Juche is pronounced JOO-che, not joosh, which is unfortunate because joosh is hilarious.

> Juche (English: /ˈdʒuːtʃeɪ/ (listen), JOO-chay; Korean: [tɕutɕʰe] (listen)) It doesn't rhyme with douche. Though it should.

Correction. There is a North Korean movie from when Kim Jong-il kidnapped a director and actress. It's called Pulgasari and is a North Korean version of Godzilla. I watched it online. It's not bad.

North Korea actually has (or had) a film industry. We know this because there were a few Americans (usually disillusioned soldiers guarding the DMZ) who defected to the North in the years after the war... and some of these Americans became actors. One of the Americans fully embraced North Korean communism, and became rather famous for playing the ruthless, scheming American villain in these North Korean movies. But I think these Americans have all died by now (one of them famously came back to the US a few years back and was ceremonially dishonorably discharged from the US Army when he was in his 90s or something like that, I don't remember the details), so I don't know what the current status of their film industry is. Also, another issue with info coming out from the North is the defectors. There's a handful of defectors who've fallen in with rabidly anti-communist right-wing groups in South Korea/the US and tend to tell stories about North Korea that totally coincidentally align perfectly with these groups' narrative. That's not to excuse the abuses of the North Korean regime... but usually when you see a program/documentary discussing North Korea, it's the same 2-3 people whose stories are always pretty wild. Like that story about the Kims eating specially harvested rice... how would anyone know? Especially considering, as mentioned later in the podcast, that most North Koreans weren't even aware of the existence of the Kim family (aside from Jong Il). (EDIT - ok the second ep gets into this misinformation.)

I sure do love Products and Services! ꈍᴗꈍ

Very interesting podcasts, looking forward to listening to more now that I have discovered your channel.

Absolutely love this podcast, it's criminally underrated. Its funny, interesting and chock full of information! Thanks for making such a great show!

11:20 the irony here is you can start from here and up until the Soviet speech-writers line, think they're talking about Jong-un from the jump

Kim Jong-Eun wearing JNCO's would be an exercise in ultimate stubbiness.

I confer i had guns at 7 years old ......... Air rifles calm down it was the 80s ........ But if youd given me a Generals uniform as well , things would have gone real south real fast

It always hurts to hear the way Robert pronounces things, but this episode especially hurts because I speak Korean and Chinese. The first time you said "Juche", I thought "what the fuck is joosh?" Eventually I realized you were referring to "joo-chay".

I feel like the format of this podcast doesn't serve trying to explain history that well, in South Korea the dictatorship built the economy up in a centralised fashion by giving enormous resources to a few specific families, it is only later that democratic reforms are made.

The book Evans mentioned is spelled The Great Successor by Anna Fifield

You need to do an episode of sygmund rhee now, who's honestly just as bad in several ways

Btw everyone, Busan is a great city if you ever have the chance to go! So is Daegu ^^ (near Busan) also, the way they copied Japan's emperor myth homework but changed it is too funny considering

the climate change part was super grim but its true sadly

The way you pronounce "Juche" (joo-CHay) kills me

That first segway might be the worst ad read in I have ever seen.

29:30 It isn't just Juche (self-reliance), there is also "Songgun" or "military first" and the phrase "Songgun Juche" is constantly mentioned. It's their version of Maoism, mixed with this Albanian-style military paranoia (except they don't build endless bunkers) about South Korea and Japan.

1:09:30 what are Jenkos? Jinkos?

The plural of lego is lego

i am very sure you are pronouncing juche wrong. pretty sure its two syllables

I will never understand the appeal of Ariana Grande.

Your summary of the Korean War was so bad it made me side with the North Koreans.

Joo-chay....not joosh. At least look at a pronunciation before doing a 1 hour+ podcast on a subject.

Opening up with "indisputable" and uncorroborated conclusions. No doubt! 30 years! Come on now.