What shocked a former North Korean spy when he met the CIA 

Nothing quite makes me appreciate how good we have it in the US like going back to China and experiencing the smog of Shanghai or Beijing. As a Chinese American, it's hard not to be embarrassed for my birth country when I think about how Koreans have to put up with our second hand pollution. We're like that asshole who smokes in a crowded elevator.

@@the_mad_fool yeah this video really did help me appreciate the privileges that americans like me have. Not having to worry about air quality is just one example

Made me wonder what he would think of something like Montana

LOL. May be the dookie smell better in SF, hahahaha.

I remember having black snot as a kid (from all the pollution) back in Europe. Even parts of Western Europe are like that. Remember, that people complaining that "our environment is terrible!" is more a result of "I think it could be better" than any objective standard.

When your basic needs are always met, you stop appreciating that fact I suppose

can we start a petition of some kind to get this guy out to like Colorado to experience actual clean air lol

@@1stCallipostle whats up apostle

@@somethingrandomasmekevin4538 The rabbit hole follows no matter where I go huh

@@1stCallipostle trust me it does

Very well put.

@Antonio Gramsci That is one hell of an assumption about everyone’s character in the comments. Are you referring to US bombings of cities that were indiscriminate in their targeting of civilian population centers? I would have to agree those were extremely terrible if they were to talk about it, although your estimated number of fatalities is larger than any published source. But atrocities committed in the 1950s do not erase or lighten the current ongoing atrocities happening in North Korea now. I’m not sure what your point in this comment was, other than to crap on the goodwill of the other comments. What is your goal here?

@Antonio Gramsci Where has anyone asked for an apology? I certainly didn’t and would never expect such a thing. Also, your final sentence is a gross oversimplification of a multiparty conflict, not to mention a complete misrepresentation of the current state of affairs. But I digress.

@Antonio Gramsci That’s your source? Lemay? Yes he was over the whole thing. He’s the “bomb then back to the Stone Age” guy. The guy who famously wanted WWIII to start back then. Dude wanted to drop nuclear bombs in any conflict. This man was the horniest for bombs. There was a reason he was inspiration for Dr Strangelove. Not to mention he was a far right segregationist politician post war. He wished he killed that many people.

@Antonio Gramsci Now you’re saying I don’t actually care, like you know me. Like you care about this man either. Your goal is bring down any bit of positivity that one may feel from video. Imagine the moral high horse you have to ride to condemn strangers over the internet like a shiny white knight. So now SANCTIONS are responsible for the state of North Korea? Why don’t you just marry the supreme leader then? Good grief.

as an american i can attest it's not wrong. However it is a fun place for vacation.

Lmao my thought exactly

I was going to say the same thing. :)

There might be a truth in that, but it's certainly not all of it. Places like Las Vegas got so much more to offer than just gambling. The whole gambling business and casinos are only there since it has to do with tax and land regulations.

@@davidsantiago7808 as a non American I can confirm this.

Business suits are casual

@@pepebeezon772 From my experience growing up in the US casual is jeans and a t-shirt, or on the dressier side khaki and a button up shirt. A full suit is basically as dressed up as you can get

@@mitchellgraber9448 in western dress code a business suit is part of business casual. If a business suit is formal what do you call a tux then?

@@pepebeezon772 fancy

I envisioned hawaiian flannel, khaki shorts, and flip flops when he said "casual."

Being a North Korean defector I'm sure for few years there were some people watching him very closely and help was never far away

American people are nice for the most part until politics get involved.

Most Americans are kind. Everyone has bad days I get it but it makes my heart happy to see an outsider experience our good side.

​@@AWildRaito Yeah, very few things are always bad topics of conversation there. But politics is always at the very top of bad topics lmao.

@@AWildRaitoAnd religion.

Because the US is well known for taking care of vets right?

@@bowles652 lol

@@bowles652 no you can't just insult the us like that!

@@cannedsquasher5923 you have a point

@@bowles652 Yeah, we don't force our soldiers to commit suicide against their will. A far better circumstance as someone who did serve 12 years.

Well, he saw the capabilities and it probably dumbfounded him since he had heard his entire life how at war/awful the US is, and he sees first hand that at any moment if the US really wanted to they could wipe it off the map. But as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility, and thats just not something you do.

