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1) Not relevant to the thread
2) Arguably the most closed and oppressive regime
3) "Advanced" is a matter of opinion
4) Not relevant to any thread
5) That website is in italian.
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On April 28 2013 08:03 iMAniaC wrote:
Further speculation: If he was in the vicinity of a beggar, he most probably strayed from the approved tourist sights and/or left his tourist guide (which is closer to a tourist guard, really), thus clearly breaking the rules for his stay. Letting Koreans see foreigners if said Koreans have not been cleared to see foreigners, might easily be considered destabilising. After all, the US is officially considered the worst country to live in out of all countries, while North Korea is on second place, right behind China. Showing a well-fed and well-clothed American with an expensive camera to an orphan beggar doesn't really enforce that view...
I'm confused by this post, are you saying that the US is the worst country to live in?
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On April 28 2013 09:46 -Kaiser- wrote:
It is relevant to the thread.
2) Arguably the most closed and oppressive regime
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Clearly Repoters without borders and Human index development mean nothing to you. It has been ranked for many years the worst country in terms of freedom of information so no, it is not arguable.
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3) "Advanced" is a matter of opinion
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It is a matter of opnion. However i invite you to closely study the Dutch case;
Only for the economical reason it would make sense to legalize weed, instead of putting milions of dollars everyday in the hands of mobsters.
That being said i woud really like to find that documentary on Pastor Chun, i saw the vice guide last year on there trip to North Korea and the workcamps in Siberia, would like to see this.
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There is no legal links other than HBO's website that might have it uploaded for Americans.
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On April 28 2013 09:53 armada[sb] wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2013 08:03 iMAniaC wrote:
Further speculation: If he was in the vicinity of a beggar, he most probably strayed from the approved tourist sights and/or left his tourist guide (which is closer to a tourist guard, really), thus clearly breaking the rules for his stay. Letting Koreans see foreigners if said Koreans have not been cleared to see foreigners, might easily be considered destabilising. After all, the US is officially considered the worst country to live in out of all countries, while North Korea is on second place, right behind China. Showing a well-fed and well-clothed American with an expensive camera to an orphan beggar doesn't really enforce that view... I'm confused by this post, are you saying that the US is the worst country to live in?
That was my first response as well, but north korea puts out "studies" for internal consumption that the rest of the world lives even worse than the people outside of the capital do. So it is a little bit confusing, but he was not American bashing in the least.
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I thought that was what he meant, but then he said that North Korea was second.
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On April 28 2013 10:12 armada[sb] wrote:
I thought that was what he meant, but then he said that North Korea was second.
Yes, sorry for the confusion. I was really tired when I wrote that ("Just going to check TL before I go to bed", you know  ). Some time ago (more than a year, I think), North Korea made a rating of the world's best countries to live in. China came first with North Korea on a close second and the US in very last place. So officially in North Korea -officially, the US is the worst place to live in out of any countries. In reality, of course, North Korea is probably the worst and the US is pretty far from last place.
And then, of course, since showing the North Koreans a glimpse of reality will severly undermine their official story (again, official in North Korea) that the regime is trying to tell, that could easily be said to be destabilising.
So that's what I meant. No US bashing, just trying to figure out what the tourist did that was wrong. Sorry for the confusion
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A couple of non-news items:
It seems the matter of the South Koreans at Kaesong is being sorted out slightly bumpily, but overall without incident:
Seven South Koreans were denied exit requests, as 43 others received approval yesterday to leave an industrial zone jointly run with North Korea, according to a text message from the Unification Ministry.
Those remaining at the Gaeseong industrial complex will be allowed to depart after payment of some wages owed North Korean workers, according to an official with the South Korean ministry who declined to be named, citing government policy.
Source
Also, the joint military drills end today, giving North Korea one thing less to complain about:
US and South Korea wrap up "Foal Eagle" military drills
The US and South Korea have wrapped up joint military drills that took place amid high tensions with North Korea.
Pyongyang has been angered by the two-month annual exercise, known as "Foal Eagle", which began shortly after its third nuclear test in February.
"Foal Eagle" involved around 10,000 US troops and their South Korean counterparts. The drills were thought to include ground, air, naval, expeditionary and special operations training exercises.
Source
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Did they seriously arrest a Korean American feeding hungry orphans?
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On May 02 2013 17:34 Gamegene wrote:
Did they seriously arrest a Korean American feeding hungry orphans?
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Why does that surprise you?
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On May 02 2013 17:34 Gamegene wrote:
Did they seriously arrest a Korean American feeding hungry orphans?
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He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor today.
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....and the cycle of appeasement commences once again.
Bet some highly ranked US "official" is going to take a trip to NK to negotiate his release soon.
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On May 02 2013 20:33 MCXD wrote:Show nested quote +On May 02 2013 17:34 Gamegene wrote:
Did they seriously arrest a Korean American feeding hungry orphans?
... Why does that surprise you?
He did not feed orphans, he photographed homeless children.
To my knowledge, it hasn't been established whether one or more of those were starving.
