North Korea General Discussion.

o1s1n · 20-07-2025 05:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653609#Comment_123653609

I have been to Drumshanbo and still don't wax lyrical about it online like you do about a place you've never been.

Lucien_Sarti · 20-07-2025 06:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653873#Comment_123653873

You could have run with my idea and reply about an Irish town you’ve never been to!
Wax lyrical?

Take Irish town X (one you’ve never been to [or townland X if you have been to all the towns in Ireland]) – imagine if a foreign intelligence service pumped out claims on 10,000 TV channels, newspaper titles & front news websites that there is a clique of madmen running that town;

That these madmen don’t like anybody to have the same haircut as themselves so every Friday night they execute 50 such offenders at the local GAA pitch with anti-aircraft guns, laughing hysterically while they do so.
Then imagine if everyone else in Ireland believed this ‘news reporting’ about town X or worse that they hoped a UN / EU peace enforcement battle group would come in to rescue the people in town X from these madmen.

This is the equivalent of the brazen absurdity of the imperialist Goebbels repetition narrative on the DPRK (which obviously has nothing to do with socialism, except it does: Incredibly, this is more or less the capitalist version of what socialism is, in all past & present cases).

Identifying this Orwellian offal isn’t waxing lyrical – it is the bare minimum required from anyone that has an interest in the world around them.

Rawr · 21-07-2025 07:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123653873#Comment_123653873

I suspect the Waxing Lyrical things boils down to two possible objectives to people like the KFA Member we’re encountering here.

One; they really do want to visit North Korea and unlike other nations where a basic civility is all that is expected of a visitor, there is an impression (not a rule, just an impression) that you are better received if you are fully throated in your support of «Juche» and the Kims and say «DPRK» this, and «Imperialist Puppet State» that. They want to be lionised by Pyongyang in order to feel….special. There are much better ways in life to do that, but some people (like KFA Members) go this route to find that. «Look sempai! I quoted Connolly in Korean! Notice me!!»

The second point is affirmation. Some people are desperate to find their slot in the world and I guess sometimes it lands in the more extreme interpretation of Socialism. I’m into Socialism myself…but do you know what I’m not into? Single-party totalitarian states built to support one man. This is part of why Russia is on my sh*t list (that and the invasion, but those go together). Just because a dictatorship wants to brand itself as Socialist, doesn’t mean it is. Just like when a country brands itself as a «People’s Republic» or «Democratic People’s Republic» or a «Really Very Totally Democratic All People’s Republic» that doesn’t mean it is an actual Republic or that it is democratic in any way shape or form. But it’s about identity. When you identify like this, you need something in the real world to anchor yourself to and North Korea fits the bill here.

We can make fun of and counter-argue with such people until the cows come home, for sure, but there’s a degree of tragedy at play here…a degree of loneliness. That’s part of why the KFA exists, to give these people some form of human contact and friendships. I can’t imagine that to be easy when every other word spoken mentions «CIA Imperialism» or your apartment window is adorned with a massive North Korea flag.

Don’t get me wrong, the spirited defence of North Korea is still morally bankrupt…all I’m saying is that I can guess why this kind of support exists. All I can offer, with experience, is to say that there are more constructive ways in this world to find friendship and belonging.

o1s1n · 21-07-2025 09:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123654100#Comment_123654100

You remind me of those Irish Americans who go on about how they know better than the people of Ireland but have never actually been to Ireland.

The absolute gall of you to pontificate on here about us all believing western propoganda when you're getting all your information from indirect sources too. It's actually hilarious.

You've zero credibility, come back and speak to us when you've been there and have actually spoken to Korean people.

I'm planning my third trip over for early 2026. I must remember to record you a video of the absolute imperialist horrors of South Korea while sipping cocktails with my Korean friends on a beach in Busan. Hopefully I make it back alive!

o1s1n · 21-07-2025 09:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655281#Comment_123655281

Believing in conspiracies allows the type of person you've mentioned above to feel like they've control over an otherwise random life. It can actually have a psychological benefit as it gives people purpose.

This personal has clearly latched onto some notion about North Korea and it seems to give them purpose. It's just a shame it's in support of something so reprehensible.

I just hope they don't go full throttle and end up like that recent American who was 'anti woke', went to Russia and is now on his way to the front lines in Ukraine. 😶

Rawr · 21-07-2025 10:25AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655525#Comment_123655525

Also to add to this. I’m pretty certain (and I doubt you’ll disagree) that beyond interactions with Immigration at the airport, and possibly asking a cop for directions, your interactions with direct employees of the South Korean state would be limited. You would likely take that trip all though South Korea, all the way to Busan and that beach… without State Minders keeping an eye on you. You’re not going to be bussed around Seoul and then brought to put flowers at at the foot of a gigantic golden statue of Sygnman Rhee while being told to never take a photo that crops any part of the man.

