Just As Bad

Well, well, well! Ever since the early 1950s, the official story has been that there are two Koreas: the good one in the South and the bad one in the North. While South Korea is a protegé of the U.S. -- and therefore automatically good -- North Korea is a brutal and stupid regime, something to be despised and mocked.

Except, there's another side to this "fairy tale." South Korea isn't all it's cracked up to be.There's not much tolerance for dissent, and repression of human rights is commonplace. Anyone who expresses sympathy, let alone support, for the North or reconciliation between the two countries is deemed subversive and might end up in jail. Cartoons, satire and other forms of humor dealing with these ideas land their authors in trouble.

So, in the end, it seems that the Korean War accomplished very little, as far as securing a part of the country for a democratic and free society.

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