There is this guy on youtube
Jaka Parker.
His videos are mesmerising to me.
I can’t figure out who and what he is. His YouTube channel description says, “I
am a freelance photographer from Indonesia and [sic] Pyongyang resident since
2012 until March 2018.”
In some of his videos, which have been removed now, he explained that his wife
was working at the Indonesian embassy in North Korea. I think that’s how he
moved there. The guy just walks and drives around North Korea with a GoPro
camera on his chest, at a time when North Korea was utterly isolated. This was
before the North/South Korea thaw, and tensions were high. His most popular
video is about him getting street food in the North Korean capital.
It’s mind-blowing to me that he was able to publish, let alone record, this
footage without any retaliation from the North Korean regime.
I’m fascinated by this country. I have no desire to ever go there. Mostly
because I don’t want to come back in a vegetative state due to botulism.
The country has been documented by countless journalists
who went there posing as tourists. Even the tourism there shows the
ruthlessness of this country’s leaders. Recorded footage is reviewed by the
regime when leaving the country. Tourists have to book a tour; they show you
only what they want you to see, and mingling with the locals is impossible and
forbidden.
Jaka did not always show the country in a good light. Some of his videos
include visiting the “Privilege Shop”,
which shows half-empty shelves, electricity outages, and foreigners being
forced to pay in euros or US dollars. The whole collection of videos is
baffling, and it will satisfy the curiosity of a wide range of people, from
someone who wants to understand how life in North Korea is, to your average
slum tourist who does not want to
take the risk to go there.
Anyway, I highly recommend the channel. The videos have no commentary, just
some superimposed text to give context, no judgment.
I’ve stopped watching his videos now. He moved away from North Korea to some
other Southeast Asian country and started showing off his motorcycles and cars.
I couldn’t care less.
I would check once in a while, though. Because he would release new footage
when he found some that he hadn’t published yet.
Today, I checked. And three months ago, he published this monstrosity.
In case the video is removed, it’s basically a parody video of a couple of
Russians moving to America. On the plane, these Russians can’t eat meat because
the smell disturbs the vegans; they have to move their children because it
bothers the childless; and they have to kneel in front of an African American
man because “white people have hurt these people so much.” Basically, all the
clichés of Russian ultra-conservative propaganda are hammered as “haha, look
how funny it is.” Dude!? What the actual fuck?!
Who is this guy? Is he some anti-West guy who wants to show how “normal” North
Korea is? Just some conservative guy who thought the video was funny?
I’m confused now… This guy is weird. I’m watching all his videos with
skepticism now.
Unrelated, but the Dictator’s Dilemma
from National Geographic is a great
documentary about how ruthless the leader of the country is.