Is North Korea really a backward country ?

Backward as in?

Military technology wise, they are still not on par with many of their neighbours such as China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. Democratic wise, they are definitely not there. As to how much their average citizen earn might not be too accurate to define them as backward or modern, because different country had different level of spending.

As a whole, by just relying on media to paint a picture is the most inaccurate way of defining the progress of a country, the best way is to stay there for a while and had a first hand feel of how it was like.

 

It's within the realm of possibility that there is a global media conspiracy to portray North Korea as a starving and belligerant shadow of a despotic country complete with paid actors and false flag ops while North Korea utters not a word of protest and its people are in fact relatively healthy, happy, and modern, but the chances of it are just slightly more likely than pigs flying.

 

In my opinion, I've never seen fat people in North Korea except the Kim's. Even the "iPad" fan in the link above.

 

ha!

i like one of the "Don't Tell My Mother" episodes by Diego Bunuel when he visited NK, where a random North Korean passing by, almost assaulted them
the backwardness did not only show in the lack of infrastructure or the level of modernity in public facilities, but also in the NK people's faces and the overall atmosphere

there are also various photos and videos by people who visited NK as tourists

and we are only talking about Pyongyang, there is no telling about the country side
the older generations must be freezed in the 50's/60's mindset, while the younger ones will perhaps show some signs of modernity, as blackmarket entertainment stuffs/TV shows are available in NK

i'd take Cuba any day, and with SK its is even a more stark comparison

i wonder how fast NK can modernize, if an eventual unification is possible
some of China's country side is not far from the same backwardness

 

North Korea economically is in serious trouble and the people will suffer this winter if there are no immediate reliefs. The recent attempts to open its economy by the ruling elites show signs of hope for the people, however, because of their past records of not treating their outside investor fairly, the enthusiasms are simply not there.

Young Kim wants to go to Beijing badly, through his uncle as a messenger, but China's interest in meeting him is not high unless he's willing ti give up nuke. The ball is in his hands and I hope he is a different man than his father.

 

i wonder young Kim will have the same dislike to air travel like his father

giving up nuke would be great way to build path towards reconciliation with the 6 party-talk

maybe a Burma style reform?

 

I don't think they are willing to go that far. A Chinese style reform in the early 80s with special economic zones here and there seems that all they want.

It's similar to a man working odd jobs just to make enough for food, cigarettes and a six pack a day and bumps a friend at night.

 

Keep on doing that on a regular basis and you will soon run out of friends.

 

It depends on what you mean by "healthy, happy and modern". They're probably not as loaded with the latest gadgets as their neighbors do, but pic you attached indicates to me a land unsullied by industry. I would guesstimate that they're about 20 years behind China, which isn't really that bad, as many parts of China is more than 20 years behind cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Of course, all this is pure speculation. If one hasn't lived in NK, then one is only parroting what the media is telling us.