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I was listening to the Unchained podcast when DPRK defector Yeonmi Park was a guest. She escaped from the DPRK when she was 16 and just having watched the movie

I was listening to the Unchained podcast when DPRK defector Yeonmi Park was a guest. She escaped from the DPRK when she was 16 and just having watched the movie Titanic (that her uncle had gotten hold of) once as a kid influenced her thinking a lot. https://unchainedpodcast.com/yeonmi-park-on-why-doing-business-with-north-korea-is-like-buying-a-ticket-to-a-concentration-camp/ https://unchainedpodcast.com/yeonmi-park-on-why-doing-busine...

barrkel 7y ago
I started reading that transcript and my BS detectors were bouncing off the charts. I think she's peddling a profitable narrative; from other sources [1], it seems clear that her position in NK was privileged in relative terms. No doubt she's had hardships, but all her incentives as a professional - what, exactly? witness? victim? - are to exaggerate the harshness of her experiences. [1] https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-park/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-p...
- LeoTinnitus 7y ago
  Honestly I think the same way about that too, but there is just far too much video evidence against North Korea to suggest that these people are lying. Being well off in North Korea does have it's perks, but being essentially what is their middle class equivalent still is terrible. These people usually end up in Millgram experiments basically where they HAVE to do things they morally do not want to but cannot refuse because they'll lose their financial status and be stripped of their position or thrown in a camp. Anything said about NK is not an exaggeration. So much so that South Korea has a television station dedicated to defectors who make shows themselves and produce loads of content exclusively for helping defectors acclimate to the culture as well as smuggling efforts to let them know it's better on the other side. Many of them as well are volunteers.
  - barrkel 7y ago
    Oh I don't think things are great in NK, and they're probably dire for the peasants, but her story specifically is very shaky.

barrkel 7y ago

I started reading that transcript and my BS detectors were bouncing off the charts. I think she's peddling a profitable narrative; from other sources [1], it seems clear that her position in NK was privileged in relative terms. No doubt she's had hardships, but all her incentives as a professional - what, exactly? witness? victim? - are to exaggerate the harshness of her experiences. [1] https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-park/ https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-strange-tale-of-yeonmi-p...

LeoTinnitus 7y ago
Honestly I think the same way about that too, but there is just far too much video evidence against North Korea to suggest that these people are lying. Being well off in North Korea does have it's perks, but being essentially what is their middle class equivalent still is terrible. These people usually end up in Millgram experiments basically where they HAVE to do things they morally do not want to but cannot refuse because they'll lose their financial status and be stripped of their position or thrown in a camp. Anything said about NK is not an exaggeration. So much so that South Korea has a television station dedicated to defectors who make shows themselves and produce loads of content exclusively for helping defectors acclimate to the culture as well as smuggling efforts to let them know it's better on the other side. Many of them as well are volunteers.
- barrkel 7y ago
  Oh I don't think things are great in NK, and they're probably dire for the peasants, but her story specifically is very shaky.