| ▲ | North Korea executing more people for watching foreign films and TV, UN finds(bbc.com) |
| 28 points by vinni2 12 hours ago | 26 comments |
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| ▲ | rurban 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| There was a big black market for foreign films, I learned from videos smuggled out. Imported from China or recorded with satellite dishes. I'm sure the current leader saw that also. |
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| ▲ | 31337Logic 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Wow. Imagine killing people, publicly, for what they watch. I hope this fat PoS gets taken out. Quickly. |
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| ▲ | metalman 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| the former Ugoslaviain police were infamous for dragging youth of "to beat the Zappa out of them", but on.the fall of communism uncle Frank was greeted in Ugodlavia by thousands at the airport was given special honours and a very strong offer to be part of there government, they very much wanted to keep him
perhaps something similar is taking shape in.NK |
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| ▲ | Synaesthesia 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| I find some of the claims made about North Korea rather fanciful and unbelievable. |
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| ▲ | jihadjihad 2 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | I am sure the parents of Otto Warmbier [0] could disinfect your disbelief in the harsh light of their reality. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier | |
| ▲ | crazybonkersai 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The most plausible explanation that those people who escaped NK were sentenced for something else and use excuse of watching foreign films to look good to Western researchers.
I believe that media landscape is restricted in NK, but getting a death sentence for a watching movie? No way it is possible. | | |
| ▲ | incone123 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Why do you think that is the 'most plausible explanation'? NK meets the simple test for evil dictatorships: do they need to use fences to stop citizens from leaving? Yes, NK does exactly that. | | |
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| ▲ | belter 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Me too. I don't think they need a reason to execute a person... | | |
| ▲ | duxup an hour ago | parent [-] | | It certainly serves a purpose to have a reason, to make people fearful. | | |
| ▲ | saulpw an hour ago | parent [-] | | People are more fearful when there is no reason, when it is arbitrary or capricious. | | |
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| ▲ | bilekas 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | You find them to be, do you have any insight that would help us understand your point ? | | |
| ▲ | sjiabq 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | How many times have Western intelligence services claimed that the Kims had killed one of their relatives or some high rank politician only for the person to reappear a few months later? | | |
| ▲ | bilekas 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | I really don't know, can you share some times they claimed definitively that it happened ? It's usually claimed to "be believed to have murdered X" - His brother for example. But Kim himself has admitted to murder so it's not really some 'exaggeration' [0]. So unless you have something that would confirm otherwise, which would make interesting reading I will have to take my grain of salt from what we do already know. [0] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54291550 | | |
| ▲ | derelicta 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | I know it's controversial to say here, but Korean people are human too. They are not stupid insects groomed to follow some great leader as if it were the queen of the hive. Most of what you assume to know about Koreans and likely Chinese or Vietnamese people is false. It's pure propaganda. Also lol for linking the BBC. To me it's like linking Radio Free Asia or the New York Times and pretend those are freedom fighters. | | |
| ▲ | zamadatix an hour ago | parent | next [-] | | I don't see a controversy on HN where the problem with North Korea is supposed to be the people must not be human. You, me, North Koreans, South Koreans, and anybody else are obviously all people. These are regions of people, not species listings. As such, we obviously all fall for silly beliefs - that's one thing humans do. Sometimes that bites us in the ass real bad, sometimes it's less severe, but humans aren't defined as being perfect. Believing being human makes you immune to the same kinds of belief problems as other humans have gotten themselves into results in bite-you-in-the-ass results more often, among other problems. | |
| ▲ | bilekas 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > Also lol for linking the BBC. To me it's like linking Radio Free Asia or the New York Times and pretend those are freedom fighters. It's not really when the reporting is reporting what was done. But here's some more articles saying the same thing ? > Most of what you assume to know about Koreans and likely Chinese or Vietnamese people is false. You are assuming I am making assumptions. But I can see this discussion isn't going anywhere fast. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/asia-pacific/north-kor... https://abcnews.go.com/International/north-korea-issues-rare... https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/northkorea/20200... https://www.npr.org/2020/09/25/916807251/kim-jong-un-apologi... | | |
| ▲ | derelicta 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Oh yes ofc, if all imperial newspapers are saying it has happened, then it must have happened. A bit like when all imperial newspapers said there were WMD in Irak and that's why America had to destroy this country. |
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| ▲ | simion314 an hour ago | parent | prev [-] | | This sounds very soviet, I see them all the time showing some traveling guide to NK and claiming is a paradise like USSR was, but then you ask why do this regimes have walls and kill the people that try to escape the paradise? why do people want to escape the paradise risking their lives ? And to have the balls to claim you can't trust people that lived in NK and escaped and you should better trust who? those NK propaganda images the soviets are spreading around ? I call soviets the home sovieticus, the imperialists bastards that excuse that criminal regime and want it back, like the Zeds and their friends. |
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| ▲ | derelicta 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | There is just a lot of bs being spread about NK. Westerners, for example, genuindely believed all koreans had to get a haircut that is approved by the government. I'm not even saying this country is not paranoid, but its nearly not as bad as everyone is imaging, and frankly, considering what Americans have inflicted unto the korean people, its fairly understandable. | | |
| ▲ | 31337Logic 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | Oh I'll take the firsthand reports of escapees over your thoughts on the matter, any day. | | |
| ▲ | jackb4040 5 hours ago | parent [-] | | North Korean defectors are well known for being unreliable sources. They rarely have skills nor social connections and thus are massively incentivized to join the existing markets for anti-NK propaganda in both the West and India. The kind of obvious propaganda like "it's a crime to have the same haircut as Kim Jong-Un" (or to not have it, depending on the source). No one is saying life there is great, but there is a track record of fantastically untrue stories. | | |
| ▲ | incone123 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | If they rarely have skills or social connections, how were they able to achieve the feat of escaping from the Hermit Kingdom in the first place? It seems to me that this high bar selects for people who can thrive in adverse circumstances. | | |
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