What were some of the absurd stories she told and how do you know they’re not real?
I’m asking this because it’s my understanding that it’s hard getting information from there for either side.
Things like North Korean parents feeding their children mud, or Kim Jong-un personally executing an orchestra conductor in front of a crowd.
North Korea is not a complete black box. Americans are banned from the country, but most Europeans can visit on guided tours.
Millions of North Koreans work abroad in China. If anyone actually wanted to know what life was like in North Korea, you could just ask them. But no-one with the money to hire a translator and head to Beijing is really interested in the very boring truth; that North Korea is a poor, imperfect country where the vast majority of people live normal lives.
The documentary “Loyal Citizens of Pyeongyang in Seoul” has a few interviews with North Korean citizens who went to the South for better economic opportunities before having their passports seized and prevented from going home to the North.
At least about the guided tours, everyone I saw talking about their experience resumed to “you do as you’re told and only go were they let you/guide you”. There is no freedom to go around and see actual people in their daily lives.
