#heritageposter

[heritageposts]

What does life in North Korea look like outside of Pyongyang? 🇰🇵

Hey, I'm back again with a very scary "tankie" post that asks you to think of North Koreans as people, and to consider their country not as a cartoonish dystopia, but as a nation that, like any other place on earth, has culture, traditions, and history.

Below is a collection of pictures from various cities and places in North Korea, along with a brief dive into some of the historical events that informs life in the so-called "hermit kingdom."

Warning: very long post

Kaesong, the historic city

Beginning this post with Kaesong, one of the oldest cities in Korea. It's also one of the few major cities in the DPRK (i.e. "North Korea") that was not completely destroyed during the Korean war.

Every single city you'll see from this point on were victims of intense aerial bombardments from the U.S. and its allies, and had to be either partially or completely rebuilt after the war.

From 1951 to 1953, during what has now become known as the "forgotten war" in the West, the U.S. dropped 635,000 tons of bombs over Korea — most of it in the North, and on civilian population centers. An additional 32,000 tons of napalm was also deployed, engulfing whole cities in fire and inflicting people with horrific burns:

For such a simple thing to make, napalm had horrific human consequences. A bit of liquid fire, a sort of jellied gasoline, napalm clung to human skin on contact and melted off the flesh. Witnesses to napalm's impact described eyelids so burned they could not be shut and flesh that looked like "swollen, raw meat." - PBS

Ever wondered why North Koreans seem to hate the U.S so much? Well...

Keep in mind that only a few years prior to this, the U.S. had, as the first and only country in the world, used the atomic bomb as a weapon of war. Consider, too, the proximity between Japan and Korea — both geographically and as an "Other" in the Western imagination.

As the war dragged on, and it became clear the U.S. and its allies would not "win" in any conventional sense, the fear that the U.S. would resort to nuclear weapons again loomed large, adding another frightening dimension to the war that can probably go a long way in explaining the DPRK's later obsession with acquiring their own nuclear bomb.

But even without the use of nuclear weapons, the indiscriminate attack on civilians, particularly from U.S. saturation bombings, was still horrific:

"The number of Korean dead, injured or missing by war’s end approached three million, ten percent of the overall population. The majority of those killed were in the North, which had half of the population of the South; although the DPRK does not have official figures, possibly twelve to fifteen percent of the population was killed in the war, a figure close to or surpassing the proportion of Soviet citizens killed in World War II" - Charles K. Armstrong

On top of the loss of life, there's also the material damage. By the end of the war, the U.S. Air Force had, by its own estimations, destroyed somewhere around 85% of all buildings in the DPRK, leaving most cities in complete ruin. There are even stories of U.S. bombers dropping their loads into the ocean because they couldn't find any visible targets to bomb.

What you'll see below of Kaesong, then, provides both a rare glimpse of what life in North Korea looked like before the war, and a reminder of what was destroyed.

Kaesong's main street, pictured below.

Due the stifling sanctions imposed on the DPRK—which has, in various forms and intensities, been in effect since the 1950s—car ownership is still low throughout the country, with most people getting around either by walking or biking, or by bus or train for longer distances.

Kaesong, which is regarded as an educational center, is also notable for its many Koryŏ-era monuments. A group of twelve such sites were granted UNESCO world heritage status in 2013.

Included is the Hyonjongnung Royal Tomb, a 14th-century mausoleum located just outside the city of Kaesong.

One of the statues guarding the tomb.

Before moving on the other cities, I also wanted to showcase one more of the DPRK's historical sites: Pohyonsa, a thousand-year-old Buddhist temple complex located in the Myohyang Mountains.

Like many of DPRK's historic sites, the temple complex suffered extensive damage during the Korean war, with the U.S. led bombings destroying over half of its 24 pre-war buildings.

The complex has since been restored and is in use today both as a residence for Buddhist monks, and as a historic site open to visitors.

Hamhung, the second largest city in the DPRK.

A coastal city located in the South Hamgyŏng Province. It has long served as a major industrial hub in the DPRK, and has one of the largest and busiest ports in the country.

Hamhung, like most of the coastal cities in the DPRK, was hit particularly hard during the war. Through relentless aerial bombardments, the US and its allies destroyed somewhere around 80-90% percent of all buildings, roads, and other infrastructure in the city.

