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Thread ID: 130251	2013-04-02 17:32:00	North Korea - what would you do if you were South Korea's president ?	Digby (677)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1335123	2013-04-03 02:43:00	6 Launch a MAJOR propaganda campaign on the North Korean people with leaflets and tv and internet etc . How do you propose this? N . Koreans don't have access to the internet, they have a country wide intranet . TVs in N . Korea are all set government channels . How would you distribute leaflets? Drop them from the sky? That would mean entering NK airspace . Do you think that will end well? Tell China you are happy for North Korea to exist, but it must move towards a more democratic state . Right, and while you're at it you can tell china to be democratic too . .	Cato (6936)
1335124	2013-04-03 04:26:00	Digby, you forgot to mention Russia, their tanks and katusha rocket launchers seen mostly on tv. Lurking.	Lurking (218)
1335125	2013-04-03 05:03:00	Quote from someone in South Korea: It is worrying, but they've had to deal with this sort of thing for the past 50/60-ish years. Just thought I'd give my two cents from over here. Edit: I suppose that "don't seem to care" is an over simplification, and I certainly can't talk for all Koreans or others living in the country. However, I talked to another one of my co-workers and he mentioned that the Korean army has a 4 point danger number that they use to decide mobilization (1 being the highest, and four the lowest), and the number is currently resting at a 3. So, apparently, even the army isn't even that worried about the situation right now. Additionally, there are some very simple and important pieces of information that people need to understand about Korea, most of which has already been said before. 1: The two Koreas have been at war for over 60 years, and there is a constant back and forth between them of minor attacks. For example, (can't remember exact dates or names, sorry!) the North bombed a South Korean island in the past couple of years, and they sunk a South Korean warship. However, North Korea simply does not have the ability to wage a full scale war against South Korea. They can do small attacks, like those mentioned above, but they just don't have the resources to do it. 2: Any real aggression that comes from North Korea will be countered with the complete destruction of their leadership. In other words, soon after they make their first move, they will cease to exist. Again, they just don't have the ability to fight a war, let alone protect themselves from the most powerful countries in the world. 3: South Korea just swore in its new (and first female) President. As with any new leadership, its opponents will want to test it to see how it reacts to pressure. I believe that this is part of what is going on right now. If Park Geun Hae simply collapses under the pressure then Pyeonyang knows that it can get away with anything it wants to over the next four (five?) years. Otherwise, it will learn that it has to tread a little more carefully. In either case, the North Korean leadership needs to understand the 'opponent' that it will have to deal with for the near future. Additionally, as you might expect, the presidential race focused a lot around the North Korean situation. I believe that the president who won campaigned on a pretty hard-line approach to North Korea, which would, again, explain why the North feels as if they have to test her mettle. 4: Re-unification of the Korean peninsula, while sounding nice to those on the outside, has a huge range of issues that make it almost an unbearable idea to many living in Korea. The most striking is that the North is so impoverished that if they were unified today what is now South Korea would probably spend the next decade or more digging themselves out of the financial hole that such unification would create. Unless there is some significant gains in economic ability in the North, many of the people I have talked to (while wanting to unify for the sake of reuniting families and destroying such an evil and despotic government) are very afraid that their lives will cease to exist as they know them now. 5: Finally, their country is so impoverished and the people are so neglected, that without the assistance from China (who is now very pissed), they would cease to exist, probably within a matter of a year or two, if not a couple months. All this isn't to say that North Korea is stable and everything is peachy keen. I expect that radical changes will happen on the Korean peninsula in the next 5, certainly 10, years. There is just no way that the North can continue to keep its head above water. And while I certainly hope that this kind of change can be brought about peacefully, any aggression on the North's side will bring swift, and serious retribution from the international community. TL;DR There is a lot of hype about North Korea. However, there is very little worry by the South Korean people, and there are very good reasons why people shouldn't be getting all worked up as they do over it.	Bozo (8540)
1335126	2013-04-03 05:12:00	Bozo's reference has it pretty much right I'd say. Although I still wouldn't say they are too poorly equipped to do any real damage. I certainly think they are. But who knows what they might have developed secretly, or what the likes of china have slipped them under the table cloth. Personally I'd treat them as having the potential to cause damage until proven otherwise. No sense in looking like an idiot when Kim rolls through your hometown in Middle Island or off to the side island if he gets that far, laughing at you because you said he was hopeless	The Error Guy (14052)
1335127	2013-04-03 05:20:00	What about NK's nuclear abilities? I know making a mess in your own backyard isn't the brightest idea...	Jen (38)
1335128	2013-04-03 05:22:00	Bozo's reference has it pretty much right I'd say. Although I still wouldn't say they are too poorly equipped to do any real damage. I certainly think they are. But who knows what they might have developed secretly, or what the likes of china have slipped them under the table cloth. Personally I'd treat them as having the potential to cause damage until proven otherwise. No sense in looking like an idiot when Kim rolls through your hometown in Middle Island or off to the side island if he gets that far, laughing at you because you said he was hopelessits hard to say what north k ability is after seeing some of their photoshop images ;)'	plod (107)
1335129	2013-04-03 05:59:00	If I was prez I would stir stuff up covertly sink some of their ships shell some of their villages and push North Korea to attack. Then give them an an ass whipping and unify the country.	prefect (6291)
1335130	2013-04-03 06:06:00	I reckon Samsung should over throw NK, then turn it into their very own Foxconn	plod (107)
1335131	2013-04-03 06:09:00	Bozo's reference has it pretty much right I'd say. Although I still wouldn't say they are too poorly equipped to do any real damage. I certainly think they are. But who knows what they might have developed secretly, or what the likes of china have slipped them under the table cloth. Personally I'd treat them as having the potential to cause damage until proven otherwise. :thumbs: to both Error Guy and Bozo's source.	WalOne (4202)
1335132	2013-04-03 07:40:00	Bozo's quote is very helpful to those of us outside the region. My understanding is that despite the last 60 years of tension there is a great deal of affection and sympathy between the actual people of the two Koreas. The problem is the politicians and military take a harder line although they have good reasons to do so. I suspect this current noise is posturing by Kim Jong Un which will quieten down after the Chinese and the US offer more aid. That is what has happened in the past. Its true that China won't want a US backed army on the whole peninsula but the main threat from the USA is their blue water navy which China cannot counter. Plus China already has massive border threats from India and Russia - Korea is a tiny border by comparison.	Winston001 (3612)
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