Gyeong Hong Jong, a North Korean special forces operative who was killed by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) operatives in Kursk Oblast, has left behind a diary that is now being gradually translated. His notes reveal that North Korea has sent elite fighters to Russia.
Full text of diary entry:
"I was raised in the nurturing embrace of the Party, studying without concern for anything in the world. There is more unknown love than love that is known and accepted. I didn’t know how to react to the happiness I was surrounded by.
Defending the homeland is the sacred duty of every citizen, and the greatest duty is to protect the nation, which is where my happiness lies. I wear the military uniform of revolution to protect the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. I was honoured with the opportunity to be promoted to sergeant major in my company. However, I betrayed my beloved Party, which had placed its trust in me, and committed acts of ingratitude against the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
The sins I’ve committed are unforgivable, but my homeland has given me a chance for redemption, a fresh start in life.
Now, I have no choice but to regain the trust I once had. I will go to the front lines in this operation and obey the orders of Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un without question, even if it costs me my life. I will show the world the invincible courage and sacrifice of the Red Special Forces (Red Commanders) of Kim Jong Un.
When we win the war and return to our homeland, I will submit a petition to the Party."
This was a man who had been manipulated since birth to not only be a slave, but to like it. I can only assume their whole country is much the same. It’s fucking disgusting and sad that this continues as long as it has.
No way. You notice how he implies he broke the rules and is being punished for it? This was the diary for his commanders and/or military police to “secretly” read. Defectors pretty much give the same story - corruption and crime is ubiquitous, nobody follows the rules when they can’t be caught.
Human nature is pretty unremarkable for the most part, but one thing we have going for us is that the majority of people never buy the propaganda, regardless of what it is and where they are. You can see that in history, in modern authoritarian states, and even in the West about propaganda I personally agree with (save the planet! vaccines don’t cause autism! covid is real!).
I read an account from a woman who escaped North Korea as a child with her mother, through China. She was so propagandized even at her young age that she thought Kim Jong-il could find her if she thought wrong things. She literally believed that he was as a god, omniscient.
So she tried to suppress her own thoughts on the run, so god couldn’t catch her and her mom. They made it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeonmi_Park
dude that’s a grifter
Are Americans really this gullible? I mean, they elected Trump twice, but… damn
Good point, I didn’t see it from that perspective. Horrible either way.
The last three aren’t examples of propaganda. They can, however, devolve into team sports and make people do dumb shit in the name of being right, but they aren’t more likely to than anything else, it’s an inherent risk with just about anything.
Depends. Does propaganda have to be untrue or wrong in some way? If not, they’re definitely political messages that are widely displayed for persuasive purposes, which is the rest of the definition of propaganda. If so, propaganda is relative to what you believe anyway.
Most people never fully believe anything about the big picture, which is frustrating as hell in good(-ish) times, but in really bad times becomes a grain of hope.
This person wrote all that, thinking we would cower at the resolve of north Korean soldiers. Instead, his words just sound sad and pathetic. An end to a life lived as a hostage to a madman.
Is this how humans write diaries? It sounds very artificial, like the narration at the start of some movies or the scenes where to inform the viewer, characters tell each other things that, in context, they would already know.
I suspect that this is not genuine and that it is intended to sound heroic (by North Korean standards). Maybe it’s North Korean propaganda or maybe it’s something this guy actually wrote, but as a display of his loyalty rather than as a record of his thoughts. (I expect that he would know better than to write down anything other than a display of loyalty.)
The tone is partially due to translation, and partially due to him regurgitating his indoctrination. I’m sure it’s a real diary, but like anyone, his writing is affected by his environment.
High probability that he fully expected state security to look through it.
Translated from an indoctrinated North Korean? For sure. It’d probably make a lot more sense in native Korean than it does as translated text.
It’s partially translation issues. Maybe double translated from Korean - > Ukrainian - > English? North Korean is supposedly becoming its own dialect, as well.
That said, there’s a lot in there that sounds like the individual giving their whole personality over to the group. More so than a normal military. That comes right out of the BITE model, what’s more commonly called “cults”.