https://www.thepsmiths.com/p/review-the-real-north-korea-by-andrei?r=3f1dj&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true#_

Fascinating review of the book The Real North Korea by Andrei Lankov

He discusses his time in North Korea and a student from the Soviet Union and his observations since then as a professor in South Korea.

I hadn't really heard about the underground "free/black market" propping up the Perfect Society and the class system that runs everything.

He even references our Norman Borlaug.

Long read about Best Korea but draws you in.

Wow, that is pretty fascinating. I learned a lot that I had no idea about previously.

I have followed North Korean policy and history for decades. This is an eye opening account of how the regime survives. Worst of all:
"… we may soon be entering a golden age for truly psychotic totalitarian regimes. The Kim Il-Sung of the future won't need an army of peasants expecting tile roofs if he has an army of killer robots, and ChatGPT is much cheaper than a full-time propaganda minister. Depending on how good AI gets, it will sharply reduce the number of people required to run an effective regime. In the limit, you can imagine a single mad king with no human servitors at all, just a computer as his grand vizier.8 There would be no limit to how brutal or crazy this guy could get, no limit to what he could do to his populace for fear of triggering a revolt amongst his own bodyguards. He would also be able to read the minds of dissidents."