Now, more than seventy years later, unexploded bombs, mortars and pieces of live ammunition are still being unearthed by the thousands in the area. As recently as 2016, one of North Korea's bomb squads—there's one in every province, faced with the same cleanup task—retrieved 370 unexploded mortar rounds... from an elementary school playground.

Experts in the DPRK estimate it will probably take over a hundred years to clean up all the unexploded ordnance—and that's just in and around Hamhung.

Hamhung's fertilizer plant, the biggest in North Korea.

When the war broke out, Hamhung was home to the largest nitrogen fertilizer plant in Asia. Since its product could be used in the creation of explosives, the existence of the plant is considered to have made Hamhung a target for U.S. aggression (though it's worth repeating that the U.S. carried out saturation bombings of most population centers in the country, irrespective of any so-called 'military value').

The plant was immediately rebuilt after the war, and—beyond its practical use—serves now as a monument of resistance to U.S. imperialism, and as a functional and symbolic site of self-reliance.

Chongjin, the third largest city in the DPRK.

Another coastal city and industrial hub. It underwent a massive development prior to the Korean war, housing around 300,000 people by the time the war broke out.

By 1953, the U.S. had destroyed most of Chongjin's industry, bombed its harbors, and killed one third of the population.

Wonsan, a rebuilt seaside city.

The city of Wonsan is a vital link between the DPRK's east and west coasts, and acts today as both a popular holiday destination for North Koreans, and as a central location for the country's growing tourism industry.

Considered a strategically important location during the war, Wonsan is notable for having endured one of the longest naval blockades in modern history, lasting a total of 861 days.

By the end of the war, the U.S. estimated that they had destroyed around 80% of the city.

Masikryong Ski Resort, located close to Wonsan. It opened to the public in 2014 and is the first, I believe, that was built with foreign tourists in mind.

Sariwon, another rebuilt city

One of the worst hit cities during the Korean War, with an estimated destruction level of 95%.

I've written about its Wikipedia page here before, which used to mockingly describe its 'folk customs street'—a project built to preserve old Korean traditions and customs—as an "inaccurate romanticized recreation of an ancient Korean street."

No mention, of course, of the destruction caused by the US-led aerial bombings, or any historical context at all that could possibly even hint at why the preservation of old traditions might be particularly important for the city.

Life outside of the towns and cities

In the rural parts of the DPRK, life primarily revolves around agriculture. As the sanctions they're under make it difficult to acquire fuel, farming in the DPRK relies heavily on manual labour, which again, to avoid food shortages, requires that a large portion of the labour force resides in the countryside.

Unlike what many may think, the reliance on manual labour in farming is a relatively "new" development. Up until the crisis of the 1990s, the DPRK was a highly industrialized nation, with a modernized agricultural system and a high urbanization rate. But, as the access to cheap fuel from the USSR and China disappeared, and the sanctions placed upon them by Western nations heavily restricted their ability to import fuel from other sources, having a fuel-dependent agricultural industry became a recipe for disaster, and required an immediate and brutal restructuring.

For a more detailed breakdown of what lead to the crisis in the 90s, and how it reshaped the DPRKs approach to agriculture, check out this article by Zhun Xu.

Some typical newly built rural housing, surrounded by farmland.

Tumblr only allows 20 pictures per post, but if you want to see more pictures of life outside Pyongyang, check out this imgur album.

[sfaamq10]

Help my family 🍉😭

Southern Gaza is now suffering from a famine that has never happened anywhere in the world. My family lives there in Khan Younis and it's hard to get a loaf of bread or any kind of food. We are going through very difficult circumstances

Please save us

After severe suffering, we were finally able to buy a bag of flour in order to make bread and find something to eat, but when we opened it, we found that worms and weevils fill it with it unedible. Please help me buy edible flour to save us from this famine

Please help me buy a new tent. After my tent was destroyed by winter and completely torn. Please save us from the cold. See how we live. Please help us protect us from upcoming colds and weather drops. Contribute with me. Please, every donation will really save us.

Please also help me buy milk for my baby to satisfy him and fill his hunger. Please help me and I hope you also help me with diapers. I don't want to have to use the cloth again. Help me for my child.

