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The first place our dynamo little guide led us was the computer room. And yes, they even use Windows in North Korea. Though one doubts Microsoft ever sees their cut!

Oddly enough the students were using the English version of Windows 98 rather than the Korean one. When I asked Mr. Huk why he looked at me like I was an idiot and said because there wasn't a Korean version. A 'fact' that must come as a huge surprise to Microsoft Korea!

Oddly enough the students were using the English version of Windows 98 rather than the Korean one. When I asked Mr. Huk why he looked at me like I was an idiot and said because there wasn't a Korean version. A 'fact' that must come as a huge surprise to Microsoft Korea!

When asked if he felt like they were missing out on all the great information available on the Net Mr. Huk just brushed us off with, "we already know the truth from our government. Why would we want to learn what others say?" Which, in a nutshell, seemed a pretty good explanation of North Korean thought as a whole.

Known as the 'mountain of mysterious fragrance', Mt. Myohyang ('Myohyangsan' in Korean) is one of the most beautiful places I have seen on the Korean peninsula. Thanks to the International Friendship Exhibition, it is also one of the weirdest. Though the name sounds nice enough, an exhibition of friendship, in reality the place is best described as the mecca of Kim-clan worship.

Also imprisoned were others who were perceived to be potential complainers and persons who purposely or inadvertently did not take proper care of photographs of the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung, or the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, or even of newspapers that contained photographs of the father and son. The Hidden Gulag

It is the widespread jailing of political prisoners' families that makes North Korea unique, according to human rights advocates.

Under a directive issued by Kim's father, North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, three generations of a dissident's family can be jailed simply on the basis of a denunciation.

NBC News interviewed two former prisoners and a former guard about conditions in the camps. The three spent their time at different camps. Their litany of camp brutalities is unmatched anywhere in the world, say human rights activists....

. ... Kang Chol-Hwan is now a journalist with Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's most important newspaper. His recent book, "The Aquariums of Pyongyang," is the first memoir of a North Korean political prisoner. For nearly a decade, he was imprisoned because his grandfather had made complimentary statements about Japanese capitalism. He was a 9-year-old when he arrived at the Yodok camp. His grandfather was never seen again, and prison conditions killed his father....

. ... The system appears to draw no distinction between those accused of the crime and their family members.

In prison, says Kwon Hyok, "there is a watchdog system in place between members of five different families. So if I were caught trying to escape, then my family and the four neighbouring families are shot to death out of collective responsibility."

Mildy off-topic but

Still a very interesting read about what north korea is actually like.

Although its a step beyond what life is like in china. This link has a pretty amazing story about how things are run in North Korea.
http://1stopkorea.com/nk-trip1.htm

"The goverment decides... The people act!"

The attitude of the NK people is a big mystery, because they live under the most oppressive regime in human history.

The only people that have been treating the people of NK as lepers is their own government. Read a thing or two or three before naively assuming that just because GWB dislikes somebody that it is actually a nice place that is just misunderstood.

Check out this post from a guy who lives in Korea. You won't believe the trouble he went through with his Internet service and getting a cellphone.

'E-Korea' - Myth versus Reality

Here is a brief excerpt:

Buying a Cell Phone

"Hi, I'd like to buy a cell phone."

"B . . . b . . . but you're a foreigner."

"Yeah, thanks, I'm aware of that. Now, can I buy the phone?"

"Well no, we don't sell to foreigners."

"Really? I printed this out from your website. It says you do."

"I don't care what our website says. We don't sell to foreigners."


He then goes on to describe his problems with broadband internet access. Check it out!

A travelogue: "Journey into Kimland" by Scott Fisher

more: clicky, clicky, clicky, clicky, clicky.
since we seem to read the same stuff as our leaders, might as well be strung along the same.

Does anybody know of a web site that showcases North Korean propaganda art and movies? The cornier the better.

After reading about their propaganda and 1 million+ person parades here, and this seeing this wicked awesome music video, I'm hungry for more.

