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endianswap

Can anyone recommend any good documentaries or other media on the subject of North Korea? This was fascinating!

Edit: thanks all :)

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http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-n...

Two of my favorite pieces of "other media:"

This Flickr photostream by "Moravius," who is some sort of humanitarian aid worker in NK. There are lots of photos from outside Pyongyang, which I rarely see elsewhere on the web: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kernbeisser/sets/

The Twitter account of James Dresnok, the last living US defector to North Korea: https://twitter.com/JamesDresnok

There's a great documentary on Dresnok called "Crossing The Line." His Twitter account is one of the weirdest internet artifacts I've discovered: he only posts every 2-3 months, and the first account he followed was a Kim Jong-il parody.

Are you sure that is a real Twitter account?

It only has 96 followers

`Welcome to North Korea', a documentary well worth watching - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ6E3cShcVU

`North Korean Economy Watch', often has something of interest - http://www.nkeconwatch.com (also has a comprehensive-looking page of links)

The documentary "A State of Mind" is terrifically disturbing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_State_of_Mind). Follow two participants in North Korea's Mass Games as they prepare to put on a show for the Dear Leader. Filled with "only in NK moments."

This is a fun read: http://vienna-pyongyang.blogspot.com/

That swallowed up over an hour of my time, absolutely fascinating

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_documentary_films_about...

An interesting one is The Red Chapel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Chapel where two Korean-born Danish-adopted guys travel to North Korea. Because they are of Korean-ethnicity but don't speak Korean or know much about Korea, they get interesting responses from their handlers. One of them is also in a wheelchair and since North Korea allegedly kills all handicapped infants, it leads to some very tense situations.

A few years ago I came across this highly disturbing testimony from a former prisoner. There are no pictures, and no jokes. It gives a glimpse at the dark side of North Korea, and of humanity. It is fucked up and will upset you, so consider yourself warned.

http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/testimony.cfm?id=4f...

Thanks for the warning; I chose only to read the last few paragraphs, but even that provided enough to extrapolate. While we twiddle about in Silicon Valley building SoLoMo apps, this depraved grinding of humanity continues.

Sickening and unreal... I wish there was something we could do...

In the 'other media' category I can highly recommend 'Pyongyang: A Journey In North Korea' by Guy Delisle[1] which is a graphic novel detailing his few months working in North Korea for a more serious look and into the lives of those who actually live/have lived in North Korea is 'Nothing to Envy' by Barbara Demick[2] which is a detailed, if not somewhat harrowing insight.

[1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pyongyang-A-Journey-North-Korea/dp/0... [2] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nothing-Envy-Lives-North-Korea/dp/18...

I'd like to second Nothing to Envy, it was a fantastic read.

Thirding "Nothing to Envy," it's an incredible read.

There's a great writeup on reddit about "What North Koreans were told about World War II" [1] with a list of books and couple other media buried in the thread.

[1] http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/15lw49/histor...

This report is really interesting, despite the fact it is just a survey of media use in North Korea... http://audiencescapes.org/sites/default/files/A_Quiet_Openin...

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson is a staggeringly good novel about North Korea. Fictional, of course, but well-researched.

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