Defiance

“Oh, first of all, I think the only change in North Korea could be made upon educating the North Korean people.”
— Thae Yong-ho

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Following World War II Korea divided. The Soviet Union took control of northern Korea, and the United States took control of the south.

With the onset of the cold war, negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States design to unify Korea broke down, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was born.

Since the inception of the People's Republic of Korea, the people of North Korea have defected for political, religious or economic reasons. An estimated 100-300 thousand North Koreans have defected, primarily using China as an escape route. If caught, they face deportation back, the possibility of execution and their entire families sent to labour camps.

North Korea's most senior defector is Thae Yong-ho, formerly the Minister of North Korean Embassy in London. In 2016 Mr Thae made the dangerous and challenging decision to defect to South Korea.

In this interview, I talk with Mr. Thae about life in North Korea, his defection to South Korea, the risks, the lack of contact with his family and how getting information of Western culture to the North Korean youth may trigger a revolution.

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Show notes and transcription:
https://www.defiance.news/podcast/escaping-north-korea-thae-yong-ho

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Show intro
00:01:41 - Welcoming Mr. Thae to the show
00:03:16 - Working for the North Korean regime
00:07:58 - Adjustment to Western life in Denmark
00:09:25 - North Korean class system
00:11:22 - Defecting to South Korea
00:19:41 - Assassination of Kim Jong-nam
00:24:03 - Relationship with Donald Trump
00:30:04 - Labor camps in Russia
00:31:32 - Goals for change in North Korea
00:34:16 - Reunification with the South
00:36:00 - How pop culture can trigger a revolution
00:38:43 - Black markets in North Korea
00:42:46 - Mobile phones
00:44:07 - Kim Jong-un's Achilles' heel
00:46:05 - Tourism in North Korea
00:47:36 - How the international community can help

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The success of Defiance will be largely down to the support of you, the listener. Below are a number of ways you can help:
- Subscribe to the show on your favourite app so you never miss an episode:
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- Leave a review of the show on iTunes (5* really helps, if you think the show deserves it).
- Share the show and episodes out with your friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Follow Defiance on social media:
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- Donate Bitcoin here: bc1qd3anlc8lh0cl9ulqah03dmg3r2uxm5r657zr5p

If you have any questions then please email Defiance.

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“Voting someone into power is kind of like the cherry on top of the democratic system. First, you need free expression, then you need separation of powers, then you need civil society.”
— Alex Gladstein

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Alex is Chief Strategy Officer at The Human Rights Foundation and a human rights activist. In this interview, we discuss the extent of authoritarianism around the world, how absolute power corrupts and how Bitcoin supports financial freedom.

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Show notes and transcription:
https://www.defiance.news/podcast/why-we-defy-alex-gladstein

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Show Intro
00:01:39 - Welcoming Alex to the show
00:03:36 - Birth of Defiance
00:08:08 - Global variances in freedom
00:11:32 - Veil of freedom in Russia
00:17:12 - Why do countries become authoritarian
00:23:02 - Turkey’s migration to dictatorship
00:26:22 - Saudi Arabia international relations
00:31:43 - Collapse of society in Venezuela
00:34:37 - Fallacy of Che Guevara
00:37:01 - Absolute power corrupts
00:43:01 - From an open democracy to dictatorship
00:45:57 - Encroachments in free societies
00:49:46 - Wikileaks and how Bitcoin supports financial freedom
01:12:52 - Why decentralisation is so important
01:15:24 - China’s Belt and Road programme
01:23:54 - Satoshi Nakamoto’s an act of defiance
01:25:41 - Where does change come from?

- - - - -

The success of Defiance will be largely down to the support of you, the listener. Below are a number of ways you can help:
- Subscribe to the show on your favourite app so you never miss an episode:
iTunes
Spotify
Deezer
Stitcher
SoundCloud
YouTube
TuneIn
- Leave a review of the show on iTunes (5* really helps, if you think the show deserves it).
- Share the show and episodes out with your friends and family on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Follow Defiance on social media:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
- Subscribe to the Defiance mailing list.
- Donate Bitcoin here: bc1qd3anlc8lh0cl9ulqah03dmg3r2uxm5r657zr5p

If you have any questions then please email Defiance.

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