this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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Questioning the story is fine. Brigading isn't, and failing to actually attack the credibility of the reporting isn't.
Yes, the origin of the story is the Sun, but until there's a reason not to trust it, the fact-checking by other, less tabloid-y outlets that have also carried the story seems trustworthy.
The story is also well within the norm for the behavior of the North Korean dictatorship.
Do you have an actual reason to suspect the story is false? Post it here. I won't delete it if you credibly back your claims up.
The problem with reporting on the DPRK is that information is extremely limited on what is actually going on there. Most reports come from defectors, and said defectors are notoriously dubious in their accounts, something the WikiPedia page on Media Coverage of North Korea spells out quite clearly. These defectors are also held in confined cells for around 6 months before being released to the public in the ROK, in... unkind conditions, and pressured into divulging information. Additionally, defectors are paid for giving testemonials, and these testimonials are paid more the more severe they are. From the Wiki page:
Side note: there is a great documentary on the treatment of North Korean defectors titled Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul, which interviews North Korean defectors and laywers legally defending them, if you're curious.
Because of these issues, there is a long history of what we consider legitimate news sources of reporting and then walking back stories. Even the famous "120 dogs" execution ended up to have been a fabrication originating in a Chinese satirical column, reported entirely seriously and later walked back by some news outlets. The famous "unicorn lair" story ended up being a misunderstanding:
These aren't tabloids, these are mainstream news sources. NBC News reported the 120 dogs story. Same with USA Today. The frequently reported concept of "state-mandated haircut styles", as an example, also ended up being bogus sensationalism. People have made entire videos going over this long-running sensationalist misinformation, why it exists, and debunking some of the more absurd articles.
As for Radio Free Asia, it is US-government founded and funded. There is good reason to be skeptical of reports sourced entirely from RFA about geopolitical enemies of the US, especially concerning a hermit country with very little accurate information coming out of it due to its secluded nature. Until we see hard evidence, I don't see why we should trust it, considering the track record of reporting on North Korea.
This does not mean the subject of this article is necessarily false, but it does mean that uncritically accepting it as true when there is a proven track record of outlandish and absurd stories being reported about the DPRK that we should question its validity until proof is provided beyond heresay from a US-government funded media outlet. People are right to distrust the article, and I don't think this is a good hill to die on and ban people over. I don't generally believe anything about the DPRK unless there's hard proof for it because of how notoriously unreliable reporting on it is. You don't have to support the DPRK to question absurd sensationalist articles.
If Lil Kim can't handle us making estimated guesses based on the limited facts we receive, he is more than free to open his country to free and clear communications with the rest of the world.
Ill take the limited facts and go ahead and believe this article until I find better facts on the matter, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Well, it's a bit of a problem when the media's widely-reported 'estimated guesses' are comically ridiculous and easily disproven, like that everyone must have the same haircut as Kimmy (and that having that haircut is also illegal), or claiming multiple officials have been executed with an anti-aircraft gun but it turns out they're alive.
North Korea is open to tourists who film the place. They have websites you can visit. Despite the relative isolation, there's plenty of footage and information freely available. So I can't even consider half of this junk 'limited facts', it's just absurd claims made about a designated acceptable target. Look, here's some tourists who just got whatever haircut they asked for in response to that mass media frenzy.
What are we expecting the state to say, "hello world, we denounce the western media claims that you can't buy hotdogs here" every time some ridiculous claim is made? I can't imagine any of our leaders wasting time doing that, and DPRK's definitely got bigger problems to worry about than what we think of them.