RIP Jang Song Thaek

[Mage246]

We are all imperialist scum who want to destroy the prosperity created under Wise and Benevolent leader's rule, is the official line. Some other information gets in via cell phones and China, but the perpetual onslaught that is the NK propaganda machine is quite effective at drowning that out.

 

[Wellenbrecher]

Do North Koreans know that the rest of the world is populated by humans? I mean they clearly know there are other nations out there, but do they know they're not the only people? Like, do they just think America is full of orcs or something?

They are told they're one of the most free and prosperous people on this planet and that especially South Korea is dirt poor and suffering under the rule of a capitalist dictatorship.
I wonder how much headache that's giving the propaganda folks that have to control those North Koreans that work for SK companies in the free trade zone thingamajig. Producing stuff that's luxury by NK standards en masse for the "dirt poor" people in SK, hah.

 

[Mad Vader]

Well, people are getting executed for watching smuggled SK TV shows, so at least some try to be better informed. But then get informed on.

 

[Kevlar]

I wonder what's gonna happen if Un dies? Does he have an heir? Because let's face it he's more likely to go full Kronos and eat his babies than raise them.

It took them a while to even say he had a wife didn't it?

For all we know she could be pregnant (not even with his child) and nobody would know.

 

[Sir Saladin]

I think he's part god so he'll live for at least two hundred years before he even has to worry about stuff like that.

 

[Feragorn]

y'all mother****ers need juche

 

[Dodes]

Juche is weird.

 

[Jhessail]

Uh, NK has abandoned the idea of convincing the population that SK is poorer than them. Now, they mostly go with the "all NK folks are treated as sub-human scum and slaves"-line instead. And owning a TV-set is not automatically grounds for execution, otherwise there wouldn't be anyone left alive anywhere near the border.

 

[Wellenbrecher]

Speaking about NK and all that, I'm currently watching this.
Another interesting Vice trip (sort of) to NK. This one shows a lot of "normal" people, at least compared to the other ones.

I really recommend their trip with Rodman that was in the news last year or whenever. Really cool.
The first one with the Vice founder is pretty damn cool as well.
As is the one about NK workers in Russia.

 

[Moose!]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/03/22156917-kim-jong-uns-executed-uncle-was-eaten-alive-by-120-hungry-dogs-report

 

[Wellenbrecher]

Oh wow

 

[Dodes]

Wow .... that's like .... classic evil badguy stuff.

 

[Mad Vader]

I don't believe it. Seems like a plant from some Chinese faction that wants to vilify the NK regime. The South Koreans would have known about it and told the world already. Unless someone else confirms it, it's a piece of propaganda.
Besides, isn't it more likely that the uncle would have eaten the dogs? 

 

[Falkner92]

If the guy was such a problem, couldn't Fatso just make him disappear, or suffer a hunting accident?  Maybe His Chubbyness wanted to make a show of power to his other generals.

Tbh, I'm not sure if the old man was even really conspiring against him or not, what I think is really happening is that there's a faction in the North Korean regime that wanted to capitalize on Jong-Il's death to maybe institute some kind of reform and Lardo decided he'd make an example out of uncle dearest to intimidate them. Maybe they saw the old man as a possible replacement?

It's hard to know for sure.

 

[Sir Saladin]

According to a regular old newspaper I read he was executed with anti-aircraft machine gun fire, which is weird but not so hard to believe. It's death by a firing squad but they go that extra mile for special detainees.

Anyway, you would have to have some special dogs who would be willing to eat the flesh of a dying man. I'd be more willing to believe it if they reported that he had been eaten by starving pigs like in the Hannibal Lecter novel or that movie Snatch.

 

[BenKenobi]

According to a regular old newspaper I read he was executed with anti-aircraft machine gun fire, which is weird but not so hard to believe. It's death by a firing squad but they go that extra mile for special detainees.

I would be probably easier to assemble him back after being eaten by dogs than shot at by AAA. I pity the poor Korean cleaning ladies.

 

[Mad Vader]

So it was satire, turned into a story by journalist hacks:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/06/story-kim-jong-un-uncle-fed-dogs-made-up

It sounded just believable enough to catch on: Kim Jong-Un executed his uncle Jang Song-Thaek by having him stripped naked and fed to a pack of starving dogs.

Yet the story, which was first reported by a Hong Kong tabloid and then picked up in the western press, apparently originated with a satirical post on a Chinese social media network, turning a thinly-sourced horror story into an astonishing example of the media echo chamber gone awry.

 

[Mage246]

I wouldn't say that I ever considered it believable. Your response seemed to cover it, so I didn't chime in.

 

[Bromden]

But Dear Uncle is still dead, ain't he?

 

[Mage246]

Idk, in the Kim dynasty no one ever really dies - they just ascend to a higher plane and continue to advise the nation from beyond the grave. Granted he wasn't a blood relation, so maybe that doesn't apply. I predict that one day they will rebuild his reputation in order to take credit for his successes.