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[Krejlooc]

NK is extremely cheap. Barely any of the money went to the government. The majority went to China, the tour company, the tour guides, and gifts/tips for locals who help out. Many of the "puppets" soley reply on tourist tips as a source of income.

You know that "income" in North Korea is illegal, right? Any "income" they are receiving is for a black market. There is no official free trade or currency in North Korea among the common population. Being caught with currency is a crime, actually.

 

[NH Apache]

People who go to North Korea to normalize person to person relations are doing more good than harm and people should get off their high horse.

North Korea should be flooded with aid, should be flooded with interaction and accessibility to the international markets, goods, etc, to see how the rest of the normal world lives. Walling them off does nothing.

But no one wants to do that. We want to humanely bomb them. Or humanely cut off their access to the international market. Or humanely sanction food exports to them.





No one is ignorant about what is going on in NK.

You are. If you believe that giving aid to NK will actually reach the people of NK, you are ignorant of what is going on.

 

[ameratsu]

Yes, the people there have nothing to envy

This book has been mentioned several times already, but why not again for people skimming this thread thinking the OP's account of the country is anything short of a completely manufactured experience.

Very good read, highly recommended

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

No, I'm not.

You literally called it a human zoo.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

"The rooms are bugged but don't worry guys we're totally not gonna be listening in. We swear. Also, give us your passports"

This. OP is so naive.

Congrats on funding a country with giant death and rape camps and providing us with the same pics every tourist who goes there does.

It's like having a guided tour in the village next to Auschwitz while the gas chambers were still running.

Did they show you how they rape women and then feed their babies to guard dogs or was that not part of the tour?

Harsh, but true.

The young one was the spy.

Making you feel comfortable around him so that you think you can tell him anything.

It really does sound like OP believed a good chunk of propaganda he was fed.

This thread is valuable, but not for the reasons he thinks.

Yep.

I wanna fuck Miss Puk

Gross and unnecessary.

Like I said, the fake parts are very fake. You can tell what's real and what isn't.

Apparently not. The fact that you would post "it's a weird country, it's poor but not that poor" is incredibly telling. The propaganda worked on you.

A man in America got a life sentence for stealing a slice of pizza. It's not the only country with overly harsh sentencing.

No, there's really not. Statistically it's one of the safest countries in the world.

Oh for fuck's sake, you actually really sound like a shill now instead of a hopelessly naive dude >_<

I'm was being told by people who are acting like they know more about my trip than I do I'm "Lucky to have made it out" and not ended up in a labour camp/dead/vanish yet

Because you stole money. Had you been caught at customs with that, do you think you would have left the country just fine? LOL
You were as foolish as the dude who stole a poster, you just were lucky enough not to get caught.

Before you read, I understand not all of you will agree with someone visiting this country for moral reasons. I took that into regard and understand it. [...]

Overall, it's a weird country. It's strange but not as strange as I thought. As for the camp's inhabitants, here people aren't eating tree roots or fully emancipated. I can't claim I know every part of the reich but I saw as much as any westerner will ever get to see for a long time. The Nazi Government itself might be fairly fucked up but the people aren't. They're shy, respectful, and quiet. [...]

While it's morally grey to go to a country like this I'd recommend going to understand and experience it. No one left without a much better understanding of the country you see in the news almost daily. Certainly, because although I'm willfully supporting a dictatorship which only manages to perpetuate itself by inflicting human suffering upon a mass scale, I managed to get a really neat trip out of it, as well as take a few pretty cute photos!

I just want to say I really, really like this post. Bravo, excellent satire. Might have worked even better if you had posted nice, clean German villages to punctuate the propaganda aspect, but still, good job. ^^

Out of interest, are there many non-Americans in the 'OP shouldn't have gone' camp?

Add one here, if you're counting.

 

[Big-E]

You're equating North Korean people to animals now.

Give up the trolling.

 

[Condom]

Cool report, it was a nice read

For those interested: There are many youtube videos of people traveling through the country in HD

 

[Krejlooc]

You literally called it a human zoo.

yeah, I did. How is that equating people to animal? Do you know what the term refers to?

 

[ElTorro]

North Korea should be flooded with aid, should be flooded with interaction and accessibility to the international markets, goods, etc, to see how the rest of the normal world lives. Walling them off does nothing.

