North Korea, Sanctions, and Kim Jong-un

[lbsf1]

Oh North Korea you!

Video on how it's like living in America, according to North Korea.

It sounds like a poem written by George Orwell.

"They drink their hot snow, they are grateful"

 

[watermelon punch]

Oh yeah, I mean I'm sure the NK propaganda does say a lot of crazy things about the people in the U.S. (and elsewhere). But the narration/translation obviously took comedic license liberties. "on Tuesday" and "yummy" - and "this man awaits heroin"... And the obsession with coffee rationing & snow.

 

[TyrrellRacing]

Oh yeah, I mean I'm sure the NK propaganda does say a lot of crazy things about the people in the U.S. (and elsewhere). But the narration/translation obviously took comedic license liberties. "on Tuesday" and "yummy" - and "this man awaits heroin"... And the obsession with coffee rationing & snow.

Clearly you haven't had your bird and snow rations yet.

I'm not entirely convinced this isn't real. This is a country whose leader is a descendent of a legendary golfer who was carried to Earth by a swallow before a double rainbow.

 

[watermelon punch]

Clearly you haven't had your bird and snow rations yet.

Conversely... maybe I've just had too much coffee.

I'm not entirely convinced this isn't real. This is a country whose leader is a descendent of a legendary golfer who was carried to Earth by a swallow before a double rainbow.

No no, you misunderstand... I think the substance of it is most certainly real... The dubious part is the English translation - where they've obviously tweaked the narration language for maximum effect.

For example, if the birds are so "yummy" ("taste good"), then why is this such a hardship for us? The inclusion of the word "yummy" seems suspicious in the extreme.
Unless of course the idea of eating birds is somehow profane to North Koreans' culture??
That's the only way it would make sense... if North Koreans perceived eating wild nuisance birds like crows & pigeons as tantamount to what Westerners would think of eating pet dogs.

But we all eat chicken.
I wouldn't eat a migratory bird. Well, for one thing it's illegal to kill most migratory birds in the U.S.
We could kill & eat European Starlings here legally... As they are not protected and are considered an invasive species.

Perhaps that's the idea... to say that Americans think birds that eat out of garbage dumps are "yummy". ?

I don't know, it's a stretch.
That word "yummy" is a VERY VERY silly word.

 

[TyrrellRacing]

Conversely... maybe I've just had too much coffee.

No no, you misunderstand... I think the substance of it is most certainly real... The dubious part is the English translation - where they've obviously tweaked the narration language for maximum effect.

For example, if the birds are so "yummy" ("taste good"), then why is this such a hardship for us? The inclusion of the word "yummy" seems suspicious in the extreme.
Unless of course the idea of eating birds is somehow profane to North Koreans' culture??
That's the only way it would make sense... if North Koreans perceived eating wild nuisance birds like crows & pigeons as tantamount to what Westerners would think of eating pet dogs.

But we all eat chicken.
I wouldn't eat a migratory bird. Well, for one thing it's illegal to kill most migratory birds in the U.S.
We could kill & eat European Starlings here legally... As they are not protected and are considered an invasive species.

Perhaps that's the idea... to say that Americans think birds that eat out of garbage dumps are "yummy". ?

I don't know, it's a stretch.
That word "yummy" is a VERY VERY silly word.

I would say it's sarcastic. In my experience, about 80% of disgusting food articles contain the word "Yummy" tacked onto the end of them.

I'm not a big fan of food, but I would imagine the birds to be a bit pathetic to eat. If it was any other country I wouldn't believe it was real for an instant.

 

[1241Penguin]

"There are no birds in the trees apart from these, which will be eaten on Tuesday. They are yummy. You can also eat the snow, of which there is plenty in the United States."

I can honestly imagine Jeremy Clarkson saying this.

 

[watermelon punch]

I can honestly imagine Jeremy Clarkson saying this.

Yes, because the "which will be eaten on tuesday" part is totally typical British humour!!!

 

[DK]

Is there any chance Poe's Law can be applied to North Korea too?

 

[watermelon punch]

Is there any chance Poe's Law can be applied to North Korea too?

Poe's law would apply here for sure, if we can find a reason to make "they are yummy" not the give away it seems to be.

