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An official atlas of North Korea

(www.cartographerstale.com)
228 points speckx | 8 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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monooso ◴[] No.45956494[source]
> According to the prevailing narrative in North Korea, the war was won by the communists and since then, the entire Korean peninsula has remained united under the rule of the Korean Workers’ Party.

(Emphasis mine)

TIL. Now I'm really curious how maintaining this fiction works (or doesn't) in practice.

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1. sunaookami ◴[] No.45956806[source]
Is the second part actually true though? I can't find any sources about this, in fact the opposite seems to be true. North Korea recently changed their constitution and describe South Korea as a "hostile state" which means they officially recognize it as a "state" at least[1]. Before that they explicitly had a goal for unification in the constitution which implies (or can be implied) that there never was such a view that "the entire Korean peninsula has remained united under the rule of the Korean Workers’ Party". There is also this sentence:

>This North Korean world map is centred on the Pacific Ocean, which gives Korea a privileged position on the global stage

This is normal for asian maps, Japan does the same thing for example.

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-repor...

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2. recursivecaveat ◴[] No.45956928[source]
Yeah, I'm kindof skeptical. Another example I found was Kim referencing the south in a TV speech. I think their official position might be something closer to that the war was victorious by virtue of holding off the Americans and/or removing them from the area. Then the atlas doesn't show the south as a separate country because it's more of a Taiwan situation where they don't want to legitimize it as anything more than a rebellious province? At least in the early 2000s when this atlas was made. The language at the time definitely seems to emphasize that the whole peninsula is just "the nation": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_15th_North%E2%80%93South_...
3. quicklime ◴[] No.45957088[source]
>> This North Korean world map is centred on the Pacific Ocean, which gives Korea a privileged position on the global stage

> This is normal for asian maps, Japan does the same thing for example.

This is common in Australia too.

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4. bad_haircut72 ◴[] No.45957758[source]
As a map of Australia sure but not a world map
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5. onraglanroad ◴[] No.45957810[source]
So you're saying North Korea, Japan and Australia are engaged in a leftist plot to take a privileged position in the world?

All we need is some TikTok, YouTube shorts and some gullible right wingers, and I think we've got ourselves a product!

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6. lIl-IIIl ◴[] No.45958085{3}[source]
The second search result for "Australian world map" shows a world map that is designed for Australian schools and it centers on Pacific Ocean:

https://www.australianteachingaids.com.au/the-world-map

The first search result for "Australian world map" was for one of those novelty south-side up maps.

7. akimbostrawman ◴[] No.45992052{3}[source]
>engaged in a leftist plot

>gullible right wingers

Where in the discussion or article was the affiliation or relevance of the western political spectrum mentioned? Seems pretty gullible to insert your own frame into a discussion as a gocha towards political opponents you created inside your head.

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8. onraglanroad ◴[] No.45999109{4}[source]
Yeah, you're all confused by the signals. Isn't it lucky there are adults in the world to help?