North Korea is one of the most bizarre and most interesting places on Earth. Everyone knows this country has been ruled by psychopathic leaders for decades, but only over the last few years has the Western world started realizing how sick and twisted the North Korean society is. What seems like a fictional place from a dystopian novel is an actual country, with millions of people inhabiting it and all of them being brainwashed and indoctrinated from the day they're born.
Defectors are a window into North Korea
If there wasn't for defectors, we would probably have no clue about what exactly is happening in this country. Luckily, many of them have been quite outspoken about the daily life in North Korea. The Washington Post interviewed a girl named Jeon Geum-ju. “The teachers would say: ‘Do you know where the milk came from? It came from the Dear Leader. Because of his love and consideration, we are drinking milk today,’ ” Jeon said to the Post. Clearly, the indoctrination in North Korea starts from a very young age. Everything is centered around the "great leader" and, according to Jeon, millions of people believe in the propaganda.
“My parents really believed it, even when people were dying of hunger,” said another deflector, Ji Sung-ho.
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of North Korean children are enslaved in prison camps. One of Kim Jong-il's favorite poets, Jang Jin-Sung, another deflector, talked to The Guardian and said that two main reasons North Koreans don't rebel against the elite are: "isolation and guilt by association". Which means, North Koreans have no concept of basic human rights and if you dare rebel against the system, you risk your own and your entire family's lives.
Living in another universe
Deflectors compare living in North Korea to "living in another universe." Clearly, these people live in a whole different reality.
They are manipulated with and brainwashed since birth. Television is nothing but a propaganda vehicle. Most of the country has very poor and limited internet access. Everything is censored. Men and women both are obliged to serve in the army -- women serve for around seven years and for men it can last up to a decade.
No matter how hectic of a place the American society seems and no matter how much propaganda and disinformation is being fed to the public through mainstream media, living in North Korea is like living in a whole other reality.