some links where people have written up stuff on the DPRK before:

• Democracy in the DPRK
• a history of the Koren War/formation of the DPRK
• megapost with a ton of resources

it basically comes down to most of the media about the DPRK in the west using outright fabrications as the basis for their thesis that it's an awful place. like take Yeonmi Park spouting literal gibberish and yet getting taken seriously by western media - yeah mate, no one in the DPRK poops, that's definitely a real thing and not a shitpost to make this website blush, thank you for printing it. it's got its problems - how could it not, given the sanctions and the brutal war with the US - but it's in a similar boat to most of the other AES states like Cuba, China, and Vietnam.