What are the names of some of the documentaries, I watched HBO's Vice special on NK and was fascinated, I'd love to watch/learn more.
Perhaps, but that's because people are idiots who can only be galvanized by lurid and shocking details, as anyone who's opened a newspaper knows. But seriously, what's the point in comparing the North Korean system to the Nazis? I mean, they are indeed very similar to the Nazis, though it's not so much of human rights abuses as due to the fact that they used a race-based collective ethic which heavily emphasizes purity as a mean of political legitimacy. It's a thoroughly screwed up place, the closest any country has ever gotten to 1984, contrary to what Greenwald and his anarchist comrades claim about the US. But there's not much the US can do about it - or more correctly, the North Koreans just aren't worth the huge effort it would take to get them to change their ways.
What is the economy in North Korea like now that they have private enterprise? I assume their internet access is very limited, so it's mainly domestic trade. Do they have natural resources, any non state-owned expenses? I have heard bits and pieces about the country through Christian missionary friends but still do not understand how private enterprise is thriving while they still rely on food aid and information in the education system is very limited. Plus, no external sources to teach yourself.
Dude. Really? We're talking about a country led by a dictator who murders his own family members. You can be certain those guards in NK have order from the top to commit these abuses. The president of the U.S. did not ask his troops to commits uses at Abu Graib. Totally apples and oranges.
The economy in NK is state ran. However ever since the Great Famine the state has tolerated a grown black market. Cell phones have been leaking into the country over the last 5 years or so and video's of the United States television and South Korean television are being smuggled in. It is only a matter of time before NK sees how the rest of the world REALLY lives, not how the State tells them the rest of the world lives.
See, you're just showing your ignorance. The North Korean government DOESN'T deny that the South Koreans are better off in an economic sense - their argument is "well, the South Koreans may have those nice gadgets, but they lack the great bonds which our glorious Juche gives us blah blah blah." It's not a system where economics is viewed as the end all be all like it was for the actual Communists. It's a system built of racism, basically Nazism adjusted to deal with the natural differences between North Korea and 1930s Germany.
Exactly, crimes committed by US troops and prison guards are much more righteous and justified, which is why they're so rarely court martialed into harsh sentences. Our military court system proved their innocence and that's final. Go USA!
This seems a bit outdated. I know they did have a 3-tier caste system for social standing based on your ancestry but over the past decade, especially with the new ruler, that principal has faded. Money is now the lead indicator and a lot of it is not state generated - free trading zones, regular flights to China, etc. My question is how do they plan to let capitalism co-exist with any of the propaganda they are spewing?
No, NK certainly denies that SK and the rest of the world have it as good as they actually do. They do not allow any outside television or anything else that depicts the amount of food and material goods other parts of the world have. Further, NK also depicts NK as very prosperous on their own state ran television. The argument that materialism isn't the end all be all is a DIFFERENT argument, and a valid one. NK is great at playing up the strength and unity of the NK versus the Unites States and calls for their people to stand united. Also there is a gulf between what the young in NK think about their own government and what the older population believe. The influx of outside culture has certainly caused skepticism by the younger generations of folks. That doesn't even take into consideration the issues concerning the age of their new "Leader" which has caused skepticism.
I don't think they know the answer to this question. The more capitalism they allow, the more "Leader" loses his grip and the more the population learns that their poverty is not the norm everywhere else in the world. Also, the more that NK allows the outside world in, the more of their atrocities and poverty will be exposed. Also there are forces such as the military that do not want any outside exposure or influence. Lets not forget the incredible corruption that is common place would probably upset the NK people. Really, it is a very tough balancing act and I do not think that it will work. I think eventually there will be some form of a revolution... I don't think it will be a full blooded slaughter, but more of a long term errosion in power by the "Leader".... unless he refuses to give an inch, then it gets really ugly.