@@TheDestructodave520 Nah, they can't. Or it would've happened during the Korean war.

@@VexLooter geneva

@@eterno2457 Yeah and it's still active, so they still can't.

@@softan But they didn't do it, so they cannot. They play by the rules (Geneva in this case as mentioned above) so they will never do anything to North Korea.

Their targets were in South Korea, not the US. I can guarantee that he knew where all the C3 nodes were in South Korea. That would be their primary target.

maybe just Americans pronounce Pentagon in different way than Koreans. They should know it in Korean translation.

Only if you are brain dead and in love with the monetary system which is just one giant scam lol

@@symbolsarenotreality4595 I bet you're fun at parties.

@@symbolsarenotreality4595 What if I love it but am not "in love" with it?

@@symbolsarenotreality4595 /woooosh

@@symbolsarenotreality4595 maybe ur just poor

Yeah, honestly, that's...pretty accurate. I've made the mistake of going twice and I walked away with that impression both times.

You must've heard that story before: some time after the USSR fell they asked a person on the street how things were going, and the guy goes - "Everything they told us about communism was a lie, but everything they told us about capitalism was true."

@@GdotWdot, Yeah? Because Capitalism is why we are able to live in the amazing conditions that he couldn't dream about. He puts Capitalism in proper perspective relative to nations like North Korea... and you still blindly hate that which has lifted more people out of poverty more rapidly than any other system in history.

@@Chipwhitley274 You can criticize a system for its faults without "blindly hating it" ya know.

@@amidalaprin4846, Except they didn't criticize it for select faults... they claim that Capitalism creates corrupt kingdoms... entire economies that are corrupt. My argument stands.

We Americans so often take for granted our wide-open freedoms that are not enjoyed many places on the globe. Peace and freedom needs to win out for humankind to survive into the future.

If you minus the few annoying "woke" people, and guns, it would be amazing. But I can tell that the air in (maybe some/most) Western countries are very fresh. I've been to Australia, and the air here is very clean and nice even in big cities. I didn't even feel the need to wear a mask at any point (I regularly does this at home because of fine dust in the air and exhaust gases on the streets)

@@maiquanghuy8807 "woke" just means trying to make America better

@@dahkdm8787 but many of them are acting like annoying children and I just don't like it

@@maiquanghuy8807 A lot of those people are only on Twitter, extremely rare to find one irl

@@dahkdm8787 online anonimity makes people bolder, so yea

true

Don't get me wrong we have it better but looks at the government Still better than North Korea

tbf, our air arent the best but surely much better than theirs

@@shahmi94 I like the air here in western australia it's very clean, I bet americas country air is the same.

Much better than china for sure....

So many of them have the mentality of abused children it's going to take generations for the ones that escaped to be okay

They've been brainwashed by communist propagandas all their lives and lived in a closed place so long they have totally different mind set.

@@joylee7274 okay if they can make it through all that with no ill effect then they're much stronger than I can ever see around me

@@robertruiz98 As soon as they see reality in the free world like in America, S. Korea, their mind is renewed immediately and they realize that they've been deceived. Most of the NK defectors said they are very thankful for everything and happy cz they lived in a place of hell and now they are living in heaven.

@@robertruiz98 NK is a very underdeveloped country w/ everything has to do w/ lies, deceptions and no moral standards. I heard that they steal in order to survive. It is literally survival of the fittest. Most of them have a very strong mentality cz they've been through a lot.

I know right? Was like "Um... too much of the local culture there man."

For once, NK propaganda was right about Las Vegas being a "corrupt kingdom of gamblers"

@@user-do5zk6jh1k yeah lol but the place is still pretty fun

@@user-do5zk6jh1k nah they said America as a whole was a corrupt kingdom, but Las Vegas. Yes.

I thought the same thing for a second! 🤣😅

Mainstream media cannot be trusted.

Mainstream media is fake news

Mainstream media can be trusted to give you Mainstream news. You have to do some research and look for real news

I found the Asian fetishiser

@@idiotsays705 Its clear to you that ur cute try of calling all the ppl that respond to you is calling you an idiot as well. With every ideotic comment you write, you call yourself an idiot.

