@afellowkid
@lemmygrad.mlAgreed, sadly the reactionary anti-feminist MRA stuff gets spread, while people really working on men's liberation issues are often sidelined.
At this point the men's rights groups are mainly doing harassment campaigns (leading to various cases of suicides), but outbursts like this have some precedent, e.g. in 2018: South Korean Women Beaten Until Skull Exposed For ‘Looking Like Feminists’ (some accounts of this say the women were making fun of the men, though obviously that doesn't justify beating them), or this:
In August [2021], a South Korean man dressed as the Joker live-streamed himself harassing activists who had gathered in Daejeon city to protest against advertisers profiting from YouTube videos that promoted hatred against women.
His words were chilling: “I heard that there were f*****g feminists here; I’m going to murder them all.”
According to Lee Hyo-rin, from the women’s rights group Haeil, no passers-by stepped in as the man chased the activists down the street.
[...} Since the demonstration on August 22, Lee from Haeil has not been able to resume her normal life.
Her personal information and photographs were leaked on antifeminism forums online, and she was caught up in a violent cyber-harassment campaign that included death threats.
A report by local broadcaster SBS last month said a woman was asked about her opinion on feminism during a job interview. She was also asked whether men and women had distinct physical strengths and told to remove her face mask so the men who interviewed her “could judge her facial expressions”.
Eun, 24, told This Week in Asia she was asked whether feminism was the reason behind her short haircut during a job interview in Seoul earlier this year. The male interviewer said it did not fit the image expected of her by the company.
[...] Suicide rates among South Korean women in their 20s rose by more than 40 per cent last year, while the figures among men of the same age declined during the same period.
As for attacks on women in general (without the feminism component), those of course happen as well, e.g.: After another femicide, many Korean women say nowhere feels safe.
Note I haven't carefully read the above articles nor am I informed enough on this issue to produce a thorough analysis, this is just to give the general idea of the tense environment around feminism and MRAs in south Korea's public discourse, obviously these articles approach from a liberal lens.
Richard Medhurst posted a couple of videos recently talking about this:
Part 1 - "Israel and the United States want the giant amounts of gas in Gaza, and to create a rival to China's New Silk Road."
Part 2 - "Israel and the United States plan to turn Gaza into the "Ben Gurion Canal", a rival to Egypt's Suez Canal. This is about controlling the world's most geostrategic shipping lane."
When reading books written in the imperial core, about the enemies/targets of imperialist nations, I would keep this in mind:
Former CIA case officer John Stockwell: Well for example, in my war, the Angola war, that I helped to manage, one third of my staff was propaganda. [...] We would take stories which we would write and put them in the Zambia Times, and then pulled them out and sent them to a journalist on our payroll in Europe. But his cover story, you see, would be what he had gotten from his stringer in Lusaka, who had gotten them from the Zambia Times. We had the complicity of the government of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda if you will, to put these false stories into his newspapers. But after that point, the journalists, Reuters and AFP, the management was not witting of it. Now, our contact man in Europe was. And we pumped just dozens of stories about Cuban atrocities, Cuban rapists--in one case we had the Cuban rapists caught and tried by the Ovimbundu maidens who had been their victims, and then we ran photographs that made almost every newspaper in the country of the Cubans being executed by the Ovimbundu women who supposedly had been their victims.
Interviewer: These were fake photos?
Stockwell: Oh, absolutely. We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know eating babies for breakfast and the sort. Totally false propaganda.
Interviewer: John, was this sort of thing practiced in Vietnam?
Stockwell: Oh, endlessly. A massive propaganda effort in Vietnam in the '50s and in the '60s, including the thousand books that were published--several hundred in English--that were also propaganda books sponsored by the CIA. Give some money to a writer, "Write this book for us, write anything you want, but on these matters, make sure, you know, you have this line."
Interviewer: Writers in this country? Books sold and distributed in this culture?
Stockwell: Sure. Yeah. English language books, meaning an American audience as a target, on the subject of Vietnam and the history of Vietnam, and the history of Marxism, and supporting the domino theory, et cetera.
Interviewer: Without opening us up to a lawsuit, could you name one of them?
Stockwell: No, I could not. The Church Committee, when they found this out, demanded that they be given the titles so that the university libraries could at least go and stamp inside "Central Intelligence Agency's version of history," and the CIA refused because it's been commissioned to protect its sources and methods, and the sources would be the authors who wrote these false propaganda books, some of whom are now distinguished scholars and journalists.
Also note:
It's a recognized problem in south Korea that "time and time again, conservative outlets and foreign media circulate and reproduce rumors [about DPRK] based on questionable sources ... retractions and apologies are rarely ever provided when the reports are shown to be false" and "Sometimes, the South Korean government itself has been the epicenter of false reports ... The situation has been made worse by defector groups aggressively proliferating claims from unverified 'North Korean sources,' as if attempting to draw attention to themselves."
