The North Korean Situation II

[Paradoxium]

It's basically a stalemate.

[craigdbfan]

South Korea shouldn't be given the burden to handle that country if it ever collapses.

Let the Chinese and Russians deal with it as they've perpetuated this behavior since the days of the split during the Cold War.

[Thundercrack85]

All stalemates come to an end at some point. Though I will concede the point if Kim Jong-un's son becomes the dear leader.

[Paradoxium]

Yea stop giving them food, let them cannibalize themselves, and let China deal with it. That said it would still be a refugee nightmare for South Korea

[Paradoxium]

And JJJ's Ulcer, bumped your recommended book up onto the reading list.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I don't know about letting them cannibalize each other. The people are blameless. Ignorant, but merely helpless puppets of the most despotic government since Stalin's USSR. As alien as they might seem to you, they are still people. I guess my perspective is a bit biased, because I know a North Korean refugee who survived the famine of the 90's (her mom would shield her face when they walked down the street, because dead bodies lined the sidewalk. And when she escaped by swimming across the Yalu river to China in 2002, her mother and sister weren't so lucky and were snatched by guards). It's a tough situation. You don't want to give aid to the government, but you do want to help the people. Maybe nutrient bars are the right way to go. That way you know it won't be used for banquets.

Hope you enjoy the book, Paradoxium. It's a very good and analytical read about how the govt works.

[Destructus86]

Man...I am so sick of North Korea.
Not the people mind you...I feel bad for them...but the government has to go.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012...-lying-launch/

[Donut]

South Korea's Defense Ministry says North Korea has fired a long-range rocket. Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters in a nationally televised news conference that the rocket was fired at 7:39 a.m.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-w...412/as-nkorea/

[Thundercrack85]

Japan is pissed. This won't end well.

[craigdbfan]

US officials are saying the thing fell apart shortly after launch. NK reports about it traversing over Japan and the Philippines and then into South Korean waters is apparently BS.

[Thundercrack85]

Originally Posted by craigdbfan

US officials are saying the thing fell apart literally seconds after launch. NK reports about it traversing past Japan and the Philippines and then into South Korean waters is apparently BS.

Last time they said that their satellite made it into orbit, and was transmitting. Even though the Japanese found the rocket's payload in the sea.

[Marx]

I'm not surprised that North Korea went ahead with the launch...or that it fell apart so quickly.

[Thundercrack85]

Not a good omen for Kim III's reign.

[Hobgoblin]

Sounds like business as usual. We get all nervous about North Korea and then their threat blows up in their faces.


The, uh, nukes being the exception to that statement.

[Marx]

Kim III has to try an make an impression...

[Spade]

The DPRK lied to its people again? Oh gee, what a surprise.

It's a shame some poor scientist has probably been been labeled a traitor and killed over this latest failure. The ones who should really be iced are the generals who ordered it.

[Thundercrack85]

Word had it that they were going to have a nuclear test in the near future. But after this humiliation, no one knows what their plans are.

Someone's head will be on the chopping block for this, probably literally.

But this couldn't come at a worse time for the new leader.

[Denny67]

Originally Posted by craigdbfan

US officials are saying the thing fell apart shortly after launch. NK reports about it traversing over Japan and the Philippines and then into South Korean waters is apparently BS.

[Anita18]

Originally Posted by JJJ's Ulcer

I don't know about letting them cannibalize each other. The people are blameless. Ignorant, but merely helpless puppets of the most despotic government since Stalin's USSR. As alien as they might seem to you, they are still people. I guess my perspective is a bit biased, because I know a North Korean refugee who survived the famine of the 90's (her mom would shield her face when they walked down the street, because dead bodies lined the sidewalk. And when she escaped by swimming across the Yalu river to China in 2002, her mother and sister weren't so lucky and were snatched by guards). It's a tough situation. You don't want to give aid to the government, but you do want to help the people. Maybe nutrient bars are the right way to go. That way you know it won't be used for banquets.

Hope you enjoy the book, Paradoxium. It's a very good and analytical read about how the govt works.

That's a CRAZY story! I can't believe people really survive that kind of ordeal, but they do. That's amazing, and I hope she's doing well now. Besides the part of her family still being in NK.

The North Korean people are stronger than we think they are. They just need the stupid government off the backs.

[Manic4Love]

North Korea will collapse. It's just a question of when?..

[Thundercrack85]

Originally Posted by Manic4Love

North Korea will collapse. It's just a question of when?..

Well, if these last two rocket tests are any indication, they could blow themselves up.

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I'm actually not sure North Korea will collapse. I think China wants to keep it propped up for a few reasons (the two biggest ones being (a) it's an effective buffer between itself and the US and capitalist South Korea... and (b) there would be a huge refugee crisis with tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of North Koreans swarming over the border to China)

EDIT: I should clarify that statement. I do think North Korea will collapse one day as everything's eventual, but not in this generation and maybe not in our lifetimes. I think for the time being, its continued existence is in China's best interest. But... you never know. This is definitely the weakest it's been since the early 90's when the USSR collapsed and Kim Il Sung died.

[Destructus86]

ahem....

*points and laughs at North Korean military*

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Hobgoblin

Sounds like business as usual. We get all nervous about North Korea and then their threat blows up in their faces.

The Jong-Ils are the worst super villains ever.

[craigdbfan]

They're like Team Rocket except lame.