I think people did assume that because from what little experience Americans have with NK, much of the customs we would consider voluntary (bowing before statues, etc) are compulsory even for western visitors. It's not much of a leap to imagine that if you're a NK and a camera is on you, not behaving the right way could be dangerous.

Without disagreeing with your argument, your particular example is flawed; on my tour (2012), a number of people declined to bow to the statues and it was fine. It's certainly true that some behaviour is unacceptable, but choosing not to bow to the statues was utterly inconsequential.

It seems trivial that the rules would be somewhat relaxed when trying to emanate an image for tourists.

Seems trivial to you, maybe, but the OP did say "compulsory even for western visitors".

The only way we have any idea of the psychology of North Koreans is from highly imperfect anecdotal accounts from defectors. From those the question of how authentic these displays are is complicated. One example of a starving boy singing "Nothing to Envy" for tips comes to mind. There are layers of complexity and contradiction there that are impossible for outsiders to completely understand.

In this particular comment, I wasn't talking about Norrth Korea, but a more general principle of propaganda and brainwashing. NK isn't the only country with this leader cult, you know.

In a stroke of irony, the author generalized the entire population of a country. I have no clue how they came to the conclusion of "most Americans" assuming the crying was fake.