Good work by the reporter but bear with her narrating skills. At times it is difficult to determine if she is translating what somebody else said or speaking in the first person. All a bit monotone.

However..... <deleted>:

"Most respected leader in the world"

"We won the war"

"When America invaded N. Korea"

And that's just the first part.

What I can't help but think is this:
Would would happen to these poor people, on an individual level, when/if they discover the truth?

Going even deeper into this. It would be not too different from giving them absolute proof that their faith is a false one.

The cost of peace goes beyond the people killed and injured, or material wealth destroyed. In the Korean War, around 3 million people lost their lives. Nearly 60 years since the cease fire, tens of millions have lost their lives to this brainwashing (24 million live there now). Whole generations have been wiped out in this manner. Has it been worth it?

I watched a documentary about a medical team that went to NK to do cataract surgery on whoever needed it....(I think they did 1500 ops in a week?). One of the team was actually a Journalist, suposedly just making a video of the tour, but who also had a hidden camera that was not censored.

I am still amazed at the depth of blind devotion of the NK'ns.

A scene that epitomises this irrational awe they hold; After having her eyes unbandaged, a previously blind woman burst into tears, went to a portrait of Kim Jong Il, and at the top of her voice thanked and praised him for returning her eyesight to her.....no thanks to the doctor or foreign team.

Apparently most, or all, of the patients showed simmilar gratitude to the Dear Leader.

What can make almost an entire population be brainwashed?

Obviously, they are not all brainwashed since there are often escapes into China, and occassionally attempts to get over into the South.

Or are they mostly not brainwashed? Perhaps it's just the "patriotic" that journalists and NGO volunteers get to see? Perhaps the vasty majority of the peasants and small town residents are very unhappy and not into the party line at all?...I imagine that is the case.

Our chucky posted this link on another thread....as I read it, it occurred to me how the US "patriots" comments were uncannily simmilar in outlook and mindset to the NK "patriots" mindset.

http://www.facebook....id=475492595504

I watched a documentary about a medical team that went to NK to do cataract surgery on whoever needed it....(I think they did 1500 ops in a week?). One of the team was actually a Journalist, suposedly just making a video of the tour, but who also had a hidden camera that was not censored.

I am still amazed at the depth of blind devotion of the NK'ns.

A scene that epitomises this irrational awe they hold; After having her eyes unbandaged, a previously blind woman burst into tears, went to a portrait of Kim Jong Il, and at the top of her voice thanked and praised him for returning her eyesight to her.....no thanks to the doctor or foreign team.

Apparently most, or all, of the patients showed simmilar gratitude to the Dear Leader.

What can make almost an entire population be brainwashed?

Obviously, they are not all brainwashed since there are often escapes into China, and occassionally attempts to get over into the South.

Or are they mostly not brainwashed? Perhaps it's just the "patriotic" that journalists and NGO volunteers get to see? Perhaps the vasty majority of the peasants and small town residents are very unhappy and not into the party line at all?...I imagine that is the case.

it could be a case of praising the dear leader or face ''consequences'' imo

Brain washing works everywhere. I've seen it the world over. Just watch a few of the self righteous, bigoted US religious television programs. Or, FOX news for that matter.

I watched a documentary about a medical team that went to NK to do cataract surgery on whoever needed it....(I think they did 1500 ops in a week?). One of the team was actually a Journalist, suposedly just making a video of the tour, but who also had a hidden camera that was not censored.

I am still amazed at the depth of blind devotion of the NK'ns.

A scene that epitomises this irrational awe they hold; After having her eyes unbandaged, a previously blind woman burst into tears, went to a portrait of Kim Jong Il, and at the top of her voice thanked and praised him for returning her eyesight to her.....no thanks to the doctor or foreign team.

Apparently most, or all, of the patients showed simmilar gratitude to the Dear Leader.

What can make almost an entire population be brainwashed?

Obviously, they are not all brainwashed since there are often escapes into China, and occassionally attempts to get over into the South.

Or are they mostly not brainwashed? Perhaps it's just the "patriotic" that journalists and NGO volunteers get to see? Perhaps the vasty majority of the peasants and small town residents are very unhappy and not into the party line at all?...I imagine that is the case.

it could be a case of praising the dear leader or face ''consequences'' imo

There are likely to be elements of what you're alluding to, but I got a very distinct sense of a deeper "certainty" in the NK patriots attitude. The tears flowing in gratitude by the cured people for one thing were very convincing...there was a definite religious devotion.The soldier in the clip above, for example, speaking quite frankly and openly; there was a genuineness about his attitude.

Brain washing works everywhere. I've seen it the world over. Just watch a few of the self righteous, bigoted US religious television programs. Or, FOX news for that matter.

How did you avoid the brainwashing watching these channels?

CNN or the BBC would have been just as worthy as examples.

There are two things in life that open the mind; education and travel both of which are controlled by the state in NK. So it is little wonder the people believe in the miraculous powers of their Dear Leader^TM.

Take a very young child and tell it that the sun shines because the dear leader lets it shine to show his happiness and they will grow up believing such stuff. The only difference between that and the blind belief of certain religions is that they have no access to alternative views.

Take a young American in a remote village and teach him, backed up with archive footage and pictures, that Europeans gas women and children (Holocaust), Asians work their people to death (Killing Fields) and Africans butcher each other with machetes (Rwanda). Give him no further explanations and do not put those atrocities into historical context and he will grow up believing he is in heaven.

"When America invaded N. Korea"

What's wrong with that statement?

O.K technically under a U.N flag, but I reckon MacArthur would argue the difference

As additional UN forces came ashore, they were organized into the US X Corps. Attacking inland, they advanced towards Seoul, which was taken on September 25, after brutal house-to-house fighting. The daring landing at Inchon, coupled with 8th Army's breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, threw the NKPA into a headlong retreat. UN troops quickly recovered South Korea and pressed into the north.

Korean War

"When America invaded N. Korea"

What's wrong with that statement?

O.K technically under a U.N flag, but I reckon MacArthur would argue the difference

As additional UN forces came ashore, they were organized into the US X Corps. Attacking inland, they advanced towards Seoul, which was taken on September 25, after brutal house-to-house fighting. The daring landing at Inchon, coupled with 8th Army's breakout from the Pusan Perimeter, threw the NKPA into a headlong retreat. UN troops quickly recovered South Korea and pressed into the north.

Korean War

Much earlier than that - within days of the real war starting :

July 3, 1950

General Dean arrives at Taejon and takes command of USAFIK.

Aircraft from the USS Valley Forge and HMS Triumph attack air fields in the P'yongyang-Chinnamp'o west coast area.

A Royal Australian Air Force F-51 mistakenly attacks an ammunition train stopped at the P'yongtaek Railroad station, causing it to explode. Railroad station was destroyed.

Two USAF Tactical Air Control Parties (TAC) arrive at Taejon.

North Korean forces take Inch'on and Yongdungp'o.

(This is an extract from one of the many 'timelines' that can be accessed by Google.)