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Comment by perihelions | Hacker News Reader

- "We heard that the girls stay in the Hotel (yes, upstairs) and they are seldom allowed out and that they do not get paid or if they do, the amount is for pocket money as everything from food and lodging to basic necessities are provided by the State."

In more straightforward language: these are slaves.

[late edit]: Here's more about how these slave women are treated:

- "In contrast, he said the high achievers are rewarded with a trip to a North Korean restaurant, where they can pick one of the waitresses to spend the evening with. The top employee of the month gets to choose first. He likened it to a hostess bar - and accused managers of "preying on young men's sexual urges, to get them to compete and bring in more money"."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68226271 ("North Koreans working in China 'exploited like slaves" (2024))

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> We found out that the girls are all from elite North Korean families. The one that served us shared politely that she has worked at this restaurant for one and the half years and all of them are University graduates who consider this their duty and only opportunity to work and serve their country by sharing their culture and food.

I imagine it is worse for the people who aren't children of elite families, nor able to learn Mandarin to get a chance at spending a few years as a restaurant slave.

There is a weird phenomenon I saw on some parts of Lemmy where people decide that, "because America is bad, therefore all its adversaries are good," so they'll be online praising every action from North Korea.

Unfortunately, this is an extremely common way of thinking. It's one of the reasons flinging dirt in politics is so effective I think.

I wonder if there is any connection with this way of thinking and the many David vs Goliath style stories we get as a kid. Maybe we need more stories for children where every character is bad, or every character is good.

There can still be conflict to provide an interesting story between two good parties, or between two bad parties.

I liked Princess Mononoke a lot as a kid because of the ambiguity in most of the characters. No one was truly evil, or truly good in their actions.

I definitely noticed it was different than most media at the time because of that.

I read their comment and immediately thought of the same movie. That story did moral shades of gray very well. I do wish there was more content like that.

I've conceptualized this in the following way: be most skeptical of narratives that are strongly aligned with the mainstream narrative (more room for ignorance or malice; see Harvey Weinstein), and then most skeptical of narratives that are strongly contrary to the mainstream narrative. Binary categories of good and bad, us and them, right and wrong are an easy trap. To counter this, seek out many narratives (which are not made equal) and consolidate. To truly understand a perspective is the most we can expect out of someone, as they may not agree.

Correct, do you want your child to be starving, cold, and without electricity or do you want them to at least be a restaurant slave?

I’m sure the girls can’t escape or their families will be killed.

That's what I mean, if even the people with means are opting for restaurant slavery for themselves or their children, the rest of the country is obviously in dire condition. People with means within the country are living lives they consider worse than restaurant slavery. People without means must be suffering yet worse conditions than whatever that is.

And so I find it astonishing that people online are willfully deluding themselves into praising this country.

it's fake news. she is employee , boss pay money 4000up RMB

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