Vietnam "opened up" after the fall of the Soviet Union, Korea did not. The common consensus among the average Western "academic" was that Vietnam had abandoned Socialism and was embracing free market Capitalism.

Now, real G's understand that a worker's state with a free market is not wholly contradictory, as we can see in China. But to the average Capitalism fan, Vietnam's "opening up" was seen as Capitalism's triumph in that country through peaceful means.

The same could be said for China, of course, up until very recently - when I think those same academics are coming to the stark realization that markets and Socialism are not incompatible and that, in actuality, China is not the Western neocolony they thought it was but is instead a Socialist state that has used markets to propel itself to a preeminent world power.

They have yet to come to this same conclusion with regards to Vietnam but I believe this represents a contradictory worldview which will resolve itself in the coming years.

For the US, everything around that region concerns China. Vietnam is still considered a strong strategic country for the "containment" of China. The scaremongering of the DPRK plays perfectly into keeping South Korea and Japan in the strong grip of the US to counter China.

In a vibes-based historical context, the difference is that SK still exists as a US puppet regime. Vietnam doesn't have a frozen conflict to contend with, so the propaganda has much less usefulness. Demonizing real Korea is part of maintaining the narrative to justify the status quo forced upon the peninsula by the US.

Why isn't Vietnam demonized like DPRK?

The simple answer is because the ROK exists. DPRK gets demonized as an example of socialism while the ROK gets praised as an example of capitalism. You see a similar dynamic with China vs Taiwan/Hong Kong/Singapore.

Because in the American cultural imagination the Vietnam War was a horrifying slaughter and a complete loss. But the nature of the loss depends on who you ask. Chuds say politicians hampered the generals, liberals will say lack of morale or something.

Vietnam is kinda unique in that most Americans at this point think about it through movies rather than an actual event. And movies always portray it in the negative, as a complete tragedy. So for modern Vietnam to be demonized you'd have to somehow portray what exists now in Vietnam as worse America's involvement and that's not possible

The US Empire is trying to treat Vietnam like they did China in the 90s, and is trying to leverage Vietnam's socialist market economy into pivoting them away from China and towards the US. The DPRK cannot be treated as such.

The US failed to pivot China, and will likely fail with Vietnam as well as both are socialist countries and practice shows that by maintaining control of the large firms and key industries and a dictatorship of the proletariat, porkie can't act freely and reinstate capitalism.

I've seen boomers still get enraged over "Hanoi Jane".

Vietnam kicked our ass. I think at a subconscious level even chuds can respect their military prowess. Also, not an economic threat.

Where does your t-shirt come from?

US is still occupying the South and is therefore at war with DPRK. The media knows this and gives it the kind of coverage it gives any other country that the US is currently at war with.

Vietnam lets us have cheap resources(be it material or labor).

That's it. That's always it. If the USSR let the USA come in and let them have cheap resources, we wouldnt have said shit about USSR and the cold war wouldnt have existed. It's literally always a fight for resources.

It's why the China hate is ramped up. from about the 80s until the early 00s China was a great partner thanks to the cheap labor. Now that labor wont be as cheap, and China is way better at being unified and protecting themselves from western interests. Im sure you could make a chart of how many "china will collapse soon" articles have been made as Chinas presence has strengthened.

Possession of nuclear weapons

Imf loan

Vietnam gets exploited for cheap sneakers

Korea is officially still at war with the US and Samsung. But wtf are they gonna do about it? Korea has nukes :) Amerikkka is bitter because of it.

North Korea will never give up its arsenal. It's all that is keeping us alive. Look at Saddam Hussein - and we never forget that North Korea was named as part of the "axis of evil" a year before the United States invaded Iraq. Do you think we would be stupid enough to believe American promises after all this? We are a nuclear power. That is not negotiable. We are willing to talk about limits freezes - but we would need to be given something in return security, in the form of diplomatic recognition by Washington and guarantees of nonaggression from China, Japan and the United States.

-Kim Jong Un

The DPRK is extremely isolated. It can say basically whatever the fuck it wants about its enemies and there's no consequence because what are they going to do, sanction it more? And what would its enemies do if it attacked them less, sanction the DPRK less while the DPRK still maintains its nuclear program?

Vietnam actually has diplomatic relations with the US and many others where it stands to benefit by playing nice.

Because they (were? still are?) and adversary to China and that gave them an incentive to bury the hatchet with the USA quick.

The more a country is a threat to the empire, the more demonized it is. Make of it that as you wish. Btw did you know that I could have enrolled in several Vietnamese university for my semester abroad, a bit unusual for digital security students.

In addition to the points mentioned here, DPRK assisting the Russian SMO (based) didnt help things in the liberal court of public opinion.

Also westerners genuinely believe in great man of history bs and thats why every american knows who the "dictator" of north Korea is but can't tell you the names of literally anyone else in the country (or even who their state reps are)

one is barely socialist, almost in name only, while the other is deeply communist in all facets of society