They are similar on the surface, but very different in reality. Both Maoist China and North Korea were/are dictatorships inspired by various models of communist doctrine. Maoist China was based around the idea of the rural peasantry seizing power and authority. North Korea, on the other hand, honestly doesn't have a legitimate and functioning economy.

Politically, North Korea took the Maoist cult of personality and turned it up to eleven, which (I hypothesize) was possible due to the much more concentrated power and significantly smaller population size of North Korea.

Socially, while both Maoist China and North Korea were/are supposed "womens' paradise", it was only in China were the state-sponsored feminism movement gained any footing. For example, while in China (quoted from Zheng 2005):

"the [All-China Women's Democratic Federation] continued a long history of funii gongzuo (womens' work) in the CCP, which had recruited feminists and adopted their agenda...[with] already over 40,000 officials of the Women's Federation system nationwide working above the township and street level."

On the other hand, in North Korea (taken from Park 1992-1993):

On the eve of North Korea's first democratic election, men openly opposed women's right to vote and the election of women's candidates to the People's Committee, mobilizing every means including abstention to prevent them from being elected.

Also, note that since China has historically been more of a cultural idea rather than a racial or geographic one, Maoist China (and earlier periods) were more 'racially tolerant' than North Korea has been.

As for daily life, there are obvious points in Maoist China were life for a average peasant was easily as bad or worse than life in North Korea, mostly during the ill-conceived Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. But, ultimately, when China passed hands from the more politically-minded Mao to the more rational Deng Xiaoping, it was evident that China had begun to grow industrially and agriculturally.

As for public perception, "the loss of China" in 1949 was a main criticism in American media of President Truman's foreign policy, which had regarded Nationalist-controlled China to be a reliable superpower during the Cold War. It may also have lead directly to Red Scare politicians, such as Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Sources

Kyung Ae Park - Women and Revolution in North Korea - Pacific Affairs vol. 65 no. 4 - pp 527 to 545 - 1992 to 1993

Wang Zheng - 'State Feminism?' Gender and Socialist State Formation in Modern China - Feminist Studies vol. 31 no. 3 - pp 519-551 - 2005