DPRK is not a Cartoon Villain
To defeat your enemy, you must put yourself in their shoes
Kim Jong Un is a diabolical dictator who enslaves his people, moo-hoo-hah-hah-hah! That’s why he steals crypto, so he can get nuclear weapons to... enslave his people?
Yeah, no.
At best, this caricature is a tempting two-dimensional representation of base reality. At worst, it is dishonest American propaganda.
Active defense in crypto against the hermit Juchean kingdom requires seeing base reality as it is. Not how you wish it were, and not to fit your pet theory. And definitely not by believing your own propaganda.
That requires us to reject the lies we tell ourselves as well as the lies others tell us.
What do I know about it?
Well, I’ve spent the last five years across three crypto companies defending billions of dollars of crypto against DPRK as the named apex predator in our threat model. And I’ve done so successfully. So far. (Knock on wood.)
I say “so far” because every day in active defense is Day 0. Active adversaries don’t just exploit technical systems. DPRK is famous for exploiting human trust--social engineering.
But the real vulnerability is your own false assumptions about reality. Your pet theory about cybersecurity? Harmful. Your mental model of how your company “should” work (as opposed to how it actually works). Your cartoonish presumptions about your adversary.
Because I hear echoes of decades of American bullshit when I hear DPRK as cartoonish villain.
Remember the so-called War on Terror?
The hate us for our freedoms.
Nah. They hated us for our foreign policy. They were pretty upfront about saying so, too.
The proxy war against Russia in Ukraine? Yeah, the US is losing that one. Washington’s mental model of Russia as a paper tiger was wrong.
The war in Iran right now? Decapitation strikes were supposed to end the conflict, same as Venezuela. Washington’s bullshit mental model means things are now going to to get worse. A whole lot worse, and for a whole lotta people.
DPRK is a rational sovereign. You think they’ve forgotten the US bombing the shit out of them during the Korean War? The US killed millions of North Korean civilians. They flattened the country. Literally. Flattened.
And Kim Jong Un. Is he a crazy dictator who enslaves his people? Maybe. Hard for me to confirm first hand. I can’t travel to North Korea. And if I did, given what I do for a living, they’d probably kidnap me and interrogate me. So I won’t be verifying base reality on the ground.
But I also don’t need to. For two reasons.
First, I hear echoes of past US propaganda--
”Gaddafi is a crazy dictator who enslaves his people!”
“Saddam Hussein is a crazy dictator who enslaves his people!”
“Khomeini is a crazy dictator who enslaves his people!”
I’ve seen this movie before. The sequels suck.
Base reality is almost certainly far more nuanced than that.
Second, and most importantly, let’s assume Kim Jong Un is really a monster. Perhaps he is. I can neither confirm nor deny that assertion. But let’s suppose he is the worst dictator the world has ever seen.
So what?
Literally, so what?
Kim Jong Un doesn’t want nuclear weapons to oppress his people. He feels threatened. And with reason. What he wants is to deter the US empire from invading or bombing his country. Nuclear weapons are the only way for a sovereign nation to maintain sovereignty against the US threat.
(Side note: If you think the US exports “freedom and democracy” I just want to pinch your chubby little cheeks. So. Cute.)
So let’s be clear on the causation here:
The US wants to end North Korean sovereignty
Therefore North Korea wants nukes
Therefore North Korea steals crypto, to buy nukes
Let’s live in the real world and go easy on the nonsensical cartoonish anti-DPRK propaganda.
Obligatory non-ironic Sun Tzu reference:
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.”
Let us know our enemy. Clear eyed. In base reality. Without the propaganda.
Because it’s not just wrong. It’s actively harmful. Bullshit makes us all less secure against the DPRK.