I have no proof to back this up, but I have to wonder if some of this nonsense is just due to translations coming across weird.
yeah I think the language barrier is a contributing factor too, she had to go from north korean dialect to south korean dialect to english there has to be something lost in translation at some point.
Like "there is no word for love in North Korea". Ok, yeah, the idea that the word love being outlawed in NK is something that's obviously false. Perhaps she (or her speech writer?) meant that the term love has lost all meaning in NK? See, that I could believe given how often people are required to espouse their devotion to the state and its leadership over there. Telling someone in your person life "I love you" might just feel dead and empty after doing that shit day in and day out.
I think what she meant don't shoot the messenger here, I think she meant north korea had no concept of romantic love.
shit even outside the concertation camps as far as I can tell for media's sake that it wasn't until the second kim that even allowed romantic love to be shown on in movies.
Even then that kind of love was used as tool to spread a message, like for example in this one movie called a broad bell flower, I watched it was about a north Korean woman who lived in a remote village and a guy who wanted to fuck off from said village for better opportunities, and take the woman away with him, it ends with the woman overworking herself to death to improve the village and the guy regretting his smart move to greener pastures. the message of the movie was fuck your own personal ambitions to lead a better life if your in a shitty village over work yourself to death and improve it and discard all your personal fee fees because its more important to be a good commie and give your life's blood to the state.
Basically the woman is used as a propaganda tool the man is not a dumbass and realizes living in a shitty situation is bad, but then swallows the propaganda and decides to overwork with the woman to death, or woman dies leaving the man in grief.
Another movie can't remember the name but its about a former singer turned housewife moving to a new soviet style apartment block, and they're recently married but her husband works at metal production plant, and works overtime to create steel. the woman is upset because of him working overtime she feels neglected emotionally, but the husband still works overtime leaving her alone. She decides to attempt a divorce, man kind of feels sad, she gets shamed because how dare she want to spend time with her husband when the state needs steel; she represses her emotions he creates a special kind of steel the end.
moral of the story: FUCK YOUR FEELZ IF YOUR HUSBAND NEEDS WORK OVER TIME FOR THE STATE THEN SUCK IT UP BUTTER CUP AND BE A GOOD COMMIE.
I can go on but I have only seen 1 nk movie where there wasn't no over propaganda shoved into a love story and that the movie based on a folk tale called chungyang, which I found better than the south korean counter part because the south korean one was to sexual for me. basically its an old ass korean tale about a giasang which is kind of like a geisha but you can fuck and is a slave to the state, falling in love with a member of the yangbang (koreas upper crust during the joseon dynasty) they get married in secret the man has to leave to take the state exams to become an official of the yangbang class. He's gone for years she waits for him, as she is waiting for him a new governor comes to administer the province he does an inspection of the all the registered giasangs in the province wants to fuck the married giasang she refuses, gets imprisoned and waits to be executed all the whil saying no to governer. it ends happily when her husband becomes the governer and tests her one last to determine if she still has her virtue. they live happily ever after.
If anyone here speaks gook you can let me know how realistic this idea is. I only posit this because I have to admit I wouldn't expect a peasant who grew up uneducated and spent most of her life being abused to be terribly good with her words or capable of describing shit eloquently.
I don't speak gook but I understand a bit of korean society mostly south but not north as I only have access to whats available on the net.
