# North Korea: A speaker in every home **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 25, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720 "2010-05-25T17:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/21 "2010-05-26T13:20:40Z")
> [@Shark](#): > > According to the last paragraph of [this article](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100525/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_ship_sinks)about the rising tension on the Korean Peninsula, each North Korean home has a speaker in it that can be used for government announcements. > > […] > > Do they wake you up at 3am with the national anthem so that you get to the collective farm on time? > > […] I hope so - say what you will about the country, and it’ll probably be true, but IMHO they have [a beautiful national anthem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZdBKZne9kA) (lyrics and info on [my site](http://www.nationalanthems.info/kp.htm)), one of my favourites. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/22 "2010-05-26T15:31:30Z")
[Themepark 1984](http://www.youtube.com/user/infinitehumanstupid#p/c/4C23F3B86C8718BA) is another North Korea travel documentary I’ve seen, by a Finnish guy named Aleksanteri Kulvik. I found it quite interesting. Doesn’t touch on the speaker system, though. I do recall seeing another N.Korea-documentary about a young gymnast girl preparing for the mass sport events they organize over there, and it mentioned the fact that the speakers couldn’t be turned off, they could just be turned down. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/23 "2010-05-26T16:47:29Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Make sure to check out parts 2 and 3 of the series… you can scroll down the page to find the other two links. > > Also, they politely included a ‘skip’ button in the top left corner of the videos so you can skip all the commercial breaks. When I saw this the 1st time, it was 15 separate videos of 5-10 minutes each. They’ve now put them together into 3 half-hours with a commercial stuck in between eacch segment. That website kept on failing for me so I have watched it on youtube, where it is split into 14 videos. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/24 "2010-05-26T17:00:29Z")
This lack of an on-off switch must be something basic to communism, as the radio I had in Moscow (which had push-button presets for stations rather than a tuning dial) also had no on-off switch. If I recall correctly, after the German invasion consumer radios were replaced by wired speakers, at least in Leningrad. During the siege of Leningrad the speakers broadcast a ticking metronome when there was no other programming. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/25 "2010-05-26T17:17:20Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > I think the broadcasts are mostly your typical kind of news propaganda and speeches from the leaders. Check out YouTube for some North Korean television broadcasts. The voices in most of them are elevated, hurried and frantic; the closest equivalent in English would probably be a 1940s-era newsreel story about some battle in the Pacific. Imagine something [sounding like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKD9S6Iwk_4) in your home, 24-7. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/26 "2010-05-26T22:40:51Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Check out YouTube for some North Korean television broadcasts. The voices in most of them are elevated, hurried and frantic; the closest equivalent in English would probably be a 1940s-era newsreel story about some battle in the Pacific. Imagine something [sounding like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKD9S6Iwk_4) in your home, 24-7. Well, of course, I meant typical news propaganda for North Korea. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/27 "2010-05-27T00:51:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Make sure to check out parts 2 and 3 of the series… you can scroll down the page to find the other two links. > > Also, they politely included a ‘skip’ button in the top left corner of the videos so you can skip all the commercial breaks. When I saw this the 1st time, it was 15 separate videos of 5-10 minutes each. They’ve now put them together into 3 half-hours with a commercial stuck in between eacch segment. Wow. Dude singing “Anarchy in the UK” in front of befuddled North Koreans is a highlight. Incredible. I knew from my reading that North Korea was really this insular, but to see it portrayed in video is certainly strange. And people think Americans are overly patriotic…at least if we don’t wave the flag hard or fast enough we don’t “disappear”! That whole part about the captured American “spy ship” as a national treasure is pretty amusing and somewhat sad. They cling to it like its still the 1960’s. And propagandize the hell out of it. Utter madness. But thanks for the link. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/28 "2010-05-27T01:52:55Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Wow…thanks for that. Very eerie. The “Tea Girl” was cute, too! Did you notice how the felt on the pool table would scrunch up under her hand? They don’t even do that properly. What do you suppose the upheaval will be like when North Koreans find out how shitty they’ve had it for so long? ETA: Big props to **Boyo Jim** for that link. I bookmarked it. The NK video is simply astounding. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/29 "2010-05-27T02:05:18Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Wow. Dude singing “Anarchy in the UK” in front of befuddled North Koreans is a highlight. Incredible. > > I knew from my reading that North Korea was really this insular, but to see it portrayed in video is certainly strange. And people think Americans are overly patriotic…at least if we don’t wave the flag hard or fast enough we don’t “disappear”! > > That whole part about the captured American “spy ship” as a national treasure is pretty amusing and somewhat sad. They cling to it like its still the 1960’s. And propagandize the hell out of it. > > Utter madness. But thanks for the link. I like the part where the guy gently puts his hand on the North Korean girl’s shoulder while singing and she shrugs it right off. Or the part where the NK hostess tries innocently to sing along to a couple of the Sex Pistols lyrics and has the most confused look on her face. Gotta say, though: I didn’t like all the, “They got angry at us for filming” parts. Dude, they must have told them a million times to not film, they continued to film, lied about it, and then they act all annoyed when the tour guide gets angry at them for filming? Cmon…“don’t film here” means “don’t film here.” Break the rules and you’re asking for trouble. And, of course, that just reinforces the image of Westerners that the North Korean tour guides, who undoubtedly are some of the most committed of all North Koreans, have in their minds. Again, let me just suggest watching the Liberia video. That was a major mindfuck. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/30 "2010-05-27T02:06:44Z")
