Skip to main content

North Korean Anti-Bicycle Campaign


Copenhagenize has recieved a leaked public service film from behind the fortified borders of North Korea that provides insight into the classic manipulative nature of a well-oiled propaganda machine.

Above is a classic Communist propaganda film from North Korea showing the typical use of children in emotional propaganda praising the State and The Great Leader, yada yada. Using children is a classic - and quite regrettable - tactic in such countries. The Soviets were also well versed in using children to promote their ideology, as were most Communist states.


Here is the leaked video that Copenhagenize recieved. It hails from the northern province of Northern Yoo Lan, far from the capital. An agricultural area with an adbundance of tractors and a tradition for using vehicles more than in the populated cities.

Their dialect is difficult to interpret but we've learned that the propaganda film is the intiative of the People's Committee for Glorious Promotion of Farm Vehicles and Safety, started by the Communal Fathers Committee of the capital of Northern Yoo Lan, Aal Bor.

The Communal Fathers view the bicycle as a threat to the glorious progress of their vehicle culture and are trying to restrict the usage of the machine through this constructed fear campaign. Encouraging people to instead stimulate the struggling economy by using vehicles to get around. To get to their communal workplaces or even to transport themselves to their People's Center for Glorious Secular Societal Togetherness - Yoosk Seng Atoys Laya, as it is called in their dialect.

Using children to promote ideology is something that we here in the West find somewhat disgusting. Children as weapons in a self-serving emotional propaganda campaign should not be tolerated and Copenhagenize hopes that an offical letter of complaint is sent to the Communal Fathers Committee. As per usual with such propaganda, there is very little science involved. That would just clutter up the Glorious Message with common sense and rationality. Two societal qualities not tolerated in such societies.


Here is a previous propaganda film from the Communal Fathers of Aal Bor, in Norther Yoo Lan. Like most of their campaigns, they have the blessing of the National Bureau for Traffic Manipulation and Fearspeak - Fa Ken Wang Kaas and the People's Committee for Elderly Persons in Wooly Socks and Sandals, Soo Kal Yelm.

Despite the secretive nature of North Korea, the Communal Fathers have, through third party contacts, negotiated a rare trade agreement with a Western company in the interest of further developing their Glorious Farm Vehicle & Safety Five Year Plan. According to observers, the People's Commune of Aal Bor will send all the now unused bicycles to Great Britian. In exchange for a massive shipment of these Safety Devices to be placed on the heads of the children of Aal Bor at all times. Adorned with the appropriate slogans and graphics that accompany such projects.

A shocking and frightening peek into the inner workings of North Korean society. Thank Odin I live in a region with strong Social-Democratic traditions and a cultural history involving rational thought.

Popular posts from this blog

7550 New Bike Parking Spots at Copenhagen Central Station

For all of Copenhagen's badassness as a bicycle city, there remains one thing that the City still completely sucks at. Bicycle parking at train stations. At Copenhagen Central Station there are only about 1000 bike parking spots. Danish State Railways can't even tell us how many spots they have. They're not sure. Even in Basel they have 800+. In Antwerp they have this . Don't even get me started on the Dutch. 12,500 bike parking spots are on the way in some place called Utrecht . Amsterdam has a multi-story bike parking facility, floating bicycle barges round the back and are planning 7000 more spots underwater . Even at the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, the recent and fancy redesign failed miserably in providing parking that is adequate for the demand . Architects once again failing to respond to actual urban needs. It is time to remedy that. Here is my design for 7550 bike parking spots behind Copenhagen Central Station. Steve C. Montebello i...

The New Question for 21st Century Cities

It's all so simple if we want it to be. For almost a century we have been asking the same question in our cities. "How many cars can we move down a street?" It's time to change the question. If you ask "How many PEOPLE can we move down a street?", the answer becomes much more modern and visionary. And simple. Oh, and cheaper. Let alone the fact that the model at the top can move 10 times more people down a street than the model at the bottom. When I travel with my Bicycle Urbanism by Design keynote , I often step on the toes of traffic engineers all around the world. Not all of them, however. I am always approached by engineers who are grateful that someone is questioning the unchanged nature of traffic engineering and the unmerited emphasis placed on it. I find it brilliant that individual traffic engineers in six different nations have all said the same thing to me: "We're problem solvers. But we're only ever asked to solve the sam...

The Race for Lithium for Electric Cars and Bicycles

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia. Photo: Ezequiel Cabrera/Wikipedia The coming boom in batteries to electric cars and Lazy Bikes (electric-assist bicycles) means a boom in batteries with which to run them. A new race for natural resources has begun. Enter Lithium, the world's lightest metal. For 150 years it's been nickel and lead that have been used in batteries but the advent of lithium technology has allowed for a revolution. Longer battery life, lighter batteries in our laptaps and mobile phones and iPods. Lithium weighs 1/20th of what nickel and lead do. Lithium is also used in anti-depressive medicine, ceramics and nuclear power. With all this talk of electric cars and bicycles, the demand for lithium is on the verge of exploding. Lithium is the new oil. Enter Boliva. This developing country sits on at least half of the world's supply of lithium, most of it in underground salt layers beneath the world's largest salt flats in Salar de Uyuni , in south-west Boliva. Betwee...