The only way we can "undo" the miseducation most of us have received on the DPRK is through proper reeducation. I know reeducation often has bad connotations, but I've never seen the word that way personally, reeducation is good!

They need to realise as the first step that all this cartoon evil stuff they've been told about the DPRK makes no sense, and for that they have to see that the DPRK is a normal country like all others, with a functioning state and government. We shouldn't disguise the truth because liberals are not ready to hear it -- we need to be confident in it, and they will come around eventually.

It's hard to deny, for example, what Pyongyang looks like and that they're building free housing for their population: https://twitter.com/NatalieRevolts/status/1513708649386020869. And sure, they'll find counter arguments in the early stages, but eventually they'll have to confront reality and realise the "only the high officials of the regime live in Pyongyang" makes no sense and does not hold up to scrutiny.

But I'm not pulling you into a debate or struggle session here 😀 I think for the most part we agree.

I am in broad, near total, agreement with you. There's just the point about trust that I want to address.

For me, it's not necessarily about 'trusting' the DPRK. It starts with recognising that we can't trust anything Western governments or media say about the DPRK.

We know for certain that we cannot trust Western voices. (1) They have been caught in too many lies already. (2) Whether they lie or not, the world looks different from a dialectical materialist perspective, which makes bourgeois conclusions faulty even if they're honest.

If this is correct, it means rebuilding a model of everything that capitalists have ever spoken about. That includes the DPRK, Cuba, etc.

In that case, we need to look for data and evidence from somewhere else, which happens to include official e.g. DPRK sources (although we can critically analyse Western sources and find the kernel of truth if there is one, to help us do the same to those un/official pro-DPRK sources and come to a new conclusion).

As for that conclusion, we do know some uncontrovertable facts. The US and it's allies invaded Korea, killing millions of people. They invaded as a neocolonial project and to prevent the spread of communism. The US never left. An invading army that doesn't leave is almost by definition an occupying force. That means the south of the peninsula is occupied by a foreign enemy.

Under these conditions, we cannot expect enlightenment in the region. As it happens, I'm convinced the north is a lot closer to paradise than Western media and officials ever suggest (not to say that it is or ever could be a paradise—I'm not a utopian socialist). For the majority of people, it may even be better in the north than in the south. But other 'leftists' don't have to agree about that.

I think that recognising these details is necessary to convince westerners in general to act in solidarity with Korea to achieve the goals that you rightly say we need to achieve. We're not going to get anywhere with lifting sanctions for so long as westerners implicitly agree that some level of occupation/action is necessary because the DPRK is XYZ.

After recognising these details, it becomes clearer that western leftists need to stop caring so much about what goes on in other countries (unless it's to offer critical support) and focus instead on preventing their governments from conducting/facilitating the most violent empire in history. (Which I think you're already saying?)

I'm fine with being hyper critical of sources, what I don't understand is, if you go down that route dismissing sources because of some clandestine connection, why isn't this applicable to any source? Western media controlled by the CIA or whatever with an agenda of demonizing socialism, media controlled by socialist countries with an agenda of demonizing capitalism. It's so weird only extending that scepticism to western media