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The fascination around North Korea and its leaders is understandable. I grew up in South Korea in the 80's and we just lived with "it" constantly (as people sti
by sideproject 4y ago
The fascination around North Korea and its leaders is understandable. I grew up in South Korea in the 80's and we just lived with "it" constantly (as people still do).
I remember when I was in primary school, you will find these propaganda papers on the streets telling South Koreans of how corrupt their government was and urging them to defect to North. Apparently, North Korea would send balloons filled with these propaganda messages. South would do the same to North.
Then there was a TV show once a year where separated families in North & South re-unite for a holiday. They were separated during the Korean War and the two governments allowed these families to be found and meet for a few days, before they were separated again. They hadn't seen each other for ~30 years so were young and only remembered just a few bits of information. These TV shows made EVERYONE cry.
- Narretz 4y agoThese reunion shows were reported on in Germany, too. I haven't heard anything about them for a few years, though. I assume not many direct separated family members are still alive, or there's currently no agreement about these meetings. It's fascinating that the population of both countries is now largely born after the split.
- avodonosov 4y agoDo you know the "Ibuk T'ongsin" listed as the source in the doc? Is that a name of the "monthly periodical" or the name of the author who wrote the article for that monthly periodical?
- luispauloml 4y agoIn hangul, it's written as 이북통신, and it was a periodical promoting propaganda against North Korea: http://www.much.go.kr/L/x3th5X5gDH.do http://www.much.go.kr/L/x3th5X5gDH.do Also, if you can't read Korean, I recommend using https://papago.naver.com/ https://papago.naver.com/ instead of Google Translator.
- GekkePrutser 4y agoFunnily enough what you describe with balloons is still being done with USB sticks today: https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org/ https://flashdrivesforfreedom.org/
- capableweb 4y agoAs they say on the website; "Many citizens have devices with USB ports and SD card slots", but more citizens have just eyes and no USB ports/SD card slots, so why not send balloons filled with flyers instead, to reach even more people?
- GekkePrutser 4y agoI watched a presentation of these guys at SHA2017 and someone asked the same thing. Here's the full presentation in case you're interested: https://media.ccc.de/v/SHA2017-120-hack_north_korea https://media.ccc.de/v/SHA2017-120-hack_north_korea As far as I recall their answer was that a USB drive can store much more. Video, entire books, etc. However leaflets are also done. Personally I don't know if it's worth the risk knowing that their local OS ("Red Star OS") can fingerprint files. But I guess they know what they're doing.
- manholio 4y agoBut then again, why would anyone connect their computer to the completely censored national LAN, only to be spied upon by the state?
- netsharc 4y agoIn my (lack of) knowledge of North Korea, I don't think most people even have computers, and it's not like the government's built infrastructure to just connect their computer to the LAN. (It's different if you're part of the government elite living in the compounds for sure...).
- GekkePrutser 4y agoBecause it will contain entertainment as well and it's the way to communicate with friends. Despite being censored, it's all they have.