He feels like an outsider when in South Korea. Many young people there don't think about North Korea, they don't feel they have anything in common with them. Not the same with older Koreans of course.

@@PatriceBoivin It's so heartbreaking that the people he considers to be brothers aren't as concerned about his struggle as people on the other side of the world are

@Creative Passion396 do you like making your mom sad? Cause I might die if you don't get help, my heart is breaking 💔

Spot on sir. But I did not cry, my eyeballs were sweating a little at the end but I did not shed a tear

@@mikeburner7406 Do you believe he has a responsibility to continue aggression towards North Korea, or perhaps do you think he should be able to try and live a normal life? I'm not arguing I just like debates

Technically you guys had to unify twice because of when bismark essentially made the country the first time

North and South Korea are one nation as much as East and West Germany was in 1975. There's more than pride and ignorance separating the two. There are guns and nuclear weapons, too.

@@markmidwest7092 and you think the situation was much different during the Cold War in Germany? No everyone wished for reunification in Germany. But the overall acceptance was high once it happened. With the degree North and South Korea different in their level of development I don’t think any even remotely similar reunification is possible.

@@Politik-mit-Kopf I never suggested that reuniting the two Koreas is remotely possible. Back in the 70's it did not appear that reuniting Germany was remotely possible, either. It happened because East Germany was a client state of the USSR, which collapsed. N Korea is a vassal of China. So long as China is a power, N Korea will not be reunited with the South. China would never stand for an ally of the US right there. So the similarities between Germany and Korea are great. Germany got a very lucky break.

@@Politik-mit-Kopf Unlike with German reunification, this is spot on. The Korean spoken between North and South Korea is completely different and has a large number of different words. The culture experienced is both countries is completely different. While some people have had family in North Korea, it's been close to 70 years since that war. There's been an entire generation of people that have had almost no contact between each other. This has lead to a massive culture gap between the two countries. South Korea is also vastly more wealthy than North Korea. The economic burden of uplifting people who have almost nothing to do with you will be enough to drive massive wedges in society (South Korea has a GDP per capita nearly 25x that of North Korea). At the time of reunification of East and West Germany there was a GDP per capita difference of only 4x at the time of reunification and there's still a massive 13k euro gap in terms of GDP per capita between West and East Germany 40 years later. I doubt even if China collapsed tomorrow, South Korea would be willing to reunite with North Korea once they become aware of the economic consequences of such a move. It's simply a pipe dream at this point.

I had an idea regarding what he said at the end, he spoke about how N Koreans can feel like outsiders in S Korea. Well, given the general public feeling in America about helping defectors, (and I don't have social media, so I'd love some input), but what it if people set up an account on Instagram or Facebook for the purpose of communicating with defectors in S Korea to make them feel less alone- maybe people who have learned Korean, or are Korean Americans. I think it'd be an effective way to do something to actually help them, rather than just lament on their situation and wish there were something to do (which is what I've been doing). Thanks for reading this and have a nice day!

It's funny how we elect those that immediately believe they are our controllers instead of our employees. And then there are those that allow them to fill become our lords and masters and will willingly die to give them that honor. We don't singularly own that deficiency, it's all around the world. However, when we get to compare notes, like we do here or when we travel abroad, we find that most of the time it isn't the common man that is the real problem.

@@carlbeaver7112 Can you imagine what we could do collectively if we as the common could get together and stop letting power hungry people divide us and set us against each other? Honestly, like 95% of the people on Earth could co-exist totally fine without any problems. It's such a small number that break everything for everyone.

@@mycroft16 What a monstrous task it would be to get hundreds of thousands of local people on the same page on something without a sorta code. Yes indeed the kind of information infrastructure rich people own. Thankfully its not impossible, just really REALLY hard without being painted an orchestrater.

Yep. It’s roughly the same everywhere in a different language. People going to work, caring for families, kids, dinner, customs, rich, poor, retirees, busses, cars, bikes, etc.

The outsider comment was cut off and we all now he had some interesting ideas about that. Too bad we don’t get to hear them

Yeah man how much i hate time constrains.....

