The problem wouldn't be the war, the problem is they have nukes and Kim Jong Il is crazy enough to use them.Quote:
Originally Posted by diffusionx
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The problem wouldn't be the war, the problem is they have nukes and Kim Jong Il is crazy enough to use them.Quote:
Originally Posted by diffusionx
My best friend was stationed along the border between SK and NK for a year and a half. His duty was to patrol a bridge connecting the two countries, and it was armed with charges that he would be ordered to blow up in case of an invasion from the North.
That's not really pertinent to this conversation I know, but he did tell me some stuff about living there along the border. He told me that the whole of the North Korean border is lined with thousands upon thousands of Artillery cannons just waiting to be used. Enough to obliterate a huge portion of the northern part of South Korea. The area is also heavily saturated with land mines, on BOTH sides. So much so that he was informed that this area of the world is the most heavily mined place on the entire planet. One little slip in the wrong spot and kaboom, bye bye hands feet and nutsack.
Another thing I remember is he said that during the night, all night long, the North Koreans broadcast anti-democracy, anti-South Korean, Pro-North Korean propaganda on huge megaphone speakers or some very loud soundsystem continously all night long, directed across their border to our troops and the SK troops.
This could be the scariest place on earth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by diffusionx
Nah. The North Koreans wouldn't put up half as much of a guerilla-type fight as the Iraqis. Juche is something thrust on them, it doesn't have the same hold the millenia-old arab/muslim identity has - it's basically a Koreanized version of Leninism. You wouldn't see people fighting to the death for it. They've also been starved forever, and pretty much all have relatives in the south and know life's better elsewhere.
Knocking over Korea would be alot more like knocking over Japan - once the leaders went, the population would fall in line. They've been conditioned to follow authority without question for decades now. The only reason the Korean war went so badly in the 50s was because the North had Chinese backing.
The real problem is that the populace just isn't ready for the modern competitve world. They live in a place where daddy Kim does all your thinking for you, and nothing much is expected because there's no competitive marketplace. Freeing North Korea would result in rampant unemployment and the problems, crime and social violence that entails - just as it has in East Germany, but likely worse. Northerners would have a really hard time blending in with their modernized southern relatives. They've been living in a semi-industrialized 1954 for the last half century.
Eventually their leadership or military will get sick of it and there'll be a coup and Kim will be overthrown, and reciprocity with the south will follow. Until then...
I think it looks like a pretty cool place. Didn't show any deep poverty images (I know, tour) and it all looked pretty clean. I'd call it relaxing if there wasn't so much government intervention in everything.
I think it's becuaser they are so mundane and borderline boring. The world is taught that NK is some cray place where people are constantly dissapearing and dying, rebels everywhere,etc...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mman
These photos however are like the calm before the storm. It's everyday, it's boring, it's reality. This is hard to explain :(
Not true, the world is taught that the place is a Soviet-style Communist hellhole which has a scary leader with an iron grip on the country and where people are so poor they eat tree bark to survive. Which is what the pictures show. Except for the tree bark thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by avatar
The pictures show a country that is so odd and foreign and nothing like anything on Earth. They're unique, they show things a lot of people have never before seen, and thats why they're making the rounds.Quote:
These photos however are like the calm before the storm. It's everyday, it's boring, it's reality. This is hard to explain :(
Woah, thanks for the link.That was interesting. Never seen detailed pics of NK and didnt know a whole lot about their culture or way of life (except for the usual standards communism places on its people).That was weird seeing the deceptive "model" homes that foreigners were shown. I find it almost funny that the government feels the need to try and impress foreigners with stuff like that when 90% of the rest of the country and the people's environs look like complete shit. Why should the almighty North Korea even care what other people think?Quote:
Originally Posted by Detour
I though the same thing at first to, but I bet the people are relatively happy. I mean that's all they know,is that way of life. If they were allowed to visit SK and come back, they would realize what they are missing out on. which is why they arent allowed to visit south of the border. You dont miss what you've never had.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironplant
I lol'ed.Quote:
Traffic signs warn you of other traffic signs..
You're an idiot. The country has been in famine for the past few years because of food shortages, and most people (especially those in the countryside, which is the vast majority of people afaik) are starving. The place is a full-on humanitarian crisis - the only thing that seperates it from other countries in such a situation is that the government won't let foreign reporters at all, and aid agencies in very very small and tightly controlled amounts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetman
Not to mention the whole police state thing, and human rights abuses things.
Your mom's an idiot.Quote:
Originally Posted by diffusionx
And food shortage's and a terrible way of life are all they know. How do these people know that there is another way to live when they've never seen or heard of it?
My dad grew up poor as is humanly possible in the flats of Arkansas when he was a child. He grew up happy with what he had without other modern conveniences children his age had. How do you think that's possible when he lived in such squalor? Because its all he knew. And he was with family who cared about him and he didnt know what other families or kids his age had. Its easy to grow complacent and comfortable with ones environment in a situation like this. Is it possible to be happier? no doubt. Do they know this? Probably not. Thats part of the propaganda their government throws in their face to try to convince them this is as good as it gets.
StriderKyo pointed out that pretty much everyone there knows people from the South and everyone knows how shitty it is there.
Also, attempting to escape via China is quite common.
And by your logic people in Ethopia who are starving and dying of AIDS and their little sisters die because of guerrilla combat are having a jolly old time because "that's all they know".
There's a big difference between living poor without the hot new toy and having to eat tree bark for basic sustenance. You are clueless.
For a second there I felt bad because I called you an idiot, it was fairly classless. With your latest post I see it was appropriate.