There are differences between North Korea and Dubai.
1) I can get on a plane tomorrow and visit Dubai, no visa required -not so with North Korea.
2) When I get to Dubai I can stay in any hotel I want -something I cannot do in North Korea where a) there aren't that many hotels, and b) foreign tourists are assigned a specific hotel.
3) I am free to travel around Dubai whenever I want, by foot, by car, by taxi, by subway, presumably by donkey, horse or camel but I can't confirm the latter three. I am not free to travel around North Korea and will be escorted wherever I want to go, having been given permission to go which in many cases is not given.
4) I can go to Dubai and shop till I drop; I can go to Dubai and not shop at all. I am not sure if there are shops in North Korea.
5) There are night clubs in Dubai, I don't believe there are any in North Korea.
6) Ask someone from the Philippines if they would like to work in Dubai and I reckon 80 out of 100 would say yes. According to the Consul General of the Philippines in Dubai:
"...the number of applications for passport renewals and similar activity at the consulate in Dubai itself has increased by about 200 per cent since December 2012.
“These are signs that the employment opportunity in the UAE and especially in Dubai is growing. There is a demand for more manpower and, fortunately, our nationals are the ones who are benefited,” he says.
The UAE, he says, has become the most preferred country in the GCC and the Middle East for Philippines nationals travelling abroad for employment.
“This country provides a safe and vibrant lifestyle which is unique,” he says.
http://www.emirates247.com/news/emir...06-03-1.508899
-The opportunities for foreign workers in North Korea is =0.
Of the Filipino transexuals I know, 100% would love to visit Dubai for a holiday.
7) Working conditions in the UAE and in Dubai are not ideal, living conditions in the UAE and Dubai are not ideal, but the key point is that the Filipinos, the Indians and Pakistanis, the Bangadeshi and Sri Lankan and Nepalese workers will trade creature comforts for a wage that supports the family back home -that is the bottom line. There can be no comparison with North Korea because there are no comparable foreign working communities there.
-I once worked a low-wage job in the rural South of France and was given living quarters with no running water or toilet. Water was collected from a well in the boss's yard across the way, the fields were my toilet. I did not complain. I was broke and glad for the work.
7) Slavery does not offer its workers any rights, least of all the right to resign from a job and 'go home'. As far as I know, most foreign workers in the UAE and Dubai can resign and go home any time they want, so the comparison with slavery is wrong.
Dubai is not heaven on earth, neither is North Korea; are both autocracies? Yes in their own way, with degrees of flexibility for people who behave themselves. If you know Muslims do not drink alcohol then adapt, and don't expect to have wine with your meals, or retire to a lounge for whisky and cigars, even though that can be done. Comparing the UAE and Dubai to life in Europe or North America is unfair, neither country even pretends to be similar. As long as you know what to expect in either Dubai or North Korea you need not be outraged or surprised, if neither place holds any interest for you, then don't go. I know one transgendered Filipino who will not set foot in Australia, for obvious reasons.