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Comment by userbinator | Hacker News Reader

Presumably including North Korea? (Due to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44033310 currently on the front page.)

He had a longer blog entry for North Korea, but I like how the FAQ summarized it as "DPRK is a far more normal country than what we are lead to believe".

The rest of the FAQ is great reading as well:

https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/more/faq

> Propaganda. Isn’t that just telling people what you want them to believe? If so then there’s plenty of it to go around. In the USA the republicans have one story and the democrats have another. DPRK has its version of the events which unfolded throughout and after the Korean War. Is propaganda being spread in DPRK? Yes...I’m sure it is. However I have quickly come to believe that there is far more propaganda being spread outside of DPRK about the country than within it. When I enter a country today I do that with the experience of visiting and analyzing 175 other countries. I’ve been observing DPRK and what I have seen are just people being people. You can’t interact with the people. They are clearly not interested or maybe they are afraid to interact with foreigners. There could be consequences I imagine? DPRK is not a country which promotes individual freedom.

You don’t say…

I think the GP is meant to say that it is somehow a functioning country (contrary to what clueless westerners believe), but that doesn't mean that it is [EDIT: was "isn't"] in the good state. Just that the belief is too strong to be true.

Added 2025-05-20T08:40: I realized what happened, double negations ruined the comment. I'm very much aware that DPRK has serious human rights problem and economic issues (after all, I am South Korean), and it also makes use of a western curiosity for business, but they are often exaggerated to the completely impossible extent.

They recently held the Olympics, yes they are a functioning country. Or are westerners too clueless to make that connection?

A functioning country is the bare minimum requirement. The recount of experience here does not mean that somehow the country isn’t horribly repressed and poverty-stricken.

You are definitely confusing North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea (ROK) from each other.

You are very correct.

> They recently held the Olympics, yes they are a functioning country. Or are westerners too clueless to make that connection?

It's not those westerners who are clueless...

NK capital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyongyang

SK county where Olympics were held: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyeongchang_County

Yes, it's #176 on his list of countries:

https://www.onceuponasaga.dk/journey

The article said all 195 UN countries, so yes.

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