Forum whore
It looks like, and I emphasise looks, that Nth Korea may be relaxing their nuclear stance in return for food aid. I'm not a big humanitarian, I don't give to charities unless I can see a direct result, but this is good news. The cold war is long dead and buried, it's time Nth Korea relaxes its paranoid stance and instead feed its people. I have friends in Sth Korea, so I'm sure this is great news for them too.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/wo...lear-work.html
Wearing Hi-Viz Black.
The Norvern' munkeez have yet to produce a working nuclear bomb. Previous attempts have resulted in "fizzers" but it's all good for the pr machine.
Nth Korea is an interesting place to be observing at the moment.
22 February, 2012: The North Koreans have formed a new unit of secret police to crack down on anti-government media and illegal copies of even legal media. Counterfeit DVDs are a big business in the north but so is the sale of locally produced anti-government songs and videos. This is all part of an effort to eliminate the "wrong thinking" that has led to anti-government graffiti, more illegal migration to China, and a generally bad attitude among the people.
The young new North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, is believed under the control of his uncle, Jang Sung Taek, who is married to Kim Jong Il's sister. Jang has long been a powerful government official and is believed to be quite wealthy. That's because Jang has a lot to say about how North Korea earns (by legal or illegal means) foreign currency. In a country so extremely poor, the man who controls the most money has a lot of power. Jang is believed to have ordered the recent house searches of families believed to be hoarding foreign currency (Chinese or American) rather than, as the law demands, putting it in the bank. People do not want to put their foreign currency in the bank because the government pays you less for it (in North Korean currency) than the black market money changers (who give fair market value).
Electricity shortages are having a noticeable impact on the electrified railroads. Most obvious has been shifting some trains from daytime (when electric demand is highest) to night time. In addition, many trains are simply being cancelled. This has resulted in a return of a practice not seen since the Great Famine (and other shortages) of the 1990s, people climbing onto the tops of crowded train cars.
Hundreds of outdoor surveillance cameras are being imported from China and set up to watch border areas where most illegal crossings into China take place. The cameras are connected, via underground cables, with secret police bases where the camera feeds are constantly monitored. The secret police are not only seeking to spot people trying to escape but to note how the border guards (who often accept bribes) perform. The northern government believes the illegal migration is increasing and could become a major problem especially with those who have fled who return with anti-government ideas. There are also a lot of legal North Korean visitors to China. Last year, the Chinese reported 152,000 legal North Koreans visited, most (over 80 percent) of them men and most of them in China for business reasons or as students. It is believed that far fewer North Koreans enter illegally, if only because the armed guards on the North Korea side of the border shoot to kill or demand very large bribes to look the other way.
20 February, 2012: South Korea conducted live fire exercises off the west coast near North Korea. This was done despite North Korean threats to declare war if the exercises were held. It was yet another northern bluff. These threats have been made for decades but have become increasingly strident of late. The threats are mostly for domestic consumption in North Korea, where the people have to be convinced that their government is doing something to defend the nation from external threats (real or imagined). Fewer and fewer northerners believe this propaganda anymore, and the North Korean government can measure this by the rapidly growing popularity of illegal DVDs featuring South Korean movies and TV shows. This is scary stuff for North Korean officials because the dictatorship in the north has always been justified by the "fact" that South Korea was worse off economically and occupied by cruel U.S. troops. But the DVDs full of South Korean TV shows (including news and documentaries) show a very different reality.
19 February, 2012: A Japanese electronic dealer is being prosecuted for illegally exporting 4,000 second hand PCs and laptops to North Korea in 2008-9. Only the highest officials, and their families, can legally own PCs. Many of the exported Japanese systems were only a year or two old, as many Japanese are pretty fanatic about always having the latest electronic gadgets. Japanese dealers take last-year's model as trade-ins for those buying new stuff and export the used equipment to Asian and African markets. This provides opportunities to make deals with North Korea to divert stuff, via a third country dealer, to North Korea.
South Korea is building a submarine control centre and designing mini-subs, as well as ordering larger ones to replace the older models they have in service.
17 February, 2012: The last two days were holidays for the people, to celebrate the 70th birthday of the late Kim Jong Il. Gifts (of food) were distributed to local government officials and some non-officials. These gifts are very popular because most of the population is, if not hungry, not getting a very varied diet. Normally, there would be more food given out on an occasion like this but people were told, unofficially, that there would be a larger distribution on April 15th, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the founder of the current dictatorship: Kim Il Sung. The Kim Jong Il celebration was also used as an appropriate time to start putting up portraits of his son (Kim Jong Un) and heir.
