• Poggervania@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    So they’re saying that the dude was praising North Korea because he wanted a united Korea that lives under Pyongang’s socialism, claiming that less people would be in debt and there’d be less suicide. Didn’t read the actual poem itself so idk if the dude was praising Kim Jeong Il or if he was just saying how cool it’d be to live under socialism.

    I’m not quite sure how Korea is in general outside of “North bad, South good”, but it sort of sounds like South Korea is just practicing censorship here. Does South Korea have freedom of speech?

    • roguetrick@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      “North bad, South good”

      You should know very well that it’s not that simple with any regime the US props up. South Korea has been getting better, but it has a nasty history. Mass murders, disappearances, it’s not pleasant. It’s not like the revolts they were having in support of the North were fake. I think it took them until the 1990s to have a government that wasn’t a military dictatorship with reeducation concentration camps.

      • Poggervania@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Jesus, I didn’t even know it was that bad. Like I said, I don’t know how Korea is in general outside of “North bad, South good”, so I had no idea South Korea was even a dictatorship at a point.

        Thanks for the very brief crash course :)

        • dmnknf@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          20
          ·
          1 year ago

          The US brought someone from the US who was long removed from Korea just to be their local dictator.

          The US destroyed most cities in the north and killed more than a million Koreans, mostly civilians. There are a lot of statements from the US generals saying that their objective was to just destroy the whole country and kill as many Koreans as possible indiscriminately.

          • kayjay@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            1 year ago

            Had MacArthur had his way, Hiroshima would look like a safe haven compared to Pyongyang. He suggested using nukes “tactically” in North Korea to take out strategic infrastructure like bridges and tunnels. But that’s kind of like bringing a cannon to hunt sparrows. This was the US’ most celebrated general at the time on account of his success in the Pacific Theatre during WW2 and enormous success defending South Korea; what he said could really only be overruled by the President, which is ultimately what happened.
            The top brass didn’t care about civilian casualties. That much is obvious when they suggest using full-blown nukes just to take out bridges.

            • AdeptusPrimaris@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Do you know of any books detailing all these facts? Trying to build up my knowledge collection before even these events are misrepresented.

              • TomHardy@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                “Immovable Object: North Korea’s 70 Years At War with American Power” by A.B. Abrams comes to mind. It mostly uses Western or SK sources and documents published/declassified and the resulting picture is so cruel you won’t sleep for nights

      • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s been my experience that there really is no nuance when it comes to any regime the US props up.