We’re told all the time that if one were to say anything bad about Kim Jong un, they and their family would be executed.

Young Pioneer Tours mentions that, while you won’t be executed, the consequences of criticizing Kim could be severe.

What’s the truth behind all this?

  • @big_spoon
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    71 year ago

    define “criticize”…could a guy seen as a cruel dictator outside dprk be so fragile that he would amount to torture random citizens?

    • SovereignState
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      1 year ago

      I think qualifying “criticism” is super important here, I don’t know explicitly from the DPRK but I do know in other nations where “criticism” and “free speech” are curtailed, that doesn’t mean that saying you dislike a leader or disagree with their policies or whatever will get you in trouble. These “authoritarian” laws usually are in place to explicitly target bad actor NGOs and media outlets, especially of the foreign-infiltrator variety. So there is a major difference between “I wish the DPRK had a more parliamentary system” vs. astroturfed organizations campaigning for the overthrow of the WPK and the installation of comprador leaders. The Supreme People’s Assembly has self-identified social-democrats within it, so obviously some amount of substantial disagreement is tolerated.

      It also almost certainly depends on if the speech is coming from a foreigner or a native citizen, especially Amerikans and Europeans. I would wager an Amerikan saying shit would likely be interrogated and arrested for a while on suspicion of being a foreign agent of a hostile power, and later let go if it’s found that they were just running their mouth. But in this speculative case, who can blame the DPRK? Amerikans waltzing into the nation they leveled with carpet bombs and telling them that akshyually they’re doing government wrong… it’s not a good look.