14 February, 2012: The government engaged in a little theatre to show that the leadership cares for the people. Earlier this month word went out for government officials to go collect building materials and cash from North Koreans so that monuments could be built to honour the recently deceased dictator Kim Jong Il (by celebrating his 70th birthday on the 16th). But the current dictator, Kim Jong Un, ordered officials to halt these collections and return what was collected. While this was popular with the population as a whole, it was bad for those who collected, and now had to return, the money and goods. That's because these collections are fairly common and the officials take an illegal cut. This is considered a fringe benefit.
TOP QUOTE: “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Wearing Hi-Viz Black.
A bit more recent background info.
11 January, 2012: The death of Kim Jong Il set off a competition among senior government officials to demonstrate who could mourn the dead dictator the most impressively. That meant all the employees of these organizations had to make a big show of sadness and loss. Lots of crying and lamentations and when outside, mourners were expected to go without hats and gloves. It is very cold up north these days, so these mourners suffer to please their bosses. Those who do not display sufficient zeal are being arrested and some have been sent to labour camps. The security forces are competing as well, with cell phone jammers turned on more frequently and border guards more difficult to bribe. Travel within North Korea has been restricted, with most officials temporarily unwilling to take bribes to issue travel documents. The only bright side is that this sort of zeal does not last long. Eventually, after weeks, or maybe months, a reshuffled pecking order is agreed on and the pretence disappears. Most North Koreans expect all this mourning related nonsense’s to halt before the end of the month.
North Korea appears willing to follow through on an agreement, made just before Kim Jong Il died, to exchange American food for a halt in North Korean nuclear weapons work. But because of all the mourning and confusion (over who is still in charge), no one in North Korea can make a decision until next month, at the earliest. North Korea has also approached Japan for food aid, but Japan has long demanded more information on decades of secret North Korean kidnapping of Japanese. North Korea refused to say much about this but did admit that abductions had taken place. The food is desperately needed, as most foreign food donors have cut shipments in the last four years. China has not made up for the lost freebies and the north has refused any food from South Korea, which is still officially considered hostile. The south is willing to send food, but only if the north tones down the aggression and nasty talk.
It remains unclear exactly who is in charge up north. The "chatter" coming out of the north indicates that many federal and provincial officials expect some changes, either because of suspect loyalty or failure to perform. Most officials are loyal mainly to themselves, and there's been lots of failure in the last decade. No one is sure who will be promoted and who will be cast out (demoted, jailed, or killed). The new leader, Kim Jong Un, is apparently part of a small family group led by an aunt and uncle, who are preparing a list of who is considered naughty and who is considered nice. The tension is causing a lot of unhappiness, but all is expected to be revealed within a month. If not, a large shipment of tranquilizers would be in order.
China does not want to send pills, and expects the new leadership to follow instructions and enact meaningful economic reforms while maintaining tight political control. The Chinese are willing and able to help with both of these programs but the northern leadership has to act. This makes the northern bureaucrats nervous, because few have any experience with a market economy, and have noted that many Chinese officials suffered from that lack of experience in the 1980s and 90s, when China switched to a market economy.
10 January, 2012: The North Korean government said there would be pardons for some people in prison and labour camps. No word on the number to be released. At the same time, military commanders openly pledged their loyalty to the new dictator Kim Jong Un, and promised to defend him at all costs. But just to be on the safe side, Kim Jong Un has carefully screened members of his bodyguard.
Another aspect of Kim Jong Un's security is the quantity of luxury and consumer goods he can buy and distribute to the senior leadership, especially in the security agencies. There are thousands of North Korean families that have been supplying key officials for generations. In return for this faithful and effective service, these families have lived well. Thus a few percent of the population do live well, often in walled off compounds in the suburbs. Services like Google Earth has revealed the existence of these communities to the general public, but nations with spy satellites have known about it for decades. However, the decline of economic activity in North Korea over the last decade has reduced the cash available to buy goodies to keep the dictator's henchmen happy. At the moment the henchmen are nervous about where they stand with the younger Kim. The henchmen have become a lot more corrupt during the rule (from 1994 to 2011) of Kim Jong Il, and the kid is said to be hostile to all that. The old man looked the other way, but many senior officials would not survive (literally) a close examination of their personal finances. Kim Jong Un is believed to be in favour of a market economy. But if he cannot get the bulk of the bureaucracy behind him he could trigger a government collapse.
