
Getting drunk in North Korea - awwstn
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/getting-drunk-in-north-korea/279310/
======
Jongseong
As a South Korean living abroad, I am regularly asked about North Korea by
curious foreigners despite having no special expertise on the subject besides
having followed the news all my life by the virtue of being from the south of
the DMZ. One of the most difficult things to convey, even to fellow South
Koreans, is the fact that North Korea is as complex as any human society. For
most people, North Korea is the very definition of the Great Unknown, and we
tend to imagine such things as monoliths (it is incredible for instance how
many outsiders seem to picture Africa as one giant mass of starvation,
disease, and war, and are astonished to see anything that doesn't fit the
preconception like bustling modern cities with a thriving middle class).

It is easy to describe the lack of freedoms, cult of personality, massive
prison camps, the _songbun_ caste system and total lack of civil society in
North Korea, leaving the curious foreigner shaking her head at the bizarreness
and monstrosity of it all. But it is also easy to forget that this is a
society inhabited by flesh and blood humans, not ruthless robots and their
abstract oppressed victims. We don't get to see much of this side of course.
But in some ways in the last decade or so North Korea has been creeping
towards something close to normalcy, albeit far from ideal—corrupt officials,
flourishing black markets, extreme disparities in wealth, and even cross-
border trade with China. Nothing to portend a Soviet-style collapse of course,
but even the slightest increase in openness is something we should welcome.

------
ggreer
My favorite book about the DPRK is Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North
Korea ([http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-
ebook/dp/B...](http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-
ebook/dp/B002ZB26AO/)).

I'm hopeful that the DPRK is moving toward modernity, but if the stories from
that book are anywhere close to the truth, they are still by far the most evil
regime on the planet.

~~~
dominotw
Even though I liked the book. I was not a big fan of story telling style.

> far the most evil regime on the planet.

That should be reserved for The American Empire. IMHO.

~~~
nether
You never see these comments on the DPRK articles mentioning the torture, mass
executions, widespread starvation, and labor camps. Just on the lighter ones
about visiting the country.

~~~
steveklabnik
> torture

waterboarding, etc

> mass executions

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Iraq...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Iraqi_civilian_casualties)

drone strikes, etc.

> widespread starvation

[http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-
facts/chi...](http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/child-
hunger-facts.aspx)

People aren't dying here, so it's not the same, but 16.7 million children
lived in food insecure households in 2011... not to mention that _we_ have a
lot to do with DPRK starvation and famine.

> labor camps

Private prisons, Guantanamo Bay, etc.

I actually found this quote from the article to be quite good:

> It’s simplistic to dismiss North Koreans as brainwashed masses; in fact, we
> have more in common than we think.

~~~
tsotha
Be careful. When you stretch that far you can injure your back.

------
Mikeb85
While there's no doubt that North Korea's regime is cruel and oppressive, and
that they're very poor by generally accepted standards of measuring wealth,
I've also seen quite a few documentaries suggesting that North Korea is also
very different than how we view it.

I've seen one where a tourist sneaks a video camera into the DPRK, and manages
to take quite a bit of video, and in many ways they're not so different from
us. In most ways, actually.

They drink, go out for picnics, celebrate holidays, and do alot of the
'normal' things we do. The country looks clean, and the people aren't all
walking skeletons.

I think the truth about DPRK is somewhere in between our western propaganda,
and the communist propaganda... With a bit of sci-fi weirdness thrown in for
good measure...

~~~
pyre
Even with "sneaking in a video camera," most outsiders are only allowed a view
of North Korea that doesn't see the bad things. I know there are instances of
people seeing parts of the country that aren't on the guided tour, but these
are few and far-between, and usually don't include foreigners given free reign
to wander over the country-side to see what they can see.

~~~
CrankyPants
Yeah. Taking photos they'd rather one didn't has gotten people doing hard
labor for a decade and a half.

------
threeseed
It's very common for foreigners staying at that hotel to get drunk every
night. There is no internet, no other recreations and you aren't allowed to
leave the hotel. And their home brewed beer is actually pretty good.

Surprised they never mentioned the bowling alley / video game parlour which is
hugely popular amongst the children of the well to do.

------
azernik

      "Governments in Communist countries often resort to subsidizing alcohol in order to keep people happy," Petrov explains.
    

My impression of the Soviet alcohol policy was actually the other way around -
alcohol was tightly regulated and sold at high markups, which (maybe not
surprisingly) was a barrier to actual attempts to reduce alcoholism, since the
state budget was so dependent on the sales.