South Korea's national intelligence service (NIS) forges documents to frame people and tortures them into false confessions as well as pays defectors for sensational stories and harasses and silences people who say positive things about DPRK (and takes away their passports so they can't go back, even when they came to south Korea against their will)
UN human rights researchers who have worked directly with defectors from DPRK have written about how testimonies are made unreliable by cash incentives paid by the NIS and other organizations: "North Korean refugees are well aware of what the interviewer wants to hear. ... The more terrible their stories are, the more attention they receive. The more international invitations they receive, the more cash comes in. It is how the capitalist system works: competition for more tragic and shocking stories. ... In my 16 years of studying North Korean refugees, I have experienced numerous inconsistent stories, intentional omission and lies. I have also witnessed some involved in fraud and other illicit activities. In one case the breach of trust was so significant that I could not continue research."
Edit: So, to summarize -- Former CIA case officers have discussed how they pay academics and journalists to write thousands of books about foreign communist enemies that contain whatever content the author wants as long as it pushes certain specific lines; the CIA regularly plants false stories into foreign newspapers and gets them circulated around; the NIS (formerly the "KCIA", formed on the US-backed side during the Korean War to combat communists) is known to forge documents, extract false confessions, pay people to lie or embellish to the point that mainstream south Korean liberal media and UN researchers say it's making it too hard to tell what's true; defectors with sensational stories receive payments and get book deals and international speaking tours while people with positive things to say get arrested and surveilled by intelligence agencies...So, keep that info in mind as you consider what's going on with these books.
With Whom are Many U.S. Police Departments Training? With a Chronic Human Rights Violator – Israel
Baltimore law enforcement officials, along with hundreds of others from Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state as well as the DC Capitol police have all traveled to Israel for training. Thousands of others have received training from Israeli officials here in the U.S.
These trainings put Baltimore police and other U.S. law enforcement employees in the hands of military, security and police systems that have racked up documented human rights violations for years. [...] Public or private funds spent to train our domestic police in Israel should concern all of us. Many of the abuses documented, parallels violations by Israeli military, security and police officials.
Israeli forces trained cops in ‘restraint techniques’ at Minneapolis conference
Officers from the U.S. police force responsible for the killing of George Floyd received training in restraint techniques and anti-terror tactics from Israeli law enforcement officers.
In a chilling testimony, a Palestinian rights activist said that when she saw the image of Derek Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck, she was reminded of the Israeli forces’ policing of the occupied territories.
Neta Golan, co-founder of International Solidarity Movement (ISM), said: “When I saw the picture of killer cop Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd by leaning in on his neck with his knee as he cried for help and other cops watched, I remembered noticing when many Israeli soldiers began using this technique of leaning in on our chest and necks when we were protesting in the West Bank sometime in 2006.
“They started twisting and breaking fingers in a particular way around the same time. It was clear they had undergone training for this. They continue to use these tactics—two of my friends have had their necks broken but luckily survived—and it is clear that they [Israel] share these methods when they train police forces abroad in ‘crowd control’ in the U.S. and other countries including Sudan and Brazil.”
::: spoiler Video channels, playlists, etc.
DPRK Explained - A YouTube channel which explains various things about DPRK.
DefendKorea - "Sharing information from the DPRK and countering the regime-change narrative in favor of peace, reconciliation, and reunification of Korea."
푸옹 Phuong DPRK Daily - "Daily uploads of videos related to the DPRK, news, revolutionary politics, daily life, history, culture, etc. This channel is private and has no official ties to the DPRK."
SAO Documentary - A group of people on various trips to DPRK filming as they go.
DPRK 360 - Various videos of DPRK. It also has a website with blog posts and panoramic photos of DPRK.
Our Daily Life in North Korea - Videos by Jaka Parker, who I believe is a diplomat who previously lived in DPRK with his family for a while. He has other playlists too such as North Korean Store.
:::
::: spoiler Podcasts
Podcast of KEEP delegation discussing former DPRK visits - Several people in the Korean diaspora who travelled to DPRK on multiple trips a few years ago talk about their experiences going there and about the misconceptions they had about DPRK and discussions they had with DPRK people. Currently they are now involved in activism to undo the US travel ban against north Korea so they can continue their delegation trips.
The modern history of Korea with Ju-Hyun Park, Part 1 - Talks about Korea’s modern history before the division. Discusses the Japanese colonial period and independence struggle, and the beginning of US occupation. Part 2 - Discusses Korea post-division, talks about the Korean war and the history of DPRK and south Korea since then.
The Friendship is Strong: Talking About North Korea - Xiangyu (anti-imperialist rapper) discusses going to DPRK and also talks about working for Young Pioneer Tours.
Blowback Podcast season 3 covers Korean war history, it's very worth learning about Korean history as a whole to really understand DPRK.
