North Koreans might be good Lisp programmers; however they might have other, more pressing problems - like staying alive under this monstrous regime.

There are other societies that had censorship, maybe to a lesser extent than North Korea; I guess that once upon a time people in the US did rely on the Tube for information (that was before the net) the tube is a centralized source of information, its editors were subject to some control; so I guess that censorship was quite real during that period.

You might listen to the following song for some more context: "White Houses" Eric Burdon & The Animals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mefFJFZydG4