Several things can be true at once. North Korea is absolutely a totalitarian dictatorship, where no one reasonable would choose to live on their own accords. But also, governments lie, there’s a lot of propaganda about north Korea, and defectors especially are not the trustworthy sources we like to pretend.
There is a lot of propaganda about North Korea, mainly spread by hardliners in the South. I think a lot of older South Koreans have a bit of a chip on their shoulders from the days when the tables were turned.
Back when the Soviets were bankrolling the North and the South was led by a military dictatorship, the North was objectively a better place to live. A lot of older South Koreans like my parent’s generation were raised on propaganda from the government, and a lot of them have a hard time letting go of it.
Which is bad, because there no real reason to make the situation in the north any more dire than it truly is. Their population is isolated from their families in the South, have cycles of severe food insecurity, and are at risk of inhumane punishment from a dynastic family that treat the country like a toy.
Several things can be true at once. North Korea is absolutely a totalitarian dictatorship, where no one reasonable would choose to live on their own accords. But also, governments lie, there’s a lot of propaganda about north Korea, and defectors especially are not the trustworthy sources we like to pretend.
There is a lot of propaganda about North Korea, mainly spread by hardliners in the South. I think a lot of older South Koreans have a bit of a chip on their shoulders from the days when the tables were turned.
Back when the Soviets were bankrolling the North and the South was led by a military dictatorship, the North was objectively a better place to live. A lot of older South Koreans like my parent’s generation were raised on propaganda from the government, and a lot of them have a hard time letting go of it.
Which is bad, because there no real reason to make the situation in the north any more dire than it truly is. Their population is isolated from their families in the South, have cycles of severe food insecurity, and are at risk of inhumane punishment from a dynastic family that treat the country like a toy.