Coming off of Paper Will's retrospective/deepdive into North Korean entertainment, the main takeaway is that North Korean (ew, no, NOT their government) people have iron wills and are absolutely metal. I'm fascinated learning more about North Korea. 90% of the struggle is trudging through legit misinformation that treats the people of the country like mindless drones and whose propaganda and totalitarianism is unique to NK. The other 10% are western social-communists with good intentions but who unironically spew whataboutisms about the Kims; NO! I am not talking them up! Being under my own oppressive government has made me aware to not glamorize another oppressive government just because it's evils are different to me.
North Koreans want to leave when life is literally unlivable for them and their families, which it was 90s. They don't want to leave their homeland and they're right to fear the capitalist hellscapes around them; that many defectors feel trapped by other countries and want to go home makes sense.
They're not a hivemind. They think for themselves even if their movies and tv all tell them to think ONLY of their leaders.
These people are black market media pirates, which is based. They figured out how to process books back into rice paper during the March of Suffering. Their government ain't schmit when it comes to farming -> the people had to learn all that themselves. They love comedy and love the arts and celebrations. When a performing artist is legit feeling it you can tell on their faces how much they mean it vs how much a manufactured smile is forced onto them. Many know better than to swallow their government's racist propaganda and that dating a Japanese/American/Russian/Southerner is not going to literally kill them if they were able to.
In all of us, there is a need to survive and and need to defy our oppressors.
I don't know how to believe in 'spiritual comradery' but there it is. Enough with stuff like Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea or Under the Sun. Give me stuff about the actual people.
