North Korea wants to be an attention whore again...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapc...ear/index.html

Once again, North Korea is saying stuff so it can be on the news again. This time they want to test nukes out, screw what everyone else, including the US, says.

I wonder what will happen this time in terms of a response if they actually test one out. The world has pretty much shown that they won't do anything beyond a strongly worded message condemning their action, but no one seems to have the guts to just go in there and wtfpwn them (which gives the NK govt. time to continue brainwashing their people, making them believe anything the world does against them is bad, and therefore they should die for their country to repel an invasion or anything else that the world throws at them).

Of course, attacking North Korea won't be anything like Iraq (fighting in a densely crowded area surrounded by mountains, forests, and rice paddies ain't the same as rolling tanks through a large, flat desert area), and since North Korea doesn't have any natural resources of value (that I know of anyway. I bet if they had oil Dubya would've went right in), of course the US doesn't want to engage them.

So instead they put about 37,000 troops there instead to get steamrolled (and they will get wtfpwnt, I remember being told by one of my sergeants that we were just a speed bump if NK attacked when I was over there. It wasn't "official" policy, just what he thought, but I believe him, when they have like 50,000 artillery guns aimed at South Korea along the DMZ) by the NK first so that it'll piss off Americans and let them agree with anything that the US does to them afterwards. This is solely the reason why NK won't attack, and why they keep whining about the US pulling out of Korea. Cause you know, killing South Koreans won't have the same impact in the US, so they probably won't give a dang (remember Pearl Harbor? I doubt people would've cared if Japan took those islands they wanted during WW2, but once they attacked and killed US service members, boy did that rile up the nation. Plus with all the South Korean student protests against the US too, I doubt many Americans would really give a damn if the South gets pwnt).

So, what do you think will happen if NK tests out a nuke? Anything beyond threats and sanctions (not that any of them will work anyway, if the past is any indication)? Or is the action going to heat up again on the Korean Penninsula (the Korean War isn't over technically, cause no peace treaty was signed)?

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Originally Posted by MetheGelfling

Gotta disagree there. Trade with South Korea is huge. Just think about all the automobiles and electronics that they export. Kia, Hyundai, and Daewoo cars, and Samsung electronics are all big business that the US would be somewhat upset about loosing.

In addition, contrary to what you've read in the NY Times, Daily Show, or wherever you get your news, the US doesn't only go to war if there are natural resources to gain. We went to war in Korea once before as a matter of ideological difference.

I'm not saying you're wrong MetheGelfling, I know we do a lot of trade, and no doubt businesses would want the US to intervene (they've done that in the past, and some argue, in Iraq, but let's not go there), but the average joes and janes you talk to on the street probably wouldn't care as much as those business people/politicans, unless they're history/political science majors, or just like studying the situation there.

And I also know the US went to war (without formally declaring it, I think they called it a "police action", which I also believe was technically what they called Vietnam) over ideology during the first Korean War (and boy did we get whupped early on. Look up "Task Force Smith" to see what I mean), but the atmosphere back then was a lot more tense than it is today (where they were worried about a country that could send nukes our way, not to mention have poor people overthrow the government, and put brutal "poor" people in charge).

And then there was the issue of the US either actively supporting or at least giving their blessing for brutal dictators to be placed in charge of countries (the US has a lousy history of picking people to run countries, such as the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, Ngo Dinh Diem, and several others I can't remember off the top of my head). Not that the majority of communist leaders were any better, but geez, pick someone who doesn't kill or jail a lot of people to stay in power.

Unless Americans get killed (and preferably service members it seems), most Americans won't raise an eyebrow at what's going on. Look at the recent conflict in Lebanon. Yes, the news stations were covering it everyday, but the general attitude I was seeing in most people was "eh, whatever".

