North Korea Megathread

[District XIV]

http://onecoreanetwork.blogspot.com/2014/10/north-korea-making-rapid-progress-with.html

The 'Anti-Imperialist Democratic Front' runs some blog on the North Korean website. Apparently North Korea is making 'huge strides' in youthfulness.

South Korean mass media highly commend Marshal Kim Jong Un for his outstanding leadership ability, expressing their admiration at amazing reality of north Korea brimming with innovation and creation.

...

The south Koreans highly praise Kim Jong Un, who regards science and technology as the motive power of a building a thriving nation, for making painstaking efforts for its development.

No comment.

[Ruridova]

http://onecoreanetwork.blogspot.com/2014/10/north-korea-making-rapid-progress-with.html

The 'Anti-Imperialist Democratic Front' runs some blog on the North Korean website. Apparently North Korea is making 'huge strides' in youthfulness.

The news according to North Korea is always good for a laugh.

[The Republic of Merrimont]

Shit will hit the fan
That's all I can say

[-The Unified Earth Governments-]

Can North Korean armies even cross the South Korean border before Chinese tanks arrive in Pyongyang to install a new, sane government coupled with the not-so-friendly abolishing of the old one?

Probably, probably not.

NK would have to have gone through a coup with some insane new leader in order to try anything.

[Wolfenium]

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one, eh?

It's like AA for oppressive dictatorships.

"Hello everyone, I'm North Korea."
"Hello North Korea."
"I have a problem with human rights violations."
"Why don't you tell us about it?"
"Well, it began when our Glorious Eternal President Kim Il-Sung was born under a beautiful rainbow..."

This needs to be a Polandball comic.

---

On topic, no shit. Such admittance tends to happen whenever NK wants something in return. Let's just nod our heads in glum acknowledgement of what we already know.

[United Marxist Nations]

It's like AA for oppressive dictatorships.

"Hello everyone, I'm North Korea."
"Hello North Korea."
"I have a problem with human rights violations."
"Why don't you tell us about it?"
"Well, it began when our Glorious Eternal President Kim Il-Sung was born under a beautiful rainbow..."

This needs to be a Polandball comic.

You could make it.

[Wolfenium]

This needs to be a Polandball comic.

You could make it.

True. Would need time, though.

[Geanna]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) North Korea publicly acknowledged the existence of its labor camps for the first time Tuesday, an admission that appeared to come in response to a highly critical U.N. human rights report earlier this year.

Diplomats for the reclusive, impoverished country also told reporters that a top North Korea official has visited the headquarters of the European Union and expressed interest in dialogue, with discussions on human rights expected next year.

North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador Ri Tong Il said the secretary of his country's ruling Workers' Party had visited the EU, and that "we are expecting end of this year to open political dialogue between the two sides." The human rights dialogue would follow.

In Brussels, an EU official confirmed a recent North Korea meeting with the EU's top human rights official, Stavros Lambrinidis, but said any dialogue currently planned is limited to rights issues.

Source.

Well this is certainly a turn around of sorts. Although the government still claims that there aren't an prisons of any kind, it does send people to camps, presumably to gain strength through the joy of hard labour under the wise leadership of the camp commandant. This is a pretty big announcement from a state that just yesterday would have denied the existence of any detention facilities within its borders at all.

So what do we think, NSG? Is this a long time coming? What is prompting the North to act in such a bizarre manner?

As if there was any doubt.

[Wisconsin9]

Can North Korean armies even cross the South Korean border before Chinese tanks arrive in Pyongyang to install a new, sane government coupled with the not-so-friendly abolishing of the old one?

Probably, probably not.

NK would have to have gone through a coup with some insane new leader in order to try anything.

From what we're hearing there actually may have been a coup, and I don't think any leading members of the DPRK government could be described as sane.

[Arumdaum]

Probably, probably not.

NK would have to have gone through a coup with some insane new leader in order to try anything.

From what we're hearing there actually may have been a coup, and I don't think any leading members of the DPRK government could be described as sane.

Do you actually put "North Korea's entire government is insane" in serious thoughts about global politics?

It's just a common stereotype made by many (especially by those who don't know anything about it) toward the country, more often so than others (like Iran and OMG AHMADINEJAD CRAZY) since oversimplifying places and people you don't like in a silly way is an easy thing to do.

[-Ebola-]

Maybe this is obvious to everyone with DNA, but what are we discussing? It is not obvious to me.

[Arumdaum]

De-Stalinization?

