60 years of propaganda war, North Korea versus South Korea.

Ever since I moved to Finland, I have experienced that people ask me questions regarding North Korea and the relation between South and North. This wasnt always so pleasant when an adult or a teacher expected me to know what was going on during Korean civil war. :) Each time when something big brings medias attention, the people get particularly interested in hearing about the mood in Korea. I have to reveal a secret here. I dont know much about North Korea. All I know is what can be read in history books about the Cold War and Korea's civil war and what can be seen in the media, that is all. Therefore its no wonder when someone sais North Korea, in my head, I immediately start seing Kim Jong Il waving with a broad smile on his face and images of his brainwashed marching troops. :) I have no family there, although about half of the population in South has related members on the north side. I have never been to North Korea. 

When I was little I was taught in school and also at home that you should be afraid of the North Koreans. They were either spies or those who wanted to kidnap South Koreans, and they were also evil, sick, uneducated, immature and weird. Thats the perception I have had about North Koreans for a long time. We also base our perceptions of other cultures a lot through media, the image that media conveys to us. Not to mention the very ethnocentric textbooks that have existed and still exist in our schools... That is why we associate North Korea (and so many other countries that are categorized as enemies of the western world), as something either very miserable and/or threatening.  

People who have actually been to North Korea get often amazed that they had come across very nice people there. Oh really, is it possible that there might be nice people in other cultures? Funny, right? :))