A blog for POLS 209, Dictatorships and Revolutions, at Victoria University of Wellington. A place for students to talk and think about political pathologies all over the world. This is our other blog - see also here
As I suspected, the source for this claim is an unnamed representative of the South Korean government. In other words, it's probably bullshit. People seem completely unaware that South Korean propaganda is just as bad, if not worse, than North Korean propaganda. It reminds me of last year when another "unnamed government source" stated that the ban on women riding bicycles was lifted...
Apparently, the media don't know how to do Google image searches or haven't heard of Youtube, which abound with examples of women riding bikes in North Korea. Of course, this doesn't change the fact that North Korea does have a de facto monarchy but it gives us no right to be ignorant of the facts.
However, it is interesting to think how this relates to our first discussion in class of why certain governments call themselves democracies when in reality they are not. If this article is in fact true, and North Korea has rewritten the rules to sanction family succession, you have to wonder why they no longer want to keep the title of democracy. Has the word democracy been so diluted that North Korea no longer even pretends to have it? Would it be a positive thing for countries that are not democracies, to stop using the word and say what they are as Saudi Arabia does?
As I suspected, the source for this claim is an unnamed representative of the South Korean government. In other words, it's probably bullshit. People seem completely unaware that South Korean propaganda is just as bad, if not worse, than North Korean propaganda. It reminds me of last year when another "unnamed government source" stated that the ban on women riding bicycles was lifted...
ReplyDeleteApparently, the media don't know how to do Google image searches or haven't heard of Youtube, which abound with examples of women riding bikes in North Korea. Of course, this doesn't change the fact that North Korea does have a de facto monarchy but it gives us no right to be ignorant of the facts.
However, it is interesting to think how this relates to our first discussion in class of why certain governments call themselves democracies when in reality they are not. If this article is in fact true, and North Korea has rewritten the rules to sanction family succession, you have to wonder why they no longer want to keep the title of democracy. Has the word democracy been so diluted that North Korea no longer even pretends to have it? Would it be a positive thing for countries that are not democracies, to stop using the word and say what they are as Saudi Arabia does?
ReplyDelete