You see, oddly enough in 2000, Gareth Morgan did find the pejorative, stereotyping of north Korea to be just fine when he was writing a column for the NBR.
I suspect (and indeed there is evidence that) the DPRK is not very adept at researching those who seek Visas for travel there. I doubt this column would have helped.
In fact he used it to compare to the Clark Government, which is of course great fun for libertarians, but is in the same boat as "it's like Singapore".
His view then was that the DPRK is "the last surviving example of socialism gone horribly wrong", which doesn't exactly match the glowing image of farms and the economic struggles being seen to be due to the "economic blockade".
He said "everyone is in the same boat, they're starving", a view reversed by getting to see the people made available on the self-selected, but approved route.
He talks then of the ruling elite having "expropriated heaps of money from the people to keep themselves and a few cronies in comfort". Not a peep about this now.
"This Stalinist amusement park would suit someone like Tony Simpson in Jim Anderton's office" and to think of what he called me when I pointed out the nature of this regime and system. He already knew.
Now I have this column because I liked it, it was amusing, and it showed a cursory awareness of the totalitarian nightmare of the country, and the economic catastrophe it is.
Today...
2 comments:
DPRK-watchers do make mistakes sometimes Scott. For example, they appear to have confused the smoke plumes from Gareth's visiting motorcycle with steam from the mothballed Yongbyon facility.
We all know the DPRK would never restart their nuclear weapons programme to create leverage in seeking food from foreign countries, not when they gave Hans Bwix their pwomise.
A pity this article wasn't sent to the DPRK visa authorities while "the spy" was there...
He's pretty much done a 180 on welfare too. He used to speak against high levels of benefit dependency until having 'his' NIT big idea. Now he describes my opposition as beneficiary bashing. Makes him feel magnanimous I think. He's developed some sort of guilt complex connected to having wealth?
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