North Korea

Like a lot of "victories" in activism these days, this one strikes me as a symbolic one only. Human rights conditions will not improve because someone managed to cross a border without stepping on a landmine. Neither will relations.

While I admire the fact that they took this risk, it's still ineffectual. Nothing is satisfied, except for the activists pride in having done something.

Nothing has changed right now. I assume that they, or other protesters, will ask to do the same thing next year, then the next, maybe with more people, more often, on foot this time, maybe widen the road a little...

Sure, the North Korean government may suddenly slap down on it when they feel the PR opportunity is no longer worth the risk of loss of control. But the activists seem to feel it's worth a shot anyway. Maybe it is. Ten thousand people could go down that road and they'd still not come close to the information leak that's happening at the China-NK border. That's where they're really fretting.

Regarding their staying in South Korea to continue their activism there, I believe that's the idea - they're holding a peace symposium in Seoul. Some indeed are themselves Korean and assumedly do all their work from the country.

I'm not sure how much they are claiming the South is as at fault as the North. I think they're just trying to be impartial, as that's the only way they can possibly have a conversation with both sides. And that's pretty much what Ban Ki Moon does as his full time job.

edited 25th May '15 2:48:26 PM by betaalpha

Why both sides? They should engage directly with the North representing not the South but people around the world. If they make it a North-South walk, it's about unification, not about women like they claim to be.

edited 25th May '15 6:53:49 PM by Trivialis

Being impartial is exactly the Golden Mean Fallacy, it's NORTH KOREA, if you're impartial you're acting like the two sides are equal, they're not, one side is North Korea!

Yeah, NK is one of the very few organizations you can Godwin without committing a straw man.

It is not an argument if one is clearly right And the other is clearly wrong!

North Koreans held hostage by ISIS?

Ooh boy. I wonder how this will turn out, now that the two worst regimes in the world are involved together.

He'll probably share all the North Korean secrets on how to run an international drug trade and the two will become best friends.

edited 27th May '15 9:38:40 AM by Silasw

NK spokesman: "We have lost no-one. Everyone has been accounted for."

I only wish Daesh would go full Taliban and start dealing drugs. So far they've ignored that cash cow, though there have been reports of members partaking.

edited 27th May '15 1:25:41 PM by betaalpha

To be fair, North and South Korea used to be about equal, until the late 1980s when the South democratized and the North was isolated as the Communist Bloc collapsed and began to veer into its current ideological wilderness of racist Bolshevism. Since then it hasn't been a question, before then it very well could have been.

Darth Vader voice: "NOOOO Oooooo...."

Seriously though, I really don't want Daesh to make an attempt to economically vitalize itself. One of the reasons why the Taliban is such a pervasive organization is because they've manage to structure themselves almost like a vertically integrated cartel. Well, they are a vertically integrated cartel.

edited 27th May '15 2:08:55 PM by Aprilla

That cat's already way out of the bag; it seems to be the case that they get most of their operating budget from taxation.

edited 27th May '15 2:10:07 PM by Achaemenid

That's true, but I mean a more widespread situation like how Afghanistan produces over 90 percent of the world's heroin and the United States is one of its chief consumers.

Well, there's always plan B:

Hey kid...want some strategic bombing?◊

They can't really grow or manufacture much in the Syrian desert the way North Korea can with state controlled meth factories...

Pilgrimage to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea:

The US tried Suxnet attack against North Korea, but failed Well it's good to know at least we tried to do something, as opposed to standing their with our thumbs up our asses as it looked like at the time.

So according to this article, one possible reason why Kim didn't visit Russia is because he wanted special treatment instead of being treated equally with other leaders. There are other possible reasons discussed in the article.

Kim is more deluded that I thought if thats true. Russia doesn't mind supporting him as a troll on the US, but Moscow probably gives more of a shit about Syria at this point.

He's not. North Korea tells its citizens that North Korea is universally loved and venerated by anyone who isn't a puppet of the US imperialist aggressors. Seeing him go to Russia and standing at the back behind the leaders of more relevant countries would have played badly at home.

edited 5th Jun '15 10:37:16 AM by Achaemenid

Yeah, but the North could always photoshop it as otherwise. Not like they haven't done it before.

They could have, in the past. But actual news is leaking into North Korea nowadays, and a picture like Kim Jong Un being a little face in the crowd would paint more than a thousand words.

As an example, I read an article that said the regime had helped to reduce the number of refugees fleeing by no longer claiming that South Korea was a poor country, and instead said that it was well off, but that refugees are treated terribly there (which is a half-truth, sadly). I think this comes from an admission that the government can no longer exercise total control over what North Koreans are exposed to, and adjusting accordingly.

edited 5th Jun '15 11:33:42 AM by betaalpha

Unless Putin lays on a really nice spread, why would King Jong Un bother with the risk and hassle?

edited 5th Jun '15 11:35:45 AM by Achaemenid

I guess. I just figure he'd want to balance against China (whose leaders hate him it seems) while the going was still good. Russia won't be willing to help NK for too long once the troll utility goes away (again).

Ah yes, but then he'd forget to ask about money and just ask for more of that borsht.

So North's leadership wants to be isolationist now? That's kind of a departure from the previous generations, which thought Eastern Bloc relations and concessions from neighbors were a good thing.