Ultimately, thanks to Tuckerfan, who turned me on to it a couple of years back [in another thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=460870) ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/31 "2010-05-27T13:27:50Z")
Not to derail the thread, but I’m having a slow day at work and I just finished watching the Liberia video. I guess all I can say is that I feel very fortunate to be an American. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/32 "2010-05-27T14:29:52Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > There was a 60 Minutes documentary about Joe Dresnok, the American who defected to North Korea and became a citizen in the 70’s, that showed footage from inside his home in Pyongyang. Yes, the speaker was there and it was noted that it could be “turned down, but not off” and that there was one in every home. I think the broadcasts are mostly your typical kind of news propaganda and speeches from the leaders. I always thought this story would make a great book. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/33 "2010-05-27T14:55:11Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > A bowl of rice and cabbage? luxury! > > No, really, I’ve seen documentaries were peasants told how they had to eat grass and bark during the famines. From what I’ve read, most of them eat corn mush when things are going OK. You might get rice on your birthday if you’re lucky–it’s a luxury food. And then the bark during famines. People do cross over to China to get out, but of course it’s expensive and dangerous, and the women are forced to sell themselves. China doesn’t want to deal with NK refugees, so they have to live in hiding. A few make it to an American consulate. There are one or two small organizations that help people get back and forth (some people go back!) and do the consulate thing, which requires some cloak and dagger maneuvering. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/34 "2010-05-28T00:16:19Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Not to derail the thread, but I’m having a slow day at work and I just finished watching the Liberia video. I guess all I can say is that I feel very fortunate to be an American. How about that one kid, huh? “This is a Liberian general’s heart! I’m going to eat it!” Blech. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/35 "2010-05-28T04:12:58Z")
Interesting when you remember that Liberia was founded by freed **American** slaves. What happened? ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/36 "2010-05-28T04:14:59Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > A bowl of rice and cabbage? luxury! > > No, really, I’ve seen documentaries were peasants told how they had to eat grass and bark during the famines. You know, it took me until the reply to realize what **Ale** ’s post said. I read it as the peasants were told to eat grass and make dog noises. :o :smack: ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/37 "2010-05-28T05:32:48Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Interesting when you remember that Liberia was founded by freed **American** slaves. > > What happened? This was touched upon in the video: The freed slaves went to Liberia and made the native Liberians their own slaves. During this time, Americo-Liberians became an elite group in Liberian politics and society; native Liberians got pretty pissed and overthrew the American-descended Liberian government. After that Liberia fell into the same maelstrom of violence and insanity and warlordism that plagued/plagues other parts of Africa today. The America government, naturally, couldn’t give less of a shit. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/38 "2010-05-28T22:38:07Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > The America government, naturally, couldn’t give less of a shit. But if we did, everybody would complain of interference in a country’s internal affairs, being on the wrong side of the dispute, nation-building, and so on. That being said, given the stifling order of North Korea, versus the anarchy of Liberia … wow, two very, very different kinds of hell. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/39 "2010-05-28T23:06:10Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > But if we did, everybody would complain of interference in a country’s internal affairs, being on the wrong side of the dispute, nation-building, and so on. True, very true. It’s a pretty shitty double-edged sword. If I had to choose to live in one of the two places, I’m pretty sure I’d pick North Korea. It seems really, really bizarre, but not particularly dangerous in most cases. Hell, you might even be able to have something that might possibly begin to resemble a “normal” life on some levelt. Liberia, OTOH, seems to just be a dangerous, lawless hellhole that few would be able to survive. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720/40 "2010-05-28T23:20:23Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Folk, you have to check out the only North Korean video travel guide I’ve ever see. It is surreal, it would be hilarious if it wasn’t all so deadly serious. It’s a terrific program. > > [The Vice Guide to North Korea](http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3#). They bribed their way into North Korea from China. I’ve recommended that before. You should all check out A State of Mind, which streams free on Netflix. **It’s a documentary filmed in North Korea, shows the speakers quite a bit, and also…you won’t believe this part, but the director claims they had no censorship or editing from the North Korean government.** [Read about it here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_State_of_Mind) Now stop everything and go watch it on Netflix. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korea-a-speaker-in-every-home/540720.md?page=3)