Jeebus. Are they being punished by having their food with-held as well?
/Suspicious of the article.

wild9: sucks they do not have oil.

Would be interesting to see what China would have done with them, and the US response.

Solzhenytsyn, in "Gulag Archipelago", describes a scene in some remote Soviet commune one day, when a commissar or similar stooge began a cheer after one of Stalin's asinine speeches (Stalin was still alive). Everyone started applauding...and then NO ONE COULD STOP. Who would dare to be first? It went on for over ten minutes and people were starting to get faint from exhaustion. But the stooge was standing up front, watching everyone carefully. Finally some brave soul sat down, the applause stopped, the meeting went on. And the guy who dared to stop first was disappeared the next day.

Anytime anyone tells you we're living in a "police state" or similar nonsense, just smile sadly and go on about your business.

jeanwearinfool: I wonder how the food is at the labor camps is. Might be preferable to civilian life.

There's a testimony of a woman who escaped from Best Korea after spending some time in a concentration camp. She says (among other lovely things) that prisoners have to eat "edible clay" and tree bark because the corn and cabbage rations are so small.

olddinosaur: Nexzus: Their source seems dubious at best (can they really keep track of all their citizens), but I had wondered how many of those public mourning videos were pure propaganda.

All of them.

Pyongyang is the center of government, and all the civil "servants" live there, as well as a good percentage of the Army.

If I order my staff to show up at a specific place, and the Army does the same, people will turn out. In Best Korea, you can get 4 years hard labor for failing to show a picture of Great Leader abnd Dear Leader in your home.

Their entire society seems based on propaganda and punishment. That said, I still wonder how many people there truly do "believe." I mean, when you're born into a cult and you're never exposed to information that questions or illuminates that fact, I would think many people would grow up believing the insanity. When I was there I had an interesting conversation with a North Korean over beer in our hotel. I didn't come out and ask him what he thought of his country and their system (obviously he wouldn't/couldn't be truthful in that regard), but I did banter questions to him in an effort to see if I could grok his true thoughts, and I have to say he seemed fairly convincing to me. That said, if my ass was on the line like his was, I'd probably be an amazing actor as well.

SBinRR: In the book Nothing to Envy, the defectors said that when Kim Il Sung died, it was mandatory for everyone to pay their respects, and they were monitored for compliance on the meeting the proper amount of anguish and tears. They were expected to be over the top in their mourning.

So, this isn't a surprise.

Great book.

Republicans were looking for a similar solution for those who didn't tear up when Reagan died.

ISO15693: What happens if you add a little soul music to a North Korean Parade? (new window)

Snerk. +1