De-Kimification.

i am a kim

:-(

lol

[Bajacali]

It's been reported that Kim was absent at the celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea. Jong-il was known to dip out on these things, but his reign was notorious for its general silence. Jong-un has been very public, very vocal, doing the most to mirror the early days of Il-Sung's government in both rhetoric and aesthetics, so it's odd that he'd miss one of the most important days in North Korea.

The people insisting there's been some sort of a coup are ignorant of just how important Kim family rhetoric is to upholding the Juche government, if not as a lofty principle as much as a pragmatic necessity. A coup in Pyongyang most would much more likely resemble the post-revolutionary monarchy in France, with Jong-un, his sister, or some other Kim puppet espousing the vapid patriotic rhetoric to suggest an air of consistent stability (some folks've suggested that this may already have happened as early as the mid-'90s) while the WPK and Korean Peoples' Army wrestle for influence in DPRK's real policymaking and underworld dealings.

If there had been some recent momentous shift in the true Pyongyang powerbrokers, the victors'd be the first to understand the necessity of keeping a Kim around, even if it were a body double (this might sound crazy, but considering that for a while in the late '00s people thought Jong-Il had died and been replaced by a lookalike, and Jong-un reportedly had six-figure plastic surgeries conducted so as to more resemble his grandfather, it's not beyond the scope of possibility for DPRK).

Point being: it's probably actually pretty likely that Fattykims is just sick as all hell.

[Costa Fierro]

De-Kimification.

i am a kim

:-(

lol

remove kim from premises
kim is worst korean

[L Ron Cupboard]

De-Kimification.

That won't do as a name, since that is a surname and has been constant throughout North Korean history regardless of how well the country was doing (surprisingly, there was a time where it wasn't a terrible place to be), so De-Juche or De-Songun would be better.

De-Un-ification?

Maybe the problem is he had feet of clay rather than broken ankles.

[Lindenholt]

The North Korean thaw has begun!

[Imperializt Russia]

It doesn't technically have to.
It needs to kill enough American soldiers to force the American public to demand a withdrawal and cause enough damage along the ROK defensive line, to Seoul, and to critical infrastructure to limit the south's ability to counterattack. Both of these are quite difficult goals and the first is itself quite unlikely.

Depending on its mood that day, the Norks could always just sit and wait for China, while the south waits for American reinforcements.

Yeah, well, this is not the 50s.

Your point being?
"Wait for China" is exactly as valid for the Norks as "wait for America" is for the ROK.

[Greater Beggnig]

It's time for Korea to be Korea not Koreas.

[Ganos Lao]

They know better what's happening inside North Korea than you do.

Oh, they know everything about it then? I suppose they could tell me all the secrets in the halls of power, and exactly what would happen if the country collapsed? Give me a fucking break; we have no idea what would happen in such a power vacuum, and historical precedent tells us that it gets filled by petty warlords. The other historical precedent suggests various conflicts will happen, there will be coup d'etat's, and there will be a dictator.

The world under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity. When the rule of the Kim Dynasty weakened....

[Toronina]

I was under the impression that the heat death of universe would happen before this

[Toronina]

Secretary of State John Kerry discussed about 3 detainees in North Korea with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
To prevent being used by N.K., it's the best way to solve it.
If we negotiate with N.K. directly, they'll ask unreasonable demands.
If we accept them, this will happen again.

Wait wut?

[Calimera II]

Secretary of State John Kerry discussed about 3 detainees in North Korea with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
To prevent being used by N.K., it's the best way to solve it.
If we negotiate with N.K. directly, they'll ask unreasonable demands.
If we accept them, this will happen again.

?

[Ashmoria]

nah
no matter if we do something to get them out or not, from time to time a US citizen will end up in NK and on the bad side of the government. its not like NK kidnapped them. they don't do that anymore. its a good thing to get them out and now is probably a good time to work to get them out. if the regime is unstable and looking to make some movement toward better relations with SK they may not want anything more than good press for letting our people go.

[Commonwealth of Hank the Cat]

Sometimes I don't want them to have unification . North Korea is fun to watch as they try to make you believe that they want.

[Seraven]

So Indonesia was persuaded to negotiated with North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program by South Korea, says Kompas, Indonesia's newspaper agency. I just can't find the article yet about the news in English.

Indonesia-North Korea relations ran deep into the past when Soekarno gave a flower as a symbol to Kim Il-Sung. I guess with that fact, South Korea though Indonesia may be able to persuades North Korea.