I'm not claiming that N. Korea is some paradise, I'm just challenging some preconceived notions that people seem to pick up either from the government media or from government schools.
Brutal police state? The US has the highest prison population on the planet, both per capita and absolute.
Source. One-quarter of the entire world's inmates are incarcerated in the United States. Many people don't seem to realize this and yes they'll claim that other countries (especially china) are brutal police states. I guess I question what you might be basing your scale of police states upon?
I'm not pretending that I would want to live there, because a known enemy is better than an unknown one. All I'm saying is that we should practice more of: let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
I suppose it's always easier to criticize someone else than face your own self-examination. If the truth is too much to bear though, ignoring it is indeed the next best option. I think that's what set us preppers apart from most others, we are willing to accept that the future might not be so bright, whereas everyone else seems to ignore the problem entirely. Ignorance is bliss.