The problem with reporting on the DPRK is that information is extremely limited on what is actually going on there. Most reports come from defectors, and said defectors are notoriously dubious in their accounts, something the WikiPedia page on Media Coverage of North Korea spells out quite clearly.
That Wikipedia page is deeply problematic. Do you know who Felix Abt is? He’s one of a few businessmen who went into business in North Korea specifically to get rich off the backs of slave labor there, pioneering the use of the “China +1” strategy to avoid export restrictions for items that are partially manufactured in North Korea and subject to sanctions.
And as you yourself point out, he’s the source on a lot of attempts to whitewash the North Korean government’s treatment of people.
Because of these issues, there is a long history of what we consider legitimate news sources of reporting and then walking back stories. Even the famous “120 dogs” execution ended up to have been a fabrication originating in a Chinese satirical column, reported entirely seriously and later walked back by some news outlets. The famous “unicorn lair” story ended up being a misunderstanding:
I’m not saying that news reports never get it wrong, but do you have reason to believe this report is wrong?
Regarding the haircuts, you are correct that they weren’t specifically state-mandated, but this really did happen. In 2005, they really did run a series on state television called, “Let us trim our hair in accordance with Socialist lifestyle.”
You can watch it online yourself if you look for it, so don’t pretend it didn’t happen.
Finally, the fact that Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe receive U.S. government funding doesn’t mean their stories are fictitious. RFA has a sterling fact-checking record.
I didn’t merely link a single source with respect to the “defector storytelling industry,” but an entire documentary on the subject. I can find more sources if you prefer, it’s quite well-documented. Yeonmi Park is a famous “celebrity defector” and her claims are often contradictory.
As for this particular article? The source appears to be The Sun, citing a tangential article from Radio Free Asia, with a final source appearing to be… nothing. The RFA article was on tteokbokki and budae-jjigae, not hot dogs, and the RFA source for that article? “Residents in the country.” In short, there is no hard proof, neither in this article nor the original RFA article.
As for RFA, they have been called out on sharing misleading or fabricated information regarding geopolitical enemies of the US, such as anti-vaccine misinformation about Chinese vaccines. The RFA’s speciality is reporting on United States Geopolitical adversaries, and given that the United States government has a dedicated interest in drumming up negative opinion on them, you have means (no listed source beyond “residents”) and motive. The track record isn’t “sterling,” but “mixed,” I’d say, considering issues like the anti-vaxx misinfo, unless you back that as well (I certainly hope not). The reporter for the tteokbokki article is Moon Sung Whui, who appears to have only been reporting since a few months back in late 2024, so either this is a pseudonym for a reporter who wishes to remain anyonymous, a brand-new reporter, or a ficticious one, even if searching in Hangol as 문성휘 (which they go by in the Korean version of the article).
Even if you accept the RFA article as 100% accurate, that’s not what this article is, as this article originates from The Sun. We don’t even need to discredit the RFA, but understand that this is a completely unverified report from a tabloid being uncritically passed around. Clickbait makes money, and everyone believes anything about the DPRK. That was the point about the haircut video, anyways: misinfo isn’t always entirely inaccurate, it usually relies on subversion based on kernals of truth, or uncritical reporting of dubious sources, ie the source may be “true” in that someone did claim such and such claim, but the validity of the claim is left unquestioned.
The RFA article was dubious, but this is just a copy pasted Sun article as a clickbait based on the first RFA article.
That Wikipedia page is deeply problematic. Do you know who Felix Abt is? He’s one of a few businessmen who went into business in North Korea specifically to get rich off the backs of slave labor there, pioneering the use of the “China +1” strategy to avoid export restrictions for items that are partially manufactured in North Korea and subject to sanctions.
And as you yourself point out, he’s the source on a lot of attempts to whitewash the North Korean government’s treatment of people.
I’m not saying that news reports never get it wrong, but do you have reason to believe this report is wrong?
Regarding the haircuts, you are correct that they weren’t specifically state-mandated, but this really did happen. In 2005, they really did run a series on state television called, “Let us trim our hair in accordance with Socialist lifestyle.”
You can watch it online yourself if you look for it, so don’t pretend it didn’t happen.
Finally, the fact that Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe receive U.S. government funding doesn’t mean their stories are fictitious. RFA has a sterling fact-checking record.
I didn’t merely link a single source with respect to the “defector storytelling industry,” but an entire documentary on the subject. I can find more sources if you prefer, it’s quite well-documented. Yeonmi Park is a famous “celebrity defector” and her claims are often contradictory.
As for this particular article? The source appears to be The Sun, citing a tangential article from Radio Free Asia, with a final source appearing to be… nothing. The RFA article was on tteokbokki and budae-jjigae, not hot dogs, and the RFA source for that article? “Residents in the country.” In short, there is no hard proof, neither in this article nor the original RFA article.
As for RFA, they have been called out on sharing misleading or fabricated information regarding geopolitical enemies of the US, such as anti-vaccine misinformation about Chinese vaccines. The RFA’s speciality is reporting on United States Geopolitical adversaries, and given that the United States government has a dedicated interest in drumming up negative opinion on them, you have means (no listed source beyond “residents”) and motive. The track record isn’t “sterling,” but “mixed,” I’d say, considering issues like the anti-vaxx misinfo, unless you back that as well (I certainly hope not). The reporter for the tteokbokki article is Moon Sung Whui, who appears to have only been reporting since a few months back in late 2024, so either this is a pseudonym for a reporter who wishes to remain anyonymous, a brand-new reporter, or a ficticious one, even if searching in Hangol as 문성휘 (which they go by in the Korean version of the article).
Even if you accept the RFA article as 100% accurate, that’s not what this article is, as this article originates from The Sun. We don’t even need to discredit the RFA, but understand that this is a completely unverified report from a tabloid being uncritically passed around. Clickbait makes money, and everyone believes anything about the DPRK. That was the point about the haircut video, anyways: misinfo isn’t always entirely inaccurate, it usually relies on subversion based on kernals of truth, or uncritical reporting of dubious sources, ie the source may be “true” in that someone did claim such and such claim, but the validity of the claim is left unquestioned.
The RFA article was dubious, but this is just a copy pasted Sun article as a clickbait based on the first RFA article.
He WANTS to believe.
And I might want to leave this Community.
Not because of the Article, but because of the behavior of its Admin.