What is North Korea actually like?

What is North Korea actually like?

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Not as good as anti-imperialism obsessed tankie LARPers want to believe.

Nowhere near as bad as the neoliberals want you to believe.

shit by default

This pretty much

Check out the DPRK 360 series on YouTube, seems okay.

youtube.com/channel/UCzvCf_q10UZkUJE0lOav0ag

This guy has the best North Korea videos around, he's an Indonesian who worked in Pyongyang and went everywhere with his gopro on his chest, the interactions are amazing but he has a bit of the tism about him that is a bit infuriating, but he gets the goods. Probably propaganda access but life in Pyongyang for the political class is bretty good and very bourgeois.

Warning you will want to watch every video in one sitting

youtube.com/watch?v=csI1EoMOXXk

Old vid from the 90s, but I'd wager it's probably pretty close to what it's like today.

Youtube is now filled with travel videos of North Korea. Being fair, it's obviously a repressive stagnant shithole, but as far as these go it doesnt seem that awful. It seems to be doing better than most countries in the same category.

In fact, that youtube stuff might lead you to believe that some westerners are more brainwashed than the North Koreans themselves. Some videos will show people pleasantly going about their day and routines, and the comments will be like "dude, those are actors but there by the government for you, in order to pretend that the country is working! They'd ask you for help, but they'd probably be shot if they did it!" and so on.

Hilariously, that's actually a thing. Watch the VICE documentary.

The country is "working" in the sense that they've got all of their farmland producing narcotics while they receive massive food aid from the west.

The whole thing is built on getting foreign currency now, by sending workers around the world, and opening districts with shopping and ski resorts and shit.

I bet skiing in North Korea would be a fair bit cheaper than most places.

Do they get free healthcare, education, housing etc?

Up until the 1980s it had a higher standard of living than its Southern counterpart. Japan experienced its economic miracle which drew capital to the region just as the SU was beginning to fray apart, and with the collapse of their largest trading parter/material benefactor, they haven't been able to recover economically.

Awful, but nowhere near as insane as the media would have you believe.

Holy shit, those comments.
How petite bourgeois can you get? "Not having a ton of shops and restaurants around makes live not worth living!"

it is kinda depressing though, watching those videos makes it look like there isn't any life, any kind of soul besides when shows are put on

Makes me think of people's critiques of Cuba.

Because there isn't, you get the apartment and job in Pyonyang, get some bourgeois things like a few shops and some restaraunts, but that's it. The happiness seems to be mostly from the parents with young kids.

That's better criticism than "I would kill myself because I lack the means of engaging in my usual consumerism"

well pyongyang is the center of the elites

I've spent lots of time in rural China and rural Vietnam, and there are a lot of areas that are in really really bad shape. I mean bad. We see lots of videos out of P'yongyang, but I'd imagine rural North Korea is like a hell on earth if my experiences in wealthier east asian rural communities is any indicator.

That isn't necessarily a critique of China and Vietnam. Go to Appalachia and see the suffering of the rural people living there.