@Limon Ysal if they really didnt want you to see it they wouldn't have shown us that sentence its probably more so he isnt hated on by the south koreans

@@jorgemtzb9359 Any time constraints here were self-imposed.

@ana sheee Intelligence agency and national face reputation defense and information war will always be a problem for any other country i take justice on a whole different level compared to the average human since i go by God's Universal Laws.

The guy is an optimist

It is part of the culture. Even people from South Korea do the same thing. It is almost even part of the language as people who learned the language usually use those inflections as well.

Most asian languages do that, we add a lot of emotions in our speak to really tell the experience.

@@arcadenine8026 us Filipinos only do "AAAAAH" for awkward moments. "ah?" being an airhead "Ano" this means well. And also an escape word. "E" dead air or figuring out what to say next. Mostly common while doing a speech.

I believe it is just his thick North Korean accent

He will likely be fine outside assassinations from North Korea are pretty rare and generally reserved to people they view as threats like brothers and uncles of the deer leader... the biggest threat is to any family he has left in North Korea. The North Korean government has been known to just arrest and put the families of defectors into concentration camps. They give you no food no water and they work you till you die. It's generally a pretty effective deterrent, since they know even if they escape it will only Doom their family. They're every bit as bad if not worse than camp's from WW2. There have been a few defectors that were prison guards their stories are crazy.

They wouldnt only it would need to be someone more important in the NK military and its not even guaranteed the guys they send wont also defect to the US

if he was anyone of worth do you think they would be making such a video? North Koreans with tactical and strategic info likely are held closer to the vest.

Don't worry, if he's anyone of importance, the CIA definitely has him protected. Even if he doesn't know they have his back.

@@genghisn7 I kind of think that almost everyone is important even if they have nothing of substance to offer the government of the USA. Do you not agree?

​​​@Antonio Gramsci ah yes of course everythimg is propaganda.(mostly true)

Weird how Antonio equates freedom and choice with mindless consumerism. Meanwhile North Koreans who have escaped regale in the freedom and choice. Antonio, you need to travel to the third world my friend and see how oppression and lack of freedom affects people.

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@rd4660​​⁠​⁠​⁠’Freedom’ is almost never truly freedom. In the westerner’s ‘Free’ society, they are constantly plagued with mindless consumerism, because that is the means in which oligarchic elements assert their power. Corporations fund campaigns for politicians and they spread their destructive partisan politics to further consolidate power within their grasp. The regular joe is faced with propaganda that toys with their minds- ‘Vote for this party! Support us!’- is it truly a mindful, independent freedom your choice is already shoved in your face at an early age through propaganda? It is just like how you describe these so called dictatorships which you hate with a passion. PS. He was talking about the book being consumerism and propaganda to further propagate American ideology and nationalism. (“Wow, America is just the greatest most free-est most independent unimperialistic nation in the world!”) Also, Americans love to say that China is an oppressive shithole (despite never being there) so I’m assuming you think it is such, but people there are normal 😅. They live good lives (No, we are not uncivilized bastards that need American civilization and freedom. No, we aren’t suffering or are living unfree lives in fear of the state. No, we are not yearning for the west. We don’t want the west). So, I’m thinking that your logic isn’t working out here.

​@Antonio-Granscieven gorbichev admited he didnt ha e the selection that americans did lol He made a suprise stop to a local food strore and was amazed lol

@Antonio-Gransci I may the book stashed away somewhere. As for mindlessly consuming product, I am guessing you consume very little product (information).

Do you know her name?

@@only1one1me Yeonmi Park in one of her videos talked about her. I don't remember her name but if you check Yeonmi's yt account you can surely find it.

Yeah unfortunately for defectors it's a serious problem that NK spies will try and abduct them and return them to the homeland - especially if they're defectors who are speaking out about their experiences in NK. Makes me worried about this guy.

They tricked her into going back, or to going to China, kidnapped her, tortured her, made her perform public recantations of her defection, etc. -- then they shot her. Yahoo Japan has regular Japanese-language articles about NK, I read the language, and things are deteriorating in NK. They've closed the border with China (to stop Covid, they say), so no food/trade/supplies are getting in, more draconian laws are being passed, more executions, etc. Things are going from bad to worse.

