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Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

mydiplomaticlife.com

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Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#281

Post by tptacek »

unixhero wrote: post #275
tptacek wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree, and am deliberately not trying to start a protracted debate here. I'm just offering a data point, nothing more.

Well, it seems we have arrived at an impasse.

No, we haven't. We disagree about something, but there was never a premise that we would agree. It's fine for us to disagree! We're two different data points, nothing more or less. An "impasse" implies there was a further destination for us to reach, if only we found common ground. Not so!

I think we sometimes look past how valuable it is to just have two clearly stated, conflicting views on an issue, without a day long effort to unify or persuade them.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#282

Post by tptacek »

kasey_junk wrote: post #264
hollerith wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does "xdev" mean, please?

Exploit development

To be fair: this is, like, a 2010 acronym, and I'm dating myself just by using it; I just have a dry-eye thing going today that's making screen time annoying and didn't want to type the words out. :)

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#283

Post by quantified »

77pt77 wrote: post #119
mathsmath wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in the US, nothing is technically stopping you from walking into a SCIF with a phone most of the time. We used the honor system. I would almost automatically assume that any SCIF in a foreign country was compromised to some degree.

> nothing is technically stopping you from walking into a SCIF with a phone most of the time That is ridiculous. I've been to multiple embassies as a nobody and no electronics were allowed and this was strictly enforced.

It's not universal though: [https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/the-republican-scif-i...]

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#285

Post by SuperNinKenDo »

laverya wrote: post #245
SuperNinKenDo wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another aspect of it could be that this retards foreigners' capacity to sneak into shops they're not supposed to be in and buy things they're not supposed to buy. Not sure though, as apparently many shops are run pseudo-privately and I imagine any shopkeeper would be happy to accept some foreign currency.

Unless, of course, it's illegal for normal citizens to own foreign currency. If foreigners can only own foreign currency, and normal citizens can only own local currency, then it makes it a lot harder to bribe the locals!

I think owning foreign currency in NK is probably grey-market normalised at this point. However I imagine it's predominantly RMB and USD. The requirement that everything be done by foreigners in Euros is probably serving the purpose you state though. I suspect authorities might look the other way at foreign currency in general, or specific currencies like those I specified, but Euros might be taken as evidence of unauthorised contact with foreigners since there's no other good reason to take them.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#286

Post by qingcharles »

chgs wrote: post #162
qingcharles wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazing! Still a bloody expensive property, even 20 years ago. Is that a flagpole in the front garden?

£1.3m. You’d struggle to get a 3 bed semi for that nowadays.

Amen. That's a studio flat. And by studio flat, I mean a room in an attic with no windows.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#287

Post by sho »

samus wrote: post #195
sho wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you mean about the NK situation making the diplomatic pouch an attack vector? Can you elaborate? Fun fact, those "pouches" don't have to be a pouch or even a bag. They can be boxes or even crates and have been used for smuggling in the past, including drugs, weapons, gold and even - allegedly - people.

TA mentions that they shipped in construction materials via diplomatic containers.

Yeah. I'm still not sure how to parse the GP's comment, "it created an attack vector of one". On its face, that sounds like a good thing, less attack vectors!

I mean, not like sourcing materials locally alleviates things. Apparently the US embassy in Moscow was discovered to have listening devices mixed in the concrete used to construct it...

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#288

Post by UberFly »

themaninthedark wrote: post #235
UberFly wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Na. To hell with North Korea completely. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Warmbier

Ah yes, we should hate a totalitarian state not for the oppression they subject their people to but instead because that oppression was turned on a young American who was quite possibly trying to steal something.

It's kind of a default evil. Should I really need to spell that out too?

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#289

Post by CAPSLOCKSSTUCK »

GuB-42 wrote: post #270
shiroiushi wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anyone in their right mind accept a job like this? It's a lot like taking a job that requires you to live in a prison for several years.

Being an astronaut on the ISS is the most "in a prison" setting imaginable. Get out of that small box and you will die in seconds. It is also a dangerous, unhealthy and demanding job. And yet, it is also one of the most sought after job. Less prestigious jobs but also desirable to some are sailors, or worse, submariners, and people working in Antarctica and other remote, hostile places. Speaking about countries, Nort…

I can't tell if this comment was AI-generated.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#290

Post by snypher »

sho wrote: post #287
samus wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TA mentions that they shipped in construction materials via diplomatic containers.

Yeah. I'm still not sure how to parse the GP's comment, "it created an attack vector of one". On its face, that sounds like a good thing, less attack vectors! I mean, not like sourcing materials locally alleviates things. Apparently the US embassy in Moscow was discovered to have listening devices mixed in the concrete used to construct it...

The person who was bugged, brought the bug into the embassy via the bag. Probably some generic item was modified to contain the spy gear and then supplied to the person. I don't think the person brought it into the secure area intentionally.
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