Why does everyone always focus so much on architecture? Like, if you really wanna visualize how South Korea is materially much better off than North Korea, just use the satellite view at night where North Korea is almost completely absent of lights.
There's a million better things to criticize North Korea for besides having commie blocks. Especially considering the pic they chose genuinely doesn't look that bad.
"Commie blocks" can be quite nice if renovated and repaired regularly. The big problem with them is when they're basically left to rot, with elevators that haven't been inspected in over 2 decades, corroded water pipes, and jury-rigged electricals.
Edit: Should also probably mention that tenement blocks were absolutely perfect for their explicit goal: building pretty decent housing cheaply and quickly for post WW2 countries flattened by war.
And they provide high-density housing where everyone lives close to public transit and few people need a car. Then, your work, a mall, a park etc. can be three tram stops away.
They are not "commie blocks" they are an architectural design referred to as brutalist which was used around the world at the time. And their disrepair is on par and quite familiar to those of us familiar with tenements and slumlords in wealthy Nations. So it's got nothing to do with Communism of any stripe.
You don't need to do a very good illustration job for people to associate NK with famine, abject poverty, and an oppressive regime. The pictures do an alright job at that, and everyone understands what this meme really says: NK can't feed its citizens, SK is rich and prosperous almost beyond belief, especially considering that NK had a big head start after the war.
Like c'mon, this is just the wrong meme to post in "the right can't meme". In fact "capitalism prosperous, communism poor" is a 60+ year old meme at this point. Maybe we should start articulating capitalism's own problems through memes rather than stupidly "dunk" on capitalists for touting what is arguably capitalism's greatest success story.
…and have it run by a greedy, despotic dictator. Make sure the dictator says its a capitalist country though, seeing as labels are more important than what’s actually happening in a country.
That nearly does describe most capitalist countries though. It's just that the wealthiest people in them, the oligarchs are the despotic rulers whom the government runs itself for.
Oh, well I am sure that is true. I would not call North Korea communist as much as it a God Tier Dictatorship that only promotes one man as if he were a god.
You can find the least flattering angle and most flattering angle of pretty much any country in the world and do the same thing, and the most flattering places in South Korea aren't exactly public domain.