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The situation in North Korea is truly terrible. There is a very small contingent with money who can afford things, including more fashionable clothes. Those pictures are not representative of the rest of North Korea.
The situation in North Korea is truly terrible. There is a very small contingent with money who can afford things, including more fashionable clothes. Those pictures are not representative of the rest of North Korea.
I was in China in the 1980s. At that time China was poorer than North Korea of today (and of then, on average). However women in the cities still tried to buy fashionable clothes (according to their standards).
In those "communist" countries, and many developing countries in general, peasants are extremely poor but people in the cities are ok. They get allocations of necessities and have some extra savings.
No, I do not consider Somalia a modern concentration camp. I only consider it very poor with chaos.
This post is about fashion. North Korea beats Somalia in many other ways too. For example, their literacy rate is 99%, according to wikipedia (which is not always reliable, of course). Even India, a "democratic free country" has only 70% literacy rate.
Rodman probably has no political agenda so he got very confused when he visited there lol
And where do you think they gathered that information, through independent observers who are not even allowed to enter the country? The statistics is of course gathered from the North Korean government, probably the least trusted government in the world. Sometimes US statistics is wrong as well, North Korea does not even try.
I don't know what the literacy rate is in North Korea, but it is certainly not above 90% because
1. There are many old people in North Korea who never learnt to read. That is why South Korea literacy rate is not 99%.
2. Orphans do not receive education
3. Child prisoners are also not educated
But since North Korea define anyone who can spell Kim il Sung name as literate and #2 and #3 are not considered people, then they can have perfect literacy rate.
I was in China in the 1980s. At that time China was poorer than North Korea of today (and of then, on average). However women in the cities still tried to buy fashionable clothes (according to their standards).
We don't really have any reliable statistics to show who was richer. However, what we know is that North Korea recently had a famine. There was no famines in China during the 80s.
Also, cities are much richer than the countryside. For instance Shanghai had a gdp per capita of $5000.
Quote:
In those "communist" countries, and many developing countries in general, peasants are extremely poor but people in the cities are ok. They get allocations of necessities and have some extra savings.
But most people in communist countries are peasants. Also if you visit cities outside Pyongyang then they are quite poor as well.
The situation in North Korea is truly terrible. There is a very small contingent with money who can afford things, including more fashionable clothes. Those pictures are not representative of the rest of North Korea.
And where do you think they gathered that information, through independent observers who are not even allowed to enter the country? The statistics is of course gathered from the North Korean government, probably the least trusted government in the world. Sometimes US statistics is wrong as well, North Korea does not even try.
Agree. Since this is the fashion forum and to stay on topic (rather than expose NK's propaganda & atrocities)
then there is this:
And where do you think they gathered that information, through independent observers who are not even allowed to enter the country? The statistics is of course gathered from the North Korean government, probably the least trusted government in the world. Sometimes US statistics is wrong as well, North Korea does not even try.
I don't know what the literacy rate is in North Korea, but it is certainly not above 90% because
1. There are many old people in North Korea who never learnt to read. That is why South Korea literacy rate is not 99%.
2. Orphans do not receive education
3. Child prisoners are also not educated
But since North Korea define anyone who can spell Kim il Sung name as literate and #2 and #3 are not considered people, then they can have perfect literacy rate.
North Korea has been founded for more than 60 years. I do believe most adults there learned to read.
Even in China, there was a campaign to teach illiterate adults to read in the 1950s and 1960s. My grandmother was a teacher then.
I don't know about North Korea but in China all orphans receive compulsory education till 16 years old. I would assume North Korea does better because the country is so much smaller.
Child prisoners are just western propaganda. Period. Yes some children may live with their jailed mother when they were very young, but that's about it.
Even in China, ethnic Koreans are among the best educated. They have the tradition of valuing education.
We don't really have any reliable statistics to show who was richer. However, what we know is that North Korea recently had a famine. There was no famines in China during the 80s.
Also, cities are much richer than the countryside. For instance Shanghai had a gdp per capita of $5000.
But most people in communist countries are peasants. Also if you visit cities outside Pyongyang then they are quite poor as well.
How is it even possible for North Korea to have a good economy if ALL rich countries in the world refuse to trade with it? (Fortunately China is rich now.)
The famine in North Korea was in the 1990s, when USSR collapsed. You have to understand North Korea economy was totally based on trading with the Soviet Union back then. In addition, there was a major flood in North Korea.
When people talk about how poor North Korea is, they seem to ignore the fact that it was sanctioned by the whole western world, so it certainly got hurt when the Soviets got trouble.
China had a severe famine between 1955~1961. Some people fled to North Korea actually. However after 1980s famine has been very rare.
Last edited by Bettafish; 08-11-2014 at 12:18 PM..
Like most women in East Asia, they are afraid of sunshine (dark skin is considered ugly) so they carry umbrellas during the summer like Chinese.
So how does your theory explain the tan rain boots and puddle on the ground in the second photo? How about, uh...it was raining!
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