I’m going to guess, with a high degree of certainty, that you will freely travel around the country and do your own thing, and depending on your Korean (or their English) openly chat with locals about all manner things…including politics!! (The horror of it…can you imagine?!!)

o1s1n · 21-07-2025 12:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655634#Comment_123655634

The only time I interacted with any direct employees of the South Korean state on my last trip (beyond immigration) was while going into the DMZ and soldiers got onto the bus to inspect our passports. And they did that with a smile.

Meanwhile I couldn't go out on the viewing deck at Dora Observatory overlooking North Korea as they'd been sending balloons full of shite over the boarder again.

Still, we had an incredibly clear view into the North. You could clearly see the deserted propaganda village of Kijong-dong and the remaining landscape was just absolutely deserted, on fire and devoid of vegetation. My heart absolutely went out to everyone living there. It looks like hell.

Then the most surreal thing happens, you turn around, walk out of the observatory, and are greeted with one of the most amazing views of South Korea, a skyline of glistening high rise buildings. The contrast is actually quite difficult to comprehend.

Lucien_Sarti · 21-07-2025 03:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123655548#Comment_123655548

It's just a shame it's in support of something so reprehensible.

I asked earlier if anyone has a link to any report on supposed human rights abuses in the DPRK that isn’t from the US government or agencies funded by Western billionaire donors - but so far, no one has supplied one. (Hint- they can’t because the only human rights allegations in public discourse come from those two fraudulent sources which means it is all made-up war-propaganda).

You could clearly see the deserted propaganda village of Kijong-dong and the remaining landscape was just absolutely deserted, on fire and devoid of vegetation. My heart absolutely went out to everyone living there. It looks like hell.

For some interesting context, South Korea has a sister village on their side of the DMZ called Daeseong-dong. The village is visible from Kijong-dong.

Around 138 South Korean's live there, but under strict rules. The village is under UN command and has military checkpoints at its entrances. All visitors must apply in advance for military approval to enter and will receive a military escort when doing so. There is a 23:00 curfew and headcount. The village is under 24/7 surveillance by South Korean and UN soldiers. Only the original residents of their village and their descendants are allowed to live there. Originally, the residents did not even have the right to vote as the village was seen as more of a an enclave and not part of South Korea proper.

Daeseong-dong is only allowed to exist due to the armistice agreement explicitly allowing villages like it to remain in the buffer zone. It is kept alive as a symbol. It is a propaganda village, just like its northern neighbour. Its population is also dropping - from 218 residents in 2008 to 138 now. Most of the remaining residents are elderly. I think that calling the Northern village a "fake propaganda city" is perhaps a little hypocritical given that both villages are being forcibly kept alive for little reason other than pride. The "flag pole" war in which the two villages competed in creating increasingly bigger flag poles is a perfect encapsulation of this. The North Korean flag pole was, for a while, the tallest in the world.

Why did you not also mention Daeseong-dong. You were talking about a quirky, heavily restricted village in a demilitarised zone – on a border drawn up by imperialists in Potsdam in July 1945 where no Korean was consulted or involved with and describing that DMZ village as hell.

Sure, sure 🤯
Another example of people seeing what they want to believe.

Rawr · 21-07-2025 03:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123656152#Comment_123656152

Jesus…poop balloons. Stay classy North Korea…stay classy…

Lucien_Sarti · 21-07-2025 03:25PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123656652#Comment_123656652

The ROK gov’t had set up front ‘activist’ groups who had been sending balloons full of sh1te to the North for months. The North protested through diplomatic channels for it to stop.

The ROK refused to stop.
So the North replied in kind.

Only after matching the fascists sewer level did the ROK eventually stop the sh1te balloons.

But you both knew that (there is even a thread here about it from last year).

You did know that???
Right???

Enduro · 21-07-2025 05:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123651863#Comment_123651863

That guy is obviously a liar. And you are proving that he is a liar.

If he says that if you live in the west that you know nothing about Korea how is it that you know so much about Korea? If you live in the west then either he is a liar, or you know nothing about Korea.

It can only be one or the other.

Which is it?

eightieschewbaccy · 21-07-2025 05:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123656628#Comment_123656628

The reason nobody is linking to any reports is because you'll accuse every organization of being Western propagandists.

thatsdaft · 21-07-2025 06:02PM

And I thought flat earthers were special

But no apparently there is even more bizarre strain of conspiracy theorists

TIL North Korea is land of milk and honey and all of the horrific first hand accounts from escapees are a lie

These poor souls on BBC are just crisis actors

https://youtu.be/d4GlSZFBCHo

Lucien_Sarti · 21-07-2025 06:58PM

“Mr Kim grew up watching South Korean television in secret, this was his source of enlightenment”

S Korean commercial television is as dumbed down, sh1tty and obnoxious as it is here. Source of enlightenment- this is hilarious – worthy of a comedy script (not unlike American Pie). The layers of Orwellian doublespeak in this 3.5 minutes are so many, no wonder people are fooled if they regularly consume this focus-grouped, cunning psyop material.

