edit: a word

I'm hopeful that the DPRK is moving toward modernity, but if the stories from that book are anywhere close to the truth, they are still by far the most evil regime on the planet.

One book I recently read and I can recommend is "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea"

It's pretty interesting to hear the real life stories of 6 people living under the North Korean regime (and then escaping it).

Now I want to read this Dear Reader book as well, but I don't know if I can mentally handle it at this stage in my life.

God help the people of the DPRK.

It was a very interesting, though sad, book, as was the AMA she did on Reddit a few years ago.

It would be great to see those borders open up (legally) and let and modern amenities flow into that country.

Mindstorms and The Children's Machine by Seymour Papert

Privacy on the Line by Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men by Donald McCaig

How Children Learn the Meanings of Words by Paul Bloom

> Along the lines of your argument, DPRK citizens shouldn't be learning physics, chemistry, mathematics, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering and medical or any subject because they all can be used as "weapon" for nefarious purposes.

Except for medicine, probably yes. See my other comment for why I think that is the case.[1]

> Keeping the population of a country uneducated because you don't agree with the government running the country is discriminatory and racist. No person irrespective of race or belief or country of citizenship should be denied education.

How is it racist? I have no ethical issues with South Koreans or North Korean defectors learning these things. I'm simply pointing out a concrete example of how, in some cases, education can be harmful on net. Simplifying it to, "Education is good." won't steer you wrong often. But when it does, the consequences can be horrific.

And to say one doesn't agree with the DPRK is putting it far too mildly. Read Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea.[2] The stories will make you thankful to be in whatever country you live in. For many people, North Korea truly is hell on earth. It's far worse than anything Orwell wrote about.

If the leaders of the DPRK could get away with it, they would rain fire on South Korea and the US tomorrow. The only thing stopping them is lack of ability. Educating their citizens helps them gain technology that will most likely be used to achieve the goals of the DPRK's leaders. That will almost certainly lead to more harm than good.

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8910491

2. http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Envy-Ordinary-Lives-North-eboo...

This was one of those books that had me saying, out loud, "Wow, I can't believe it!" on nearly every page. It gave me a lot of insight into how they live, and how hard it'll be for the regime there to change. It also made me feel quite sorry for the people who are forced to live in North Korea, who suffer starvation and abuse (physical and psychological) for the sake of the regime.

After reading this book, I started living with a lot more gratitude for everyday things that I'd previously been taking for granted.

That might sound like a cliché, but frankly -- reading visceral accounts of decent folks having to eat leaves and grass in order to survive?

Yea, that changes the way you think about the world.

(A great book: Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick, about life in North Korea and what it's like to escape to the West.)

It's amazing to see what North Korea will do to keep its own citizens in the dark, and to try to make things look amazing to foreigners -- only to fail spectacularly.

The attempts to erase traces of the metro cars' German origins reminds me of the department stores I've read about in Pyongyang, in which people enter and exit without buying anything, only to return minutes later, in order to give foreigners the illusion of a great commercial success.

All countries engage in propaganda and patriotism to some degree, but North Korea really takes the cake here. I hope that its citizens will one day be able to gain more freedom and financial security, but that somehow seems unlikely in the near future.

But, what are the chances that your time there will really shed any more light on North Korea? Encouraging friends to read "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea", for example, or simply reading it or another similar book yourself and sharing your thoughts would arguably shed more light than a brief government managed trip and a blog post.

Edit: I'd love to hear why you disagree rather than just downvoting. I've wondered about making this trip myself in the past and this is where I've settled, but would be happy to hear further arguments.

[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...

As Mrs. Song would observe a decade later, when she thought back on all the people she knew who died during those years in Chongjin, it was the “simple and kindhearted people who did what they were told—they were the first to die.”

-- Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick