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Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

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101–110 of 191 posts

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#101

It's time for the US to end the sanctions on North Korea. The abuse workers face is a straight line result from the fact that virtually all aspects of their economy are under total embargo. North Korea is a nuclear state, and they will never go back to not being one. North Koreans have been working in China for decades and that won't change either because China is not going to let them become a failed state.

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Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#102

Absolutely incredible reporting. The risks taken by the sources both at the factories and within North Korea defy comprehension for anybody lucky enough not to fear that speaking out will endanger their family.

I disagree, removing sanctions will make them stronger when the conflict comes. Also as I see it, all nations don't care much about people's suffering in some other country, they care most about their inner affairs, which is understandable geopolitically. Most of the people also don't care or else they would vote with their money. Are north koreans worth nuclear escalation - I don't think so.

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#103
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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These under 18s a brought up by Assud the Rabbit, the Jew-eating bunny.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2008/02/15/look-its-a-jew-eating-b...

Then at age 15 they go through Hamas's "youth training program".

With some effort you can make almost the entire population beyond repair.

West Bank might not be as bad, yet crowds cheered after the 7th October attacks.

Arabs have been trying to eradicate the Jews ever since 1948, get their asses handed to them every time, yet somehow Israel is the villain.

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#104

There needs to be a law that, for any kind of Chinese seafood to be imported, foreign officials must be allowed to inspect the conditions. They already do it for food safety. When espionage laws make other monitoring impossible, there can be zero trust in these companies to do the right thing. Allow detailed, random inspections, or your imports are blocked and you make no money.

When I lived in China years ago, I had a Chinese/local girlfriend whose brother-in-law owned a factory that "manufactured" small mechanical parts, like bolts, screws, springs, wire - stuff like that. She said that all the manufacturing was actually done in North Korea. The "factory" that he owned in China was all for show. He always knew when inspectors were coming, days in advance, and so he'd hire a few locals for a day to stand next to machines they had no idea how to use. It was all for show. She went on to tell me that her brother-in-law's factory was not unique. Manufacturers like her brother-in-law were usually 3 or 4 distribution companies removed from the big manufacturers, like the ones that made iPhones, but they all used parts from him, so inspections were extremely rare anyway.

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#105

"Why we fight" Even with all the problems in the West, with all that's broken at the moment in our end-stage capitalist societies, never forget that the alternative, in almost all instances, is pure terror.

Late stage capitalism is still better than the late stage socialism in North Korea.

I agree, but to be fair... you can't call it socialism. NK has been a dictatorship for literally generations. Even SK has only been democratic for a relatively short time. Just because they put democratic or socialist or even communist in their name doesn't make them so.

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#107

It's time for the US to end the sanctions on North Korea. The abuse workers face is a straight line result from the fact that virtually all aspects of their economy are under total embargo. North Korea is a nuclear state, and they will never go back to not being one. North Koreans have been working in China for decades and that won't change either because China is not going to let them become a failed state.

Don't they first need to get along with their neighbors to the South?

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#108
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Late stage capitalism is still better than the late stage socialism in North Korea.

I agree, but to be fair... you can't call it socialism. NK has been a dictatorship for literally generations. Even SK has only been democratic for a relatively short time. Just because they put democratic or socialist or even communist in their name doesn't make them so.

The main problem with socialism is the centralization of power which means dictatorships aren’t mutually exclusive from communist systems. moreover unlike most of the world, North Korea still does not have a market economy. It is still a socialist system. It’s similar to the former nation of Yugoslavia when it was ruled by Tito.

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#109

It's time for the US to end the sanctions on North Korea. The abuse workers face is a straight line result from the fact that virtually all aspects of their economy are under total embargo. North Korea is a nuclear state, and they will never go back to not being one. North Koreans have been working in China for decades and that won't change either because China is not going to let them become a failed state.

Don't they first need to get along with their neighbors to the South?

They have for decades since the armistice agreement was signed in 1953 after the Korean War.

Re: Inside North Korea's Forced Labor Program

#110
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Late stage capitalism is still better than the late stage socialism in North Korea.

I agree, but to be fair... you can't call it socialism. NK has been a dictatorship for literally generations. Even SK has only been democratic for a relatively short time. Just because they put democratic or socialist or even communist in their name doesn't make them so.

But have we seen that many people calling themselves socialists not ending up with the same problem ?

Socialism doesnt work because it doesnt consider greed as a positive force. Starting from there, every sign of greed is suppressed until remains only an oppressive bureaucracy in charge of hammering any sign of attempt of maybe earning something.

Socialism is not evil, it's even benevolent: but it's flawed because it ignore 50% of human nature. Better let people deal with their greed in a monitored sandbox that averages out excesses. And that is never called socialism, since it derives too much from accepted socialist dogma.

I live in Hong Kong, so I know how hard the balance is to strike. But socialism worked so little here that most people are 3rd generation immigrants who fled collectivisation, loss of property right and only desire to be left alone by the evangelists of a better world. It's hard to hear people who leave in free capitalist sandboxes lecture us about how socialism could maybe work. Try and weep, as we did.

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