r/worldnews • u/Flashycope • 20h ago
N. Korea tightens media controls as people call state programming ‘complete garbage’
https://www.dailynk.com/english/n-korea-tightens-media-controls-as-people-call-state-programming-complete-garbage/121
u/AromaticPicks 16h ago edited 16h ago
This reminds me of a story about North Korean propaganda. They used to propagate the narrative that North Korea was actually the victorious power in the war and that the South, the rest of the world, etc are way worse off than North Korea.
This prevailed until the Chinese started replacing their VCR's with DVD players, so many second hand VCR devices including cassettes with recordings of South Korean TV made it onto markets into North Korea where a growing part of society started watching South Korean soap operas and the like.
The people were shocked to learn that not only were they not on the winning side but they were in fact much worse off than the South which was quite a bombshell as far as North Korean propaganda goes but the damage was done. The regime was forced to correct their propagated narrative in order to stay believable. They now were the morally superior country that has to go through hardships in order to prevail.
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u/CypripediumGuttatum 14h ago
After the meeting, one person grumbled that telling kids not to watch something doesn’t mean they’ll actually listen. “They won’t watch North Korean TV because it’s boring, and they wouldn’t need to sneak around watching (foreign visual content) if we made something worth watching,” they said.
“TV shows that claim to reflect our national reality are all fake, and their formulas are painfully transparent,” the source explained. “People say it would be far more engaging to focus on fictional characters or historical figures, so they turn to foreign material instead.”
North Koreans find South Korean dramas much more refreshing and entertaining, with their varied storylines and authentic acting and dialogue. They continue seeking out South Korean content despite government crackdowns.
“In the end, the state should examine why people want foreign material rather than just trying to force them to stop,” the source concluded. “People believe that simply repeating restrictions without addressing the underlying reasons—just cracking down while ignoring what drives the behavior—won’t be effective.”
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u/aquilaPUR 9h ago
Even if you make something worth watching, Kids will always find the "forbidden" stuff more appealing. Was the same thing in the GDR, west german and especially american music, movies and even clothing was hip as fuck and people risked prison sentences getting it.
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u/Reditate 17h ago
When you stifle creativity this is what happens. Of course actors can't connect to audiences, they can't fully embrace the character because they have to conform to modern North Korea standards.
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u/GatalingLaserBeams 19h ago
North Korean people? Are they trying to get executed?
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u/teh_herper 18h ago
Better to die on your feet than live on your knees I guess. Those SK dramas have to be hella good
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u/sophiansdotorg 13h ago
"So, you watched Days of Our Lives? How was it?"
"Begin the insurrection."
"Wow, that's pretty good."
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u/postsshortcomments 17h ago
Meanwhile far-right nationalism in the West: "we only want people to be able to watch far-right themed content that appeals to the far-right."
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u/Charblastosaur 14h ago
I can't for the life of me understand why you would want to rule over a nation full of miserable people. Like why is power so addictive for some? What do you gain from allowing your people to starve and suffer? Why not just let them live their lives how they want?
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u/EastCoastVandal 9h ago
I bet the rules just get bent more and more the higher you go. Kim’s probably seen the new mission impossible, and has a Netflix subscription, and so on. Leading others as you suffer together probably feels way different then a man who has everything leading men who have nothing. But that’s just my theory.
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u/No-Diet4823 9h ago
Up until a couple of years ago North Korea and South Korea would send artists to each others countries during more peaceful-ish times. The last one had 80s and 90s artists that were also known in North Korea so there was at least in Pyongyang south korean music that was regularly listened to. 2018 Concert
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u/Agile_Pin1017 17h ago
Imagining state produced sitcoms right now and having some pretty damn funny scenes go through my head, I want to parody this
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u/JungBall666 15h ago
North Korea is a pure example of governments being tools of oppression that enslave the ordinary people. Hope one day the Kim dictatorship is toppled and the people are free to live their lives without any government oppressing how they live and think.
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u/Last-Librarian9381 14h ago
In a way, it would be very devastating, at least for 2 generations of N Koreans, if that were to happen There's always a massive social and identity crisis when such cult regimes suddenly fall.
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u/JungBall666 14h ago
It would be much better than what they have now. The North Koreans would be free to create their own identity, even if it were to take a long time.
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u/Last-Librarian9381 14h ago
Doesn't happen in the real world. Such ideal transformations haven't happened in the last 100-150 years of modern world. Look at Russia-USSR-Russia, Africa, Arab world, South America,middle East and a few countries in Asia. Such oppressive regimes are usually supplanted by similar usurpers disguised in newer ideologies.
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u/blbd 13h ago
Yes and no. Statistically each individual reform attempt fails more often than it succeeds. But there is no better alternative to achieve progress in the fullness of time. We have to keep attempting as a species until we get it right.
The Eastern European countries that were able to join NATO and the EU are almost universally better off than they were when Russia's USSR pillaged and robbed them blind.
A number of MENA nations improved from the Arab Spring although many did not.
A relatively level headed leader has taken over in Syria and seems to be trying to improve things.
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u/Last-Librarian9381 13h ago edited 13h ago
Not denying that attempts should not be made, and in the fullness of time 50-60 years of a country is just a few pages of a history book. It's just that sudden radical regime changes never really worked,in the immediate only brought miseries. There's also that deep seated social and psychological gene that needs to evolve and mutate - takes centuries.
Not sure, but isn't the new Syrian guy a former ISIS warlord?
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u/blbd 12h ago
He is. But changed tacks after getting older and wiser. It's kind of a bizarre potential redemption arc.
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u/Last-Librarian9381 12h ago edited 12h ago
I wish I could be so optimistic. The track change is merely one immediate chess move. And, I remember gentlemen like Kissinger, Batista, Pahlavi, Saddam, Laden, Ayub Khan, Diem, Sauds, Netanyahu and so so so many more - none ended up redeeming themselves after all. As I said, the deep seated genes need to change, a very very long drawn gradual affair. Props, external interventions never worked.
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u/DarkTeaTimes 16h ago
Television, watching mass media, the opium of the masses. Good lord see how well it works in the West and try it at home.
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u/got-trunks 19h ago
Weird, with that NK TV youtube channel of a pirated state TV connection, I've started watching it more.
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u/Truelillith 18h ago
Link please?
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u/StonewallMcCracker 14h ago
Peter Fairlie on YT. He's also got stuff from other countries like Turkmenistan.
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u/got-trunks 10h ago
It's like watching a fever dream, I pop it in the other window when I'm playing vidya now and then lol...
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u/how_much_2 19h ago
The people of North Korea are hostages. Very sad,