International Mind-Control Cults, continued

Nicholas Kristof writes about North Korea's mind-control cult. First, the "divine" leader:

Likewise, over the years I've interviewed dozens of North Koreans who have fled to China or South Korea, and they overwhelmingly say that while they personally dislike the regime - that's why they fled - their relatives believe in the Kim dynasty with a quasi-religious faith. They say that when everyone is raised to worship the Dear Leader, when there are no contrary voices, people genuinely revere the leader.

Also the removal of the cult members from sources of other thought:

A hermetic seal is the main reason the Kim dynasty has survived so long. When I arrived, I was obliged to hand over my cellphones and satellite phones, to be picked up on my departure. Even many senior government officials have no access to the Internet.

And the members' commitment to the ideology despite its manifest unreality:

And although the national ideology is juche, or self-reliance, the UN World Food Program feeds 6.5 million North Koreans, almost a third of the population. Even so, hunger is widespread and has left 37 percent of the children stunted. Yet North Korea focuses its resources on prestige projects, like an amazing 10-lane highway to Nampo (with no traffic).

If it is a mind-control cult, then Kristof may be right about the answer to it:

The West should be trying to break that hermetic seal, to increase interactions with North Korea and to infiltrate into North Korea the most effective subversive agents we have: overweight Western business executives.

The question is whether it's possible to do that without strengthening the "Dear Leader."