If donate $100

[hellsite-hall-of-fame]

Heritage posts already exists

yes dear anon, I do know heritageposts already exists. thank you for the reminder lol

but alas this is the ✨hellsite hall of fame✨ that has now also become a very cursed and ancient museum, so it is ever so slightly different :)

[valtsv]

Oh my god do not put heritage-posts on my dash after they started reblogging from brendanicus and pulling that 'pattern noticer' shit. What nazi bullshit are you on.

i couldn't find any evidence of this and i don't follow them besides. if you can provide me with some i'll delete the post and block them, but i'm not going to entertain anonymous accusations blaming me for not having a photographic memory of the personal blog archive of every user on this site.

[mithwitch]

FOR YOUR ZIONIST BLOCKLIST

zygodactylus/jewish-kulindadromeus/a-dinosaur-a-day DEFINITELY NOT BEING RACIST below:

DONT WORRY THIS PERSON’S A

N O N Z I O N I S T !!!!!!!!!!!! Believe it :)

one more time:

[nurthan]

didn’t have “tumblr user heritageposts commits blood libel” on my 2023 bingo card, but here we are

[alvie-pines]

EDIT:

i have been informed that the red triangle has also been used in other ways, such as highlighting destruction in gaza or marking hamas/palestinian resistance groups' targets. thus, heritageposts may not have been invoking the holocaust as i assumed. PLEASE REBLOG THIS VERSION OF THE POST IF YOU REBLOG.

PSA: heritageposts is antisemitic.

while most of their political posts are no-commentary reposts of coverage of the palestinian genocide, they do occasionally add comments in the post body or tags.

here is a post where they wish the holocaust on an israeli man.

in case you are unaware, the upside-down triangle was used in nazi concentration camps to mark prisoners. the red triangle was used to mark political prisoners specifically, but i am not putting weight in the color since this is the only upside down triangle emoji available. the upside down triangle would be modified into a star of david using a yellow triangle for jewish prisoners, but the upside down triangle in general is more recognizable, especially as a nazi-specific thing. i cannot think of any other reason they would use the upside down triangle in this context except to wish the holocaust or similar on this man. wishing for a repeat of the holocaust is pretty common among antisemites and does not come without baggage.

please get your palestine news someplace else. israel is the aggressor, but that does not give anyone an excuse to air their antisemitism.

it might be tempting for non-jewish leftists to ignore this, but remember that if you let someone filter the news for you, you are liable to accept their biases as fact.

please be conscious of their antisemitism going forward.

[insane-control-room]

antisemitism isnt real! because:

accept indigenous people's histories unless theyre jews

remember people are poc and minorities unless theyre jews

history doesnt start in 1949 unless theyre jews

doxxing people is wrong unless theyre jews

harassing people is wrong unless theyre jews

anti-colonialism is right unless theyre jews

proportionality doesnt make sense in defense unless theyre jews

countries can have mandatory service thats normal unless theyre jews

countries can be ethnic unless theyre jews

raping people is wrong unless theyre jews

killing people is wrong unless theyre jews

genocide bad unless theyre jews

scapegoating jews is wrong unless theyre jews

so theres clearly no reason i should be so angry.

[ebraheem--abd]

Save my baby Ayla from danger 😭🙏

We face danger and death every day from all places, sickness, cold and hunger. There is no food or anything healthy to protect the children 😭With a small gift in the link, you can save an entire family or participate 🙏😭🍉🍉

https://gofund.me/070a766c

[ara-line]

So I have to comment on this

My initial thought when I saw this is that it seems condemnatory toward both Hamas and Israel. It's basically highlighting that there are innocent lives being lost because of both the Israeli government and Hamas. Which is true, FWIW.

According to this source, the parade also featured caricatures of the Russian and Ukrainian presidents, German politicians, Trump and more.

It was somewhat difficult to find an English source for who the artist of this was, and what they wanted to portray. But of course, the tankies had to take something nuanced and complex like art and find the worst possible takes to make on it.

All of my fellow anti-tankies: What do you make of this?

[heritageposts]

Google-translated, posted October 8th

This piece Manoel wrote in 2020 should also be mandatory reading for all Western "leftists," especially now as the Western illusion of military invincibility is being shattered

[...] Another factor that is very common in the western left is to treat suffering and extreme poverty as elements of superiority. It is very common in Western leftist culture to support martyrs and suffering. Everyone today likes Salvador Allende. Why? Salvador Allende is a victim, a martyr. He was assassinated in Pinochet’s coup d’ etat.

