It’s like they think the effects of the trade embargo and sanctions will finally do a 180 and collapse the government, with no actual indication that that will happen despite decades of sanctions and far worse periods of time.
Yep, even if we decided that the DPRK government is utterly evil, sanctions have only strengthened its legitimacy in the eyes of North Koreans. The only goal this is fulfilling is harming the people.
The problem with reporting on the DPRK is that information is extremely limited on what is actually going on there. Most reports come from defectors, and said defectors are notoriously dubious in their accounts, something the WikiPedia page on Media Coverage of North Korea spells out quite clearly. These defectors are also held in confined cells for around 6 months before being released to the public in the ROK, in… unkind conditions, and pressured into divulging information. Additionally, defectors are paid for giving testemonials, and these testimonials are paid more the more severe they are. From the Wiki page:
Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who lived in the DPRK, argues that defectors are inherently biased. He says that 70 percent of defectors in South Korea are unemployed, and selling sensationalist stories is a way for them to make a living.
Side note: there is a great documentary on the treatment of North Korean defectors titled Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul, which interviews North Korean defectors and laywers legally defending them, if you’re curious.
In fact, the report is a propaganda piece likely geared at shoring up the rule of Kim Jong Eun, North Korea’s young and relatively new leader, said Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Most likely, North Koreans don’t take the report literally, Lee told LiveScience.
“It’s more symbolic,” Lee said, adding, “My take is North Koreans don’t believe all of that, but they bring certain symbolic value to celebrating your own identify, maybe even notions of cultural exceptionalism and superiority. It boosts morale.”
As for sanctions, yes, they are the primary cause of resource issues. There was mass famine in the DPRK in the 90s during the dissolution of the USSR, a problem that has since gotten far better. Starvation and resource scarcity isn’t a deliberate choice by the government, in fact the DPRK frequently tries to expand trade, but can’t import or export effectively due to sanctions, ergo it relies on minor trade with the Russian Federation and PRC. If sanctions were lifted, then trade would increase and the DPRK would have more resources to work with, ergo less issues with starvation (which currently aren’t as big a problem to begin with as they were in the 90s).
Shhh stop making sense
It’s like they think the effects of the trade embargo and sanctions will finally do a 180 and collapse the government, with no actual indication that that will happen despite decades of sanctions and far worse periods of time.
Well they’re propagandised sociopaths who think starving a whole nation is justified so long as the nation doesn’t share their politics.
Yep, even if we decided that the DPRK government is utterly evil, sanctions have only strengthened its legitimacy in the eyes of North Koreans. The only goal this is fulfilling is harming the people.
The wests play book, people seriously think starving other people is ok for some reason because they’ve never gone a day without food in their lives.
Country not aligned with the US? Bad, and therefore okay to starve.
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The problem with reporting on the DPRK is that information is extremely limited on what is actually going on there. Most reports come from defectors, and said defectors are notoriously dubious in their accounts, something the WikiPedia page on Media Coverage of North Korea spells out quite clearly. These defectors are also held in confined cells for around 6 months before being released to the public in the ROK, in… unkind conditions, and pressured into divulging information. Additionally, defectors are paid for giving testemonials, and these testimonials are paid more the more severe they are. From the Wiki page:
Side note: there is a great documentary on the treatment of North Korean defectors titled Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul, which interviews North Korean defectors and laywers legally defending them, if you’re curious.
Because of these issues, there is a long history of what we consider legitimate news sources of reporting and then walking back stories. Even the famous “120 dogs” execution ended up to have been a fabrication originating in a Chinese satirical column, reported entirely seriously and later walked back by some news outlets. The famous “unicorn lair” story ended up being a misunderstanding:
These aren’t tabloids, these are mainstream news sources. NBC News reported the 120 dogs story. Same with USA Today. The frequently reported concept of “state-mandated haircut styles”, as an example, also ended up being bogus sensationalism. People have made entire videos going over this long-running sensationalist misinformation, why it exists, and debunking some of the more absurd articles.
As for sanctions, yes, they are the primary cause of resource issues. There was mass famine in the DPRK in the 90s during the dissolution of the USSR, a problem that has since gotten far better. Starvation and resource scarcity isn’t a deliberate choice by the government, in fact the DPRK frequently tries to expand trade, but can’t import or export effectively due to sanctions, ergo it relies on minor trade with the Russian Federation and PRC. If sanctions were lifted, then trade would increase and the DPRK would have more resources to work with, ergo less issues with starvation (which currently aren’t as big a problem to begin with as they were in the 90s).