With a closed media and a fierce propaganda program, North Korea might be considered to
be a nation gripped in fear of the outside world.
But what do these people think about the outside world, and in particular the USA?
Relations have been tense between the two nations since the ceasefire of the Korean
War in 1953.
But does that historic tension filter down to the common man and woman on the streets
in North Korea?
This is what we will be exploring as we look at the history between the two decades-long
enemies, and how current events may change the course the political future seems to be
heading in.
In today’s episode of the Infographics Show we look at – What do North Koreans think
of America?
While most of those who live in Eastern civilization live in a collective society, those from the
West live in an individual society.
Perhaps nowhere on the planet can we witness the extremes of collective and individual
society as in The People’s Republic of North Korea and The United States of America.
Collectivism puts an emphasis on the cohesiveness among individuals to the extent that the group
is more important than the individual.
Collective societies work together towards a common understood aim.
Individualism on the other hand puts the worth on the individual.
This ideology believes that the individual’s rights and beliefs should come before the
rights of the state or social group.
When understanding eastern and western civilization it is important to make this distinction first
and foremost.
In 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan.
After the Japanese surrendered towards the end of the Second World War, Korea was divided
into the North occupied by the Soviet Union and the South occupied by the USA.
The two sides were unable to rejoin as a nation and in 1948 separate governments were assembled.
North Korea invaded the South in 1950 and a three year war followed until both sides
agreed on a ceasefire.
North Korea calls itself a self-reliant socialist state and has formal elections.
State-run enterprises and collectivized farms are the means of the country’s production.
Health care, education, housing and food production are state-funded.
Following the election of President George W. Bush in 2001 the US considered North Korea
a rogue state as the North Koreans worked hard at acquiring nuclear weapons.
By the first term of President Barack Obama a policy of ‘strategic patience’ was adopted.
North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack on the 17th December
2011 and was swiftly succeeded by his youngest son Kim Jong-un.
On 12th June 2018 Kim Jong-Un met with US President Donald Trump in Singapore.
This summit, along with an earlier meeting between North and South Korean premiers on
the militarized border, was considered internationally as a firm step towards peace between North
Korea, South Korea, and the USA.
The North Korean government censors art and media, but Western films are available at
private showings to high-ranking party members and certain Western films are allowed to be
viewed.
Titanic, for example is often viewed by university students as an example of Western culture.
Also, it is key to note that many more Western films are smuggled through as DVDs or aired
by border TV and radio stations- so much of what North Koreans think about America comes
from three sources.
One - From what the government tells and teaches them.
Two – from what they see on television and hear on radio.
And three – from what they experienced themselves from the 1950s or what the elder generations
tell them about Americans during the conflict.
So what do most North Koreans think about the west and in particular the United States?
Well, many North Koreans assume North Americans have lots of guns.
Probably owing to the smuggled television shows and movies they get to see.
Many think Americans are all gun owners.
Many North Koreans also assume that all Americans are rich, live in big houses and drive expensive
cars.
Americans will hold hands and kiss on a first date, which is not the “done thing” in
a collective Asian society.
And Americans are so individual that families might split the bill at a restaurant – unheard
of in the collective East.
How much of all this is put together from watching TV shows we’ll let you decide.
Although in the past the North Korean government had declared that the USA is one of the country’s
enemies, many of North Korea’s citizens don’t feel that way nowadays.
According to an article first published in the North Korea News many people in North
Korea’s towns despise the Japanese but don’t really hate Americans.
The North Korean regime lectures its people about its chosen ideologies but doesn’t
succeed in totally brainwashing its people when it comes to the USA.
The elder generations who experienced the Korean War are aware that the US didn’t
commit the terrible war crimes that the current North Korean regime claims they did.
Some of the propaganda stories are horrific.
There are stories of US soldiers tearing off the limbs of North Koreans, they would cut
out the eyes, rip off the noses, and routinely hang North Koreans naked on trees.
Those older North Koreans who were there at the time recall American soldiers treating
the women and children well, and even gifting the children with chocolate and snacks, according
to one news source.
And then there is the unbeatable power of television.
As mentioned before American action movies are popular (although illegal) in North Korea.
When was the last time you saw the Americans playing the bad guys in an international thriller?
Some of the most popular movie franchises in the People’s Republic are the James Bond
series, Mission Impossible, and Home Alone.
North Koreans love to watch the adventures of American heroes.
They also dig all the hi-tech gadgetry as these are beyond the normal reach of the average
North Korean.
North Korean schools teach that those who save their country are true heroes and are
taught about the importance of the everyday hero.
However, such dreams can never be realized in their patriarchal collective and communist
society.
The individual overcoming repression as an entertainment medium is a concept people understand
and enjoy all across the world no matter what society they have been brought up in.
Although most North Korean kids have never laid eyes on an American in person, there
is a museum in the town of Sinchon that focuses on North Korean / American history.
The Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities shows Americans as sinister missionaries,
vicious soldiers and experts of evil torture.
This temple of anti-Americanism is open all spring and summer when schoolchildren are
exported on field trips to receive a healthy dose of hatred for the good old US of A. The
1950-53 Korean War ended with a ceasefire, but the war still has a place firmly in the
hearts of many of the North Koreans.
Many Americans refer to the conflict as the ‘forgotten war’ but the war figures deeply
in the propaganda and identity of North Korea as a nation.
It is thought and hoped that as new recent international relations between the North
and South are strengthened these sentiments will change.
During the 2018 winter Olympics opening ceremony both North and South Koreans marched under
a united flag.
And later in the year North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the South Korean president
Moon Jae-in shook hands after 65 years of animosity.
The two met at the militarized border and the photographs of the event spread around
the world, offering new hope for better relations between the two nations.
How do you think this newfound relationship with North Korea and the world will work out?
Was Donald Trump right to meet with Kim Jong-un in Singapore?
And how do you think the average North Korean sees America in light of these new events?
Let us know in the comments.
Also be sure to check out our other video, USA vs North Korea - Who Would Win.
Thanks for watching and as always, please don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time!