You are so naive, it hurts. What do you think would happen if the world would give North Korea even more international aid? (A) The North Korean would display these improvements as their own achievement (as they already do), increasing the effectiveness of its propaganda and solidifying its rule over its people and (B) it would see that its strategy of threatening its neighbors with insane military spending and nuclear weapons works.

 

[Vibed]

What a hoot

In America or in North Korea?

Cause they exist in both.

This came across my RSS feed this morning:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...overty?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard


Literal starvation in your own country but it's not some third world boogeyman. Yet people are perfectly fine keeping the status quo here, but want to wall off North Korea and hole them up and make the situation for them even worse.

This isn't even close to the same thing

this is a joke right

You literally called it a human zoo.

A human zoo is how they treat their people, how they're put on display to look nice but are effectively caged. It's not what he personally thinks of NK people.

 

[Nickle]

People who go to North Korea to normalize person to person relations are doing more good than harm and people should get off their high horse.

North Korea should be flooded with aid, should be flooded with interaction and accessibility to the international markets, goods, etc, to see how the rest of the normal world lives. Walling them off does nothing.

But no one wants to do that. We want to humanely bomb them. Or humanely cut off their access to the international market. Or humanely sanction food exports to them.





No one is ignorant about what is going on in NK.

Dude, you really need to study up on NK. The government prevents anything good from happening, they wouldn't take aid even if we offered it.

 

[John Dunbar]

five litres of free beer a week? new jerusalem.

 

[Krejlooc]

Dude, you really need to study up on NK. The government prevents anything good from happening, they wouldn't take aid even if we offered it.

They don't, and we do. Because our aid is conditional on them halting their nuclear arms program. They are choosing nukes over their starving population.

 

[Foggy]

You literally called it a human zoo.

You just needed more hills to die on, didn't you?

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

no they're not, they're speaking on how everything OP saw was a manufactured play to make NK not seem so bad. The people he saw were there solely to make a good appearance to foreigners

Yes. These people who barely do an adequate job of keeping themselves fed are experts at putting on elaborate theater to make you think that they're adequately fed.

You realize that if they had time and effort to make you think that everything was okay, then they have time and effort to actually work on the country, right?

You are. If you believe that giving aid to NK will actually reach the people of NK, you are ignorant of what is going on.

No? At no point have I said that there are no death camps or anything else.


I've repeatedly said that NK is awful and that us purposefully isolating them, as many in this thread want to do, does nothing to help them

 

[doctorblurg]

You literally called it a human zoo.

what else are you supposed to call a tour of a city that is completely on rails and guided to make it seem like "everyone loves to live in North Korea!"

they parade people out infront of the tourists to make a positive

Yes. These people who barely do an adequate job of keeping themselves fed are experts at putting on elaborate theater to make you think that they're adequately fed.

You realize that if they had time and effort to make you think that everything was okay, then they have time and effort to actually work on the country, right

North Korea isn't Orlando Florida they arent having to create this charade 24/7 for endless stream of tourists.

 

[aerts1js]

You're really naïve OP, and honestly, should be ashamed of yourself. I'm glad I have no images turned on in the settings.

 

[nynt9]

People who go to North Korea to normalize person to person relations are doing more good than harm and people should get off their high horse.

North Korea should be flooded with aid, should be flooded with interaction and accessibility to the international markets, goods, etc, to see how the rest of the normal world lives. Walling them off does nothing.

But no one wants to do that. We want to humanely bomb them. Or humanely cut off their access to the international market. Or humanely sanction food exports to them.





No one is ignorant about what is going on in NK.

What does supporting a hostile supposedly nuclear regime achieve? especially when that regime refuses aid and asks for more weapons? When that regime chooses to spend a vast amount of its money on weapons instead of feeding its people? When that regime lives in self imposed exile to the detriment of its people?

 

[BronsonLee]

OP went on the most expensive rollercoaster ride of his life

 

[Leatherface]

Thanks for posting OP. Very interesting stuff for sure. Thanks for the pics too!

 

[Krejlooc]

Yes. These people who barely do an adequate job of keeping themselves fed are experts at putting on elaborate theater to make you think that they're adequately fed.

You realize that if they had time and effort to make you think that everything was okay, then they have time and effort to actually work on the country, right?

