I've traveled quite a bit in Asia and have a home there...and I'll tell you this much: you're flat wrong. I could go into a long, involved discussion of all the reasons why, the most telling is this: when a nation makes it a crime punishable by decades in prison to leave that nation without official permission, you know something's very, very wrong with that nation.

That fact is exacerbated when that nation outlaws radios that can access any stations but those allowed by the government. Try flying in to Pyongyang with a stack of American newspapers sometime and let us know how that went.

These are traits shared by other nations...every one of which turned out to be murderous dictatorships.