{"id":292719,"date":"2016-08-19T17:12:20","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T21:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=292719"},"modified":"2021-01-16T17:18:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T22:18:42","slug":"british-travel-vlogger-forced-to-deny-filming-upbeat-propaganda-for-north-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/british-travel-vlogger-forced-to-deny-filming-upbeat-propaganda-for-north-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"British travel vlogger forced to deny filming upbeat propaganda for North Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><span style=\"color: #008080\"><strong>RAEL\u2019S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<h5><span style=\"color: #008080\"><strong>When you do not comply with what mainstream media puppet of mega capitalism promotes then you are slandered. The best way, like for everything, is to go and see by yourself\u2026 Like searching the internet for real news instead of eating the fast-food news spread by \u201cofficial\u201d media. Or go by yourself to see the truth. Same for the mediashit saying that the Raelian Movement organizes \u201csexual orgies\u201d\u2026 Everybody can attend Raelian Movement meetings and Happiness Academies and see the truth, which is indeed very different.<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A popular British vlogger who filmed feel-good travel videos in North Korea has been forced to deny being paid by the totalitarian state to show off its \u2018beautiful beaches\u2019 and \u2018plentiful food\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Louis Cole, 33, travels the world for fun making videos of his adventures called \u2018Fun for Louis\u2019, boasting more than 1.8 million subscribers on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>His most recent trip was a 10-day stint in North Korea, traveling from Beijing to Pyongyang, with an organization which runs surfing and skateboarding lessons for local tour guides and children.<\/p>\n<p>Cole showcases the country\u2019s skateboard parks, surfing and water slides. On arrival, he is filmed enjoying a banquet of traditional fare, then heading to a 43-story hotel with a pool, bowling alley and massage parlor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m booking a massage, 100 percent!\u201d\u00a0he says.<\/p>\n<p>However, Cole makes no reference to the human rights abuses committed by the North Korean regime, attracting criticism on social media.<\/p>\n<p>One says:\u00a0\u201cSurely this tourism is simply helping fund an oppressive government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another says:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m still not sure you realise how fake your experience was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cole has been branded a willing vehicle for the state\u2019s propaganda, and possibly even being paid for it.<\/p>\n<p>But in a video released on Wednesday night, Cole denied the accusations, saying:\u00a0\u201cI know that makes good headlines but there\u2019s no truth to that whatsoever.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not being paid by the North Korean government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not agree with the North Korean ideologies but I do care for and love the people there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added:\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m looking for the beautiful, positive things. I want to connect with local people, learn about the culture and the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not an investigative journalist, I don\u2019t do political commentary. There are other places on the internet that you can go to find those kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The notoriously secretive state controls everything about what tourists see and do, with many visitors reporting having their footage and photos checked by authorities as they leave the country.<\/p>\n<p>An inquiry by the United Nations in 2014 found human rights abuses in North Korea were without comparison in the modern world.<\/p>\n<p>They included targeted killings, rape, enslavement, forced abortions and torture of political opponents in secret prison camps.<\/p>\n<p>Aid agencies estimate up to 2 million people have died since the mid-1990s because of acute food shortages caused by natural disasters and economic mismanagement.<\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch says\u00a0\u201call basic freedoms have been severely restricted\u201d\u00a0there.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/356384-north-korea-vlog-cole\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/356384-north-korea-vlog-cole\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RAEL\u2019S COMMENT: When you do not comply with what mainst [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":292721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/th\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}