And, on Western leftists support of Palestine (pre Al-Aqsa Flood — Manoel, writing in 2020, was clearly underestimating the military capabilities of the Gazan resistance)

Palestinians are a people who are deeply oppressed, in a situation of extreme poverty, that don’t have a national economy because they don’t have a national state. They don’t have an army or military or economic power. Therefore, Palestine is the total incarnation of the metaphor of David vs Goliath, except that this David doesn’t have a chance of beating Goliath in political and military conflict. Therefore, almost everyone in the international left likes Palestine. People become ecstatic looking at those images -- which I don’t think are very fantastic – of a child or teenager using a sling to launch a rock at a tank. Look, this is a clear example of heroism but it is also a symbol of barbarism. This is a people who do not have the capacity to defend themselves facing an imperialist colonial power that is armed to the teeth. They do not have an equal capacity of resistance, but this is romanticized. Western leftists like this situation of oppression, suffering and martyrdom.

If you're a Westerner, I think it's worth investigating to what extent this image Palestinians as 'defenseless' or 'defeated' (I've seen some of you talk about Palestine in the past tense) factors into your support of Palestine as it is now, under occupation.

Because there will be an after.

Everyone supported Viet Nam when it was under attack, being destroyed and bombed for over 30 years. Viet Nam beat Japan in WW2, then had to fight France, and then had to fight the United States. It passed 30 straight years without being able to build a damn school or hospital because a bomb would drop, first from France and then the United States, and destroy it. When the country was finally able to beat all of the colonial and neocolonial powers and have the opportunity to start planning, to build highways, electrical systems, schools and universities without having bombs land on them the next day and destroy everything that was being done, the country was abandoned by the majority of the left. It lost its charm, it lost its enchantment. There is a fetish for defeat in the western left. It is an idea that defeat is something majestic.

[thegayhimbo]

I know it's small consolation, but I get dark satisfaction in watching @heritageposts froth at the mouth over a parade float that depicts Hamas for what they truly are: Terrorists and cowards who use the Palestinian people as human shields.

[mohkhilla93]

Eileen is not a trend, she is my 1 year old daughter.

Eileen lost her smile, she lives in constant fear, she can not sleep with the sound of the bombs and she is afraid of losing her family. Please help us 🤍🙏

https://gofund.me/9f2459f2

[menlove]

blocklists on this website are such a joke 9/10 times like

you'll have a post like "pedophile blocklist" that includes both someone who grooms children or is an actual felon AND someone who ships a 17 year old with a 19 year old AND someone who just watches a cartoon

you'll have a "zionist blocklist" consisting of someone who thinks palestinians are animals that need exterminated, a jew who called you antisemitic, and a pro-palestine leftist who reblogged a percy jackson gifset

you'll have a "blocklist of people that support x horrible person" that includes their best friend adamantly supporting them and engaging in the same behavior, someone who talked to them once in 2019, and someone who casually reblogged an unrelated post of theirs without knowing

you'll have a "transandrophobia truther" blocklist consisting of a transmisogynistic asshole who has made many posts about how trans women are silencing him and out to get him and then on the same blocklist just some trans guy that reblogged a post saying trans men don't have the same privilege as cis men

etc etc

and absolutely none of these will ever include explanation of what these people have actually done either it's just "trust me and block every single one of these people or you're also a horrible person"

like can we please start at the very least giving reasons for why people are on these things lol. or maybe, consider, not dogpiling strangers on the internet without solid proof in the first place? crazy insane idea I know

[hilacopter]

help me someone with the same pfp as heritage🅱️osts just liked and reblogged one of my posts i got fuckin jumpscared 😭

[spot-the-antisemitism]

People calling out the vetters are now "ableist" https://jacky-rubou.tumblr.com/758166737971822592?source=share

The archived link if unavailable to view: http://archive.is/2024.08.11-035954/https://jacky-rubou.tumblr.com/post/758166737971822592

Heritageposts really on here promotinng genocide and eugenics if the CCCP does it and then calls US ableist fascists is basically projecting at this point