 

[DK]

Well then, allow me to state DK's Law:

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of North Korea that someone won't mistake for the real thing."

 

[watermelon punch]

Well then, allow me to state DK's Law:

"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of North Korea that someone won't mistake for the real thing."

👍 Works for me.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

The North has put all of its missile and strategic rocket forces into combat-ready status, amid threats of attacking Hawaii and the US mainland:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-26/n-korea-threatens-to-strike-hawaii-us-mainland/4595836

 

[Touring Mars]

Quick, someone call Dennis Rodman!

 

[The Stig Farmer]

Well... it was nice knowing y'all...

 

[lbsf1]

Oh relax, yet another North Korean political stunt. They have done things like this so many times in the past, they shelled South Korea a year or so back, that looked like it would turn worse however it never did. North Korea just do what they need to do stay in the global news.


Slightly strangely though this is all running exactly to the time plan set out in the game Homefront. They game was released a couple of months before Kim Jong died and they predicted he would at about the time he did, they then predicted that things would start to escalate in 2013 leading to the reunification of Korea. After that is gets more far fetched, however they do predict Iran being nuclear capable by 2015 (which they may/are).

 

[arora]

 

[xXKingJoshXx]

Slightly strangely though this is all running exactly to the time plan set out in the game Homefront. They game was released a couple of months before Kim Jong died and they predicted he would at about the time he did, they then predicted that things would start to escalate in 2013 leading to the reunification of Korea. After that is gets more far fetched, however they do predict Iran being nuclear capable by 2015 (which they may/are).

As bad as that game sucked, it had a good storyline. The intro to that game was really scary! But I gave up on it and returned it to GameStop the next day.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

And now they've severed all forms of communication with the South:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-27/north-korea-severes-hotline-with-south/4598292

Because their solution to dealing with the potential for a war is to stop talking to the people who might be able to stop it.

 

[Touring Mars]

Nobody knows what North Korea will do next. Not even North Korea.

Like most military propaganda coming out of North Korea, I strongly suspect that this video has been photoshopped.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Nobody knows what North Korea will do next. Not even North Korea.

"Little Kim-Jong un gets more colourful by the moment. What'll he do next?"

"Well, he's either going to blow us all up, or rub soup in his hair. It's a toss-up"

"I hope he does the soup thing. It's always a hoot and we don't all die from it."

 

[Nicksfix]

Kim Jong does not have the nuts to push that button. I'm quite sure he is well aware of the repercussions.

Propaganda

 

[arora]

This one is not as crazy as some but still funny. Shop me some boats

 

[Lizard]

Kim Jong does not have the nuts to push that button. I'm quite sure he is well aware of the repercussions.

I wouldn't be so sure. True he knows America's strength but remember the Korean war. The US had developed the Atom bomb by then and had a huge military.

The key I think is Korea's relations with China, Russia and any communist governments.

 

[Grayfox]

I wouldn't be so sure. True he knows America's strength but remember the Korean war. The US had developed the Atom bomb by then and had a huge military.

The key I think is Korea's relations with China, Russia and any communist governments.

But even russia don't like what the target of the world does.

 

[Crispy]

I wouldn't be so sure. True he knows America's strength but remember the Korean war. The US had developed the Atom bomb by then and had a huge military.

The key I think is Korea's relations with China, Russia and any communist governments.

In the Korean war it was a more equal match. If North Korea attacks first nobody will come to their side, and they're still using tech from the 60's.

 

[Dotini]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/us-b-2-bombers-south-korea_n_2970363.html

Not content with joint military and training exercises with South Korea, nor even with B-52 (strategic bomber) flights from Guam over South Korea, the US has publicly announced B-2 (stealth bomber) flights from Whiteman AFB, Missouri to South Korea and back. They dropped dummy payloads, but of course are nuclear capable. These are intended as a new show of force to intimidate Kim Jong Un, and the joint training exercises will continue for another month.

The rookie North Korean leader has already thrown a major verbal wobbly over new US and Allied sanctions after his successful nuclear tests and successful longer range missile tests, threatening nuclear war against the US and renouncing the Armistice prevailing since the (unending) Korean War. Now he has cut off all military hotline and telephonic communication with the South, although there is still some commerce taking place at a border town.

