What It Shows
This infographic gives a big picture view of the economics, military, education, and politics of Kim Jong-Il’s North Korea, successfully attempting to show just how crazy he and his country are.
Why It’s Good
The information is easy to read and understand with a great use of North Korean flag colours. Some of the details are expected, but many are not (for example, their 99% literacy rate). The main CIA world factbook type areas are each touched on, and while no area is particularly deeply explored, it’s enough information for one infographic. There’s a nice mix of emotions, too. You are impressed, feel awful, and then can’t help laughing when you get to the section on Kim Jong-Il’s personal craziness (his biography states that he neither defecates nor urinates). The glorification of a figure like him is horrible, and I don’t mean to make too light of it, but lunacy is sometimes amusing. It’s hard to know whether to feel better or worse about the world North Koreans face when his craziness is so steeped in personal insecurity. More, or less dangerous?
What It’s Missing
Honestly, not that much. I don’t feel that this infographic is particularly lacking, but I do still get annoyed at quantities that are compared without being properly reflected in the visuals. In this case, it’s the comparison of the U.S. and North Korean GDP per capita not being proportional to the bars in the graph otherwise meant to represent the quantities.
This infographic is another of the online schools family, and can be found here.
