I read the information that's available, watch leaked videos of people who went to North Korea filmed saw people starving and trying to eat grass to not die. There's also cases of foreigners who got stuck in Nork prison and then were released. also used to stay up late with my 4chan homies watching pirated North Korean TV
even their TV shows accidentally make slips that show how much of a hellhole that is. Like having the main character live in a village with no running water or having to sell his prized chicken for clothes
This is a case of cultural misunderstanding. Omg they were eating grass? Koreans make banchan out of foraging weeds poor or not. In fact people prefer foraged greens over purchased greens. Thats more of a misleading idea you have that foraging of outside vegetation must mean people are starving when people just like to do that.
Defectors are paid nearly a million dollars to tell slanderous stories by the government alone. Tv stations and book deals pay even more. Many of which have been debunked as lies. Its not as bad as what we hear. Just like Iraq sucked but was still decent under Saddam, and most what we heard is bad intelligence and misleading to corroborate an agenda.