You realize they don't have a choice as to what they get to spend their time doing, right?

 

[Spoiled Milk]

It's now pretentious to point out that directly supporting the NK government is a disgusting thing? What?




So you're saying there's no moral argument to be made when visiting NK. Cool.




I don't understand why it needs to be profitable for it to be a terrible thing to do. The government clearly feels the propaganda tours are worth the money spent and whoever goes on these tours is directly giving the government money.

Pretty sure material support from China does more to support their government than weekly tourism.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

You literally called it a human zoo.

That would obviously mean he's saying that the NK government is treating its people like animals (people in a zoo-like state, displayed for visitors), not that the poster is comparing the NK people to animals­.

 

[Foggy]

OP went on the most expensive rollercoaster ride of his life

GAF Thread Rollercoaster Tycoon

Spoiler

With Lionel Mandrake DLC

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

They don't, and we do. Because our aid is conditional on them halting their nuclear arms program. They are choosing nukes over their starving population.

They take food aid from us all the time.


http://www.wfp.org/videos/north-korea-food-aid


Or they did until we stopped giving them food.

A ship unloads over 16,000 metric tons of food supplies to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, one of the last shipments of U.S. aid following Pyongyang's call for an end to all humanitarian assistance. WFP will shut its food enrichment factories in DPRK from November.

Secondly, they aren't making a choice. The maniacs in power are. We're collectively punishing innocent people for the acts of their leaders, which is wrong.

 

[Krejlooc]

They take food aid from us all the time.


http://www.wfp.org/videos/north-korea-food-aid


Or they did until we stopped giving them food.



Secondly, they aren't making a choice. The maniacs in power are. We're collectively punishing innocent people for the acts of their leaders, which is wrong.

We stopped giving them food because they decline our conditional offer. The conditional we (and by we, I mean not just the US, but the entire UN) attach is for the benefit of more than just North Korea.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Next time you go to NK you should take out one of the guards and put on their uniform and infiltrate the regime. Take pics of whats really going on.

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

What does supporting a hostile supposedly nuclear regime achieve?

Normalization.

It worked in China.

It worked in the USSR.

Lowering war mongering rhetoric kept nukes out of Cuba.

 

[SuperBanana]

This thread devolved faster than intended. I thought I'd at least get through a few hours of niceness. If you agree or not with going, I went. It's done. A lot of Americans, Europeans, Australians, English, and others go and will go over the years. Not every experience in the world is 100% morally pure. China is plenty fucked up but I went there and visited a site dedicated to a man who killed 45 million people in just 4 years. Tiananmen Square. Which is also a spot where protesters were massacred by the military. Honestly, I felt that was more morally wrong but way more people visit that and it's an iconic attraction.

I find it strange people come in to complain that the "photos are the same". If I go to NYC what do you think the photos will be of? It's a city. You visit the attractions in the city. To say that 2 people on GAF visiting NK is "All the same photos" then you might as well never take another photo again. If you don't like the photos just don't comment then. I'm not forcing them on you.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

I thought I'd at least get through a few hours of niceness.

You took the tour, didn't you?

 

[Krejlooc]

This thread devolved faster than intended. I thought I'd at least get through a few hours of niceness. If you agree or not with going, I went. It's done. A lot of Americans, Europeans, Australians, English, and others go and will grow over the years. Not every experience in the world is 100% morally pure. China is plenty fucked up but I went there and visited a site dedicated to a man who killed 45 million people in just 4 years. Tiananmen Square. Which is also a spot where protesters were massacred by the military. Honestly, I felt that was more morally wrong but way more people visit that and it's an iconic attraction.

I find it strange people come in to complain that the "photos are the same". If I go to NYC what do you think the photos will be of? It's a city. You visit the attractions in the city. To say that 2 people on GAF visiting NK is "All the same photos" then you might as well never take another photo again.

It's not, because you're now using your experience to push propaganda.

And I bet 100 different people go to New York, they'll produce vastly different pictures.

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

This thread devolved faster than intended. I thought I'd at least get through a few hours of niceness. If you agree or not with going, I went. It's done. A lot of Americans, Europeans, Australians, English, and others go and will grow over the years. Not every experience in the world is 100% morally pure. China is plenty fucked up but I went there and visited a site dedicated to a man who killed 45 million people in just 4 years. Tiananmen Square. Which is also a spot where protesters were massacred by the military. Honestly, I felt that was more morally wrong but way more people visit that and it's an iconic attraction.

