Behind the Curtain in North Korea

The northern half of the Korean peninsula is the most repressive regime on earth, long at the bottom of country rankings for economic freedom and human liberty. Apparently failure embarrasses President Kim Jong-il, so he heavily censors domestic and Western media and blocks citizens from the Internet. As a result, only die-hard and idiotic lefties like Robert Scheer deny the catastrophe that's overwhelmed the so-called "the Hermit Kingdom."

Recently, however, some North Korean official managed to tape street scenes and slip the result to Japan's Nippon Television Network. The result is horrifying. According to Rebecca MacKinnon, blogging at the North Korea Zone:

"The officer gave the tape to [NTN] saying that he wanted to show the suffering of the North Korean people after more than a decade of the economic crisis," a Nippon official said. . . .

The tape also showed the dreary lives of many stray children on the streets. Some lie motionless near railroad tracks. A child is seen walking around a plaza with a liquor bottle in his hand; he was shoeless and all his toes are cutoff.

If liberal journalists count communist North Korea as a success, then the words "liberal" and "journalists" have no meaning.

(via Vercingtroix)