[Kansas Terri]

In these hard times it's nice to hear about the success stories:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MH11Dg01.html

Wow. Just-wow.

For those who are not following North Korea's slow fall, the North Korean kids a much shorter than the South Korean kids due to malnutrition, and the oxen used in farming are so precious that nobody can own them except the state.

 

[sierra skier]

This article promotes an entirely different viewpoint than I have ever imagined. I don't believe I can agree with the thoughts of North Korea being an economic success. Much of what I have read here is contrary to my understanding of this country.

 

[Pragmatist]

Absolute propaganda piece. North Korea is dark. They can barely feed their people, and technology there is in the hands of a select few.

 

[onemoreday]

In these hard times it's nice to hear about the success stories:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/MH11Dg01.html

What an absolute piece of garbage. That entire piece is just complete BS.

Pragmatist is right. North Korea is deadly to no one except its own citizens. Kim Jong-Il is a piece of crap waiting to be flushed down the toilet of time. The only reason he'll be remembered is for his maniacal, murderous, lecherous behavior.

Whoever the editor is of that magazine should be shot for allowing that to be printed.

 

[Pragmatist]

Whoever the editor is of that magazine should be shot for allowing that to be printed.

Most likely the editor/writer are people who, if they didn't write that piece, would be shot by soldiers following Kim Jong Il's orders.

 

[aletoledo]

I'm not sure how anyone can completely write this article off as BS. Yes, I've been instructed to believe the same things as the rest of you, but how can we really be sure which sides propaganda to believe?

I think we also need to remember how isolated this country has been, much like Cuba in the Western Hemisphere. If either of these countries were allowed to trade with other countries, it makes me wonder how much better off they might be.

 

[onemoreday]

I'm not sure how anyone can completely write this article off as BS. Yes, I've been instructed to believe the same things as the rest of you, but how can we really be sure which sides propaganda to believe?

I think we also need to remember how isolated this country has been, much like Cuba in the Western Hemisphere. If either of these countries were allowed to trade with other countries, it makes me wonder how much better off they might be.

I somewhat agree about the propaganda. Our gov't is a master of it no doubt. For me personally, I have had two friends that have made trips into North Korea for the purpose of business and while they were there they did some mission work. From ther firsthand accounts the picture they painted is more bleak than just about anything our own gov't put out.

That country is based on have's and have not's.

 

[Pragmatist]

I think we also need to remember how isolated this country has been, much like Cuba in the Western Hemisphere. If either of these countries were allowed to trade with other countries, it makes me wonder how much better off they might be.

If they'd quit trying to build nuclear weapons they'd be allowed to trade with the rest of the world. The problem is, every time they're allowed to, they bring in more nuclear materials.

 

[aletoledo]

If they'd quit trying to build nuclear weapons they'd be allowed to trade with the rest of the world. The problem is, every time they're allowed to, they bring in more nuclear materials.

Kinda a double standard though. Lots of countries (e.g. Israel, France) build nuclear weapons, yet we still trade with them and send them plenty of aid dollars. I wonder if those countries might not be so nice if we didn't send them so much money?

 

[ShellbackBill]

As others have said North Korea is dark.

Here is a night time photo of of North Korea from orbit.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/dprk-dark.htm

Most of the people in this Socialist Paradise can't even afford candles. They go to bed when the sun goes down.


This photo can be used to extrapolate what the US will look like from space after Obama's second term.

 

[Pragmatist]

Kinda a double standard though. Lots of countries (e.g. Israel, France) build nuclear weapons, yet we still trade with them and send them plenty of aid dollars. I wonder if those countries might not be so nice if we didn't send them so much money?

Except those countries haven't threatened to use the weapons against the rest of the world.

The idea that we have to play nice to people that have made it clear they want us wiped out is ridiculous.

 

[aletoledo]

Except those countries haven't threatened to use the weapons against the rest of the world.

The idea that we have to play nice to people that have made it clear they want us wiped out is ridiculous.

