This sounds like Brian Reynolds Myers shit, who is widely loathed by North Korea watchers and researchers. All he does is literary criticism of North Korea propaganda. That's it. He knows next to nothing about actual North Korean society and government. And as a result he has invented an alternate history for North Korea based solely on his interpretation of their outward facing propaganda and communications. Like he thinks Kim Il Sung founded the country as a facist project in the model of facist Japan becuase ... he thinks Kim Il Sung looks too angry on a poster. Also it's not a coincidence all his conclusions mirror and reinforce the preexisting prejudices of his western readers, which in the end is what really explains the popularity of his books.
This sounds like Brian Reynolds Myers shit, who is widely loathed by North Korea watchers and researchers. All he does is literary criticism of North Korea propaganda. That's it. He knows next to nothing about actual North Korean society and government. And as a result he has invented an alternate history for North Korea based solely on his interpretation of their outward facing propaganda and communications. Like he thinks Kim Il Sung founded the country as a facist project in the model of facist Japan becuase ... he thinks Kim Il Sung looks too angry on a poster. Also it's not a coincidence all his conclusions mirror and reinforce the preexisting prejudices of his western readers, which in the end is what really explains the popularity of his books.