North Korea

[Richarizard]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...tar-round.html

With Kim Jong-un trying to remove all association of himself and the people involved in his fathers regime, is he paving the way to out do his father in oppression of the Korean people? Or, do you think he is set up to improve the situation (in all be it, a horrific militaristic fashion)?

How will Kim Jong-un compare to his father in future global politics?

Discuss

[donovanshin]

Kim Jong-un seems to have been making north korea better, but they will never achieve peace all the way. There will always be a dislike and distinction between the two, or so what some of my korean relatives say

[7 tyranitars]

I think it is too soon to say if he will make it better or not. Mainly because of the little information we are getting from North korea.

[Masterge77]

The DPRK is one of the most unstable nations in the world (next to Iran), and when Kim Jong-Il died last december, the BBC actually said that it became "more unstable", and back in January, the brother of Kim Jong-Un(stable) said that North Korea will most likely collapse

China doesn't want the division of Korea to be permanent (and to be fair, neither does anyone else for that matter), but one thing is for certain, when the DPRK collapses, South Korea will most likely automatically take over the entire peninsula, along with the Korean People's Army being absorbed by the ROK Army (South Korea's army), like East Germany's National People's Army was absorbed and merged by West Germany's army, and would make it the 4th largest military in the world, and a unified Korean military would have the largest number of reservists as well as one of the largest numbers of military hackers. Plus, if North Korea collapsed, it would be a good thing because the North Koreans would be living under a government that really cared about them (South Korea's government of course).

North Korea's economy is currently worse than that of East Germany in 1990 when German reunification happened, while South Korea has not only the 15th largest economy in the world, but the South Korean capital of Seoul is a major global city and the second largest city in the world (following Tokyo, Japan), consistently placed among the world's top ten financial and commercial cities alongside New York and Tokyo, and is the home city of Samsung, LG, and Hyundai.

As for culture, though traditional Korean culture and history are shared between the two halves, the modern cultures of the two halves have separated following partition, unlike German reunification, in which the 41-year-long separation has left significant impacts on German culture and society even after two decades, the extreme differences of North and South Korean culture and lifestyle will likely last even longer than that of East/West Germany, having been separated for 65 years.

Lately, there have been several apparent signs of reformation in the DPRK, one being that a pair of statues in Pyongyang of Lenin and Marx were torn down, and then we have the Ryugyeong Hotel in all it's glory, which would cause a large surge in tourism for the worlds least visited country, and cell phones are becoming popular there as well, among other things.

[pug6666]

The labor camps still exist and propaganda is still incredibly pervasive. Public executions take place on a regular basis. But North Korea being so isolated from the outside world it's hard to tell. If you are to travel there (a complicated process in itself) propaganda is displayed to you and they make an enormous effort to show only the elite to you. I think that he didn't Immediately get rid of the camps is a bad sign already and the human rights record isn't any better so I say no he doesn't really want change.

[Raymond, king of ducks]

I think that he didn't Immediately get rid of the camps is a bad sign already and the human rights record isn't any better so I say no he doesn't really want change.

If Kim Jong-Un had tried to dismantle the forced labour camps etc. as soon as he got into power, he would have been assassinated by the government.

Assuming he really does want to improve the country, he'll have to bide his time. Unfortunately, many features of Kim Jong-Il's North Korea will probably be around for a while.

[pug6666]

If Kim Jong-Un had tried to dismantle the forced labour camps etc. as soon as he got into power, he would have been assassinated by the government.

Assuming he really does want to improve the country, he'll have to bide his time. Unfortunately, many features of Kim Jong-Il's North Korea will probably be around for a while.

But then why could he not have made a secret appeal to another country for protection in that case. The North Koreans are so brainwashed to love there leader so much that would think of killing him who is not a dissident. A the very least he could dismiss the old cabinet.

[Raymond, king of ducks]

But then why could he not have made a secret appeal to another country for protection in that case. The North Koreans are so brainwashed to love there leader so much that would think of killing him who is not a dissident. A the very least he could dismiss the old cabinet.

Yes, the North Korean people are brainwashed, but there are elites (Or, rather, the elites of elites) in the government and army who are completely aware of their own reality, and the outside world. Some of these men would do anything to preserve their positions, and are in fact capable of killing Kim Jong-Un; The dear leader of course knows this.

