Is this real life?! Camp 14

I must be incredibly naive as I didn't think shit like this happened still, this is a really interesting read. Tempted to buy the book now. 
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/16/escape-north-korea-prison-camp

@Ravenlight: This sudden influx of Queen is very welcome. This site is the greatest.

@weegieanawrench: It just became THE greatest place on the internet of our generation of this decade.

Yup, North Korea is cartoonishly evil in a pretty fascinating way. If you have some time to spare, here's a really interesting lecture about North Korea with a focus on its propaganda: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292562-1

@benson said:

Yup, North Korea is cartoonishly evil in a pretty fascinating way. If you have some time to spare, here's a really interesting lecture about North Korea with a focus on its propaganda: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/292562-1

That page crashed Chrome :/

I guess N. Korea doesn't want the truth to get out.

That's some pretty messed up stuff, but unfortunately it's not that surprising.

Why do you have to be so mean, North Korea? :(

That is pretty damn horrible, but less surprising coming from North Korea. It just amazes me that no country is doing anything to try and put and end to this nonsense.

Just read the whole article. Very very interesting and heartbreaking story. I knew NK was a bad place but had not real idea this sort of this was going down.

North Korea is really fucked up. Here is an interesting National Geographic documentary about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLBywKrTf4

and the vice guide to north korea is interesting but definitely a different tone than the nat geo one:

http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

@SSully said:

That is pretty damn horrible, but less surprising coming from North Korea. It just amazes me that no country is doing anything to try and put and end to this nonsense.

It's because North Korea is the most militarized country in the world. They are only 20 millions but they have the 4th largest army in the world, in a really unhospitable terrain (shitload of mountains and a vast network of tunnels) and a completely brainwashed population. Plus, South Korea would suffer greatly from a war with NK: Seoul would likely end up destroyed very quickly and trying to assimilate North Korea would be terrible for their economy. There's basically no realistic way to do anything without the death and suffering of millions.

@benson said:

@SSully said:

That is pretty damn horrible, but less surprising coming from North Korea. It just amazes me that no country is doing anything to try and put and end to this nonsense.

It's because North Korea is the most militarized country in the world. They are only 20 millions but they have the 4th largest army in the world, in a really unhospitable terrain (shitload of mountains and a vast network of tunnels) and a completely brainwashed population. Plus, South Korea would suffer greatly from a war with NK: Seoul would likely end up destroyed very quickly and trying to assimilate North Korea would be terrible for their economy. There's basically no realistic way to do anything without the death and suffering of millions.

I realize that, and obviously peaceful negotiations have been attempted, it's just sickening knowing that the best we can do is just wait for the current regime to collapse somehow and hope that things are different when the dust settles.

Didn't they try and dig a tunnel to SK and try to pretend it was a coal mine by painting the walls of the cave black?

I'm not a wizard, but North Korea is fucked up.

I'm actually going to have to read that book now...

Wow, man.. That's some heavy stuff. Thinking of getting the book, though I fear it'll be too much for me.

God dammit. Why does all the interesting stuff come out when I have shit to do?! ARGH. Still, thanks for bringing this up considering how I just finished reading a book (that book being God Is Not Great, which EVERYONE should read).

Oh man, now I have to chose which to read first. This or that new Neil Degrasse Tyson space book.