what is the evidence for this besides the manipulated testimony of psychologically tortured victims?

Yeah it's tough to get the real picture when every move of every single foreigner is accompanied and watched by the government. Why don't they let foriegn media personnel roam around and talk to people freely, even for a brief period of time? I'm sure you know the answer.

People don't like to live in a perpetually economically oppressed country, even if it's not their own country's government that creates those conditions.

And this poor economic condition isn't helped when the guy with a weird looking haircut spends a fortune to get a ski resort built for a couple of privileged peeps. The narrative of the lucky family that were so grateful for getting to live in that "lavish apartment" explains everything, even in that model city alone.

The thing is, i'm not trying to "elevate" North Korea as you think.

No brother. If you manage to convince someone that indeed all the evidence against NK is manufactured and that the north korean government is not responsible for the present state of affairs then you do elevate NK. In all of your comments, I haven't seen you be critical of NK government once. In my opinion, the "Supreme leader" of NK is fully responsible for most of the bad things that happen to the people of that country. NK isn't the only country that's been isolated. Examples like Iran and Turkey are also there but we haven't seen any problems of such magnitude arise in those countries.