WARNING: The linked music video makes frequent use of the "F-Bomb" - possible NSFW.

According to this page, the DPRK elite schools use win98-en. (No net connection, perhaps for the risk of virii?)

Here's an interesting article about a man's experiences when he went into North Korea, in case anyone's wondering what's really going on in there.

Yeah, we have a term and laws for that hear too, it's called Treason. There is only one punishment for it under US law, death.

Ah, yes. I suppose that any disloyalty to the government and any attempt to replace it with something better should be met with death. Maybe we should've put the men who wrote that into law to the gallows for having rebelled against their government. Then again, I suppose you're saying that the law of any local government justifies any actions it takes against its populace as long as it acts within its own frame of law. Genocide, torture, and rape for political dissent and rebellion is all okay as long as that government says it is, right?

I was talking about his popularity rating, not the voting booth. Saddam [...] was EXTREMELY popular among his own people because he was reclaiming ancient land the lose of which had been a thorn to his people a very very long time.

Oh, so was Romania's Ceausescu to all outside observers until a few days before his deposition when a critical flashpoint event made his people finally snap. A man who was loudly and repeatedly praised everywhere he went was in the end executed by his own people after a quick day-and-a-half search for him. (Shades of Mussolini anyone?)

Successful dictators build cults of personality that make their people worship them no matter how awful they are to their populace. Stalin did it. Kim and his son did it. Franco did it, Hilter did it, and Saddam tried to do it too. There's a difference in how much the people actually believe in their leader in Iraq vs. these other countries. In in North Korea, it seems to be universal by all visitors' accounts. Saddam failed to engender love in his people, only fear of reprisal. In Iraq, support for him doesn't seem to be universal at all given just how many people sided with outside forces (like the aforementioned Kurds, Marsh Arabs, and Shiites) and given how many people are currently cheering his arrest there (though some feelings are mixed about the arrest).

Yes, the people mostly seem to have support the taking of Kuwait at the time from what we know from the outside, but it's really hard to gauge what the popular sentiment really was at the time based on the abrupt flipping of support now that repression isn't forcing people to pretend to love him and since Iraq's economy has severely soured in the wake of a decade of sanctions stemming from that action. If you can find me some supporting evidence that they liked it, I'd appreciate it, but I doubt that you can.

Killing and torturing traitors is a long time pastime in most nations these days.

Oh, well then -- I guess that means it's quite all right, then. Saddam's not a bad guy because other people use torture too. Well, what DO you consider a bad guy to be if you don't consider Saddam and his sons to be bad guys for torturing their people? Don't tell me that you're one of these types who actually believes that there is no such thing as right and wrong. If you didn't you wouldn't be protesting the war on Iraq so loudly, so tell us what it would take to be an evil person.

According to this dude's travelogue in North Korea, the majority of the Pachinko parlors in Japan are owned by Korean Japanese folks, and they send a bunch of their profits off to the DPRK. While the bulk of their money may go to basic human services, and I don't necessarily have a problem with this relationship, it's still interesting. Does anyone know if Sammy is one of these North Korea supporting companies? Does anyone know if they're sending money off to the Dear Leader, or how much?

Please, don't quote me on this. I have no idea if the above link is accurate or not. If someone else out there has any specific information, then I'll be a little more confident in that travelogue source.

I think the DC metro is pretty (almost as nice as NYC's L train, far nicer than anything else!), and fairly well run (better than NYC's L train, which mysteriously gets CANCELLED. and thats the best line of NY!).

But many people who work in the DC metro area now live in FREDERICK- that's right, 270 south bound starts getting clogged at 7-8am... And many are just trying to get to Shady Grove metro. Plenty have moved inbetween Germantown and Frederick.

DC metro is also pretty limited in terms of stops. (though not as limited as Pyongyang's subway (scroll down!) If you live in either Glover Park, or Georgetown (or somewhere in between) you have to take a bus. I don't know the state of cyclists in DC... it seems like a good idea to fill in the gaps.

Thankfully, the Metro is expanding its hours later and later into the night.