Intro

DPRK Guide

By MC

This is a Work-In-Progress that will likely never be completed

Use the ‘Document tabs’ to move between sections

Start here

Where to begin?

So you’ve come to understand that you’ve been lied to about Korea. Now what?

The first step is to forget everything you think you know about the northern half of the Korean  peninsula (and most of what you think you know about the southern half as well). Nothing you have heard previously can be trusted, as the anti-communist propaganda network of America is so penetrative and engrained in every aspect of discourse, that nothing is safe (not even your favorite hobby). Trust me. Wipe it from your memory and start from scratch.

First, it’s not ‘North Korea’, it’s the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Second, it’s not ‘South Korea’, it’s the Republic of Korea (ROK), or Occupied Korea.

Denizens of either side of the Korean peninsula will be referred to as ‘north Koreans’ and ‘south Koreans’, case specific, in this document, however.

Here are some resources to get started relearning what you think you knew:

Like Podcasts?

  • Listen to Season 3 of the Blowback podcast.
    This podcast goes deep in depth on the Korean War and how the bad guys (the UN, America, and their puppet regime in the south) whitewashed the atrocities they committed. Everything you think you know about the Korean War is wrong. This will help you relearn.

Like Documentaries?

  • Watch ‘Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul’.
    - This documentary gives a great overview of how the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the ROK’s spy agency, uses defectors to lie about their enemy, the DPRK. It features two DPRK ‘defectors’ (human trafficking victims) who reveal the atrocities committed against them by the NIS and the ways in which America and the ROK manufactures consent against the DPRK by paying or coercing defectors to lie about their homeland.
  • Watch ‘My Brothers and Sisters in the North’.
    - This documentary, while dated, shows an inside view into daily life in the DPRK. A south Korean filmmaker crosses to the other side of the Korean peninsula to talk to average north Koreans and experience their daily lives at their homes, at their workplaces, and where they go to have fun. Spoiler alert: Daily life in the DPRK is pretty normal, if a bit quirky. Reject     orientalism and view this with an open mind.

Like Reading Books?

  • Start with ‘Patriots, Traitors, and Empires’ by Stephen Gowans.
    - This book provides an anti-imperialist take on modern Korean, and how America replaced Japan as a colonizing force on the peninsula. It examines the Korean people’s struggle for freedom, outlining the ‘Patriot’ State (DPRK), the ‘Traitor’ State (ROK), and the ‘Empire’’ (America, of course).
  • Then read the works of Bruce Cumings, specifically ‘Korea’s Place in the Sun’ and ‘North Korea: Another Country’.
    - A word of warning: Bruce Cumings is a western liberal, but he is the preeminent Korean War historian. I largely don’t agree with his opinions of the DPRK as it exists today, but he doesn’t lie about their history, most specifically, the Korean War and the brutality of America and their puppet regime in the south.
  • Also read ‘Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution’ by Suzy Kim.

- Suzy Kim is a Professor of Korean History at Rutgers University. This book examines the lives of the average Korean after the revolution to expel the Japanese imperialist occupiers of the peninsula and during the subsequent division of the peninsula by America. It specifically highlights the role of women in the revolution.

Like Reading Articles?

Like Youtube Videos?

  • Watch ‘We Went To North Korea To Get A Haircut’ by BoyBoy.
    - This excellent and hilarious video exposes how brainwashed westerners are about the DPRK. Two Aussie chaps go all the way to the DPRK to get a haircut just to disprove the American State Department propaganda about how north Koreans are supposedly only legally allowed to get certain haircuts.
  • Watch ‘Why is North Korea so weird?’’ and ‘What if North Korea was a Democracy?’ by Comrade Hakim.
    - The latter video is especially useful as it is a demonstration of how someone like JT (part of TheDeprogram trio along with Hakim) can evolve and progress from spreading imperialist state department narratives about the DPRK to being one of the most popular anti-imperialist voices in alternative media.
  • Watch ‘Dispelling Myths about North Korea’ by Suzy Kim.
    - Yes, the same Suzy Kim from the book recs section above. This video is excellent, especially for the section debunking the nighttime satellite imagery of the Korean peninsula, which is an extremely common talking point from anti-DPRK advocates.

Like Tiktok Videos?

  • Watch Madeline Pendleton.
    - Support Madeline in their neverending battle against the liberals of Tiktok. Great DPRK debunking content. Also check out their     DPRK resource document.
  • Watch Zoe Discovers NK.
    - Zoe is a tour guide who has been to the DPRK many, many times and shares clips from her time there that debunk western narratives.
  • Watch Diana North Korea.
    - Unlike a certain DHS intern who uses her one week trip to the DPRK from a decade ago as a vector to spread state department propaganda about them, Diana lived and studied in the DPRK for an extended period of time and debunks the types of things that others lie about.
  • Watch The DPRK Times.
    - An AI-free, insider’s look into the DPRK.
  • [SELF PROMO] Watch MC.
    - I think I’ve probably debunked everything there is to debunk about the DPRK across thousands of short form videos.

More Resources

Pro-DPRK Organizations:

Pro-DPRK Subreddits:

Random links (may be sorted later):