@@TheDeliciousb nope. she loves in America Right now. I just googled her

Se é BR, por que o nome em inglês? Só curiosidade mesmo

@@Delta_2209 porque ele botou em inglês, talvez? Kkkkk

@@Delta_2209 Pelo mesmo motivo que o meu tá em polonês: porque sim.

@Ann Nifödova we're acctually under a militar dictorship a while ago (in the 50s/60s)......... And yes, our president's a puppet to Trump, they're friends. Not so much Biden, but anyways.

@Ann Nifödova Brazil WAS a puppet government troughout its socialist years under the labor party, it's to be expected since we gave red countries almost a trillion in our currency during the last two decades. We were NATO's little bitch and received nothing back except for an absurd increase in national debt. Not so much anymore.

The USA has a lot of flaws, just not as many as North Korea. Compared to North Korea it's very nice Not saying that the US is only good compared to North Korea but there's reasons that some complain about it

They have the right to complain. If you dont, and blindly accept that the things are at their best, if you dont want for better, youre no different than those NK people who think they live in the best country on earth. You should be critical. You have the right for freedom of thought and expression - use it. You honor your country by not blindly accepting everything as fact.

True, but I feel like if we shouldn't set North Korea as a bar. Plus, CIA used to have "enchanced interrogation techniques". We need to set the bar a little higher. It hasn't even been that long since the CIA tortured people.

America is often getting a raw deal when portrayed in the European media. I'm not sure why. But every single person I know who has been to US concordantly portrays Americans as universally courteous and friendly. I'm sure America, like Europe, has its fair share of assholes. But the general perception of visitors to your country is that it is a nice place to be. So yeah, I don't blame you for feeling good. Every time a tourist comes to your country and feels welcomed, you are creating an ambassador.

@Nick as an American I gotta admit that America is a pretty racist country but the media does disproportionately release very negative news about America because unfortunately that’s what sells

@@carterrussell5888 as americans I think we are very critical of ourselves when it comes to racism, which makes sense because our population is so diverse with so many different races and cultures all intermixed and living closely together. so we kind of have to be I suppose. it's something I don't think people from other countries can fully understand.

@@carterrussell5888 what is the definition of "pretty racist". How many other countries have you been to for your comparison to know it's so much more racist than others?

Yeah it easy to lose sight that most Americans are kind hard working people when all you get is the bad US news stories in other countries.

I’m a Kiwi living in Australia and have a heap of American friends. Some I consider to be extremely good friends. We know that most Americans are good people. Don’t be ashamed if you’re trying to be part of the solution. Not like we don’t have things to be ashamed of here, it just doesn’t impact the world as much as what happens in America or get as much exposure.

We americans are like everyone else. We have good and bad people, just like any other nation haha

Its almost like the media is trying to divide us...

@@MeppyMan the kiwi empire rises again!

I couldn’t agree with you more Sherri... there should never be boarders.. walls ... passports.. we as an evolved species.. should learn to co-exist with our fellow human beings.. have acceptance tolerance.. embrace different cultures and learn from one another.. but with politics.. government .. and prejudice.. it won’t happen..maybe just maybe.. that will all change some day

Yes but there will always be war if there isn’t then the planet will be over populated unless we find a way to live on Mars.

@@imjustthere9343 Actually, all information strongly indicates that through a developed system of education and easy access to birth control, population growth is significantly curbed. If we can somehow unify the world (or at least uplift those areas plagued by poverty, lack of education or worse) then you'll find that humans will seek more from life than simply multiplying carelessly. We've seen this demonstrated quite well in first world societies. Overpopulation isn't an imminent threat even as it is though. There are far better ways to prevent it from becoming one than war.

People have more in common than differences. Also feels good to hear some nice things about U.S. Our own news and politicians would have us think we are the worst country in the world/ that has ever existed/source of all that is wrong and bad.

@ Otectus. You are correct, secular education is the best form of birth control and leads to more peaceful prosperous societies. Wars also lead to population booms afterwards, hence "boomers".

Congrats for making it into a youtube video and a really important one!

Nice

That’s sick!

One North Korean defector who made it to China was amazed at all the plastic containers as they were rare in NK. I was thinking about how plastic is a plague here in the US and they had none in NK.

