1490 NORTH KOREA - Propaganda

North Korea it’s a dictatorship of the most extreme kind, a cult of personality beyond anything Stalin or Mao could have imagined, a country as closed off to the world and as secretive as they come, keeping both the outside world and its own people completely in the dark about one another. I'm Romanian and I grew up under the Ceauşescu regime, so I have a basis for comparison and a good understanding of the functioning of such systems. The cult of personality and the nationalist propaganda are present in all countries led by such regimes, with local nuances, because they are essential to maintain a permanent state of siege and justify the isolation. The countries which have different regimes are invariably considered enemies, and a way of thinking that don't comply the dogmas of the single-party can only be a treason, a collaboration with the enemy.

The propaganda in North Korea is based on the Juche, and the posters are very similar to the messages portrayed by other communist countries, windows to the past reminiscent of those from Russia and the satellite countries during the Stalinism, from China during the Maoism, or from Vietnam during the war. They fell into four categories: the leaders and their greatness; images of the North Korean military and its might; negative depictions of the USA and South Korea; images of North Korean people living joyous and sunshiny lives. Americans are presented as an inherently evil race, with whom hostility is the only possible relationship, and the Korean War is used as a source for atrocities, less for the bombing raids than on charges of massacre. This postcard, on which is written "Let us answer hostility harder!", is a good example in this regard.

About the stamps

The first stamp depicts 2003 Statement of the DPR Korea Government MNH.

The second stamp depicts the statue at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Memorial Tower in Pyongyang.

References 
Propaganda in North Korea - Wikipedia
20 Things I Learned While I Was in North Korea - waitbutwhy.com

Sender: Izll Chen
Sent from Pyongyang (North Korea), on 07.08.2014