Compassion for Jim? Why? All he said was essentially the truth. I've spoke to a number of folks who have had the opportunity to visit N. Korea, as well as recently watched a documentary.
The people there are shielded from the outside world. The USA is constantly called the "imperialists" and they teach their culture and people that their leader is feared by the rest of the world for his power, but loved by many for his ways of business. In fact, they have a museum set up to display gifts given to the "President" of N. Korea to display how well "liked" all over the world this person is. Everything there is a show, fake, and not real for tourists who visit.
The propaganda there is absurd. They are taught things that cannot be verified by outside sources because they do not have the luxury of the internet or non-state run media like you and I do. Heck, they could launch a rocket today, be told by their own media that it struck down ships (when it really didn't), and the people would have nothing to go by on other than to believe what they were just told. That's how isolated it is.