What comes next? I don't know, but it will probably not be pretty.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve

Edit:
Military Capabilities
........................North............................ South
Troops...............1.02 million...................560,000
Heavy Tanks.......3500............................2360
APCs.................3000.............................2400
Heavy Artillery....10,000..........................5180
SAM missiles.......10,000..........................1000
anti-aircraft guns..11,000.........................600
*Combat aircraft...605..............................538
Missile ships.......43
Destroyers.............................................12 (includes 3 new Aegis-equipped)
Mine warfare ships..23.............................10
Diesel subs........26................................ 20
Miniature subs...65 (used for special forces insertion and extraction)

*North has mainly older MiGs, fewer newer MiGs and Su-25, South has 180 F-16 and 39 F-15, plus 130 F-4 Phantom and 142 F5

US capabilities in South Korea
Troops...........................28,500
Combat aircraft...............82
Heavy Tanks...................58
APCs..............................170
Self-propelled Howitzers....24
Multiple rocket Launchers..36

US capabilities in Japan
Troops...............2000
Marines.............18,000
Navy ships.........18
Navy aircraft......100
USAF aircraft......100

US capabilities on Guam
B-52 and B-1 bombers

sources: Reuters, Republic of Korea, iiss.org, DefenseNews, globalsecurity.org

 

[Lizard]

The thing about the propaganda theorists is what aim would they have? Sure their own people but this stuff is going world wide. What aim would they have in making the world nervous? Cause some uprising? Not likely.

Cause fear in American government? What would that solve? All it does is get you trade sanctions.

The north may be a dictatorship but they are not stupid. They have an aim so I don't entirely believe the oh it's propaganda story.

 

[lbsf1]

The thing about the propaganda theorists is what aim would they have? Sure their own people but this stuff is going world wide. What aim would they have in making the world nervous? Cause some uprising? Not likely.

Cause fear in American government? What would that solve? All it does is get you trade sanctions.

The north may be a dictatorship but they are not stupid. They have an aim so I don't entirely believe the oh it's propaganda story.

Hmmn agreed, the only reason for them to do what they are doing if not actually for war is just to get world wide publicity and recognition and feel smug that people are worried because of them.

However in long term that will do nothing for them if they do intend peace unless they are showing properganda of how worried other countries about North Korea attacking to their people. There is no real other logic to this apart from war (or possibly to laugh at us for how we are worrying).

However the logic of a dictator is a strange one so I wouldn't assume to much over what they are thinking.

On another note North Korea is now more is a fascist state then a socialist state (trust me on this I have just done some googling about it), and all fascist states rely on the end goal of war, if you keep on about how other countries are inferior and have an army of that size then the end goal must be to go to war, fascism must always have an enemy you are fighting against and for North Korea that is the rest of the world. Whether they lose the fight (which they will) or not fascist ideals rely on war.

 

[Joel]

As I've said before, the technological difference between the South and North's army is precisely why the nuclear tests are such a big deal. I'm sure the North know that in a conventional war they'd likely lose to the South alone, let alone the combined might of the US, the South, and probably Japan. The nukes are their only ace in the hole, the North has sheer numbers of soldiers, but the budget isn't even close.

SK spends 28 billion USD on their military per year, while the North spends an estimated 2.3-10 billion. That kind of difference is very significant when we start to talk about today's mechanized warfare and how much more technologically advanced the South is.

 

[Dotini]

http://www.businessinsider.com/map-...-could-destroy-seoul-in-two-hours-2010-5?op=1

The 800 pound gorilla in the room is the North's artillery bearing down on Seoul.

Seoul is only 35 miles from the border, and has a population of 10.5 million (about 25% of the entire population of South Korea.

It is feared that Seoul could be destroyed in under than 2 hours by the North's very well dug in long range artillery.

Helluva way to start a war - lose your capital city and 10 million casualties in the first two hours. Sure, the US would "win" in the end (just like it, uh, always does). But you can bet your bottom dollar the South Koreans care about more than the US winning in the end. It's not easy, this business of war and bloody, burning death.

Respectfully,
Steve