North Korea is one of the most anti-American countries on Earth. If you open up a North Korean newspaper you will not struggle to find references to U.S. imperialism, the U.S. “occupation” of “south” Korea and, of course, U.S. militarism. Added to that, everything from North Korean reference texts and encyclopedias, to posters and parades are full of negative references to the American army and its “evil” government. You would struggle to find any country outside certain parts of the Middle East that expends quite so much energy and ink on anti-American crowd-baiting.

Many self-critical Americans, as well as those who do not like the United States, are quick to blame America itself for creating the people who hate it. An endless list of grievances (a charge list, if you will) can be drawn up for the crimes (real and alleged) that the United States has to answer for. But crimes themselves do not fully explain why people hate America, and for that matter why the North Korean government is so very determined to make its people hate America.