My dad told me that they and we kept guns pointed at each other. We don't fire because of an armistice, but at the same time, we keep the guns aimed because all it is, is an armistice. Nothing more than just an agreement to stop firing.

The reason why North Koreans don't just "look right next-door" is because they're kept purposefully underdeveloped basically. They don't have phones, internet, tv, etc and if they do it's all used up for Communist/NK propaganda. They still have to communicate via letters. Hell only higher ups get to eat meat on days that aren't national holidays and even then it's only a tiny portion because their country is starving and it's all the fault of corrupt higher ups and the veil that Communism is a great thing while Capitalism and by proxy the US is a devilish hellspawn that kills children and needs to be eradicated. There is a game that they teach their children in NK, I can't remember what it's called but they basically use US cardboard cutouts and have children basically tear them apart. Their military even use US cutouts for target practice. It's how the higher-ups keep their people in check. If everyone has something to blame and hate that unifies them and they're never even allowed the opportunity to learn the truth then they have no reason to question their government. Because they know nothing else. Just to be transparent though I do have the game the kids play probably somewhat wrong. I can't remember the specifics of it but you get the idea. They use cardboard cut outs to basically brainwash the children to hate Americans from a very early age. I do want to make it clear that this isn't the fault of the parents as they were also taught this, it's the fault of the higher ups in the government who control all of it.

I was in Russia a few years ago. My wife and I developed a good relationship with our privately-hired tour guide and after a few days we asked if he and his wife would like to join us for dinner after work hours. I tell him I'd like a nice restaurant that serves traditional Russian food: the type of place outsiders don't go to but that a local would like. We go out for dinner, he brings his son, we have a lot of traditional food, we see a few sights afterwards and all have a really nice time. The next day I ask him what his wife thought of dinner. He says "They lied to us. Americans are nice people." - Goes to show you the evils of propaganda. I like thinking we combatted it a little that day.

@@dodgeplow you cant really blame the nk people south korea with us backing tried to genocide the north koreans without chinese intervention the nk people wouldnt exist anymore and us imperialism isnt a lie either us constantly attacks countries where they either started a civil war or a civil war is happening and if one side wins they benefit from it by turning the country into a nato military base and if the war has no benefits to us they and the nato dont care about it like for instance they attacked serbia in the kosovo war even thoe they recognised the people fighting in kosovo to be terrorists but beacuse they were given an option to turn kosovo into a nato base they attacked serbia and today kosovo is a nato military base simply beacuse serbia is allied to russia but they completly ignored Rwandan genocide beacuse it was in the middle of africa and it had no strategic meaning to intervene

@@dragnarok4286 Try using punctuation. It helps. Also, where do you see me blaming NK people?

@@dragnarok4286 I'm having difficulties reading the rest of your comment. It won't come up.

@@dodgeplow Is Emperor Chaos pro- or anti-American?

@Andre Hpunkt Have you seen his name on RU-vid before?

Thanks for your service!

Interesting last name, does it mean anything? And thank you for your service!

I'd say the majority of us are good people. With a few bad eggs.

@@sammyb3104 Always good to at least agree with yourselves when everyone else disagrees... Oh well, maybe you'll figure things out later on in life.

@@PLF... wtf are you on about?

he cant read english

But it puts a fresh perspective on society and actually how great a world we are able to live in.

Same it was so interesting getting to hear his experiences

I had an idea regarding what he said at the end, he spoke about how N Koreans can feel like outsiders in S Korea. Well, given the general public feeling in America about helping defectors, (and I don't have social media, so I'd love some input), but what it if people set up an account on Instagram or Facebook for the purpose of communicating with defectors in S Korea to make them feel less alone- maybe people who have learned Korean, or are Korean Americans. I think it'd be an effective way to do something to actually help them, rather than just lament on their situation and wish there were something to do (which is what I've been doing). Thanks for reading this and have a nice day!

Ikr, I don't get why other countries support them. Like what is nk giving them in return?

Dude wanted to blast Kim Jong's place lol.

@@figo3554 Well, China seems to be pretty much their only or main supporter. From their point of view they see NK as a cushion between the USA allied SK. Other countries hire NK workers for building projects because of the cheap labor.

