How Totalitarian is North Korea?



Now I've grabbed your attention with my clickbait, let me begin:
I'm curious about North Korea the 'Democratic' People's Republic of Korea. Not because I believe in their policies or because I am an advocate of  Juche. No I'm curious because of a hunger. A hunger for knowledge
Audience members at North Korean comedy programmeWe live in a land of luxury where interweb software means we can communicate with texts and e-mails and phone calls. Sometimes only one at a time... But if there's is anything in this world which we don't know about, it is the 'D'PRK. There's a reason for that:
They don't want anyone to know.
The best example of  this is epitomised with North Korean tourism.
The legend that is Alan Sugar once remarked at a health food saying that it's list of ingredients had 'as much information on it as a North Korean tour guide.' As far as I am aware you can visit North Korea, with a selected tour company. With a strict presence of army guards. At ALL times. They only want you to see what they want you to see. The amount of propaganda seen given to the Kim family is out of proportion. The above picture is from an audience watching a North Korean comedy. Notice how they are all laughing and all have loyalty badges pinned to their clothes. As an outsider looking in it's clearly difficult to see past the fuzzle of pro Kim drivel.
But do the Korean people see past it?
This is obviously very difficult to assess so we have to resort to those who have defected away. According to NK News  which has contacts with many defectors, they estimate that only 20%-50% of Koreans believe the news and propaganda they are inundated with.
However, it is very difficult for the population to understand what is actually going on in the world. Since the 1950s, the Kim dynasty has ensured they control television and radio. Therefore we seem to have entered a vicious cycle. We can speculate and try and educate the people but the cyber people rule the internet border with an iron fist Maggie Thatcher would have been proud of. So let's instead amuse ourselves with the twitterings of the DPRK's news feed.
FACT of the IPOT:
Kim Jong-Un saved school children being attacked from Orcas because of his supreme surfing skills.


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