> It's pretty common knowledge that the north koreans are educated to believe that America is an evil empire out to eradicate them and that their leaders are basically god on earth. Similar to the pre-war Japanese indoctrination model. Called Juche. The ideology was purposely designed to keep the population under control.
I think you are taking this "knowledge" at face value too much. The reality of the situation could be that most people don't give a shit and just go along with the local village leaders, who often don't give a shit either. As long as they get to drink some alcohol every weekend who cares.
> north koreans are educated
It's a big assumption to assume that North Korean mass education works that well. If they can't even get everybody to read normal books, how would they get everybody to believe crazy shit about America to the point that most people would actually sacrifice their life.
> If that's not brainwashing I don't know what is.
I agree with you though. The government of North Korea aims to brainwash their citizens, to have a world-view where they prioritize the goals of the government over other things, but it's probably not as effective as people think.
> America is an evil empire
This is objectively not true. I don't know much about the world, but I am confident that America is better than the others. That is the mindset I keep as a good citizen.