The Chinese government is probably one of the biggest enabler of the North Korean regime. Kim Jong Il’s dictatorship could not stand long if it was not supported by such a powerful ally. But chinese traders are creating changes in the other direction, making a few bucks selling pirated DVDs to North Koreans, passing bits of modernity and openness in the process.

For a country that has been so brainwashed that many citizens think the dear leader has super natural powers, it is a major step.

[…] massive crop failures and widespread famine forced the government to tolerate private trading.
By 2002 [people] could sell fish for cash [used] to buy, among other manufactured goods from China, a color television and a videotape player. Soon [people] were asking local merchants to smuggle in specific video titles from China.
In addition to Bond movies, she learned about the world beyond North Korea from Hong Kong gangster films and from South Korean television, which she could receive on her Chinese-made TV.
Her son, now 17, said his understanding of the United States — where he hopes one day to live — was formed by watching old videos of “Charlie’s Angels.”
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