This one is made by the North Korean government. Very interesting and well done.
This one is a bit boring. All in Korean. Kim Jong Il and his son visit a new apartment complex that is very modern and well built on the outside. On the inside, it also looks modern and well-done from a 1st World point of view. Pretty nice to get a guaranteed apartment that you will never be thrown out of for any reason as long as you work and don’t break the law! That’s one great thing about Communism – a guaranteed roof over your head. Got to love it.
We all know about the horrors of the North Korean regime. In particular, the prison camp system is a catastrophe from a human rights POV.But I really tire of the endless anti-North Korean “hate propaganda” in the form of videos, documentaries and news stories that we get fed in the West. We know the story! We’ve heard it a thousand times! Do you think we could hear the other side of the story for once?
But things do seem to be opening up. There are now 1 million cellphones in the country and the government can no longer control information so well so that with the launch and failure of the latest rocket, the government admitted the failure of the rocket since they figured people would find out about it anyway.
The place needs to be a lot more open. North Korea spent $1 billion on the rocket and they will spend $2 billion on Kim Jong Il’s funeral celebration. Supposedly North Korea can cure its food crisis for the next few years by spending only $1 billion. Why not cut the celebration spending in half – $2 billion instead of $1 billion, and solve your food problems for a few years? Any decent Communist country would put basic food supply above rockets and especially state celebrations.
So you can see why so many of us on the Left are exasperated with North Korea.
Alpha Unit
jacobbauthumley
Robert Lindsay
Just the most effusive praise for the Great Leader who has financed this modern, exquisite, stylish apartment complex where no shortcuts were taken. Pains and effort were taken to the maximum in its construction.
The artist families are thankful from the their hearts.
The Great Leader requests the girl study hard. While he will do what he can to satisfy the requirements of a leader. The Great Leader makes strides to overcome the hurdles his own family faces. With deep heart he raises his own. Overcome your own daily strife and trouble. The Great Leader is here.
And it’s wonderful that he is taking pictures and receiving the gifts of gratitude from the tenants. It’s just a happy family.
More of these elegant, modern apartments with their beautiful location and sight lines will be financed by the Great Leader for the benefit of our workers as well as our officials.
As the children sing, the Great Leader listens with care. Etc. etc.
There could easily be a guaranteed roof over your head in England. There is a problem for homeless people that they can’t claim benefits without an address and can’t get a place to live with no deposit. Just either have more council houses to put them in without a deposit, or have the state put up deposits for people as an aspect of social security and help them find an apartment. It could be solved so easily. This is the socialist part of the system of course.
If there are good things in north Korea, I would like to hear about them. I just heard about scarce food, electricity and petrol, a crippled economy and a brainwashed, repressed population. Sounds like a God awful place to live.
Give me South Korea any day- highly developed and free.
and by the way, you can’t tell anything from the apartments and supermarkets in the North Korean propaganda films. That’s what they want you to see. If anybody thinks that’s how it is in North Korea, that’s very very naive.
I have seen the apartments of average North Koreans in Pyongyang. They are pretty nice little apartments, not a problem at all. The ones in that movie are in a nice new building though. There is good housing in the rural areas too. Housing is not really a problem in North Korea. They have dealt with it well.
Here is a thought: any country that has cold winters has its act together on housing. It has to. You can’t have African or Indian shacks in a cold country. You need good quality buildings which provide shelter, by necessity, or you just don’t survive the winter. Winters are bitter in North Korea with over a month of snow, even worse in the northern mountains.
I’m interested in this, climate and economic development. There seems to be a pattern. All the most developed countries are at the top of the map, where its the climate is coolest. In South America, Argentina and Chile are the most developed (and seem to me the most European)- the southernmost, coolest, countries. In the United States, the north eastern states are wealthier (and safer) than the deep south. Then look at the most fucked up, poverty ridden places: sub-Saharan Africa and India. And the most crime ridden are African and central & northern South America. All in the tropics.
On a hot day, you don’t feel like doing anything and you can sit around with few clothes on and sleep outdoors. There isn’t the same impetus for development.
I started googling cold, poor-ish, countries like Mongolia and Kazakhstan to look at the housing and buildings. I just discovered a really cool looking city, Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Seriously, take a look through these images. This place looks freaking awesome:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=astana&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=37iVT_W1Mobw8QPMrsmjCg&ved=0CEsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=605&sei=L7mVT9PrCpGq8AO-qpDnCQ
to complete my theory: it may seem that north Africa and the middle east is an exception since it is an extremely hot desert zone. However, it actually seems that all the most undeveloped, fuck up places are in the tropics. The Arab world is outside of the tropics and is a desert, not tropical climate. Desert might be a harsh enough environment in its own way to spare development or innovation. Also, mitigating factors could be oil wealth, the Islamic religion and proximity to Europe.
Take a look at the world map with the equator and tropics shown and think about the pattern of development. Its startling.
*well most of the Arab world…part of Arabian peninsula is in the tropics but its desert, like I said, plus the other things I said.
Also, when you are looking, notice where the big cities in Australia are-, i.e. the south east. There really must be something in this.
Map showing tropical zone:
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=605&tbm=isch&tbnid=HJb8VKAm-uq7DM:&imgrefurl=http://www.liv.ac.uk/geography/research_projects/epidemics/map_world_region.htm&docid=zsRPwepBLTlHfM&imgurl=http://www.liv.ac.uk/geography/research_projects/epidemics/Images/Maps/tropics.gif&w=811&h=476&ei=EdWVT5mTJIfD8QOLn6maCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=94&vpy=294&dur=1246&hovh=172&hovw=293&tx=185&ty=56&sig=111226889266179293639&page=1&tbnh=94&tbnw=161&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0,i:80
Yea it’s an oldie (seen it years ago) – filmed when Shane & gang weren’t filming Japanese Candy Girl Doll Brothels & Ladyboys in Pattaya …
THREE movies about North Korea… and the next part… and the next part… and the next part.http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6oIu0RpDEWQ
Part 5 was pretty sad