An interesting article about the generation gap in N. Korea.

"… A 19-year-old university student with a confident handshake and carefully styled hair, Ryu lives in a city that today feels awash in change. There are rich people now in Pyongyang, chauffeured in Mercedes and Audis even as most citizens of the police state remain mired in poverty. There's a supermarket selling imported apples and disposable diapers. On sidewalks where everyone once dressed in drab Maoist conformity, there are young women in not-quite miniskirts and teenage boys with baseball caps cocked sideways, K-pop style.
…

Here, where rulers have long been worshiped as all-powerful providers, young people have grown to adulthood expecting nothing from the regime. Their lives, from professional aspirations to dating habits, are increasingly shaped by a growing market economy and a quietly thriving underground trade in smuggled TV shows and music. Political fervor, genuinely felt by many in earlier generations, is being pushed aside by something else: A fierce belief in the power of money…"

https://www.apnews.com/32ef1db...ehind-the-propaganda

Good article,probably will take a couple decades for it to sweep the country,providing that little km don't do something stupid

Huh. So China's (still, in many ways) the model to watch for those who would read North Korean tea leaves. I wonder what li'l Kim is thinking about that - I mean, they can't kill all of the North Korean hippies in a Malaysian airport.

Even before I read the article, I thought "ROK soaps." Sure enough, even the PRC is powerless against S. Korean pop culture.

Too bad all them younger gens will pay if the bombs start flying thanks to their illustrious leader. We'll probably take out Lil' Kim and then some old communist hardliner general will take over and their relative wealth wont mean a thing when their now-more oppressive and fanatical gov't takes all their stuff to fund the military and ships the entire family to a concentration camp for being subversive by having too much money.

While I would never do such a thing N. Korea is a country I would absolutely love to visit so I could talk to the people who live there just to see how they view life in their country.
You hear so many crazy stories from over there a true first hand view would be interesting to see. Not some media heart string piece or piece done with heavy input by the N. Korean government.

Somebody posted a video clip a while back of N Korean defectors trying different barbecue styles and their reactions. Look it up if you did't see it. They had some interesting comments about N Korean life.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
While I would never do such a thing N. Korea is a country I would absolutely love to visit so I could talk to the people who live there just to see how they view life in their country.
You hear so many crazy stories from over there a true first hand view would be interesting to see. Not some media heart string piece or piece done with heavy input by the N. Korean government.

My 2 children are a Korean adoptees. When they were younger I took them to a Korean cultural summer camps and a American-Korean Presbyterian church. Quite interesting, it was. The folks from Korea that are now citizens and/or residents love this country, and will tell you they have bettered themselves. I have seen lots of pictures and videos of S Korea, and it looks like a great place to visit. It seems very up to date in the major urban centers, an the populace seems to be doing well.

However, the old timers that come to visit occasionally surprise me with their outlooks. You would swear the came from N. Korea with their anti US attitudes. Some of it sounds like pure propaganda that they heard somewhere and now use for lack of something knowledgeable to say. In fact, after a church service a few years ago, someone's grandfather took the podium and rattled on about the virtues of Korea, and how America was full of corruption, especially, the politicians. He then said unlike Korea's press, the American press was full of political propaganda. I just rolled my eyes and let it slide, figuring he was a product of his environment. Well, 15 years later, I still think back on this and marvel at what has become of the news media.

Yes, like all countries that would like to be us, they emulate everything they see on TV about America. Besides Korea, Russia, Japan, and the rest of the world love blue jeans, and every bit of out culture. It may seem shallow, but their main exposure is the boob tube.

quote:

how America was full of corruption, especially, the politicians. He then said unlike Korea's press, the American press was full of political propaganda.

Nailed it