!pyongyang@hexbear.net is comm for posting links to websites hosted in DPRK aka Democratic People's Republic of Korea, known as North Korea in the West. Pyongyang is the capital city of DPRK. The purpose of the comm is to try observe the DPRK perspective.
DPRK is heavily sanctioned and censored by the West. There is a lot of misinformation spread about DPRK, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. An example of positive misinformation would be all the twitter accounts making up fake Kim Jong Un quotes. Negative misinformation would be like all of the articles posted by RadioFreeAsia, a US-funded propaganda site.
There are websites hosted in DPRK that are accessible internationally. DPRK owns the .kp TLD. Every website that ends with .kp is hosted in DPRK. Linking directly to websites hosted in DPRK could demystify the western perspective of DPRK.
some info about the .kp TLD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.kp
The concept of the comm is simple. Visit a DPRK website, find something interesting to you, post the link to the page in this comm. Optionally screenshot the page and/or archive it with an archive website.
To combat western narratives, all posts on the comm should contain a link to a .kp website or archive of a .kp website, either in the URL field or the Post body field. Users would be welcome to comment their own opinions, but posts should be based on DPRK websites.
Here is a current list of websites hosted in DPRK. https://archive.is/RT91h
These webpages tend to post new stuff daily, so the comm should never run out of content. The DPRK website list has a broad range categories. There's a recipe website, an architecture website, an ebook website with juche theory books, an animation website with DPRK animated videos, and more.
The two news sites in DPRK that I read are KCNA and Rodong Sinmun. They have the tendency to post new articles daily at 6 PM eastern time. The articles tend to be deleted after 1 year time, so it is good to archive the page if you find something interesting.
Also, the korean language website of the websites sometimes have additional pages not available in the english version. You might have to use the browser translate function.
Additionally, DPRK has shown rapid development over the past couple years. On June 18 2024, DPRK signed a trade agreement with Russia, which I believe gave DPRK expanded access to new technologies.
Untrustworthy Sources: RadioFreeAsia (RFA), NKNews/KCNAWatch, DailyNK, Rimjin-gang, 38North
Here are some posts that I've made in this past linking to websites hosted in the DPRK.
DPRK troops marching in moscow.
https://hexbear.net/post/8457616
Xi Jinping in Pyongyang
https://hexbear.net/post/8720735
Kim Jong Un and daughter and government officials at a gun range.
https://hexbear.net/post/7917537
DPRK condemns Israel's attack on Iran
https://hexbear.net/post/7813201
South Korea spy drone shot down while in DPRK airspace
https://hexbear.net/post/7302452
These posts are examples of interesting things that I found on DPRK websites, interesting to me at least. The purpose of the comm is for users to post things from DPRK websites that are interesting to them. I think other users could find interesting things that I may have missed or not understood.
As some other people may have pointed out, many people have a negative view of DPRK, likely due to US propaganda campaigns. I don't expect every user to have a positive view of DPRK. I hope that every user (especially users visiting from other instances) would have an open mind and I expect every user to follow all of Hexbear's rules. Hexbear rule 4 disallows posts or comments "containing transphobia, homophobia, sexism, racism, ableism, zionism, anti-veganism, or trivializing COVID. No self-described or obvious fascists, conservatives, or reactionaries."
If you have any suggestions for the comm or questions about the comm, feel free to comment on the main thread.