I consider myself pretty skeptical of American media, so if I'm wrong I welcome correction. But I assumed this wasn't really disputed even among leftists.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 0 points 15 minutes ago

They're allies and do a good deal of trade, the DPRK isn't a puppet of China. The ROK was literally set up by the US Empire for the purposes of securing its interests in the region. Leftists don't really believe the DPRK is a puppet state, that's more of a liberal thing.

[–] CooperRedArmyDog@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 hours ago

While the DPRK and PRC are allies, the DPRK is not a puppet of the PRC. The PRC doesn't have a military base nor does the PRC attempt to control or manipulate the doings of the DPRK.

As for your "Disputed among leftists." I am not sure to what group of people who would call themselves leftists you are referring so I cannot comment on that

[–] RiverRock@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I mean you're right that it's not disputed among leftists, but that's because it's generally not contended among leftists. The US maintains a military occupation and economic domination of the south, while the same is not true of China and the north. This seems like another one of those "whatever bad thing we're doing, China must be doing worse because they're the bad guys" pieces of folk wisdom that can't be substantiated. Which I'm not laying at your feet, to be clear, because I used to be a "communism no iphone 100 morbillion dead" person and I know how pervasive these cliches are.