Pyongyang Department Store Number 1

In 1989 Theodore Dalrymple went to North Korea with a cabal of British Communists.

His experience in watching the crowds at Pyongyang Department Store Number 1 is surreal. I cannot summarize it here in any way which would do it justice. It must be read to understand.

Oddly, one commentor seemed not to like the article, saying "I don't much like it as it smacks of a sense of self-righteousness and smug superiority on the part of the Englishman writing it." Yes, indeed, the self-righteousness of people who think some liberty is better for the human condition than none. That relative liberty produces more human happiness than do oppression, starvation, and terror.

Unless, of course, one identifies with the oppressors and those who terrorize.

Read the whole thing here.