When did North Korea ever threatened the US with a nuclear attack for anything other than self-defense?

 

[Kansas Terri]

I'm not sure how anyone can completely write this article off as BS. Yes, I've been instructed to believe the same things as the rest of you, but how can we really be sure which sides propaganda to believe?

I think we also need to remember how isolated this country has been, much like Cuba in the Western Hemisphere. If either of these countries were allowed to trade with other countries, it makes me wonder how much better off they might be.

They are no longer so isolated, as every year they ask for food aid. They also now allow tourists in, and satellites take pretty good pictures now.

South Korea has traditionally been generous with food aid, until about a year ago when North Korea shelled one of their islands.South Korea decided to stop feeding people who were shooting at them.

 

[Sierra Dave]

Seriously....

North Korea is a brutal police state that threatens the world every so often and gets more food subsidies. Otherwise the people would be starving more so and maybe even overthrowing the bastard King Dong Ill.

aletoledo is so clueless about the situation. He's on my ignore list. I have no confidence anything else he or she comments on will be based in common sense or reality.



Sierra Dave

 

[aletoledo]

North Korea is a brutal police state that threatens the world every so often and gets more food subsidies. Otherwise the people would be starving more so and maybe even overthrowing the bastard King Dong Ill.

I'm not claiming that N. Korea is some paradise, I'm just challenging some preconceived notions that people seem to pick up either from the government media or from government schools.

Brutal police state? The US has the highest prison population on the planet, both per capita and absolute. Source. One-quarter of the entire world's inmates are incarcerated in the United States. Many people don't seem to realize this and yes they'll claim that other countries (especially china) are brutal police states. I guess I question what you might be basing your scale of police states upon?

I'm not pretending that I would want to live there, because a known enemy is better than an unknown one. All I'm saying is that we should practice more of: let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

aletoledo is so clueless about the situation. He's on my ignore list.

I suppose it's always easier to criticize someone else than face your own self-examination. If the truth is too much to bear though, ignoring it is indeed the next best option. I think that's what set us preppers apart from most others, we are willing to accept that the future might not be so bright, whereas everyone else seems to ignore the problem entirely. Ignorance is bliss.

 

[sierra skier]

I'm not claiming that N. Korea is some paradise, I'm just challenging some preconceived notions that people seem to pick up either from the government media or from government schools.

Brutal police state? The US has the highest prison population on the planet, both per capita and absolute. Source. One-quarter of the entire world's inmates are incarcerated in the United States. Many people don't seem to realize this and yes they'll claim that other countries (especially china) are brutal police states. I guess I question what you might be basing your scale of police states upon?

I'm not pretending that I would want to live there, because a known enemy is better than an unknown one. All I'm saying is that we should practice more of: let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

I suppose it's always easier to criticize someone else than face your own self-examination. If the truth is too much to bear though, ignoring it is indeed the next best option. I think that's what set us preppers apart from most others, we are willing to accept that the future might not be so bright, whereas everyone else seems to ignore the problem entirely. Ignorance is bliss.

Our prisoners are taken care of better than most of the rest of the world's population. We may have the highest incarceration rate in the world but they are well taken care of.

 

[aletoledo]

Our prisoners are taken care of better than most of the rest of the world's population. We may have the highest incarceration rate in the world but they are well taken care of.

How do you know or rather what is this based upon? I don't know what to believe on this subject, because it's never been brought up to me like that before and I've never looked it up before either. Are you just assuming it's better or what do you have to prove this is the case?

It seems that Amnesty International doesn't give the US very high marks. This link seems to relate 4 out of the 10 worst prisons in the world were in the US.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Is this too biased a source? http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/world/asia/05korea.html

I have heard other accounts from other sources (more than one) that say that pregnant women were forcibly aborted, and any baby born alive was simply killed. And, if one person was arrested it was routine to arrest the entire family as well.

 

[American Chestnut]

Sure North Korea is some kind of paradise.... this whole thing belongs in the joke forum.
Some people will believe anything and the more weird, ironic, nutty, the better.