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My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

theguardian.com

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Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#41

Post by its_ethan »

some_random wrote: post #25
its_ethan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Ok serious question, what is it about North Korea that causes a subset of HN commenters to leap to it's defense? Russia, China, Iran, etc receive a similar treatment sometimes but never to nearly the degree NK does, what's with that?

I don't think my comment landed as intended - I was being sarcastic and trying to highlight how the original commentor was seemingly saying NK society is basically like every other country, when in fact it is incredibly different and not desirable at all

Guess I should include a "/s" next time lol

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#42

Post by RugnirViking »

some_random wrote: post #25
its_ethan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Ok serious question, what is it about North Korea that causes a subset of HN commenters to leap to it's defense? Russia, China, Iran, etc receive a similar treatment sometimes but never to nearly the degree NK does, what's with that?

Because it is so universally put down. There is a tendency to examine any totalistic claim more strongly, look for ways in which it is wrong similar to the "hipster" drive. I haven't defended NK here (although I have seriously looked into visiting it one day) but I'm sympathetic to the mindset that causes that reaction

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#43

Post by some_random »

its_ethan wrote: post #41
some_random wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok serious question, what is it about North Korea that causes a subset of HN commenters to leap to it's defense? Russia, China, Iran, etc receive a similar treatment sometimes but never to nearly the degree NK does, what's with that?

I don't think my comment landed as intended - I was being sarcastic and trying to highlight how the original commentor was seemingly saying NK society is basically like every other country, when in fact it is incredibly different and not desirable at all Guess I should include a "/s" next time lol

I kinda figured, I mainly commented here because it was the highest sorta-defending-NK comment on the post tbh.

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#44

Post by firejake308 »

kolinko wrote: post #36
its_ethan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Nothing like any other society. I lived through Communist Poland. Comfortable life for officials meant that they could use stores with stuff from the west (to buy Levi's jeans, Marlboro cigarettes, or perhaps even a walkman - you can google Pewex to read about these stores). Many of them had also homes. Not as in villas, but as in plain homes that you see in american suburbs. One of the country leaders in 1950s built…

Thanks for sharing your perspective! I found it very interesting, as I don't get to meet many people who lived through the USSR

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#46

Post by robertlagrant »

kolinko wrote: post #36
its_ethan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Nothing like any other society. I lived through Communist Poland. Comfortable life for officials meant that they could use stores with stuff from the west (to buy Levi's jeans, Marlboro cigarettes, or perhaps even a walkman - you can google Pewex to read about these stores). Many of them had also homes. Not as in villas, but as in plain homes that you see in american suburbs. One of the country leaders in 1950s built…

This is really interesting. I always balk against people talking about inequality with this sort of thing in mind: the problem isn't inequality, it's how good the low and average standards of living are, and whether they're improving.

It requires no talent, only power, to take people's stuff and redistribute it.

It requires talent and effort to create new things that raise the bar for everyone, and just as much to maintain the political environment that allows that to happen.

I don't know if that fits your story; if not apologies, as I didn't mean to hijack it!

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#47

Post by Aeolun »

duxup wrote: post #17
borbtactics wrote: post #14

This story reminds me that education is a privilege and I'm probably not enjoying it as much as I should.

I was a horrible college student when I was younger. For a variety of reasons. I quit school, got lucky, and fell into a good tech career. Many many years later after age 40 I was laid off, wanted a new career path / job, I took a few classes and eventually a bootcamp and changed careers. I was really nervous as far as how it would all play out knowing how terrible I was previously. It was completely different. The i…

I think the best part about going to university while young was not yet having to worry about how to support myself (and my family).

I guess the lesser incentives mean it’s easier to ignore anything said as well though.

Though to be fair “graduate in 5 years or you have to pay it all back” (imposed by the government) was a fairly powerful motivator.

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#48

Post by [deleted] »

Stratoscope wrote: post #12

Reading this brought back a vivid memory of listening to Voice of Korea about 20 years ago. I had a shortwave receiver in my Honda Civic - a Sony AM/FM/shortwave/cassette that was a drop-in replacement for the factory radio. On the way to work at Adobe in San Jose one day, I tuned in North Korea's English-language broadcast beamed to North America. One news announcement stuck in my mind so vividly that I remember it…

[deleted]

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#49

Post by l3mure »

waffleiron wrote: post #16
edgineer wrote: post #5

High demand for stories from North Korea and no way to verify them makes me wary of what a fiction writer has written.

This author is also living in South Korea which by law bans you to speak positively about North Korea. Not to say NK isn’t bad, but you are unable to have an honest and balanced discussion about it in the media while you live in SK. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_(South...

Indeed, there actually was a conviction of an elderly man via the NSA within the past few weeks. 14 months in jail for a poem.

> In this latest case, Lee Yoon-seop was accused of submitting a poem in 2016 to the Uriminzokkiri website, which is a state-controlled North Korean website. Submitted as part of a competition run by the website back in 2016, it praised North Korea, stating that “if the two Koreas were united under Pyongyang’s socialist system, people would get free housing, healthcare and education.” The sentencing court said that Lee had glorified and praised North Korea and had threatened the “existence and security of the country or the basic liberal democratic order over a long period of time.”

https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/11/man-in-south-korea-jaile...

Re: My doomed career as a North Korean novelist

#50

Post by p1esk »

firejake308 wrote: post #44
kolinko wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing like any other society. I lived through Communist Poland. Comfortable life for officials meant that they could use stores with stuff from the west (to buy Levi's jeans, Marlboro cigarettes, or perhaps even a walkman - you can google Pewex to read about these stores). Many of them had also homes. Not as in villas, but as in plain homes that you see in american suburbs. One of the country leaders in 1950s built…

Thanks for sharing your perspective! I found it very interesting, as I don't get to meet many people who lived through the USSR

From what I remember life in communist Poland was better than life in Soviet Union.
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