:::
:::spoiler Articles, blogs, photos
Young Pioneer Tours - This website has several articles about DPRK, usually with photos too, but they're not really listed anywhere that I know of on the site. But if you use a search engine and include the site name you can probably find articles by them on various topics. Examples of some articles: Sariwon Folklore Village, Golden Triangle Bank, Guide to Wonsan, Domestic North Korean Flights, North Korean Traffic Girls, Vegan Food in North Korea, Tae’an Friendship Glass Factory, North Korean Cuisine, Kwangbok Department Store and Supermarket
Explore DPRK - A website with various info. "As an International Friendship Initiative, we strive to promote mutual understanding and cultural exchange between the people of DPRK and the rest of the world. Our website serves as a platform to share knowledge, experiences, and insights about DPRK with the global community."
DPRK 360 - "Since 2013, Aram Pan has been visiting the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and capturing many aspects of their culture and everyday life."
Avax News, photos tagged "DPRK" - Various pages of photos, when you click "details" you can see multiple photos per post. You can of course try other search terms too.
Korean-language articles (sorry that I don't know an English version of these, but machine translation can help give the main points if you are okay with that):
“Understanding North Korea” - Article series by Tongil Times, especially their 북현대사 (“North Modern History”) series is informative.
“North Korea through the constitution” - Series by Sovereignty Research Institute.
:::
::: spoiler Books
Modern Korea: The Socialist North, Revolutionary Perspectives in the South, and Unification - Book by DPRK author about the revolution and socialist construction up to 1970
Modern History of Korea - A history book from DPRK
North Korean Journey: The Revolution Against Colonialism - Book by historian from the US who visited DPRK
Sanctions of Empire - A zine by Nodutdol about the sanctions placed on DPRK and other nations. (PDF)
Socialist Education in Korea: Selected Works of Kim Il-Sung (PDF) - "Socialist Education in Korea delves into the history and educational praxis of North Korea in a way that is rarely studied in the US, as this work counters many of the western media narratives against North Korea."
:::
::: spoiler Videos (in English or with English subs)
Hong Kong student delegation to DPRK - Students from Hong Kong hanging out with students from north Korea
North Koreans Talk! New Years Resolutions from North Koreans (2020) - "New Years Eve in North Korea I spent asking North Koreans what their New Year's Resolutions for 2020 are."
May day celebration 2017 - Watch some foreign tour guides hang out with Koreans at a May day celebration event. (More videos from them)
“My Experience at PUST(North Korea)” - A foreign English teacher at a school in DPRK made a documentary about their experience (it was an all male students school at the time but now has male and female students. Here is a student being interviewed)
“I met North Koreans on the Trans-Siberian Railway” - South Korean randomly meets some north Koreans on a trip abroad, turn on subtitles to see their conversation in English
Eid Al-Fitr in North Korea - Video of people in a mosque in DPRK
Pyongyang Centre for the Deaf and Blind - Visit to the center, and here is an article about it.
Night walk through the Ryomyong Street in Pyongyang - "One of the most recognizable newly build apartments in the capital of DPRK."
Video of Pyongyang Public Transport (2019) - Just a video of public transport, as the title says.
:::
:::spoiler Videos (in Korean)
Episode of a south Korean TV show where some people visit north Korea, "Walk Into Pyongyang" - Unfortunately there are not English subtitles, but you could try the auto-translate subs feature on YouTube. But you can see countryside and street scenes and see the tone of interactions between people even if you may not understand Korean. It shows their visit without trying to portray north Korea as scary.
[Docuseries] A north-south Korea joint production about north and south Korean cities, "두 도시 이야기" (Tale of Two Cities) - A post I made with links to episodes of this docuseries. I also summarized an episode here: [Video] "What does Childrens' Day look like in north Korea?"
South Korean family on a road trip meets some North Koreans working in Russia - Just a friendly conversation between north and south Koreans randomly meeting in Russia (the north Koreans spotted the south Koreans pulled over at a gas station, and pulled over to greet them and had a chat, mentioned that they work in Russia but return to DPRK yearly)
:::
Socialist Constitution of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (2019) - DPRK's constitution on Wikisource
DPRK Socio-Economic, Demographic and Health Survey 2014. - Survey co-authored by the United Nations Population Fund and the DPRK’s Central Bureau of Statistics (Related: UNFPA summary of DPRK census population data from 2008).
North Korea’s Surprisingly Robust Healthcare System - Article in Global Asia
ProleWiki page on DPRK - ProleWiki page giving info on DPRK
For a point of view from a DPRK author, this book: Modern Korea: The Socialist North, Revolutionary Perspectives in the South, and Unification.
For a ML point of view: ProleWiki page on DPRK. There are also pages on south Korea, Korea, and the Korean War.
For a Korean diaspora and activist perspective, of people who travelled to DPRK multiple times on delegation trips: KEEP: Stories from North Korea episode on The East is a Podcast. Also Nodutdol's zine, Sanctions of Empire (there is a link to PDF on that page if you click the zine cover image).
For a south Korean leftist/left-leaning/peace point of view (try machine translation if you don't know Korean, my apologies for not knowing an English one for this): "Understanding North Korea" article series by Tongil Times, especially their 북현대사 ("North Modern History") series, and "North Korea through the constitution" series by Sovereignty Research Institute.