'North Korea Not So Bad' Says North Korean Propaganda Website

Given the recent concern over North Korea, I realized something: I don't know anything about North Korea. Time for an internet search.

What I found was the usual information about Kim Jong Il's regime and the terrible economic situation there, but in the midst of all this gloom I found one site which has nothing but good news. It's the Pyongyang Chronicles, the Voice of the People!

If you want to know why it doesn't have a North Korean web address, it's because there is no such thing. The internet is banned.

At first, I assumed this was a parody. The blithe statement of things that were not true, the use of 'fascist' and 'imperialist' ever other word, etc. It seemed too easy.

But, the more and more I read of it, it began to look more and more sincere. The earnestness, the knowledge of Korean history and terminology, and the (occasional) facade of reason all pointed to the genuine article.

By far the most interesting section of this website - at least until the 'Kids' Corner' is finished - is Ask A Korean!, which actually allows e-mails which are extremely critical of Kim Jong Il and his regime (though they are dismissed out of hand, of course). Some highlights:

Dear Pyongyang Chronicles,

What does the North Korea Government think of Australia and our own dear and glorious leader, the Hon. John Howard MP? I think he has brought great prosperity to Australia and Australian workers, and is a man of the people.
- Freedom Freddy

Dear Mr. Freddy

Your president Mr. Howard may have done some good things for some of the people in Australia, but we have a negative opinion of him as he is a fascist sympathizer and supports the imperialist government of America. We think you should be very worried as any friend of the imperialists is an enemy of the people. Do not let this man lure you into a false state of security, because you could be prospering one minute and the next you could have all your basic human rights stripped from you.

Although we cannot view your entire website due to the American blockade of internet access in Korea, our webmaster did fax us a few pages for us to look over. Unfortunately, it looks like you are trying to brainwash people with a variety of fascist, elitist, and right-ist propaganda

...

A rumor says that south korean soap operas are very common in the DPRK. is it true

Aviv Avni

Dear Mr. Avni

Many of us do watch South Korean soap operas in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, mostly to laugh at the ridiculous fascist American propaganda presented by them. It is absolutely ridiculous the lengths the imperialists will go towards brainwashing the people and taking away their free will to think for themselves. We are very thankful every day in Korea that we can just laugh at such things, and that we are given the freedom to live a free life.

Kim Min-Hwa
Citizen of Pyongyang

...

Really, I've been a military officer of the Republic of Korea for the past 5 years, and from what I can tell from my GP on the MDL, all your soldiers are malnourished, short, and rather unhappy looking. And why do you keep attacking us? Like back in 2002 you killed several of our sailors in the west sea. Your so-called great leader have threatened to turn our capital into a "sea of fire" since the year 1950. You have 8000 artillery pointing at us with double our military strength, and you say that we're a threat. And because of your damn nuclear testing I'm now in emergency duty, thank god for the computer.

Kim Soon Min (aka "Kenny Kim")

Hello "Kenny"

First of all, I must say I feel so bad for you that the imperialists have forced you to take one of their names in place of your true Korean name. It is sad how they want to Americanize the world. As for our soldiers, perhaps you should look a bit closer - are you sure you are not looking at your own soldiers? Given you have probably taken a few beatings to the head, I forigve you for your short sightedness. Everybody in DPR Korea is very well nourished and fed. There is plenty of food to go around. You my friend have been brainwashed by the fascist propaganda of those 80,000 American soldiers that are still in the southern Korea.

Elsewhere on the web, I found some photos of what seems to be a Russian tourist visiting Pyonyang. It seems like a large, clean, modern city, except that THERE ARE NO PEOPLE THERE, or what seems to be almost no people, because of the lack of street traffic:



Maybe people stay inside all day, I don't know. If I had to live in North Korea, tht's probably what I'd do.

And, nom de Dieu, no pigeons either:



That's a public monument in an open space. Either all the pigeons have starved to death, or political prisoners are forced to clean it every night with their tongues. I don't think I want to known which.