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ray243 September 4 2010, 16:18:55 UTC
Although do not underestimate how various East Asian societies value their "face" or sense of pride as a reason why North Korea is so isolated.

Then there is the fact that during the 60s and the early 70s, where North Korea started to rebuild itself, it did became quite "prosperous". The lives of people in North Korea did improve as compared to what it was under the Japanese occupation. That is probably one of the few reasons why some Koreans would think that their country is one of the best in the world, especially when few people actually managed to travel overseas.

Even those that did travel to neighbouring countries, such as China and South Korea, I hardly think that they would think that those two nations are any better, considering that South Korea isn't really too far ahead of North Korea.

Take a look at the GDP difference between North and South Korea till the late 70s.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Two_koreas_gdp_1950_1977.jpg

You can notice GDP wise, North Korea is actually better than the South till 1973-4. This mean some of the older generation, those that are in their 60s would have help to instil the idea that North Korea isn't that bad of a nation onto the younger generation.

All those factors could have contributed to why North Koreans don't think anything is wrong with their nation.

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inverarity September 4 2010, 16:28:53 UTC
This is also covered in the book. North Korea was more prosperous than South Korea until the 70s. But this was solely due to their massive subsidization by China and the Soviet Union, who basically gave them everything from food to industrial equipment to technology.

When the USSR collapsed, and China began to find North Korea an embarrassing crazy neighbor on their border that they wished they could be rid of, the money stopped flowing and that led directly to the famine of the 90s. Meanwhile, South Korea continued to become more democratic and more prosperous.

But you're right that the view the North Koreans have of the world still dates back to the 60s.

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