3rd link: The tone and channel name seems comedic at first glance, but I'll watch it and get back to you. Plenty of comedians doing real journalism these days anyway, so that shouldn't be a mark against him.

[–] carl_marks_1312@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang A documentary on the world of defectors and South Korean Intelligence (National Intelligence Service, formerly known as the KCIA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V4Hnl7J9H4

The originally posted documentary is soft-censored behind an age-confirmation verification

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Paid testimony is bribery, its not reliable.

[–] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That specific BBC article is what I was talking about. It's not publicly available testimony, it's information gathering by the SK state about NK from defectors.

[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You should move there and see what it's actually like.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Again, you should go and report back what it's really like.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

People have literally done that (and continue to do so). Their stories get censored by western media for not being anti-communist enough.

[–] gnutrino@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago

Send us a postcard

[–] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

So, I watched that third link in its entirety. It was pretty interesting. I think the core idea is that NK isn't some absolutely insane bizarro land, which I actually agreed with beforehand. It did not disprove the fact that NK is an authoritarian dictatorship. The only thing it did prove (which again, I knew about beforehand) is that western media likes to exaggerate the faults to hyperbolic levels. I honestly think that the average north korean would live a better life without the Kim family (or any other family regime) ruling over them. This doesn't mean that they force people to have specific hairstyles at gunpoint or execute politicians for slouching during speeches (as the video joked about), but they still direct a large portion of the states wealth towards friends and family.

I think you should really honestly consider the fact that two wrongs don't make a right. NK and the USA do terrible things. Instead of litigating which one is worse, maybe we should focus on how to make better alternatives, like you've done with this alternative to Reddit.