Posted on 06/11/2005 5:16:27 AM PDT by goarmy
Was outside grilling some burgers when my lovely wife came outside and said, you'll never believe what ABC News just aired. Check out the last paragraph of this story.
"North Koreans Offer Opinions on America: Anti-American Propaganda Colors North Koreans' View of US"
PYONYANG, North Korea, June 9, 2005 — There are large gaps in what is known about North Korea, its leader, and its people, since outsiders' access to the country is limited.
On a rare visit to the country, an ABC News team traveled outside the capital city of Pyongyang to survey North Koreans' impressions of America.
The first stop: the USS Pueblo — the American ship North Korea caught spying off its coast in 1968 — which is now a museum. One American crewman was killed during the assault, and 82 men were captured and imprisoned for 11 months under horrible conditions.
Kim Mee Kyong, the museum's officer, said the ship is an example of American crimes and another reason why North Koreans don't like Americans.
KIM MEE KYONG : They invaded our territory, and they supplied information so all Koreans were angry.
BOB WOODRUFF: Do you have any good feelings for Americans?
KYONG : (Laughs)
It is the kind of image of the United States that goes completely unchallenged in North Korea. There are no American products in the markets and no American programs on television. Since almost no U.S. citizens ever visit North Korea, most North Koreans have never even met an American.
Instead, all North Koreans hear a steady drumbeat of anti-American propaganda. When the ABC News team traveled two hours north of the capital today, accompanied by government minders, we found widespread anti-U.S. feeling.
An 11-year-old girl, found working on a collective farm, offered her opinion of America through a translator.
WOODRUFF: Do you know about America? Have you heard about America?
GIRL: They killed Korean people.
WOODRUFF: When did they kill Koreans?
GIRL: (Looks down)
Kim Tae Song, an 18-year-old found fishing today, told ABC News he plans to join the army to protect his country.
WOODRUFF: What do you think about Americans?
KIM TAE SONG: I curse them as the sworn enemy of the Korean people.
WOODRUFF: Have you met an American before?
SONG: No.
WOODRUFF: I'm an American.
SONG: (Looks down)
Further up the road in the mountains, ABC News visited a Buddhist temple, which North Korean officials claim was bombed by American planes in the Korean War.
But Zang Yong, the temple's guide, said she has given tours to a few Americans, and although she dislikes the U.S. government, the people are OK.
"When I bring Americans here and talk about the damage from the war, they feel very hurt," Yong said. "Some Americans have feelings just like us."
The final stop today was at the children's palace in Pyongyang, where 5,000 North Koreans get after-school training in music, art and sports. They gave a final performance for foreign dignitaries today — A STUNNING REMINDER OF HOW WELL CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THE STATE DECIDES TO TEACH THEM.
A STUNNING REMINDER OF HOW WELL CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THE STATE DECIDES TO TEACH THEM.
LOL! That statement certainly applies to our own public screwels.
Eventually the communist experiment will die, its just a matter of time.
How much you want to bet that these school kids will suffer retribution?
Not so sure. Most people rankle at a steady diet of forced propaganda, think of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
Most intelligent people, by the time they are 21 or 30, come to believe that at least half of what they were taught in school is rubbish and start to try to figure things out for themselves.
Thanks for the update -- I've been curious about how ABC news will use their access to North Korea. I fear they'll act like CNN under Saddam -- in other words, they'll become a branch of the government's propaganda machine.
Hey ABC .. if you haven't noticed ... North Korea IS A COMMUNIST COUNTY .. you nit wits
USS Pueblo was in international waters when she was illegally fired upon and boarded by the North Koreans.
Some of the AUDIOS of these interviews were crafted into stories to be played on the radio. I heard one the other morning during my 8 AM drive-in on the local ABC affiliate station.
isn't it great when the american reporter in actuality is more brainwashed than the north korean he is interviewing?
So do Americans.
Think of 21st century U.S.A. and the shift of the political and cultural center of gravity to Middle America from the Leftist looneybins.
What is this? Dopey post day?
I don't have a problem with the article or Woodruff, it seems he's just stating the obvious. That is, that the hatred of America in Communist countries is almost total due to the propagandized ignorance of their people.
Yes, we call them liberals.
A STUNNING REMINDER OF HOW WELL CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THE STATE DECIDES TO TEACH THEM.
------
How is Comrade Hitlery today? How many remember what she and a senator tried to put together as legislation, a bill would have made 'HIGH SCHOOLS' (the government) the deciders of what and how your child would become trained and what your child would do for a career???
Remember that little attempt at Marxism ????
This article could have just as easily been entitled:
Canadians Offer Opinions on America
France Offers Opinions on America
The Middle East Offers Opinions on America
Three-quarters of Western Europe Offers Opinions on America
San Francisco Offers Opinions on America
Harlem Offers Opinions on America
UCLA Berkley offers Opinions on America
Ignorance is not merely restricted to one corner of the planet. I, for one, am quite content to be lving in the country that, stunningly, is the best-kept secret in the world. I could really care less what North Koreans believe.
Apparently, for some reason, ABC News does. This tells me more about ABC "News" than it does about North Korea, sadly.
I often wonder if most people can cite any evidence for their belief that the World is round or that it orbits the Sun. I don't mean first hand personal observations, just do they know what the evidence is. I'd like something other than photographs from space for the first one.
Yet these same people are likely to remain adamant that Global Warming Explains All and All Things Prove Global Warming.
When my daughter was in High School the kids had gotten so skeptical that any odd incident was jokingly attributed to the influence of "El Nino". (As opposed to the La Nina, La Pinta and Santa Maria.)
It won't die until China lets it die. At the moment (and for the foreseeable future) it's to China's advantage and significant benefit to let it drag on, including the matter of nuclear weapons.
For China, North Korea provides one more antagonistic regime that the US (and others in the Pacific region) must divert resources to look after. Resources that otherwise could be spent keeping track of China!
Do you ever stop complaining? If you don't like the posts, why read them? Just so you can complain? If you think they're dopey, don't continue reading them. Surely you can find one that meets your high standards for Saturday reading.
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