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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Senate The North Korea Issue

Discussion in 'Archive: The Senate Floor' started by Ben_Skywalker, Feb 18, 2013.

  1. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    North Korea is apparently telling diplomats they might want to leave for their own safety.

    That's not a good sign.
     
  2. Game3525

    Game3525 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 25, 2008
    Eh......the French have already said they are staying.

    When the French don't take you seriously......then chances are you are a joke.
     
    Arawn_Fenn likes this.
  3. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    The North has to know that the South isn't going to tolerate any kind of attack, not after what they pulled three years ago. The most they could get away with might be a missile test (I hear they're moving a missile somewhere to do something...) but even that could be construed as an attack.
     
  4. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    That's why I said they could miscalculate how the South will respond.

    We'll see. I'm pretty sure the North doesn't want war, but Un has really boxed himself in, he needs to do something or lose credibility with the generals.
     
  5. Alpha-Red

    Alpha-Red Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2004
    What the hell is the generals' agenda anyway? Do they actually want a fight with South Korea?
     
  6. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Somehow, this is all Dennis Rodman's fault....
     
  7. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    Last year, there was a failed coup against Kim Jong Un, and the coup leader wanted a war to conquer South Korea (and was opposing Un's attempts to begin to liberalize the economy). Kim Jong Un is the least irratonal one, keeping a lid on the whole thing.
     
  8. V-2

    V-2 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2012
    I expect there's a range of opinions within the privileged inner party, hopefully even some smattering of anti-isolationist opinion...But with all the propaganda and secrecy it's hard to read the situation regarding coups and intentions. Opposition to war is heresy, it's unlikely that a general would state anything contrary to the Juche principles even if he privately held such beliefs.
     
  9. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    sippin on gin and juche
     
  10. Emperor_Billy_Bob

    Emperor_Billy_Bob Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2000
    Part of the Kim's legitimacy depends on the illusion that they will eventually reunite Korea. They can't just give that up.
     
  11. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    The RoK hasn't given up that dream either.
     
    Blithe likes this.
  12. Emperor_Billy_Bob

    Emperor_Billy_Bob Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2000
    I would give ten to one odds that they eventually will.
     
  13. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    Give up? No. Reunite the peninsula under Seoul? Maybe, but it'd be economically and demographically difficult for them to bear even if it were peaceful.
     
  14. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 4, 2003
    I am fairly certain we don't have anywhere close to sufficient profiles of anyone in the North Korean leadership to make a claim that some guy whose biography we still don't have any firm grasp of is "keeping the lid on the whole thing."
     
  15. 07jonesj

    07jonesj Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2010
    It's like the Cold War never ended, eh?
     
  16. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    The problem is not reuniting the two Koreas, or even rebuilding the North's infrastructure, yes those things take time and are expensive, but they are also relatively straight forward. The hard part is deprogramming the millions of people who've been continuously brainwashed for the past 60 years.
     
    Summer Dreamer and V-2 like this.
  17. Emperor_Billy_Bob

    Emperor_Billy_Bob Jedi Grand Master star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2000
    I don't buy it. I don't really think most people in North Korea buy that Kim Jong Il created the universe.
     
    Violent Violet Menace likes this.
  18. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    I think you might be surprised. I saw a piece on CNN a couple of years ago about a visit to North Korea by Wolf Blitzer. At on point he talked to some students, who among other things told him that Shrek was directed by Kim Jung Il.
     
  19. Darth Guy

    Darth Guy Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Aug 16, 2002
    Eh, there's not really any precedent to go by, but I don't think the DPRK's "brainwashed" populace would be the main issue, besides most of them being chronically malnourished and ill-educated. I think you underestimate the strain the sudden (or relatively quick) reunification of Korea would put on the South. Germany transferred trillions of dollars in public spending east, and there was a far less extreme disparity between the two formerly separated halves of the country. Dismantling the DMZ (much more fortified and extensive than the intra-German border) alone would be fairly prohibitive. South Korea doesn't exactly have a booming economy as it is.
     
  20. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
  21. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    And we should assume that they feel completely free to tell the truth? Considering what we know of North Korea, I'd not rely too heavily on anything that comes out of the mouth of someone still within its borders.
     
  22. Rogue_Ten

    Rogue_Ten Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 18, 2002
    what are you even on about?
     
    Violent Violet Menace likes this.
  23. Ghost

    Ghost Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Oct 13, 2003
    The DIA is saying it's possible that North Korea has figured out how to put nuclear warheads on (unreliable) ballistic missiles:


    http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/11/world/asia/koreas-tensions/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


    I don't think they'd ever use it (unless attacked)... but could they test it? What would the consequences be?
     
  24. Juliet316

    Juliet316 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Consequences would be North Korea essentially wiped off the face of the Earth.
     
  25. DarthBoba

    DarthBoba Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2000
    Well, the way you test a nuclear missile without vaporizing anything is to make a dummy warhead that's the same as the real one in weight and dimensions, put it on the missile body, shoot it off, and see if you've done everything right to make it land where you want it.

    Not sure if there's a ban against that, or if the DPRK has signed it, assuming it even exists.