wingedsoul: I have seen every documentary and article out there having to do with North Korea and this is the best because Smith has that Humor he brings to the film where it isn't direct but they are like "what the fuck..." type of humor.
20 days ago
willycro: hehe the last song they sing on karaoke it's an old croatian song by Ivica Sefezi caled "Ti si moja sudbina" or translated "You are my destiny"... fun fact if you are a Croat...
21 days ago
zaphodity: JESUS CHRIST !!!...That whole country just screams out GO AWAY..It's like the entire country is one mans personal playground/disneyland...The countrys system is kinda similar to how cults work...One all divine godlike leader...VERY little contact with the outside world and when outsiders are allowed in it's strictly controlled etc...Makes you damn grateful you live in a western country...Feel kinda sorry for those millions of brainwashed plebs though...It's like some kinda weird Orwellian bad acid trip...Vice should get John Travolta to give us a guided tour of the Scientology headquarters next...lol....To each it's own I guess....Shane your a braver man than I....
25 days ago
Rainmaker: FANTASTIC WORK! Lived in Korea for years and always wanted to see someone go in and do something like this for the rest of the world. There have been several really good books, but this does a great job of encapsulating the bizarre reality of North Korea in a presentable format for people who won't know a lot about the country and region. Cant wait to see other works on the site
27 days ago
pshap555: Bravo. Many thanks to Shane and the rest of the crew who risked their safety in order to bring us this incredibly insightful documentary.
It's incredible how much effort the DPRK puts into the creating the mere appearance of wealth and prosperity. Makes you think about what the country might be like if they made that investment in their people...
You have to be very careful about a country that defines itself by what it is not. What is North Korea? Well, many things: it's NOT imperialist America, it's NOT vulnerable to invasion by any foreign army, it's NOT deprived of food, it's NOT hated by the rest of the world, etc. It is unsustainable for a government to establish its legitimacy in this way, and I think our generation will be around to witness an Iranian-style revolution in North Korea.
Great work all around! Looking forward to exploring the rest of the website!
28 days ago
john_128: Geez, CNN linked to your video and that's how I ended up here to watch the rest. I'm absolutely blown away by this work. I put my kids to bed and came back to my PC to watch this. I've always been very curious about NK. Everytime a piece is done on the country I watch it. It's such a strange, unusual and locked-down place. But no piece I've seen comes close to touching this. You guys simply crushed it. Out of the park. What great work. Thank you very much for having the balls to do it. Signed up and looking forward to viewing your other work.
29 days ago
gr8man: great video i didn't that much about korea
about 1 month ago
Michaeljenkins: I laughed very hard when Anarchy in the UK was being sung.
After seeing the rest of the guide to north korea, it's such a brilliantly funny song to sing because if they were to see a background to what the sex pistols were (such as the Filth and The fury) and understand what the song was about they'd probably destroy the disc there and then.
It's like singing "Bitches aint shit" by Dr. DRE to a dutch feminist group and have them not comprehend the lyrics.
Overall a great piece of program I'm loving this site and remembering how great this magazine is. now that I've finished university and am working I think I'll get myself a subscription.
about 1 month ago
davemartin7777: Amazing and wonderfully done, thank you for doing that.
I would expect to see this on PBS.
Those poor people, how sad.
about 1 month ago
davemartin7777: Why do they make it so hard to find 3 of 3 and 2 of 3 in this series???
Confusing and unpleasant web design just killing the great content of this site.
alwaysawesome: The school. Those children performing. My eyes wanted to melt out of my face. I wonder how that'd look when I'm wasted. It was so trippy. This whole doc was Trippy.
about 1 month ago
mikek: it's eerie how familiar this looks like to someone who grew up in communist Romania.
about 1 month ago
sinic: great work Shane!
amazing piece.
where can i get one of those desks!
about 1 month ago
RantMasterFlash: Really nice work, thanks. I feel sad for the people of North "Korear".
about 1 month ago
MISIAscension: Amazing series on a very interesting country filled with contradiction and fabrication. Loved it as my first vbs series since registration. Captivating. PLEASE SAVE THE TEA GIRL!!!!
about 1 month ago
ZoneKang: Very interesting to see some visuals from the world's most repressive place. Thanks for risking jail time, VBS. Don't think Bill Clinton would have bailed you out. Fascinating/sad.
about 1 month ago
shanesmith30: We make no bones about objectivity, I'm not at all. Everything I do is 100% subjective. Anyone who still believes in the myth of objectivity after the past 20 years of "journalism" is naive. You go somewhere and you show what you see. Thats all you can do.