[NintendoCoke]

Hmm, not sure what side to take. On one side, we have NK, which ever since it's been established, has been torturing it's people, starving them, just plain inhuman things.

On the other hand, we have the USA, which is really not any less corrupted than NK, no universal healthcare, stupid education... Man, we might actually be worse!

[Moneyy]

On the other hand, we have the USA, which is really not any less corrupted than NK, no universal healthcare, stupid education... Man, we might actually be worse!

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're joking instead of automatically labeling you as a complete idiot.

Anyway, North Korea is not reforming anytime soon, and probably not during Kim Jong-Un's lifetime. He may have made some minor reforms, but he is definitely not going to give in to Seoul and unify Korea under a real democracy. I doubt much will change, even with this new leader.

[irock245]

Just let NK collapse, the communist government isn't ran well enough to stay self-sustaining for an extremely long time.

[pug6666]

Just let NK collapse, the communist government isn't ran well enough to stay self-sustaining for an extremely long time.

Then how has it survived this long?

[irock245]

Then how has it survived this long?

Mainly because NK has one good thing going for them: They can make their entire population (the ignorant ones) believe whatever they want. Should a good number of people realize the truth about their situation, NK will fall.

Masterge77 has said pretty much everything I have to say anyways. No country will immediately collapse, it takes some time.

[pug6666]

Mainly because NK has one good thing going for them: They can make their entire population (the ignorant ones) believe whatever they want. Should a good number of people realize the truth about their situation, NK will fall.

Masterge77 has said pretty much everything I have to say anyways. No country will immediately collapse, it takes some time.

Well it won't happen soon enough the arab spring heavily relied on social media impossible to use in NK.

[Meeker]

North Korea... Kim Jong-Un is such a goober. They put him on a ship and said he had military experience because the ship was firing rounds at South Korea.

If I may, I have found the best website on the internet, don't deny it. It fits in this topic, so here is an look inside North Korea:
Kim Jong-Il Looking at things

[Masterge77]

I usually call North Korea names like "That OTHER Korea", "THEM", "Kimland", and a few other nicknames

Also, I think we just found out how the country might collapse: Spending itself out of existence by building more Kim Jong-Il statues, wasn't that how the Soviet Union collapsed, but with nuclear weapons? Also, they claimed they found unicorns.

On a lighter topic involving North Korea, anyone familiar with the "Hungry Kim Jong-Un" meme? I personally find it amusing:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/hungry-kim-jong-un

[NintendoCoke]

they claimed they found unicorns.

...Yep, NK is officially worse than France.

[pug6666]

So the onion exists there too lol. No but seriously why is building statutes of kim jong ill more important than feeding the people. (see the link in my sig)

[Masterge77]

So the onion exists there too lol. No but seriously why is building statutes of kim jong ill more important than feeding the people. (see the link in my sig)

The country worships their leaders like gods in a "Cult of Personality", making all sorts of stuff up about them such as "A double rainbow appeared when Kim Jong-Il was born, and the sky turned red over a sacred mountain when he died, when he sneezes, stars appear in the sky, he can control the weather based on his mood, he does not urinate or defecate".

THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS NORTH KOREANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE. Not to mention that in this crazy, seemingly theocratic nation, everyone's required to wear a pin with Kim's face on it, saying that he's "close to their hearts", and have larger than life posters and statues of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il (but not Kim Jong-Un) all throught the country. This is beyond a Cult of Personality, this is a flat out THEOCRACY like the Islamic nations of the middle east, but taken to an extreme, and instead of "Allah", it's "Great Leader Kim Jong-Il-Sung-Un"

For one thing, the country has no idea when to let something go, they just do one thing, and blow it out of proportions. Their personality cult and military and nuclear weapons fetish and their hatred and desire of bringing "Death to America" are the ones that are the most exaggerated.

Face it, North Korea is essentially trapped in a fantasy world, it's people unaware of the reality beyond the country, being driven by a hatred of America and a disturbing fetish for their dictators... a VERY disturbing fetish for their dictators...

[pug6666]

For example OH **** South Korea is pissed the must die.

THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS NORTH KOREANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE.

I'm sigging that.