated that tourism in North Korea is actively encouraged, and people could visit any areas of the country they pleased. Funnily enough this isn't the case in the world's most secretive state, and any visitors will be under direct supervision at all times. As you can see the factual inaccuracies are piling up, but we're not even close to the pinnacle of bullshit this idiot will come up with.
This defector certainly does exist, and I find people denying this man's bravery and existence disgustingly ignorant.
The real conspiracy started when the claim was made that Western powers had used propaganda to create the false impression that the quality of life for Koreans was perfectly fine, and they were not living in poverty. Well, let's view the statistics: 28% of North Korean children are malnourished, with 4% seriously malnourished. The World Food Programme estimates that 70% of the country suffers from food insecurity. The WHO shows that North Korea has the 109th best life expectancy in the world, which is almost 100 places below the Southern part of the peninsula. This level of life expectancy is nowhere near being in the same category as a developing country, but it doesn't follow the logic that North Korea has a brilliant healthcare system, despite that system being universal. One of the supporting articles claimed that North Korea has maintained a high mortality rate, which is statistically untrue. They claimed the healthcare system was 'something which most other developing countries would envy'. This is certainly not praise, considering they're painting the picture that North Korea is a socialist utopia. I hope they're aware what a developing country is. The majority of developing countries don't even have running water, yet alone adequate healthcare systems. That's not to say North Korea doesn't perform below par in every aspect, and in fact they have a suspiciously perfect level of literacy, being the only country in the world to have achieved this amazing feat.
Unfortunately not all elements of life are as perfect as the North Korea education system, exemplified by the fact that the country has fuck all power infrastructure. The power supply is so bad you can visibly see the shocking effect from the satellite imagery below:
Shall we take a guess where the idyllic utopia of North Korea is located? Surely it can't be that section of map with barely any power infrastructure.
Lack of power is not the only area where North Korea suffers. Historically the country has been hit with mass levels of starvation, most notably in the mid 1990's. During this period it's estimated that around 300,000 people perished according to census data. Sporadic famine is not the brutal picture provided by the supportive sources, which instead make the proud claim that the GDP of North Korea was higher than that of South Korea until the fall of the Soviet Union; a very capitalist brag to make. This was a fact that the CIA even admitted, although isn't a reason to brag, since both nations were recovering from a fucking war, and the redistribution of their respective countries. After 1973 the GDP of North Korea was a third of its Southern rival, and has remained that way ever since. Not only are we dealing with factual inaccuracies, but supporters are now resorting to reductive historical arguments that in no way detail the modern ways of a drastically different nation.
We've now explored the everyday life of North Koreans, but how free are they are as a nation? I know this might come as a shock, but I would conclude they're anything but free. For starters their government controls the trade unions, leading to forced labour that includes children. If you want to practice a religion then you may as well commit suicide, because you'll end up being executed. The government did kindly build churches for practicing Christians, but only for foreigners visiting. If you want a baby with a foreign man then that baby will be forcibly aborted, and of course by having sex with a foreigner by traveling to another country illegally you may find yourself on the receiving end of a public execution. And if you dare exercise your right to free speech and criticize the government, you'll find yourself in a reeducation camp that are renowned for their brutality. The word 'liberty' it appears is not in the North Korean dictionary, but this is nothing compared to their blatant disregard of human rights.
Arguably the most heinous pile of bullshit spurted by these socialist idiots was the blatant denial of human rights violations in North Korea. According to the North Korean government there's fuck all wrong with their attitudes towards human rights, which is contrary to the wealth of evidence we have on this subject. Here are just a few of those examples supporters of the regime strategically ignore: To begin with prisoners who are trying to flee the country will often be executed on the spot, and the North Korean propaganda machine has even admitted to executing a member one of the leading figures in the country. That's the uncle of Kim Jong-un, not just some political prisoner. In reality that's nothing compared to what's happening within the penal system. Amnesty International reports that torture is routinely carried out in prisons, including on children, with the most common cause of death in these prison camps being starvation. The UN estimates there are between 80,000 to 120,000 of these prisoners living in these labour camps. Opponents of these facts claim that there is a lack of evidence that so called 'gulags' are operating within North Korea. This is simply untrue. Not only is there satellite imagery of these camps, but there is also the numerous testaments of former prisoners. The North Korean government itself even admitted that these camps exist, so what more fucking evidence do you need? One of the supportive pieces contained a segment with the following line: 'Central to the ISO’s anti-communism is a heavy reliance on bourgeois sources that have proven themselves unable to withstand the most basic materialist scrutiny.' Well sunshine, you better take a good look in the fucking mirror, because you later make a counterargument with one fucking source from a notorious socialist historian. Funny how the validity of a source changes based on your political agenda rather than the quality of the source itself. To be honest that's better than the other supportive piece that has a total of zero sources. What was that about not being able to withstand the most basic scrutiny? The source even makes the braggadocios that these prisons are used to reeducate those who commit petty crimes, which is like a line from an Anthony Burgess dystopia, but also funnily ignores the 'reeducation' that happens to those who commit serious crimes. You know, the ones that fall under the massive human rights violations that you're effectively supporting. The estimated figures of casualties by these 'gulags' is around 400,000, which is a startling statistic that cannot be ignored. Evidently the overwhelming evidence is clear cut that North Korea has a barbaric attitude towards its own civilians.
Believing that North Korea is in any way a respectable place is worse than believing in some tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. What these radical socialists are doing is literally denying a genocide. If you're willing to bury your head in the sand and deny the brutal oppression of millions just to fit in with your ideology then you're one of the most sadistic pieces of shit I can imagine. It's all very well supporting socialist states, which based on the evidence it appears North Korea isn't anymore, but to then blindly ignore the crippling flaws of this regime is pure fucking ignorance at its very worst. One of the supportive sources outrageously concludes with the line 'despite its challenges and shortcomings, Democratic Korea is one of the last remaining countries where workers were able to control society collectively as a class'. That statement shows a complete lack of knowledge surrounding the composition of the North Korean government, and couldn't be any further from the truth. You have to be blind to the overwhelming evidence if you conclude that North Korea is in any way dictated by the working class, or that the existing power relations are acceptable despite the shortcomings being fucking genocide. The civilians of North Korea are just as much a puppet as you are for believing this ideological crap. Both of the pieces from radical socialists revolve around the argument of 'well the US is worse', which is a piss poor argument, and doesn't excuse nationwide oppression. It's not a competition to kill as many civilians as possible.
The argument at the party began in response to the comment that the film 'The Interview' was racist due to its support for regime change in North Korea. I don't quite know how creating a film with a clear political bias constitutes racism, but what's more bizarre is how this film is being demonised. Who's the real villian here? A comedic film that supports a particular political idea, or a person who's ignorantly denying countless human rights violations. Not sure there's much of a contest there. Christopher Hitchens quite brilliantly referred to the North Koreans as 'starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult.' Clearly there's no socialist paradise to be found anywhere near the hellhole that is North Korea.
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