2 months ago
Shenzhensurfer: Excellent piece, hats off to Shane and his cameraman / companion, this must have taken a lot of balls and patience. It must be really frustrating not to be able to just get out and about to see how normal North Korean people live and do a real reporting job. It’s the only piece of first hand reporting I’ve ever seen out of North Korea.
I’ve lived in China for the last 12 years and looked into a trip to North Korea a few years ago, I even did the same thing as them and visited the DMZ in the south first and eventually got pointed to making visa applications in Beijing & Shenyang.
For anyone interested the DPR has what claims to be an official website www.korea-dpr.com , however it seems to be chaired by a Spanish guy called Alejandro Cao de Benos of the Korean Friendship Association. If you read the forums section it’s pretty hilarious, any attempt to enter into sensible debate eventually gets referred to this guy and then suddenly the discussion just stops ! The rest of the site is just full of hilarious propaganda but it does give some insight into what you need to do to travel there. Also the gallery secton of official past trips has some pictures of the guide in Shanes report - speedy gonzales !
Another “official” site is www.kcckp.net which is pretty much of the same propaganda.
After looking at some of these sites it put me off pursuing a trip there, it became pretty obvious that you would only be allowed to see and do what they wanted.
If it ever become possible to ride a mountain bike from North China through Pyongyang to Seoul I'd be up for that, not in my lifetime !
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wingedsoul: I have seen every documentary and article out there having to do with North Korea and this is the best because Smith has that Humor he brings to the film where it isn't direct but they are like "what the fuck..." type of humor.
20 days ago
willycro: hehe the last song they sing on karaoke it's an old croatian song by Ivica Sefezi caled "Ti si moja sudbina" or translated "You are my destiny"... fun fact if you are a Croat...
21 days ago
zaphodity: JESUS CHRIST !!!...That whole country just screams out GO AWAY..It's like the entire country is one mans personal playground/disneyland...The countrys system is kinda similar to how cults work...One all divine godlike leader...VERY little contact with the outside world and when outsiders are allowed in it's strictly controlled etc...Makes you damn grateful you live in a western country...Feel kinda sorry for those millions of brainwashed plebs though...It's like some kinda weird Orwellian bad acid trip...Vice should get John Travolta to give us a guided tour of the Scientology headquarters next...lol....To each it's own I guess....Shane your a braver man than I....
25 days ago
Rainmaker: FANTASTIC WORK! Lived in Korea for years and always wanted to see someone go in and do something like this for the rest of the world. There have been several really good books, but this does a great job of encapsulating the bizarre reality of North Korea in a presentable format for people who won't know a lot about the country and region. Cant wait to see other works on the site
27 days ago
pshap555: Bravo. Many thanks to Shane and the rest of the crew who risked their safety in order to bring us this incredibly insightful documentary. It's incredible how much effort the DPRK puts into the creating the mere appearance of wealth and prosperity. Makes you think about what the country might be like if they made that investment in their people... You have to be very careful about a country that defines itself by what it is not. What is North Korea? Well, many things: it's NOT imperialist America, it's NOT vulnerable to invasion by any foreign army, it's NOT deprived of food, it's NOT hated by the rest of the world, etc. It is unsustainable for a government to establish its legitimacy in this way, and I think our generation will be around to witness an Iranian-style revolution in North Korea. Great work all around! Looking forward to exploring the rest of the website!