8 January, 2012: To celebrate Kim Jong Un's birthday, North Korean media is full of stories about what a military genius Kim Jong Un is. But the young successor to Kim Jong Il never served in the military. Most North Korean men are conscripted for six years' service, only the sons of high government officials, or someone with a lot of money, can avoid service. This is kept quiet, but widely known. You can get arrested for speaking openly about such matters. But it's obvious that Kim Jong Un is chubby, while the North Koreans he moves through on inspection tours are all quite thin.
4 January, 2012: South Korea announced new agreements with the United States to counter any future aggression from North Korea. This sort of thing includes what reinforcements the U.S. would send, and when, if North Korea revived the dormant 1950-53 war. North Korea has increasingly threatened to do just that, although South Korean military officials believe North Korean forces have deteriorated to the point where such an invasion would be bloody, but mostly fought on the border and end with a northern defeat.
1 January, 2012: The North Korean government, in an attempt to increase the exchange rate of their currency, has forbidden any use of foreign currency in the legal markets. This new rule provides the cops with yet another opportunity to take a bribe. This increases prices for customers in the markets, and hatred of corrupt government officials.
31 December, 2011: Gunfire was heard on the North Korean border with China, and it was later rumoured that three men had been killed trying to flee North Korea. Border security has been particularly tight since Kim Jong Il died, and officials in charge of the border have cracked down on bribe taking and slack discipline. Being put in charge of security on the Chinese border has been a career suicide mission for North Korea officials these past few years. No matter what measures are taken the border guards keep taking bribes. The opportunity to get rich, and then slip away to China with your wealth, is just too great.
30 December, 2011: Kim Jong Un was declared head of the armed forces, after all the key commanders agreed to this.
29 December, 2011: North Korea declared Kim Jong Un the "supreme leader" and amped up the propaganda campaign to portray the twenty-something son as a worthy successor to his inept father.
TOP QUOTE: “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Forum whore
You are most probably right, it is more than likely a PR move.
Don't forget to bring a towel
Go on Google Maps satellite view and have a look in Seoul. Note the high number of cars, as one would expect in any major city.
Do the same thing for Pyongyang. Note how few cars there are in comparison. Now that's phucked!
Wearing Hi-Viz Black.
I hope I'm wrong and the new regime actually honour their word and start becoming decent "rulers" of their nation. Corruption and the communist way is really giving the elite a very happy lifestyle, and I cannot see them giving that up readily.Originally Posted by onearmedbandit
Meanwhile the population (and the army) starve... and freeze.
TOP QUOTE: “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
Smarty pants... since ages ago
ALL military leaders would have to agree to changes "asked" for ... career suicide if they didn't. OR ... a labour camp for them and their familys. Never to be heard from again.
The "henchmen" may not be able to be paid much .... the military get all the money. But not to comply would be death. Or cut out of any favours that may come their way.
The ass kissing "elite" may not have it as good as before ... but better than nothing. And nothing is a real possibility if they dont show support for the new leader. It would be a "knife edge existance" with little money available for "trusted supporters". The NEW leader cant be worse than the OLD leader ... surely ...
I doubt if China wants too many immigrants .... unless they have real wealth. They struggle to feed their own population now. Bribery is rampant there too ...
A ceasefire stopped the fighting on July 27, 1953 .... not a surrender. There was an armistice signed by North Korea, China and the UN but not South Korea. The "De-Militarized Zone" (4 km's wide) which designates the border between North and South Korea has remained one of the most heavily-armed (not to mention mined) stretches of land on Earth.
When life throws you a curve ... Lean into it ...
Forum whore
I'll make sure to avoid it then...
You don't get to be an old dog without learning a few tricks.
Shorai Powersports batteries are very trick!
Hardcore Biker
If you reward bad behaviour, you tend to get more bad behaviour. And some people then act surprised
The West keeps giving the North Korean machine food on promises of better behaviour, so they keep promising better behaviour... Nonsense on stilts. Any food aid that goes up there that is not stolen by the party machine to feed their own supporters, is stolen by the party machine to sell to buy contraband for themselves.
The best foreign aid to give to North Korea's ordinary citizens would be Gunny Bob Lee Swagger with a full clip and an unobstructed field of fire at the next party leader's get-together.
Smarty pants... since ages ago
Most artillery batterys in southern North Korea, and northern South Korea ... have had the target settings programmed in for this area.I'll make sure to avoid it then...
When life throws you a curve ... Lean into it ...
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