The state also uses its control over the media as a way of brainwashing the younger generations. If a child grows up watching the tv of the state, surfing the internet controlled by the state, and listens to the radio of the state, then they'll have little other information with which to form an opinion on the world.
I think this goes a long way to explaining the mass hysteria the people have for their leader. Despite the fact that much of the population is well below the poverty line, Kim Jong-un is portrayed in a god like way by the guys who control what is effectively propaganda.
Just minutes ago I learnt that 80 people were executed by the North Korean firing squad for allegedly watching foreign films, something unthinkable in the West.
This leads me on to an interesting fact that I discovered at one of the Newseum's fascinating exhibits. Only one in six people live in a country where the press is free to report whatever they wish.
I imagined that the majority of the developed world would benefit from free press. Not so, pretty much only northern Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and the odd other country do so. Most of Eastern Europe, Africa, South America and other areas have some form of restrictions in place to control the people.
At home, criticizing politicians is common place and I can't imagine living in a country where by doing such you would risk imprisonment or possibly an even worst fate.
I also discovered that there is a country that operates in a similar way to North Korea, but has slipped under the radar of the world's media.
Turkmenistan has a population that is starving and all this despite the fact that the country sits on huge gas and oil reserves. Soldiers also patrol the internet cafes in the cities, peering over the shoulders of customers checking for any hint of Western internet.
Food for thought in a world which most people to consider to be largely free.
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