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Well they did nothing last month and they are almost certainly not going to do anything this month either. North korea is just looking to scare. They wouldn't dare to shoot any rockets up either because then they would go down.
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On May 03 2013 00:04 sgtnoobkilla wrote:
....and the cycle of appeasement commences once again.
Bet some highly ranked US "official" is going to take a trip to NK to negotiate his release soon.
this is a job for bill clinton! lol the norks respect him for some reason.
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Last S. Koreans return from Kaesong complex
The last seven South Korean personnel who had negotiated the settlement of accounts on behalf of local businesses at an inter-Korean complex in North Korea returned home Friday, wrapping up a pullout from the zone amid high tensions on the peninsula.
The complete withdrawal of workers cast clouds over the fate of the Kaesong Industrial Complex just north of the heavily fortified border, raising concerns over the possibility of permanent closure. The complex remained the only remaining link between the two Koreas.
The Ministry of Unification said after all South Korean nationals crossed over the border, issues revolving around the payment of outstanding wages, the amount of taxes that South Korean companies owed Pyongyang and various service charges were resolved.
It said a total of USD$13 [Million] was paid that reflected demands made by the North, with the provision being added that called for adjustments after a more detailed tally is carried out at a later date. The sum includes $7.3 million owed by South Korean companies for wages that were not paid for March, $4 million for corporate taxes, and $1.7 million in various utility charges. South Korea sent two vehicles carrying cash to Kaesong as part of the agreement, which returned over the demarcation line separating the two countries after the negotiating team.
The ministry in charge of cross-border affairs, in addition said it asked the North to reopen communications lines that were cut earlier in the year to carry out further talks on settlement that were not ironed out, such as the $1.2 million Pyongyang asked for to account for wages its workers did not receive for the first eight days of April when they reported to work.
Yonhap
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On May 02 2013 17:34 Gamegene wrote:
Did they seriously arrest a Korean American feeding hungry orphans?
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Yes, Orphans. We Americans can only get arrested for feeding homeless. Orphans. You're Good.
+ Show Spoiler +It happens here, often. Food Not Bombs in Orlando Source Miami Nuns(Mother Teresa) SourcePhilidelphia SourceHouston SourceI know similar things have happened in Vegas and NYC. If the North needs a whoopin, lets find a reason that doesn't make us a big hypocrite. Spoilered so the lazy remain in bliss.
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Now that the threat of war has been essentially squashed, why not start a new thread/retitle the post so my heart doesn't skip a beat every time I see "North Korea says/does alarming things"? While I was pretty confident nothing would happen, I still tell people it's a lot easier to just talk about missiles hitting Seoul and the amount of potential casualties and arm chair general-ing about what governments should/would do, but when you live there in the city it's quite unpleasant to read about.
I used to say I feel safer in Korea than Canada, but I've been vacationing in Canada for the past couple weeks and now I'm not sure I still believe that! I feel safer around Korean people for sure, but the threat of NK is always there, even if the likelihood of me dying to them is essentially zero I believe.^^ It's made me change my opinion on western media for "serious" issues a lot. They really will do everything in their power to get you to watch/read their news, even if it's heavily sensationalised.
It bothers me reading things from 15-25 year olds (or whatever - people sitting in the safety of their own homes 11,000 km away) talking about "just blowing NK out of the water" and that "Seoul would only have maybe 100,000 casualties, at most". I'm not quoting anyone in particular, but ideas like that are continually thrown around/discussed about, not just on this message board but elsewhere. It feels so pointless and it makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.
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On May 03 2013 23:48 SoleSteeler wrote:
Now that the threat of war has been essentially squashed, why not start a new thread/retitle the post so my heart doesn't skip a beat every time I see "North Korea says/does alarming things"? While I was pretty confident nothing would happen, I still tell people it's a lot easier to just talk about missiles hitting Seoul and the amount of potential casualties and arm chair general-ing about what governments should/would do, but when you live there in the city it's quite unpleasant to read about.
I used to say I feel safer in Korea than Canada, but I've been vacationing in Canada for the past couple weeks and now I'm not sure I still believe that! I feel safer around Korean people for sure, but the threat of NK is always there, even if the likelihood of me dying to them is essentially zero I believe.^^ It's made me change my opinion on western media for "serious" issues a lot. They really will do everything in their power to get you to watch/read their news, even if it's heavily sensationalised.
It bothers me reading things from 15-25 year olds (or whatever - people sitting in the safety of their own homes 11,000 km away) talking about "just blowing NK out of the water" and that "Seoul would only have maybe 100,000 casualties, at most". I'm not quoting anyone in particular, but ideas like that are continually thrown around/discussed about, not just on this message board but elsewhere. It feels so pointless and it makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach.
It's pretty normal. If everyone thought about war in the first person perspective from those involved there would be no support for wars. It's not a tragedy if it's statistics. No one would fight wars at all if both sides are able to see things from their enemy's perspective. Who would want to think about North Korea as a country of starving people brain washed by religion but are otherwise just normal human beings? Much better to generalize them all as a country of their ruling class.
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EPT
