I used to be like you a few years ago.Then I started looking into the history of the DPRK more. I learned about the Korean war, how the US killed around 20% of the North Korean population. The orders were to shoot anything that moves, combatant or not. Every building, dam or other piece of infrastructure still standing up was to be bombed. Is it any wonder a highly militarized society grew out of these circumstances, one that will do whatever it takes to not suffer another genocide?
Also, did you know the word ‘brainwashing’ has first been invented during the Korean war to describe American soldiers that had been in North Korean captivity? Many were treated quite well and even received education on American imperialism and communism, and when released they started telling everyone how the Americans were actually the bad ones and how communism really is the way forward for the world. Before that, American media had been running a campaign telling everyone North Korean communists were slaughtering American captives by the thousands, so obviously they had to pretend that those released American soldiers weren’t acting out of their free will and they had to blame it on some advanced ‘Asian mind control’ and they invented the term ‘brainwashing’. You can look that up if you don’t believe me, just search ‘brainwashing’ on Wikipedia, it’s right on top of the page.
There’s a lot more that I could say but I’ll leave it at that. I don’t think the DPRK is that particularly great or a country I’d like to live in, but it’s too simplistic to just paint them as this anomaly in world history, this country that turned into an evil dictatorship overnight for no reason.
If you’re interested, I would recommend the book ‘Everyday life in the North Korean revolution’. It’s a study of how regular North Koreans experienced the revolution right after liberation from Japanese occupation, how everyone was zealously working on building a new communal society as an alternative to capitalism.
It started out with 50k, this article says 60k and The Guardian is currently reporting 70k. The numbers are about as believable as the number of protesters Iran allegedly killed before the US and Israel attacked Iran. Living conditions in Europe are also rapidly deteriorating so the right wing is absolutely eating this up. It’s 1 big show to strengthen the right wing in Europe, orchestrated by the usual suspects.