@@AEPMUSlC I guess that makes sense. All we can do is hope KJU gets himself embargoed by china. And then (Hopefully with as little death as possible on both sides) the US or SK could invade and hopefully set up some infrastructure and care systems to help the people recover and come back strong.

​@@figo3554 I wouldn't count on China doing anything drastic about the current situation as long as USA have their hands in it. A foreign invasion of any kind would most likely result in high casualties for all parts. I'm guessing (and hoping) NK will slowly assimilate to the rest of the world over time.

It works especially well when the country is ridiculously isolated in every way imaginable so that the only source of information IS the propaganda. It's literally the only thing they have, and have had for generations. If you can keep your propaganda machine as the source of truth for more than 1 generation you win, because then it becomes oral tradition and families spread it for you. It is deeply effective and damned hard to undo.

ERAU has some very interesting people from some very interesting parts of the world! I wish Kosmolov the best!

Ken Rowe (No Kum-Sok) unfortunately passed on the 26th of December, last year.

Well said

Nah...

I think the veil stems from people in North Korea being indoctrinated at young age to think the US are horrible and they generally don't have great living standards. That's kinda the point of the video. Most western countries don't have that. I was in the US and the only thing that impressed me were the redwood trees and Yosemite. Anything else was just the same as in Europe but a bit bigger.

@@paulpaulington3907 No, I was definitely in awe of Yosemite. Just not of American culture in general. Just tell me what you guys have, aside from national parks, that makes you special?

@@Bundesverfassungsgehirn Well, I can't be imprisoned for gross offensiveness, so that's a plus.

Yup, korean soldiers got it tough. Both the south and the north ones.

@Dave The gamblers may contain a few corrupted individuals but certainly not the casinos. Have you any idea how stringently they're watched by the gaming commission? Prosecution, jailtime, and a casino closed indefinitely. It's not worth it for the casino owners to disregard the law.

The "for the capitalists" part is kinda off. It's more like "gamblers and capitalists", but otherwise sounds legit.

@@noelgeorgette3150 I was thinking more of the history of Vegas. The people who created and ran it for many decades were nearly all organized crime. It's entire existence is due to them.

It's the previous pro-North Korean administrations (Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in) who tricked the younger generation of South Koreans. Despite the different ruling party now, the pro-North Korean party still controls the education in South Korea. The older generations are very welcoming to the defectors.

They took him to Pelosi-ville. I wouldn't take guests there.

They will, no dictatorship lasts long lol

NK has gone an interesting route. It isn't fear of the regime, but the view that the regime was given to the people by God to protect them from others. So far it appears to be far more effective than just straight brutality. It allows them to put all the blame for ALL bad things onto external actors and they are trying as hard as they can to provide the best for everyone. They become the plucky underdog hero of the people. It's a twisted psychological game. It also only works when the people in question are so deeply isolated that the only source of information they have is the government.

@@mycroft16 I am pretty sure there is a lot of fear as so many starve to death, placed in detention camps, and are executed for even minor transgressions. But they are also indoctrinated from earliest childhood into the personality cult of the Un family and are kept in a closed information loop - think Fox, Newsmax, and OANN all rolled into one.

I like history. History taught me 70 years ain’t shit

The older generations of South Koreans see them as victims, too. It's the younger generation who grew up during the pro-North Korean administrations (Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in) in South Korea and learned the wrong history. Despite the new administration, the previous ruling party still controls the education in South Korea. The defectors are against the North Korean regime and are against communism. This is where the defectors get into a disagreement with the younger generation of South Koreans.

Yeah thats the part where I was like "did you see something different? Did you visit the wrong LV?" 😂😂

I had an idea regarding what he said at the end, he spoke about how N Koreans can feel like outsiders in S Korea. Well, given the general public feeling in America about helping defectors, (and I don't have social media, so I'd love some input), but what it if people set up an account on Instagram or Facebook for the purpose of communicating with defectors in S Korea to make them feel less alone- maybe people who have learned Korean, or are Korean Americans. I think it'd be an effective way to do something to actually help them, rather than just lament on their situation and wish there were something to do (which is what I've been doing). Thanks for reading this and have a nice day!

When a place is so rotten that the tin pot tyrant doesn't even need to lie about it.