Thread: North Korean strike timed?

I have actually been in North Korea. It was in the late 1980s or maybe 1990, and I was in my teens. It's very poor country! Everything new looked like it was modelled on the USSR although the quality seemed worse. However, they had really nice public facilities like a swimming pool complex, amusement park, adventure playgrounds and some good museums, both in the capital and in another city that my brother and I went to. There were colourful murals and mosaics on the walls and traditional costumes were common.

All the people we spoke to seemed really sweet, honest and friendly. We spent a great day on the beach there - that was just like in any other country. However we were with a guide all the time. There were almost no shops, anywhere. We were taller than absolutely everyone in the whole country!

I didn't know anything about the country before arriving, other than my that my father warned my brother and I not to say anything negative about Kim-Il-Sen (president) because it would be offensive to the North Koreans and might cause trouble for him. Kim Il Sen was like a god there, but my brother and I had never even heard of him. It seemed silly to us and we joked about it quite a lot.

But the adoration of the people for Kim Il Sen felt very genuine. He is a liberation hero to them. It seemed like the whole country had a one united purpose; restoring national pride after Japanese occupation for decades, and rebuilding the country which was flattened by the USA in the Korean war. It felt a bit like the whole country was in a big project together.

There was so much pride in their country - despite it being poor - which they knew. The thing they were proud about was how fast they rebuild the country from total destruction. Japan as a colonial power treated Korea terribly... and just when they were beginning to recover from that; the whole country is bombed to pieces by the USA. Who can blame them for being a bit paranoid?

I came away thinking the country was poor, a bit strange but that the people were very proud, but nice. I don't think the average person there felt very oppressed - at least not when I was there. But of course, I didn't ask.. and there might be plenty of people who felt that way, that i never saw.

But from media reports its clear that they have quite gruesome prisons; a bit like "gulags". Probably the state meddles far too much in peoples life, but that's true for lots of countries.

The biggest problem they have now must surely be that they have food shortages and no medicines or oil/electicity. Anyone who really cared about North Koreans should try to help with that.

The Koreans should be left to sort out their differences without any meddling by any other country. I neither support North Korea, nor would I wish it to be overthrown. How the Koreans live in their own country is not my problem.

On the flight back to Japan my dad said that North Korea owed his company millions; it just took delivery of some goods a few years earlier, and never paid a penny. The trip had been about trying to secure payment in return for spare parts that they needed.

Plus, I agree with Ramil: Asians LIKE to be in a collective and follow a leader who they worship. It's part of their culture...Happens in Japan too, in businesses and with the emperor before that. And in China etc.

Originally Posted by Hanna

The Koreans should be left to sort out their differences without any meddling by any other country. I neither support North Korea, nor would I wish it to be overthrown. How the Koreans live in their own country is not my problem.

I can't agree more.
USA interference only fuels the conflict between two Koreas, and the image of N. Korea as evil country is blown out of proportion. I also don't particularly like that USA keeps ruining other states by breaking them into pieces in the process of "peacemaking."

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

USA interference only fuels the conflict between two Koreas, and the image of N. Korea as evil country is blown out of proportion. I also don't particularly like that USA keeps ruining other states by breaking them into pieces in the process of "peacemaking."

WTF? Was it US who cut the peninsula into two pieces? The US was the one who tried to keep the commie cancer off the other part of the country after it had been cut. The whole nation of South Korea should say thanks to the US for not being rabbits looking for grass for their dinner.

Hanna,

If the purpose of you writing these posts is to vent, then vent away. If the purpose is to get your comrades up in arms then continue to do so. "IF" the purpose of your posts is to change American minds you have now gone down a road that will do the opposite. Before this post even started i was willing to concede we (the US) needed to close most our bases around the world. You can check under a different view of the US...or something like that....one of my post was near the end. You are now changing my mind in the opposite direction. I am beginning to think we need those bases to protect ourselves from people like you. And i suspect if someone was on the fence you have shoved them to the side you dont want them on.

Its your call thou. I believe in free speech, and dont want you to feel silenced.

Originally Posted by Nerms

Hanna,

If the purpose of you writing these posts is to vent, then vent away. If the purpose is to get your comrades up in arms then continue to do so. "IF" the purpose of your posts is to change American minds you have now gone down a road that will do the opposite. Before this post even started i was willing to concede we (the US) needed to close most our bases around the world. You can check under a different view of the US...or something like that....one of my post was near the end. You are now changing my mind in the opposite direction. I am beginning to think we need those bases to protect ourselves from people like you.

So, basically USA need all those bases around the world to protect USA from Swedish girls, who don't like militarists?

No from people all over the world who have her exact mind set.

Originally Posted by Nerms

No from people all over the world who have her exact mind set.

That is from pacifists?