North Korea, Sanctions, and Kim Jong-un

[kennylmao]

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts...ysian_university_gave_kim_jong_un_a_doctorate

ALL MY WAT.

Okay. Personally, I don't think it's something bad. I think Paul is just trying to reach out to Kim, much like what Dennis Rodman is doing. It's like the saying, 'love your enemies'. People are bad because they just didn't get enough love. It's an unrealistically optimistic view, but I try to believe that everybody is born good. It's just the things and circumstances that they go through which makes people turn bad.

Also, I'm not defending this guy just because I happen to be studying in the same college, but after what he has done, I guess NORTH KOREA IS BEST KOREA!

 

[Sanji Himura]

What I want to know is how much did Un spent in bribes to that university to get that degree.

 

[Keef]

Group bang?

Kim Jong, you're doing it wrong!

Gives new meaning to the phrase "firing squad".

 

[Scaff]

Best one yet:

North Korea Says Its Archaeologists Discovered A 'Unicorn Lair'

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/11/30/166265699/north-korea-says-its-archaeologists-discovered-a-unicorn-lair

 

[Grayfox]

I'm sure they have.

 

[Sanji Himura]

And the tooth fairy isn't someone who steals teeth for $.50.

[sarcasm at work]

 

[lbsf1]

A rectangular rock carved with words "Unicorn Lair" stands in front of the lair

 

[kikie]

I read it as "unicorn liar". Couldn't make heads or tailes of it until I found out it's a lair, not a liar.

 

[Blitz24]

So that's how unicorns are real!

 

[Slash]

I don't even.

 

[Omnis]

It's not political prisoners' heads on a stake. It's unicorn fossils!

 

[Grayfox]

Studies show North Korean leaders are full of detritus.

 

[TheCracker]

Would Unicorns have 'lairs'? - Being little more than magic horned horses (not to mention mythical) I'd have thought they would more likely lead horse-like, not bear-like existences?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Would Unicorns have 'lairs'? - Being little more than magic horned horses (not to mention mythical) I'd have thought they would more likely lead horse-like, not bear-like existences?

I dunno. If I were a unicorn in North Korea, I would be hiding in a lair too, because Kim Jong Un would surely be after my magic.

 

[Grayfox]

I dunno. If I were a unicorn in North Korea, I would be hiding in a lair too, because Kim Jong Un would surely be after my magic.

He needs magic to make this missle work.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I assume the unicorn was executed shortly after it was discovered.

 

[Grayfox]

I assume the unicorn was executed shortly after it was discovered.

No.

It was sent to a labor camp.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

No, it was sent to Pyongyang. Then to a kitchen. Then a dinner table.

 

[Touring Mars]

Would Unicorns have 'lairs'? - Being little more than magic horned horses (not to mention mythical) I'd have thought they would more likely lead horse-like, not bear-like existences?

Don't you know anything about unicorns? If unicorns didn't live in lairs/caves, where did they learn how to carve 'Unicorn lair' in stone?

Anyway, in more serious news, Kim Jong-un's auntie Kim Kyong-hui is reported to have died...

She is/was arguably the most senior and powerful figure in North Korea (after the Golden Child that is) and her status as Kim Jong-il's sister meant that she had considerable influence over the military etc.

Some are speculating that her imminent demise (whether she has actually died yet or not) is the real reason why Kim Jong-un had his uncle (Kim Kyong-hui's husband) summarily executed a few weeks ago, fearing that his influence would be too strong in the absence of his powerful wife.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

A report commissioned by the UN is expected to recommend the North Koreans be referred to the ICC:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26220304

 

[Sanji Himura]

Here is an open ended question. Can anyone name a country where there is more prisoners than there is free men?

 

[TheCracker]

Here is an open ended question. Can anyone name a country where there is more prisoners than there is free men?

Lol. Well, according to stats, the US leads the way at getting closest with 716 for every 100,000 citizens.

 

[Dotini]

Here is an open ended question. Can anyone name a country where there is more prisoners than there is free men?

At one time, the bulk of Europe was indentured in feudal servitude. Peasants were bound to the land which was bound to the local lord and so on, up to the king. Not the same as imprisonment, or slavery, but there were few truly free men. Guilds such as the (stone)masons were a big step above servitude towards greater freedom of movement and thought.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Head of UN commission's letter to Kim Jong-Un can be read here.

 

[Liquid]

The United States has imprisoned more of its citizens than any other documented nation in history. This, while accurate, is of course heavily skewed by the size of the United States and its population relative to other dynasties and nations. (Wiki - Incarceration in the US, Wiki - United States incarceration rate)

However Dotini raises an excellent point about serf and servitude, and how the definition of 'free man' has changed over the years.

 

[BobK]

Here is an open ended question. Can anyone name a country where there is more prisoners than there is free men?

This is a bit of a trick question. It depends on if "free men" means "free" as in liberty, or "non-prisoner". Arguably the vast majority of North Korea's population isn't free in the libertarian sense, so although I have no figures at hand on their prison population and I can't be arsed to google it, I'll go with them for my answer.

There are probably several countries with more prisoners than "free" depending on definitions.

I would doubt there are any countries at all with more prisoners than non-prisoners at this time but I could be wrong.

 

[Sanji Himura]

Let's define free men then. I wasn't going for the libertarian definition, however, let's define free in this discussion as non-prisoner peoples who are not serving any form of punishment in the criminal justice system of their respective countries (probation, parole, ect.)

 

[Dotini]

Let's define free men then. I wasn't going for the libertarian definition, however, let's define free in this discussion as non-prisoner peoples who are not serving any form of punishment in the criminal justice system of their respective countries (probation, parole, ect.)

I think it's possible to be placed on parole or probation without ever having been incarcerated or imprisoned. So "prisoner" might not be the best term, either.

 

[Scaff]

Let's define free men then. I wasn't going for the libertarian definition, however, let's define free in this discussion as non-prisoner peoples who are not serving any form of punishment in the criminal justice system of their respective countries (probation, parole, ect.)

Interesting as the question is, it doesn't have (at the moment) a lot to do directly with this thread.

As such can it either move 'on-topic' or to a new thread of its own.

 

[Dotini]

North Korea is governed by an hereditary dictator approved by what amounts to feudal lords. All the people are locked into a feudal order of servitude, i.e., bondage. Such societies are anathema to most advanced western societies, which dispensed with dictators and feudalism long ago. So these anachronistic states are justifiably subject to sanctions, as we would wish to replace their regime with one more congenial to our values of human rights. Or so the argument goes. Things could also go "Boom!"

And we may say that the prisoners, or those locked in bondage, outnumber the free men.