Maybe they know better than you. At the end, they live there. What you claim to know from North Korea and all that other countries from the "axis of evil" comes from TV.
Not what I claim to know but what I know. The difference between these two is that I don't claim to know what I know while not actually knowing it. The things I know about North Korea may be only part of the truth but there is no doubt about me knowing these things nor a necessity for me to claim knowledge I do not possess.
> all that other countries from the "axis of evil"
Where does that come from? I did not say anything about any axis of evil.
> comes from TV
I do not even remember the last time I watched television but I know it is more that 24 years ago since I had one of those contraptions. Nope, I do not get my information from television and have not done so for a very, very long time. What I know about North Korea comes from a diverse mix of sources on the 'net, from books on the subject, from interviews with North Korean escapees and from the odd travel report from people who went there - yes, some people actually visit the place. Satellite imagery provides proof of the existence of camps where escapees said they were so I tend to believe their descriptions of live in that state more than the denials which are thrown their way.
How much did the inhabitants of the Soviet Union know about the conditions in GULAG? Those who went through the system and survived to return to society were not eager to tell the tale for fear of repercussions. It took the death of Stalin and Khrushchev's subsequent speech “On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences” at the last day of the party congress of 1956 for some of the information - but only some, and only until Brezhnev came into power - to be the subject of discussion among Soviet citizens.
> Maybe they know better than you.
Stalin was a monster but to many people in the Soviet Union he was like a god - just like the Kim dynasty in North Korea has a god-like status to many North Koreans. They don't know any better, yet. Let's hope they will get to know the truth, soon.
Talking about Stalin, he is a very respected figure today in Russia. In fact, polls say that he is more popular than ever, and a majority of Russians think he played a positive role for their country. Although we may think he was a monster, that doesn't mean that people can't worship him. Why can't they? If some random guy starts crying for a queen that couldn't care less about him, in the case of these leaders it makes even more sense.
No, facts are facts. Stalin was a monster, as were Hitler, Mao and Pol Pot and - in a slightly lower category - Franco, Castro and Chavez and dozens of other tin-pot dictators from all winds and all political directions. Maybe the local populace adored them but that is besides the point given what we know - what you know as well.
> what happens in many other countries that do much more harm to their inhabitants, and/or to those from other countries, than NK
Let's have some examples of those countries and in which way they do much more harm to their inhabitants than North Korea.
Now back to what started this discussion: where does Elisabeth II stand in comparison to all those mentioned crooks? As far as I know she did not personally oversee any atrocities like those of Lenin/Stalin/Hitler/Mao/Pol Pot/etc.? The British Empire does have a bloody history but so does the rest of the world. Those who were conquered by the British conquered others before them and were often conquered after the British left. The British themselves were conquered by the Romans, the Vikings, the Normans, Bretons, Flemish, and French under the Duke of Normandy. The Germans tried but failed, the Soviets would have liked to but never got that far. The Indian subcontinent was conquered by the Mughals who set up a far more bloody rule than the British did. Genghis Khan killed about 11% of the world's population. Et ce te ra, humans are a warlike species. When Elisabeth II came to the throne the British Empire was winding down, decolonisation continued under her rule until all that was left is the British Overseas Territories.