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苹果im虚拟机 更新时间：2024-05-22 16:52:08
By Yi Whan-woo
North Korea is distorting facts about South Korea in lectures to which people are mobilized to learn about the South amid a thaw between the sides, according to sources familiar with Pyongyang.
Some sources speculated the move may be a step toward attributing possible economic developments to leader Kim Jong-un, because the two Koreas are working toward many collaborative projects. These range from combating deforestation to linking roads across the Demilitarized Zone.
"South Korea is described as a disease-ridden, backward country in a July 3 lecture," a source said last week.
The source also said the lecture described South Korean society as something "controlled by money where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, robbers frequently kill for money, and even parents and their children will fight and kill each other for a few dollars."
"After a long absence of slander directed at South Korea, it seems these recent lectures have come about in response to recent cooperation between the South and North, built on the regime's concern that people will form romantic ideas about the South."
A different source referred to a separate lecture that accused South Korea of pretending it had a good welfare system and offered equal opportunity for everyone, while violating human rights.
A third source said, "When it was first announced there would be a lecture on South Korea, the audience was interested, but on hearing nothing but criticism, many started dozing off."
"Whatever the case, the majority of citizens who recognize that South Korea has a high standard of living and that North Korea will need its help in the near future aren't being fooled by the state propaganda lectures."
South Korea has stopped broadcasting propaganda across the border into North Korea since late April, in a follow-up measure to a summit between the countries' leaders.
The broadcasts over loudspeakers were one of the South's most potent weapons of Cold War-era psychological warfare.
North Korea has denied international accusations that its regime is responsible for human rights violations and running political prison camps. Pyongyang has absolved itself of any responsibility for its crimes against humanity by blaming the international community.
Between 80,000 and 130,000 North Korean political prisoners are thought to be in gulag-like facilities.
