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Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

news.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#31

Post by fgf »

rmc wrote: post #26
MarkBook wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this. What's lacking is the political will to secure the borders of the UK. If the UK is so porous then how come Germany wasn't able to stroll over in 1940. People have been told that's it's impossible to keep out illegals and through repetition and the evidence of their eyes have come to believe it. Meanwhile in 'nice areas' the only illegals visible are the domestic servants who would otherwise be unaff…

> If the UK is so porous then how come Germany wasn't able to stroll over in 1940. A few thousand unorganised migrant workers who are trying to smuggle themselves in with no more than a suitcase each and try to hide in the corners of soceity when they get there is quite different from a massive uniformed army with tanks and trucks who then try to take over the running of the government when they get here. Also the ar…

He's not talking about an invasion but of infiltration by saboteurs and spys..

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#32

Post by istari »

swombat wrote: post #18
lionhearted wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree in theory, but I'm reminded of a quote by Trotsky - "You might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." North Korea is on China's borders, thousands of people each month sneak into China from North Korea, and their crazopathic government is next door to China no matter what. I think China being very mildly pro-NK is a case of "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." North Korea is p…

Forget about war. How about food? The documentary mentions that North Korea survives thanks to food from the World Food Programme. Cut all imports, and I wonder how long the régime would last when even the army starts starving to death. Of course, it's possible millions of people would die in the process.

You're forgetting one of the basic laws of diplomacy: don't try to starve out someone with thousands of artillery tubes pointed at your capital.

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#33

Post by w1ntermute »

patio11 wrote: post #15
lionhearted wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in South Korea last month and there's a few different attitudes. There's a general sense that there should be one Korea at some point or other, though people disagree on the particulars based on what they focus on when they think about it. Some people think the opportunities for manufacturing and development in North Korea are going to be great and are excited to have more Korean companies do their manufacturin…

There's a general sense that there should be one Korea at some point or other This is a quite popular opinion to express publicly, but I think the support for it is rather shallow. When push comes to shove, unifying Korea would have immediate economic impacts to South Koreans more severe than the United States swallowing Mexico. (South Korea has 48 million people who have essentially Italian living standards. North K…

I highly doubt the border would just "go down". That would be an economic and logistical disaster for South Korea.

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#34

Post by zokier »

vinhboy wrote: post #21

Anyone know why NK keep letting these videos get made, even though it makes them look like total douche bags? Do they really believe something good would come out of it?

Everyone already knows that they are "total douche bags", so allowing these videos does little harm. But by allowing these videos NK can show that they are opening up and being progressive etc. which helps foreign relations.

"Look, we are the good guys, we have changed. We even allowed that one video."

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#35

Post by Mark_Book »

rmc wrote: post #26
MarkBook wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't buy this. What's lacking is the political will to secure the borders of the UK. If the UK is so porous then how come Germany wasn't able to stroll over in 1940. People have been told that's it's impossible to keep out illegals and through repetition and the evidence of their eyes have come to believe it. Meanwhile in 'nice areas' the only illegals visible are the domestic servants who would otherwise be unaff…

> If the UK is so porous then how come Germany wasn't able to stroll over in 1940. A few thousand unorganised migrant workers who are trying to smuggle themselves in with no more than a suitcase each and try to hide in the corners of soceity when they get there is quite different from a massive uniformed army with tanks and trucks who then try to take over the running of the government when they get here. Also the ar…

It's not the will to shoot illegals that's needed, simply the will to implement the law as it stands by putting in the necessary resources into border policing and deporting those illegals who are discovered. Almost all illegals into the UK entered as paying passengers, ie they needed a ticket. If commercial carriers can police their passageways why can't the government police the doorways to those routes?

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#36

Post by Mark_Book »

eru wrote: post #27
MarkBook wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions I have a problem in believing, certainly once the iron curtain proper was put in place.

You don't need to resort to believing--either way. Just look at some statistics. You have all the web at your disposal, I suppose.

Wikipaedia says 13.3 million crossed east to west europe between 1950 and 1990, 75% of this movement was sanctioned so that makes for 4 million irregular crossings or about 100,000 per year. Currently the US is estimated to have 11.5 million illegal immigrants with about 0.5 million entering each year

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#37

Post by w1ntermute »

mikecane wrote: post #23

I looked at the BBC video embedded there. I noticed the DELL logos. It makes me wonder how the DELL logo is explained to the students who encounter it. Are they told DELL is a Korean company? Do they wonder why they don't see that hardware elsewhere?

Yeah, I'm surprised the logos aren't removed from the computers.

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#38

Post by dpapathanasiou »

lionhearted wrote: post #4
ugh wrote: post #2

I get the feeling that South Koreans are a lot less keen to be unified than West Germans were before the cold war ended, probably justifiably so. There was at least some exchange between West and East, nothing like the complete isolation of North Korea. East Germans could just turn on their TV and watch some West German television when they wanted to compare systems. (Areas the West German TV signals couldn’t reach w…

I was in South Korea last month and there's a few different attitudes. There's a general sense that there should be one Korea at some point or other, though people disagree on the particulars based on what they focus on when they think about it. Some people think the opportunities for manufacturing and development in North Korea are going to be great and are excited to have more Korean companies do their manufacturin…

Everyone - everyone in South Korea hates Kim Jong-il, and most people seem kind of embarassed and blush when you mention him.

What about this, which came from B.R. Myers's book "The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters":

"Even in South Korea there are those who feel the Kim Jong-il regime, under which they themselves could not live for a single day, to be somehow more "authentically" Korean."

Re: Life inside the North Korean Bubble (with video)

#40

Post by mkramlich »

I hold that the existence of North Korea, and it's conditions, makes a mockery of the United Nations. How can the world community of nations allow a country like that to exist and treat it's people like that? Why do supposedly "good" and civilized nations allow that to continue? Yes it might require military action to end it. But perhaps it would be worth it in order to reduce the suffering of 20+ million people.
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