By It makes you wonder how many North Koreans actually believe the propaganda like this put out now a days?:
The official North Korean broadcaster on Wednesday claimed the majority of South Koreans “live in extremely wretched conditions.” North Korean Central Television aired a 10-minute patchwork of edited South Korean TV clips about the difficult living conditions of the underprivileged in South Korea to illustrate the claim.
The program titled “South Korea in Crisis, Wretched Livelihood of the People,” had been edited together from clips of MBC, KBS, SBS and YTN about homeless people, unemployment, redevelopment, a disastrous clash between protesters and police in Yongsan on Jan. 20, 2009, abandoned elderly people, and serial killings.
“Today, the South Korean economy is miserably collapsing under heavy weight of the worldwide oil crisis and the financial crisis initiated in the U.S.,” the voiceover said. “The absolute majority of the South Korean people, who are standing on the edge of a precipice due to a serious economic crisis, live in extremely wretched conditions.”
It was unprecedented for North Korea to air a 10-minute program about the South. As if to prove that the scenes were real, the channel showed the names of the South Korean broadcasters and their program titles. [Chosun Ilbo]
If you watch the PBS program, Crossing Heaven’s Border propaganda like this is effective for the ruling North Korean regime. I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock into this because the North Koreans have been bombarded with propaganda such as this for decades.
4:14 am on July 31st, 2009 1
"Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play." –Joseph Goebbels
4:21 am on July 31st, 2009 2
The irony is that even South Korea's poor likely enjoys a better standard of living than the typical citizen in the North.
7:10 am on July 31st, 2009 3
The only thing the north Korean people will notice from this program is how plump and well fed such people in dispair appear to be.
10:42 am on July 31st, 2009 4
From some articles I've read that a lot of North Koreans know that South Korea and even China have better standards of living than North Korea except the most indoctrinated people. When they see this documentary they'll see the poorest of the South Koreans, but they won't be able to ignore the backgrounds – sky scrapers, brand name clothing, restaurants and restaurants as far as the eye can see. At the very least, they'll see that South Korea has at least 4 TV stations that aren't afraid to document the poor – a stark contrast to the state controlled North Korean media that only displays the rich and successful, and the image of Kim Jong Il touring the nation. I hope this program can convice once and for all that what they hear from their state about South Koreans are all lies.
10:49 am on July 31st, 2009 5
Also, I am very, very suprised that they showed the Yongsan protests in the North Korean media. Wow, I really really hope that that will give the North Koreans some mischeivious ideas. Once a grassroot protest erupts I don't think the North Korean state can supress it. These people have nothing to lose. The only thing that is holding them back is the threat that their family will be punished, but once the state pushes the people beyond this threshold all hell will break loose.
2:32 pm on July 31st, 2009 6
Would the showing of riots or life on skid row in the big city slums in the US during the 50s and 60s, have convinced the hillbillies in Arkansas to change their ways, just by seeing the "big buildings, etc.". Not to mention the few who had TV back then in rural Arkansas. North Koreas message will get through to the majority who are adherants to the psychology, and depend on it for their lives. The others will here about it second hand.