A few months ago I was sitting around watching one of my favorite news magazines (not my favorite, but one of my favorites), and there was a story about North Korea. And let me tell you, it was CRAZY. I mean, forget the totalitarian regime and the short, crazy man who runs the place. Think about the millions of people who are apparently a heck of a lot more patient, well behaved and choreographed than any American has ever been in their entire lives. I’ve included, at the beginning of this quiz, a video of one of their famous parades from the most recent Mass Games in 2005. Watch the half a zillion children doing amazing stunts, totally coordinated, mind you, but don’t miss the changing pictures behind them. That’s not a giant television screen. That’s over 15,000 people holding colored placards and changing them at exactly the right time!! You have to see it to believe it. Crazy. In the spirit of the country America should be most scared of, but they don’t have oil, so we don’t give a damn, here is a quiz about North Korea.
1. Which of the following is Kim Jong-il’s title?
a. Dear Leader
b. Chairman of the National Defense Commission
c. Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army
d. General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea
(All of those are his titles...)
2. Kim Jong-il spends nearly $700,000 on this annually, while the average North Korean makes roughly $900 per year.
a. Hennessy
b. Cristal
c. Dom Perignon
d. Corbett Canyon
(a. Hennessy. Maybe 2PAC is in North Korea.)
3. The Mass Games, North Korea’s version of the Olympics has which of the following sports…
a. Shot Put
b. Track
c. Choreographed routines
d. Soccer
(c. Choreographed routines. Because in Communism, everyone must win.)
4. True or false, any country with the words “Democratic People’s Republic” in front of their countries name is usually Democratic, has a government that usually makes decisions that benefit its people and is a Republic.
(False. Very, very false. Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch accuse North Korea of having one of the worst human rights records of any nation. According to BBC, up to two million people have died since the mid-1990s due to food shortages. Note the NO LIGHTS in North Korea. Maybe this will help Lauren find it.)
5. Try to find some awesome news on the DPRK’s official news site!
News?! It's all fabulous Communist propaganda!
6. According to official North Korean accounts, Kim Jong-il was born in a log cabin at his father's guerrilla base on the country's highest mountain while the following appeared…
a. A flying unicorn and a total eclipse of the sun
b. A double rainbow and a new star in the sky
c. A fairy landed in Pyongyang, delighting onlookers
d. A virgin graduated from the University of Maryland and Testudo flew into the sky.
(b. A double rainbow and a new star in the sky. But it is widely thought that he was actually born in Siberia while his father was on exile in the former Soviet Union. I guess they don’t get that many rainbows in Siberia.)
Ok, I had a lot of pics in this post, and I'm not sure if this was actually fun for anyone but me. It was just letting me be nerdy and political and letting me research even though I'm not being formally educated. In conclusion, here is a link to my favorite news magazine's latest North Korea story (I am the biggest 60 Minutes fan under the age of 59. The average viewing age is 65. When I don't watch, it's 69.) And here's another clip of the Mass Games, this time set to Eurodiscoawesomemusic. It's still amazing.
Actually, THIS is the end of my post: a shout out to Miss Karin Smith, the only redhead living in China, who has travelled to pretty much every country BUT North Korea. For some photography of the Phillippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Thaland, Vietnam, Cambodia, and of course, China, click here. And enjoy!
I seriously went cross-eyed while watching that second video
Posted by: Lauren | March 23, 2007 at 09:22 AM
There is a staggering amount of homemade Korean propaganda on YouTube. Also, I forgot where it is, I'll look for the link, but there was some internet message board for English-speaking North Koreans who spouted propaganda pretty much verbatim and talked constantly about how it's the best place ever.
Posted by: Phylan | March 23, 2007 at 11:04 AM
Pretty amazing 2nd video there.
BTW, were you actually on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'? Your pic makes me think that way...
Posted by: Buddy Love | March 23, 2007 at 11:57 AM
yes I was, college week last year!
Posted by: EmGusk | March 23, 2007 at 04:19 PM