“Last year they publically executed a 22 year old man for listening to South Korean songs”.

I can see why, if anyone believes this trite slander to be true they would say something like
“Now I don’t support the US in its foreign policy in general but it would be great if the US re-invaded the DPRK and freed the people there from this awful system”.

That’s what this absurd grooming & propaganda is for – so people support what the US ruling class wants to do.

Because we all know that the resources of the DPRK really belong to US & UK billionaires. As do the resources of the DR of Congo, as do the resources of all of Africa.

In fact all the minerals, land and resources on the planet really belong to US/UK & French billionaires but 10 or so countries (China, Russia,Iran + a few others) by asserting their sovereignty have made a declaration of war on these billionaires by using their military to fend off the US empire.

Anyway, the US empire is in its internal collapse phase now so all of the above population grooming is more or less passing into irrelevance.

o1s1n · 22-07-2025 09:56AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123656628#Comment_123656628

Go and stand on Mount Dora, look at both countries simultaniously with your own eyes, then we can talk.

Until then you're just parroting someone elses nonsense.

Edit - did a bit more investigation, this particular poster also thinks that the Tianamen Square Massacre is a western conspiracy.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058327773/tiananmen-square-other-western-conspiracies-against-china#latest

Check out this ludicrous piece of nonsense they posted in that thread:

“the Tank Man footage is pretty ludicrous, knowing that it was taken the day after all students peacefully evacuated Tiananmen Square. This man is actually preventing the tanks leaving as well” !

I didn't know we had Chinese Tankies on here, there you go.

Lucien_Sarti · 22-07-2025 11:29AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123658499#Comment_123658499

WeChat was opened to the global market earlier this year. Go on the app (it has easy inbuilt translation) and see how you get on talking to the adult children of the student protesters who walked out of Tiananmen Square that morning. They should be very easy to find.

I can see the view you are referring to online – simply by looking at photos taken by other visitors there.
So you want to compare Kijong-dong not to Daeseong-dong (which would be the normal thing to do), but you want to instead compare it to the Seoul skyline.
Why are you using the DMZ to represent the DPRK and Seoul high rises to represent ROK? This lop-sided comparison seems to have some deep significance or symbolism for you that I don’t get!

Here is the current Pyongyang skyline which is what most people would use to compare to Seoul.

o1s1n · 22-07-2025 03:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123658821#Comment_123658821

Are you saying that the only city of note of a country of 26 million people is Pyongyang? Where are the other skylines? Surely a prospering country of 26 million people would have multiple cities?

Below is a NASA photo of the Korean Peninsula, taken on January 24, 2024. Currently available on the NASA website.

51.71 million people living south of the DMZ.

26 million people living north of the DMZ.

Shouldn't that make North Korea at least half as bright from space as South Korea?

Why is that not the case?

Where are all the other cities?

Here's a more candid one taken by an astronaut on the ISS in 2014 (you can see the south China boarder in this one)

silliussoddius · 22-07-2025 07:16PM

South Korea looks like it’s a bloody island in that second one.

Lucien_Sarti · 22-07-2025 08:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123657090#Comment_123657090

This is an over literal lawyer-type take and its not what he or I mean.
He is talking about the characterisation of Korea presented to the public on the media that together have the most eyeballs -where

1 the vast majority of the public listening or reading have too many demands on their time (due to finances, career, raising family etc) or
2 are not that interested in doing any intensive research or deep fact-checking of their own about the DPRK

so they accept in a background or unconscious assimilation manner whats on the TV or newspaper and carry on with their lives.

So he’s alluding to the capitalist time-thieving treadmill!
Obviously, anyone with the time can research any topic they’re interested in and may come to a different conclusion than what is presented in the news media.

Lucien_Sarti · 22-07-2025 08:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123659977#Comment_123659977

Dublin got the lions share of infrastructure before other parts of the country. Its fairly normal in countries developing.
Who claimed the DPRK is prosperous?

The most sanctioned country, sanctioned for ~80 years, generating less electricity than it's neighbours (Japan, China, South Korea) shouldn't be proof of anything other than that bombing a country to the stone age, threatening to invade it 3 times a year for 70 years and then sanctioning it into extreme isolation causes underdevelopment.

Most countries wouldn’t have survived such a barbaric onslaught at all, let alone have one large gleaming, modern city.

The “I believe Radio Free Asia & the BBC haircut & songs executions” viewpoint seems to be:

Criminal hegemon destroys country then places it under siege warfare.
Unaffected, onlooking consumer of said hegemon’s alternative regime-change-propaganda ignores said war and said siege then asks 70 years later:-

Why not more light pollution?