How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner

#91

Post by rtkwe » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:01 PM UTC

sixtyj wrote: post #22

zerr wrote: post #19

Why do we keep tolerating that regime which makes 26 mln people suffer? Why can't we do Operation a la Maduro there?

Nuclear ballistic ammo… they are insane enough that there non-zero probability they could use them against anybody. Also comrades from other countries would probably support them.

Their main security comes from the viable threat of nuclear retaliation and the conventional artillery pointed at SK's capital city along with the lack of desire by SK to integrate and modernize NK in a hypothetical post war state.

Re: How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner

#92

Post by rtkwe » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:09 PM UTC

hitekker wrote: post #46

zerr wrote: post #19

Why do we keep tolerating that regime which makes 26 mln people suffer? Why can't we do Operation a la Maduro there?

IIRC, one of the highest profile North Korean defectors said that Jimmy Carter's interference in Bill Clinton's Korea strategy basically gave North Korea another decade to build an atom bomb. After that regime got the bomb, they became un-invadeable. "Passcode to the Third Floor" describes this instance and other missed opportunities to undermine the North Korean regime.

That was definitely the last time the US got particularly close to a deal with North Korea that would limit it's nuclear ambitions but in a very Trump-like fashion (though to be fair this is very common) Bush came in claiming he could get a better deal and ultimately got basically nothing.

One funny side event to all this was when North Korea accidentally (?) revealed their secret uranium enrichment program when providing records from their Yongbyon reactor. They claimed at the time they didn't have a uranium enrichment program but there were traces of HEU on the records provided along with some aluminum tube samples and that scuppered the talks in 2008.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jun-21-fg-korea...

Re: How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner

#93

Post by thisislife2 » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:12 PM UTC

zerr wrote: post #19

Why do we keep tolerating that regime which makes 26 mln people suffer? Why can't we do Operation a la Maduro there?

The South Koreans are opposed to any provocation - any military operation will immediately start a war and the South Koreans know that they will bear the brunt of it. Whether the South Koreans are involved or not, they will still be blamed and targeted as they have a military alliance with the US. Having emerged from an economic crisis, South Koreans are also very wary of a war setting them back again. And, like the previous Korean war, China and Russia will also likely get involved.

Re: How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner

#94

Post by OkayPhysicist » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

clickety_clack wrote: post #80

runamuck wrote: post #7

"North Korea’s border with South Korea is a disputed border as both countries claim the entirety of the Korean Peninsula." - I did not know South Korea felt this way!

South Korea sounds like Ireland. Ireland has a constitutional “firm will” to reunite the island, and people living in Northern Ireland (a part of the UK) can get Irish citizenship.

Due to this, back when Hong Kong was under U.K control, a person born in North Ireland to a Hong Kong resident could claim 3 birthright citizenships: U.K., Ireland, and China.