North Korea says/does surprising and alarming thing - Page…

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has made his first public appearance in 40 days, the nation's state-run news agency reported. The appearance, posted on the Korean Central News Agency's website and dated Oct. 14, said that Kim, 31, showed up at a newly built housing development and toured the grounds. There were no pictures included in the report.

Kim hadn't been seen in public since attending a state concert with his wife on Sept. 3, walking with a limp, leading to questions about his health and the country's future leadership. But KCNA made no mention of that. It reported that on the same day as the tour of the residential complex, Kim also visited another new state project, the Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences. The Obama administration told NBC News it was still trying to determine the report's authenticity. "The reports are certainly plausible," a senior administration official said. "Our assessment throughout this period has been that the government has been and continues to function as normal."

On October 14 2014 11:42 JudicatorHammurabi wrote:
Kim Jong Un has finally made a public appearance, his first in over a month.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-koreas-kim-jong-un-ends-long-public-absence-n224901

On October 16 2014 21:42 Conti wrote:
Welp, looks like it's finally time for the US to bring some democracy to North Korea, then.

S. Korea fires warning shots against N. Korean soldiers approaching MDL: Seoul

SEOUL, Oct. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean border guards fired warning shots as about 10 North Korean soldiers approached the military demarcation line (MDL) inside the demilitaized zone (DMZ), Seoul's military officials said, adding that there was no exchange of fire.

An official at Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North Korean soldiers stayed around their side of the MDL in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, about 88 kilometers north of the capital city, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The North Koreans neither crossed the MDL nor responded to the warning shots, he said.

South Korean guards fired warning shots after broadcasting warning messages in accordance with their military's standing operating manuals, the official said.

"The soldiers came down to read the MDL markers on the northern side of the border," the official said. "Our military acted in accordance with guidelines on how to respond when North Koreans come toward the MDL, and fired warning shots and aired warning messages on three occasions."

The official said North Korean soldiers occasionally approach the MDL without actually crossing it, and this has happened "a few times" this year.

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Source

On October 16 2014 21:38 AutoEngineer wrote:
Korea must not follow Japan's mistakes, nor Europe's. The perfect example to follow would be Germany's, however even Germany isn't doing well as of Q3 2014. However Germany would be the socioeconomic model to follow.

On October 17 2014 01:23 Salazarz wrote:
Yeah just look at South America or Africa, all them natural resources sure did them much good

On October 19 2014 18:25 zatic wrote:

Huh did I miss something?

On October 19 2014 19:30 AutoEngineer wrote:


Except the whole of Africa has less oil reserves than North Korea if the Korean article is correct.
The entire continent of Africa only has 132 billion barrels of oil reserves, mostly held by 2 countries: Libya and Nigeria. Africa has 1.1 billion people. Africa also has the least natural resources out of all the continents in the world according to some sources.
Yet a tiny country like North Korea has more than the entire continent of Africa. North Korea has 25 million people.

You do the math.

On October 19 2014 20:13 Salazarz wrote:



First of all, both Africa and South America have a lot of things going for them outside of oil; they are major exporters of precious and semi-precious metals and gemstones, 'working' metals (dunno if that's the right term in English? - iron, copper, bauxites etc), plus many parts of both Africa and South America have an excellent climate allowing them to export things like fruits, cocoa / coffee beans, natural rubber etc. And it's not like they are having trouble keeping up with global oil demand because their resources are somehow close to running out or whatever, either.

Secondly, having a low population sitting on top of massive natural resource deposits is absolutely not an advantage. IF you do have proper infrastructure and social systems built up (one of very few of such examples is Norway), you can certainly run a very successful country off your resource stockpiles. But if you're starting out with a clusterfuck of power squabbles and corruption (ie, all of Africa, South America, and certainly any kind of 'modernizing' North Korea would follow suit), you're not going to have a prosperous country out of it. The resources will simply be shipped out of the country for others to exploit while your own people will be slaving away in the mines for scraps. There are examples of that all over the world, and the transition from a resource farm for the big boys to a truly independent, developing state is extremely long and painful, nevermind that more likely than not the power holders of the world would do their best to stop it as it's simply not in anyone's interest to have a prosperous country rather than a resource farm to exploit.

Last but not least, it doesn't even matter whether you have 100 billion barrels of oil or 1 billion, at least in the relatively 'short' term of the next 50 years. They are not going to be reached any time soon, there is no infrastructure or trained manpower to use those reserves. Which leads us to my previous point - such a country would have to import the technology and know-how to exploit those reserves, they would also have to carve a niche in the global market to sell them or build up even more infrastructure to put it to use for themselves, all the while being under intense pressure from other oil exporters such as the neighbouring Russia, and 'investors' who would stop at nothing to halt your own development so they can get lower rates such as yet again neighbouring China.

Then you should consider the possibility of China deciding that all that land (nothing to do with oil under it of course!) has historically been a part of China as Manchuria or whatever crap anyway so maybe they should get a slice of it, or Putin decides that the borders of Siberia aren't quite right, or America decides the light of democracy isn't shining bright enough in the East, and the clusterfuck gets even worse. Oh and don't forget that it would bring another bargaining chip into already stupid debate of potential Korean reunification into NK's hands (but we have all dem oils, so you should put up with our demands!)

Even if those estimates are real (which is possible, after all there are a lot of oil reserves in nearby regions and past conditions may have been good for formation of oil reserves etc), I'd be very surprised if anything actually positive for Korea came out of it in our lifetimes. Long-term potential is there, maybe - but in the next 50 years? Eh. Literally the only way it could work out to a happy ending is if North Korea basically dissolved itself allowing SK to absorb it unconditionally (not likely, people in power like their power), AND external forces stayed out of it (maybe possible, certainly not guaranteed), AND internal corruption of SK didn't interfere too much with proper development of those resources (also a big question mark considering the way big corporations are run in - or run - South Korea).

after all there are a lot of oil reserves in nearby regions

On October 19 2014 20:46 Incognoto wrote:


Why? They apparently have so many natural resources.

The USA is the world's most technologically advanced nation.

China would not stand a chance