I get so exhausted every time I see a comment that says “I can see the fear in her eyes” “they look happy but their eyes tell a different story” “they were all executed after this” etc.

Here’s a student at a university in DPRK being interviewed, judge for yourself what her emotional state seems like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSrzIOPFN5Y

I would say this student smiles, talks calmly, and explains her educational experiences, etc. Might be slightly nervous due to being on camera and speaking a foreign language, but simultaneously seems happy to be interviewed and does not seem to be in distress. That’s just my own opinion, and I wouldn’t be scrutinizing this person so intently if not for the many comments I always see on videos about DPRK that always insist on the “eyes” of people being full of fear/sadness/pain, and all smiles being “fake”, when I suspect that if they saw the same video without the context of DPRK they wouldn’t be making comments like that.

Comments:

I think here eyes are telling a different story.

I feel so sad

her English is great, she seems so intelligent and interesting. too bad she lives in the worst place imaginable and her talents will probably be wasted thanks to her evil government.

I can feel her fear

Scroll down on any neutral or positive footage of North Korea and you will see 100 variations of this kind of comment (as well as a lot of objectification of North Korean women).