Simple Question of International Import

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

What are the odds that this gets a LOT worse by the traditional spring time offensive season when a young general's fancy turns to invasion?

Brief timeline:

North Korea is accused of torpedoing a South Korean warship.

South Korea fires at North Korean fishing boats crossing the maritime border North Korea refuses to recognize.

North Korea is revealed to have highly modern facilities for nuclear material enrichment.

Not to mention, North Korea is facing the challenge of passing along the regime to a third generation of the Kim family.

North Korea is known for rattling its sabre and demanding to have attention paid to it when it is being ignored, but this is looking like a very different than recent years -- South Korea really has to retaliate...and half of South Korea's population lives in the Seoul metropolitan area within artillery range of the DMZ.

So a question -- is North Korea suicidal or are they betting that this behavior can get them some more winter grain shipments?

Comments

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

DPRK is not suicidal in any way. All they want is to unite all Koreans under true democratic JUCHE idea. USA prevents them from integration by settling and protecting a puppet South Korea government of Lee Myung-bak and Co. This is undoutebly a South Korea provacation (see Reuters: "South Korea has been conducting military exercises this week but it was not clear whether there had been any drills near the island that could have triggered the incident.").

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait -- you're Russian.

Never mind the confusion. Cue the sarcastic macros.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Please no.

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

It's too late... :)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Cute.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Interesting perspective.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

I don't know about the Juche idea but the way they're hoping to impose introduce it to all Koreans doesn't seem very democratic to me, how do you think? Sure, DPRK has "Democratic" in its name, but so does DR Congo, so...

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

It is of their Korean business, isn't it?
What if the people of South Korea will conclude that they want to drive Juche way one day? Democracy is just a buzzword with no real contents behind it for me.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Then that will be their decision and they'll be having another rendition of North Korea massacring everyone who looks at them cross-eyed. It's not the old days of Kim Il Sung in the North and Syngman Rhee in the South, by now South Korea is actually a democracy where North Korea is a dictatorship akin to the Soviet Union under Joe Stalin the 21st Century. South Korea will do that the day Hell freezes over.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

"It is of their Korean business, isn't it?"

Indeed, it is. So why are you saying:

"All they want is to unite all Koreans under true democratic JUCHE idea."

Shouldn't this go both ways? I mean what if South Koreans don't want to be like North Korea, without having to be told by anyone else to think this way? Have you talked to any actual South Koreans on this issue, or you're just drawing conclusions from between your fingers?

[ofbg.livejournal.com]

Could it be you've never experienced true democracy in a Constitutional Republic combined with true Liberty?

We used to have that here.

We remember!

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

I lol-d hard.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Actually no.

North Koreans acknowledged that juche might not be appropriate for other countries, but they claim it provides a moral and philosophical basis that is highly appropriate for Korean society, given the history and culture of that country. North Korea does not seek to impose juche on any other country, but they also wish to be left alone to implement it in the DPRK without outside or foreign influence. The fact that they lack outside influence makes the concept of juche extremely incompatible with globalisation, seeing as its main driving force would be foreign trade. (http://socyberty.com/issues/north-korea-and-anti-globalization/)

I think you fail.

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

I think I'm not. You cite is correct, except that North Koreans (AFAIK) belive there is only one Korea, with South part of it being occupied.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

I have no doubt that they believe so.

You may also believe there's one Soviet Union and all its minions should bow down and kneel before Comrade Zodski. That still doesn't make it fact.

Even if there's one Korea, which one should it be?

[pattyoplenty.livejournal.com]

While I agree that the North wants Korea to all be one (which it probably should) the North wants it on their terms and have Kim Jong Il(and successors) be the leader of Korea as a whole. That's never gonna fly with the South for obvious reasons. If the Kim family were taken out of power, then it could become a reality...but I don't see them giving up the dictatorship there when the Kim family is living quite well, and everyone else is living in extreme poverty with no way to better themeselves.

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

I agree with you except that the USA, Russia, China, Japan has a lot of different geopolitical interests in this region. Kim Jong Il drives the country in truly independent way, while South Korea being exclusively American satellite and has no independence de-facto. That does matter for me. I never lived in Korea but I like the fact that still there is countries with independent nation-oriented way of life.
Google Special Measures Agreement ROK. South Korea in fact is occupied by foreign armed forces.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-wanderer-/]

(which it probably should)

I dunno... I don't know that the world or Koreans would be better served with the two countries reuniting. It would be East and West Germany x 100 with regard to how difficult that would be. My guess is that you'll see less and less drive to reunite in SK as the older generation dies off and living people don't remember a united Korea.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

North Korea being the victim? Bullshit, they maintain a gigantic army and 1950s-style police state despite that destroying the state and sat passively by while their own people starved. Yeah, they don't *need* South Korea to provoke them any more than a hungry hyena needs a gazelle to provoke it.

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

Gigantic army?
NK military budget: $1,7bn (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf)
SK military budget: $29bn (according to Wikipedia)

Who is victim?

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

> This is undoutebly a South Korea provacation (see Reuters:

So, firing into the ocean is a provocation for firing on people?

[taurus-1.livejournal.com]

Yes. If it's YOUR ocean. ROK was warned not to do so, they tried.

[http://users.livejournal.com/-wanderer-/]

lol.... (I think?)