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"Pyongyang’s once-empty streets are now jammed with vehicles that aren’t supposed to be there"
(hexbear.net)
https://xcancel.com/Reuters/status/2054098106136813829
Cars in North Korea??? That's not supposed to happen. It's ruining our narratives about them having dead rats for dinner. 
DPRK citizens now have access to superior Chinese EVs that amerikkkans can't have. 
Yep. I always tell people that SK is like a western liberal democracy but if you put it in a pressure cooker. My parents generation basically speed ran the spectrum of highs and lows of what liberal democracy has to offer and arrived at late stage capitalism 20 years before America.
My optimism about the country compared to somewhere like America is that they have a lot more worker solidarity and aren't afraid to throw a Molotov cocktail at cops. Plus they really don't have the reflexive loyalty to the liberal idea of "freedoms" , they are working under their 6th Republic after all.
Yep, I agree! The political instability isn't just because the state is especially repressive, it's because there's also a ton of struggle by the working classes against it. Then there's the massive power of the chaebol and the nihilism brought on by declining birth rates and a feminist movement struggling within this highly misogynistic pressure cooker.
My hope is that the downfall of the US Empire pushes normalization with the DPRK and increased ties with the PRC, potentially even a socialist revolution.