Where Left Is Right / The Old Site

A clever site looks at propaganda published by the often unhinged but nonetheless official North Korea news agency, KCNA. The database is searchable, and the site includes some suggested searches to get you started.

Here's a sample:

Art Performances Mark Day of Korea's Liberation
Pyongyang, August 15 (KCNA) --Art performances took place at theaters and palaces in Pyongyang on Sunday in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation. The revolutionary drama "Under the Banner of Victory" was presented by artistes [!] of the State Theatrical Company at their theatre.

The audience was mesmerized by the drama which made a broad-based and in-depth representation of the undying exploits President Kim Il Sung performed by curbing and frustrating the U.S. imperialists' reckless "new offensive" with unique strategy and tactics and Juche-oriented war methods and outstanding commanding art and bringing about a landmark phase for the final victory in the Fatherland Liberation War. Performances were given by members of art groups of factories and farms from across the country at the People's Palace of Culture and the Central House of Workers. In their repertoires the performers reflected the faith and will of the Korean people to build a great prosperous powerful nation of Juche on this land, a legacy handed down to them by the President, true to the Songun revolutionary leadership of Kim Jong Il. Combined art performances were given by members of art groups of the Mangyongdae Schoolchildren's Palace and the Pyongyang Schoolchildren's Palace at their theatres. In their programs they truthfully represented their unbounded reverence for the President and the happiness of the school youth and children stoutly growing up to be knowledgeable, virtuous and healthy pillars of Songun Korea under the care of Kim Jong Il.

A combined circus performance was given by artistes of the Pyongyang Circus Theater.

This is pretty funny but I do not mean, of course, to single out North Korea's state propaganda for ridicule. Living as I do in early-21st-century USA, it would be a little hypocritcal, ne c'est pas?

For instance, this is from The Weasel's most recent weekly radio address:

...Iraqis are taking control of their country, building a free nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself. And we're helping Iraqis succeed. We're hunting down the terrorists and training the security forces of a free Iraq so Iraqis can defend their own country. Our approach can be summed up this way: As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down. And when that mission of defeating the terrorists in Iraq is complete, our troops will come home to a proud and grateful nation.

The recent violence in Iraq is a grim reminder of the brutal nature of the enemy we face in the war on terror. Our mission in Iraq is tough because the enemy understands the stakes. The terrorists know that a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will be a crippling blow to their hateful ideology. And that is why our work in Iraq is a vital part of the war on terror we're waging around the world.

This war on terror arrived on our shores on September the 11th, 2001. Since that day, the terrorists have continued to kill -- in Madrid, Istanbul, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Bali, Baghdad, London, and elsewhere. The enemy remains determined to do more harm. The terrorists kill indiscriminately, but with a clear purpose -- they're trying to shake our will. They want to force free nations to retreat so they can topple governments across the Middle East, establish Taliban-like regimes in their place, and turn the Middle East into a launching pad for attacks against free people.

The terrorists will fail. Because we are fighting a murderous ideology with a clear strategy, we're staying on the offensive in Iraq, Afghanistan and other fronts in the war on terror, fighting terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. When terrorists spend their days and nights struggling to avoid death or capture, they're less capable of arming and training and plotting new attacks on America.

We're also spreading the hope of freedom across the broader Middle East, because free societies are peaceful societies. By offering a hopeful alternative to the terrorists' ideology of hatred and fear, we are laying the foundations of peace for our children and grandchildren.

[...]

In recent days, we have seen again that the path to victory in the war on terror will include difficult moments. Our nation grieves the death of every man and woman we lose in combat, and our hearts go out to the loved ones who mourn them. Yet, even in our grief, we can be confident in the future, because the darkness of tyranny is no match for the shining power of freedom.

The terrorists cannot defeat us on the battlefield. The only way they can win is if we lose our nerve. That will not happen on my watch. Withdrawing our troops from Iraq prematurely would betray the Iraqi people, and would cause others to question America's commitment to spreading freedom and winning the war on terror. So we will honor the fallen by completing the mission for which they gave their lives, and by doing so we will ensure that freedom and peace prevail.

Note the repetition of certain key tropes, both within this address and across any number of public pronouncements: freedom, peace, tyranny, September 11th, terrorists, "shake our will," so on and so forth. Also note the calculated use of adjectives to hammer in the diabolic nature of the enemy and our own angelic selves: proud and grateful, grim, brutal, hateful, murderous, shining...

I leave for the reader the exercise of imagining incendiary USA rhetoric on the order of the North Korean variety spat out by the NK News Random Insult Generator. Such as:

You imperialist running dog, we will thwart your frantic attempts to stifle us!

Not all that difficult, eh?