I find it strange people come in to complain that the "photos are the same". If I go to NYC what do you think the photos will be of? It's a city. You visit the attractions in the city. To say that 2 people on GAF visiting NK is "All the same photos" then you might as well never take another photo again.

You did the right thing OP.

Ignore the war mongers. Normalization is what is important, not escalating tensions, not with holding food.

 

[oti]

Thank you for the amazing post!

I'd love to visit North Korea at some point. What is their world view about Greeks btw? This whole Ancient Greece, the place where thinking started thing, are they cool with it or is it again all North Korea?

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

You did the right thing OP.

Ignore the war mongers. Normalization is what is important, not escalating tensions.

What is wrong with you?

 

[Ferrio]

In July I was offered a chance to go to North Korea with a friend of mine. Why?

I wanna know more about this? Who offered? Why? Such a odd thing to get outta the blue. Any of this come outta your own pocket?

 

[Krejlooc]

Thank you for the amazing post!

I'd love to visit North Korea at some point. What is their world view about Greeks btw? This whole Ancient Greece, the place where thinking started thing, are they cool with it or is it again all North Korea?

...they don't think about Greece. They don't study the ancient greeks.

 

[doctorblurg]

You did the right thing OP.

Ignore the war mongers. Normalization is what is important, not escalating tensions, not with holding food.

I'll pass on normalizing the shit that North Korea pulls thanks

 

[Jeffolation]

You realize that if they had time and effort to make you think that everything was okay, then they have time and effort to actually work on the country, right?

One of these things is a lot easier to do than the other.

 

[SuperBanana]

It's not, because you're now using your experience to push propaganda.

And I bet 100 different people go to New York, they'll produce vastly different pictures.

Push propaganda? Seriously?

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I find it strange people come in to complain that the "photos are the same". If I go to NYC what do you think the photos will be of? It's a city. You visit the attractions in the city. To say that 2 people on GAF visiting NK is "All the same photos" then you might as well never take another photo again.

.........


I find it strange that you would make such a comparison. You can choose where you want to go, sleep, and dine in NYC. There is no "on rails" experience that would lead to imprisonment if deviated from. Remind me again of your options when visiting NK? What in the fuck made you think they were comparable? You're making my head hurt.

What a bizarre person you're turning out to be, actually.

 

[LyleLanley]

Push propaganda? Seriously?

To be fair, did you read your OP?

 

[Krejlooc]

Push propaganda? Seriously?

Yeah, seriously.

 

[entremet]

It's cool you went to NK, OP.

But drawing conclusions on a country with wide-scale human rights abuses based on some propaganda tour doesn't make sense.

 

[More_Badass]

You realize that if they had time and effort to make you think that everything was okay, then they have time and effort to actually work on the country, right?

I mean, you would imagine that if the leaders had the time and effort to import hundreds of millions of dollars worth of western entertainment and luxuries and kidnap famous South Korean directors to produce a giant monster movie, they would use that time and effort to help their people and work on the country, right?

 

[Bearjewpiter]

Every time I see pictures from inside NK I just think how beautiful of a country it is and how impressive their statues and monuments are. Doesn't excuse the human rights violations but it does make me wish that more people could visit and share the culture.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

Push propaganda? Seriously?

You took a guided tour, designed to show foreigners, "it's not so bad!" Came back and did exactly that.

 

[MrKaepora]

Cool report, it was a nice read

For those interested: There are many youtube videos of people traveling through the country in HD

The best one I saw was from a group of New Zealanders bike riders who went on a tour there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNVCdL908ko

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Every time I see pictures from inside NK I just think how beautiful of a country it is and how impressive their statues and monuments are. Doesn't excuse the human rights violations but it does make me wish that more people could visit and share the culture.

Yes we're all clearly missing out.

 

[SporeCrawler]

On one final note I did find out one more thing while I was over there. Kim Jong Un is a Sonic the Headgehog fan.

hmmm

 

[Big-E]

You took a guided tour, designed to show foreigners, "it's not so bad!" Came back and did exactly that.

Read this statement op and think about how so many people are telling you the same thing. Take it as a learning experience and work to curb being so gullible and naive.