this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
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People believe insane shit about North Korea because they heard other insane shit about North Korea.
That's one of the wildest ones, like it just bypasses the critical thinking part of their brains. "Yes, there's a town in North Korea surrounded by fake fields, which are harvested by fake farmers. They all live in fake homes and go into a fake school that that has power but don't have any windows."
South Korea has potemkin villages on its side of the border. The government pays people to live there for a few weeks out of the year. Otherwise theyβre empty. Source: been there.
It is hilarious how the villages are remarkably similar (and I say that to the South's credit, in some respects), but one gets called "Propaganda Village" and the other -- if it is mentioned at all -- is merely called by its name. It's that meme about "Our noble government, their nefarious regime" in such a literal and direct portrayal that you couldn't write it in a parody without it being seen as too hamfisted.
Those people in North Korea believe the wildest things. No, I will not reflect on the irony of thinking North Koreans believe Kim Jong Un doesn't shit or whatever based on nothing but headlines I've read.