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Frame from Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul (서울의 평양 시민들) Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul (서울의 평양 시민들)

DPRK News Room
Documentaries
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2021–2022, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN cites it for its claims about NIS bribery of defectors and for defectors who say they want to go home.

A documentary on North Korean defectors in Seoul and the South Korean intelligence service (NIS, formerly KCIA), including accusations of shady dealings.

3 citations · Documentaries

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@mrobot Apr 2021 Cites it
on HN thread The Rise of North Korea's Hacking Army
Here is a video that contains some accusations of bribery of defectors and other shady business by NIS (Korean CIA) [this video]
Alleged bribery of defectors by South Korean intelligence
@kleton Jun 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Teaching open-source software in North Korea
There are some people who "defected" accidentally. By happenstance they visited family in China expecting to return but got tricked by human traffickers and ended up in South Korea as defectors. There are a few of these people who say they want to go home. [this video]
Accidental defectors who say they want to go home
@drekk Jan 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Tips to grow your North Korean Startup
Read more
One thing I find more odd is how American audiences treat the DPRK while also supporting the continued military puppet state that is the ROK. There were also a "lot of sources" supporting WMDs in Iraq. When what you're saying is the state department narrative it's not going to receive pushback. The US killed 20% of Koreans on the peninsula and reduced it all to rubble. Forgive my skepticism at the "humanitarian intentions". Especially when there are financial incentives to become a defector [0] There are also documentaries produced locally [1] and you can very well go on Weibo yourself and speak to North Koreans. [0] [link] [1] [this video]
Locally produced documentary on defectors

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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