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Tips to grow your North Korean Startup

(mrsteinberg.com)
207 points jimhi | 1 comments | 06 Jan 22 18:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.219s | source
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jimhi ◴[06 Jan 22 18:27 UTC] No.29827641[source]▶
In 2018, I got connected to 5 refugees who escaped North Korea to the USA. What surprised me was all 5 were able to escape by different variations of saving up enough money to bribe people along the way.

The only way to save up money for their ages (16-23) was to become "entrepreneurial"

EDIT:

If you are interested in North Korea, check out the stories by some friends of mine:

Charles - North Korean refugee turned programmer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziqq5gUXu8g

North Korean Spy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9rLqYXTaFI

Girl with parents who worked in the government whose whole family escaped https://www.youtube.com/c/Pyonghattan/videos

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teakettle42 ◴[06 Jan 22 18:56 UTC] No.29828111[source]▶
This seems universal to authoritarian states where corruption is the only viable strategy to get ahead.

Unfortunately, it also seems to consistently produce an entrenched, corrupt power class that persists long after the regime is overthrown.

See also the former Soviet Bloc.

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pphysch[dead post] ◴[06 Jan 22 19:15 UTC] No.29828429[source]▶
1. vkou ◴[06 Jan 22 19:20 UTC] No.29828517[source]▶
All power structures are authoritarian. Get rid of congress, and you'll simply have your local landholders pay private enforcers to keep the rabble in line. Property rights in theory apply to everyone, but in practice, are consistently enforced in a way that protects large, wealthy property owners more than everyone else.