This YouTube Star Had A Great Time In North Korea, Presumably Didn’t Ask Too Many Questions
Turns out they've got great water slides. Shame about all the torture.
As a rule, I tend to try and get my information about major geopolitical issues from sources whose credentials stretch beyond the number of followers they’ve managed to amass on social media. Even so, I would have hoped that YouTube star Louis Cole might have had something more insightful to share from his recent trip to North Korea than the fact that they apparently have totally wicked water slides.
Did you know North Korea have amazing water parks? https://t.co/9uGMkl2eQf
— Louis Cole (@funforlouis) August 11, 2016
Cole, aka FunForLouis, is a 33-year-old vlogger from the UK who regularly shares his travel adventures with his 1.8 million followers. You know the type: white guy dreadlocks, surfer bro ‘tude, churning out video after video of unrelenting, undiscerning positivity that makes people (or maybe just me) want to punch him the face.
Earlier this week, Cole began posting videos from a recent trip to North Korea– or rather, a recent trip to the parts of North Korea that the government is willing to let foreigners see. Not that that seemed to worry Cole too much. After all, who wants to talk about a country’s unparalleled human rights abuses when you can have a rad dance-off with some soldiers?
It’s not clear whether Cole’s trip was in any way sponsored by the North Korean government – although I assume they at least knew what he was up to, since tourism to the hermit kingdom is tightly controlled, especially for journalists (if such a term can be applied to Cole). The US government recently warned that taking unauthorised photos or having unauthorised interaction with the local population can both be treated as crimes in North Korea – which goes some way to explaining why the footage in Cole’s videos is more surfer babes and sandy beaches than it is secret prison camps and government intimidation.
What is doesn’t explain is why Cole, now that he’s safely back home, doesn’t even mention these issues. In a comment accompanying several of his videos, he says that he’s “trying to focus on positive things in the country and combat the purely negative images we see in the Media.” Which is a lovely sentiment, but also rings a little hollow in the face of, y’know, that whole state-sanctioned torture thing.
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h/t Forbes