I'm just trying to figure out what the general attitude will be. Again, I don't think too many people will care about the situation (unless the "test" happens to land in Japan or S. Korea, and it'd be interesting to see what China would say about it if they accidentally got hit). But I doubt most people will care, just passing it off as another thing N. Korea is doing to get attention and stay in the media.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...393599,00.html

It seems China has its own issues with the North Koreans wanting some nukes too. And it really does seem like what YeOldeButchere just said is probably what the real situation there. Not many people, when given power, willingly give it up (that's not to say there have never been cases of that happening. George Washington did that, he gave up his leadership over the army after the Revolutionary war, and didn't even want to do a 2nd term as President, but people liked him so much they begged him to do it again. Of course, history shows that people who get into power often want to stay in it, especially if the government system is corrupt or weak).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Reading up on another site, I found this link:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums...ad.php?t=82755

Although I've only viewed the first page, all I have to say is, wow. This is definitely going to be something historians, sociologists, and psychology people will want to study someday.

Propaganda at its finest. Notice the huge cubes of stone right next to the roads, ready to be dropped down to stop tanks, not to mention the electric fences by the water, and the ghetto looking buildings next to the hotel stuff the tourist guy was taking pictures of (and being told he's not supposed to take pictures of it. Luckily they never confiscated his camera).

Sure, North Korea looks great and all, but I wonder what would happen if they saw how the South Koreans and many other people around the world were living. As you can probably tell, communism sure did fix people's problems didn't they?

Double Post:
Here's another side of North Korea you normally don't get to see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TNM5DpKyms&NR

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Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

I wonder what their policy for returns/refunds is if their bombs fizzle?

Not to make light of the situation or anything, but this suddenly came into my mind when you said that

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7yK6IQYrUs

That said, North Korea is now saying that US pressure will be considered an act of war, and will handle it accordingly (which sounds like they want to restart the Korean war, which will no doubt mean they're toast this time).

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapc...est/index.html

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapc....ap/index.html

Not that this is anything terribly new, but North Korea's getting less food aid to feed their people now from the UN and other countries, so this means some people are going to suffer a lot more than usual there.

Not that I have anything against feeding hungry people, but it kind of pisses me off that the North Korean government will no doubt use this to their advantage. They will say something like "See, the world has stopped giving you food because they want you all to suffer, but keep believing in and supporting the "Dear Leader" (aka the nutcase Kim Jong il), and he will get you out of this rut."

Nevermind the fact that it's because of "Dear Leader's" actions that all this suffering is happening to them in the first place. At the same time I just don't have much sympathy for a country who can't even feed their own people, yet are trying to develop stuff that won't really help them that much anyway. Kind of like those idiots after Katrina that used the $2,000 cards from FEMA to buy Gucci purses and expensive tv's, rather than food and clothing they desparately needed.

Rather than bombing the North Koreans with explosives, I say we just launch a ton of propaganda leaflets that don't just say "overthrow your leader, he is teh SuQ", but just show them pictures of the better parts of China, South Korea, food, etc., just to show the North Korean population what they're missing out on because of "Dear Leader". He won't seem so divine when they see how prosperous South Korea has become while they're stuck eating tree roots.

Of course, this makes too much sense, and no doubt the North will see this as aggression (unless they already struck first again), so it will probably never be used. But I bet you if they use the proper words and images, it'll weaken support for the N. Korean government at home (esp. if they do those "aerial food drops" like in Afghanistan, long as the govt. doesn't get a hand on that stuff first, and try to say that the gods are dropping them food because Dear Leader prayed lol).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I was doing a little more "research" into North Korea, and was watching a lot of the propaganda stuff on youtube. With stuff like this, or this video, or even this, it'll help you to start understanding a little bit of the mentality that many North Koreans have. Because there, you're fed stuff like this day in and day out, and because you don't get CNN, Fox News, or anything else that isn't controlled by the state there, of course you'll get a biased view. So therefore, is it that much of a surprise to anyone that North Koreans think that the US is a bully and is the reason why the Korean penninsula remains divided? Of course, they don't get told that the Soviet Union, their sugar daddy, collapsed a few years ago, and China is slowly reverting back to capitalism, just that all their ills is because of the US.

I gotta say though, for all the starving and suffering the North Koreans are going through, they sure put on some awesome shows This will definitely make for some interesting stuff to study later on as to how to make propaganda work.

EDIT: Youtube seemed to be down when I posted this stuff, so here's one, and another one, and a military parade video from Google video.

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