u/Outside_Bug6347 - originally from r/GenZhou
Got banned from other subreddits for this but here I go again. I consider myself a socialist, very pro Cuba, Vietnam and Laos, highly critical of Stalin and Moa but sympathetic to modern day China. Even though I have qualms with Moa (cultural revolution was a bit of a flop but I know that wasn’t his fault entirely and it had positives) and after reading a lot of work in the gulags Stalin did seem to be overly authoritarian though he did raise quality of life for many people. My main problem with this sort of modern communist Reddit community is the defence of North Korea. I do not think North Korea is defensible, South Koreans enjoy a quality of life that is clearly higher and it’s almost impossible for me to wrap my brain around anyone defending that regime. Thoughts?
u/ComradeBeans17 - originally from r/GenZhouYour not looking at the sources supplied to you obviously.
My Brothers and Sisters in the North is not made by the DPRK, its made by a south Korean/ German women. This is my third time recommending it to you in this thread. You are blatantly refusing to accept it. The other documentary i recommended was also not made by the DPRK government.
Here is a vlogger who lives and works part time in the DPRK with his family. He just vlogs his usual routines. This isn't from government. Jaka Parker
Dr. Dermot Hudson has studied Juche for 35 years, and visited the DPRK 18 times.
An African American's Journal Inside North Koread
Please at least watch one of these before you continue asserting things about the DPRK, or at least cite your sources so they can be debunked, your being very vague.
last
this playlist has interviews with various foreigners who went to the DPRK. Sure, these were filmed in the DPRK by the DPRK, however do you think the DPRK forced the Swiss communist youth to say nice things? Is the Venezuelan communist youth lying? Is the Syrian diplomat being bribed to make his statements?
On Kim Il Sung's 80th birthday when the 'Let Us Defend and Advance the Cause of Socialism' declaration was signed, do you think the 70 communist/progressive parties which sent representatives to sign were all confused and actually supporting a declaration created by a monarchy?
Secondly, if the DPRK media reports that Kim Jong Un is working to end bad conditions for children for example (as it often does) what should we think?
Well if we have a look at the Global Hunger Index we see that the 'prevalence for stunting in a child' was 51.0 in the year 2000. In 2021 the score was down to 19.1
'Prevalence for wasting of a child under five' was at 12.2 in the year 2000. It is 2.5 in 2021.
'The under 5 mortality rate' score was 6.0 in 2000. In 2021 it is down to 1.7.
And although not down a whole lot just yet, since Kim Jong Un took office in 2012 the 'proportion of undernourished in the population' dropped 0.3 points as of 2021.
The general GHI score trend shows that in 2000 DPRK scored 39.5 which is an "alarming" level of hunger. The trend has only gone down over the last 22 years, as of 2021 it was at 25.2 which is still a "serious" level of hunger, but improved nonetheless, all while being the #1 sanctioned country in the world.
With that pointed out, does the DPRK state media say these things then to boost Kim Jong Un's ego? Or to brainwash people and lie to look good? Or could it simply be the truth?
When the state media reports that it is building free furnished housing for people effected by a flood we could choose not to believe it, but I find that extremely hard to do when they provide Video and photo evidence to back up the claim.
Unless of course we decide to believe for instance, the baseless claim that there are "fake" cities in the DPRK and everybody is actually homeless.
Next time you read a claim about the DPRK, ask yourself if you were provided substantial evidence to back up the claim. Investigate the sources of the claim and consider the class interest of the source.