I think in the case of North Korea it's more about the population having to overcome fear, rather than the masses being brainwashed/uninformed. Don't underestimate the power of secret contacts with the outside world, especially those between family members who escaped NK and reached South Korea and those left behind.
Information is difficult to control, and it gets more difficult when people suffer incredible hardships to the point of outright famine. Desperate people will do anything when they know they're being lied to by their government.

 

Agree

 

So how do you think these "secret" contacts communicate across the NK border? Hand delivered mail? Internet?

You are naive as to how restrictive communication is across the NK border.

 

If you think it is harder to get a message across the border than to get a person across that border then yes. I think however that since there's thousands of NK people in South Korea, and many more in China, they will manage to get messages across also. Moreover, people on the NK side of the border river with China can see what's being built on the other side. That alone must convince them that things in China are developing fast, rather than the stagnant hell on their own side.

 

They’re several ways to send cryptic messages but it’s considered classified.

 

"Tonight there will be severe rain from the South and it will brighten later".

 

Allo, Allo....can you 'ear me? This is Nighthawk?

 

Ooh Rene!