28 days ago
john_128: Geez, CNN linked to your video and that's how I ended up here to watch the rest. I'm absolutely blown away by this work. I put my kids to bed and came back to my PC to watch this. I've always been very curious about NK. Everytime a piece is done on the country I watch it. It's such a strange, unusual and locked-down place. But no piece I've seen comes close to touching this. You guys simply crushed it. Out of the park. What great work. Thank you very much for having the balls to do it. Signed up and looking forward to viewing your other work.
29 days ago
gr8man: great video i didn't that much about korea
about 1 month ago
Michaeljenkins: I laughed very hard when Anarchy in the UK was being sung. After seeing the rest of the guide to north korea, it's such a brilliantly funny song to sing because if they were to see a background to what the sex pistols were (such as the Filth and The fury) and understand what the song was about they'd probably destroy the disc there and then. It's like singing "Bitches aint shit" by Dr. DRE to a dutch feminist group and have them not comprehend the lyrics. Overall a great piece of program I'm loving this site and remembering how great this magazine is. now that I've finished university and am working I think I'll get myself a subscription.
about 1 month ago
davemartin7777: Amazing and wonderfully done, thank you for doing that. I would expect to see this on PBS. Those poor people, how sad.
about 1 month ago
davemartin7777: Why do they make it so hard to find 3 of 3 and 2 of 3 in this series??? Confusing and unpleasant web design just killing the great content of this site.
about 1 month ago
basejumper56: Im so glad I live in America....
about 1 month ago
DulaDuday: wow. i don't know what else to say.
about 1 month ago
alwaysawesome: The school. Those children performing. My eyes wanted to melt out of my face. I wonder how that'd look when I'm wasted. It was so trippy. This whole doc was Trippy.
about 1 month ago
mikek: it's eerie how familiar this looks like to someone who grew up in communist Romania.
about 1 month ago
sinic: great work Shane! amazing piece. where can i get one of those desks!
about 1 month ago
RantMasterFlash: Really nice work, thanks. I feel sad for the people of North "Korear".
about 1 month ago
MISIAscension: Amazing series on a very interesting country filled with contradiction and fabrication. Loved it as my first vbs series since registration. Captivating. PLEASE SAVE THE TEA GIRL!!!!
about 1 month ago
ZoneKang: Very interesting to see some visuals from the world's most repressive place. Thanks for risking jail time, VBS. Don't think Bill Clinton would have bailed you out. Fascinating/sad.
about 1 month ago
shanesmith30: We make no bones about objectivity, I'm not at all. Everything I do is 100% subjective. Anyone who still believes in the myth of objectivity after the past 20 years of "journalism" is naive. You go somewhere and you show what you see. Thats all you can do.
2 months ago
Shenzhensurfer: Excellent piece, hats off to Shane and his cameraman / companion, this must have taken a lot of balls and patience. It must be really frustrating not to be able to just get out and about to see how normal North Korean people live and do a real reporting job. It’s the only piece of first hand reporting I’ve ever seen out of North Korea. I’ve lived in China for the last 12 years and looked into a trip to North Korea a few years ago, I even did the same thing as them and visited the DMZ in the south first and eventually got pointed to making visa applications in Beijing & Shenyang. For anyone interested the DPR has what claims to be an official website www.korea-dpr.com , however it seems to be chaired by a Spanish guy called Alejandro Cao de Benos of the Korean Friendship Association. If you read the forums section it’s pretty hilarious, any attempt to enter into sensible debate eventually gets referred to this guy and then suddenly the discussion just stops ! The rest of the site is just full of hilarious propaganda but it does give some insight into what you need to do to travel there. Also the gallery secton of official past trips has some pictures of the guide in Shanes report - speedy gonzales ! Another “official” site is www.kcckp.net which is pretty much of the same propaganda. After looking at some of these sites it put me off pursuing a trip there, it became pretty obvious that you would only be allowed to see and do what they wanted. If it ever become possible to ride a mountain bike from North China through Pyongyang to Seoul I'd be up for that, not in my lifetime !
3 months ago