Why is North Korea and the Kim family so demonized?
Why is North Korea and the Kim family so demonized?
I asked earlier about why Stalin was so propagandized, but I'd argue that not even he is as propagandized as the DPRK's leaders.
orientalism + drpk achievements like repelling us invasion, the country surviving the fall of east/socialist block but didn't manage to fully win the war to reunify the country like vietnam, so it's at a war state and doesn't take take many tourists from the west, adding all up, its easy to make up bullshit because no one will bother to check, the most wacky lies are taken as truth automatically.
one good example of this was a brazilian blogger that as a prank, made up that north korea was saying to it's citizens they won the 2010 soccer world cup with ridiculous scores and literally no one bothered to check, the "news" got replicated all over the west, when it was found that it was a prank the drpk embassy sent a thank you letter to him for exposing how shit western media was. it is a very interesting case.
Please tell me you have a link source for that amazing story!
The Brazilian Who Trolled North Korea During the World Cup - Tales From the Internet
Portuguese
One video where the guy tells the whole story again at the very end he talks about the letter, how the DPRK embassy laughed and said it proves western media is shit. "In the end they even managed to take the high road" -"oof" their words lol.
Not OP but I know of this video on the story about the world cup https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eTsRQVAKs9A (despite the title the video is decent)
Because we're at war with them.
There are 4 countries that are participatory in the Korean war; NK, SK, China and the US.
Of those 4 all need to agree to peace for it to end. Of those 4, 3 have previously agreed to peace.
Guess which one keeps saying no?
Its the US.
Thats why.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/13/north-south-korea-agree-in-principle-formal-end-war-us
It's a tiny country that withstand everything that the global hegemon thrown on it for 80 years. Of course it have to be demonised as it is live example of incredible resilience of socialism.
Part of it is because the Korean war isn't over, part of it is racism against a socialist project that refuses to submit to western imperialism, but there's also a geopolitical interest bc having another widely accepted threat in region gives them more leverage against China since you could use weapons in South Korea against China fairly easily.
Do you know of the Korean peninsula's history? About their colonisation by Japan, their liberation struggle and what followed after they won their independence?
Racism, orientalism, and anti-communism are some points that come to mind
Because they do not allow Western corporations to come in and exploit their labor/resources like they can with almost any other country. The idea of one singular dictator controlling everything is also a favorite libs like to use to make X country look scary and bad.
The west never forgave them for not keeling over whent it tried to genocide them twice.
They didn't capitulate to western powers, and are in fact still at war with them. Plus it lets them demonize China by proxy, which is always something western powers are looking to do.
Also all that is exacerbated by the fact that they are fairly isolated and not many people go there. People propagandaize about China all the time, but that is always in conflict with the fact that many people can and do go visit and see the reality for themselves. Not nearly as many people visit the DPRK, though if they do they will also find out it isn't remotely like what they have had.
If you have the time, I'd recommend listening to season 3 of the Blowback podcast for a good overview of the DPRK's history. Should be able to grab the episodes here.
Honest question. Why does the leadership follow a family line? Perhaps it’s a coincidence. I’m so inundated with western media so I’m genuinely seeking the input outside of that news diet - is it something that could be beyond the Kim family?
edit: typo
It doesn't, sorta? Jong-un has an older brother who is not in politics. Jong-un was selected because he formulated a state-building ideology around how his grandfather and father operated the state and their wins and misses, anyone could have done that but he was the one who did the work and became leader of the party. As I understand Jong-un was also the leader for the nuclear program as an officer in the military and this has basically earned him immense respect in the DPRK.
Jong-un is the leader of the worker's party and the leader of the military, he's actually serving two functions that could be occupied by different people, both are appointed positions though iirc leader of the military (president) has to also be elected on in a confidence vote with the masses.
Jong-un is not the leader of the legislative body, that role is selected by the legislative body (which is elected locally like a congress). The current VP of state (2nd in line) is also the appointed chair of the legislature. The legislature is the highest organ of state, though the president is the highest ranking individual.
This is not dissimilar to how other ML states have been run. It's often that the next leader is the most advanced Communist (whether that's theoretically or organizationally though you need both). Deng was educated and shaped into the successor of Mao by Mao himself. Lenin had also trained Stalin among others. Xi similarly was such an advanced theoretician and organizer that he also earned his way to the top. It's not surprising that Il-sung and Jong-il had both trained their children to be advanced communists, though it's clear that not all of their kids wanted and worked to become leaders. So I'd say it's mostly coincidence, the "fixed" aspects are being the child of the leader you are being raised by the most advanced Communist in the nation, that's certainly an educational advantage, still Jong-un's older brother is apparently just a random musician (according to an exiled statesman).
Partially cultural reasons (confucionism is a very big cultural influence there), partially historical reasons. The power held by family members is dilluted over time tho. Kim Il Sung was the only head of state with far reaching powers, Kim Jong Il had nowhere the same power, Kim Jong Un handed off half of his power a few years back when the high command of the army was restructured from a single supreme commander to a command council.
Proximity and ease of access to information about them. They try to tell the same stories about China, but know they can't be too outrageous, as a lot of people in the west can visit China, or have friends and family there. Same with Cuba. They have to stick to vague accusations of "authoritarianism" in their propaganda, because people can visit quite easily and easily prove the west's claims wrong.
Very few people in the west actually visit the DPRK. This means the west can claim practically anything about them and have people believe it, because they'll never meet anyone who will go and check. This is quite different from the propaganda they get in South Korea, where it emphasises how poor and struggling the north is, rather than making up claims about Kim Jong Un riding an invisible unicorn to work or whatever. The south is much closer, speaks the same language, and a lot of people in the south have family members across the border, so making up claims that insult the reader's intelligence like in the west wouldn't go over well. But in turn, it's also illegal to say anything positive about the north in South Korea, it gets you jail time. So they have to be much more direct in their censorship of reality because of that close proximity that the west doesn't have. (It's also a bit of a cultural thing I think. Westerners are so fiction brained that they want a cartoonish villain who does things like in a movie, because they consume more fictional media than media actually focused on reality).
In Fake Korea, and in countries in Americas sphere of influence demonizing the DPRK is a profitable endeavor due to the country's isolation, sparing economic and geopolitical repercussions. Similar to the Kpop industry, the perpetuation of fake news about the DPRK is a crucial element in maintaining Fake Korea's existence. This practice thrives on belittling and demonizing the DPRK, showcasing how the production of false narratives serves as a valuable enterprise within the context of Fake Korea's operations