North korea becomes a sane nation?!

[BiscuitTrouser]

Holy. Shit. Balls.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/01/16279284-north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-offers-olive-branch-to-south-in-rare-address?lite

Today in the news pigs took to the air as north korean leader offered peace and a break down of hostility between North and South Korea. The leader admitted conditions in his country were poor and the economy needed change to become a sustainable nation. No details were made on HOW to do this but he agreed science and technology were to underpin the new economy that North korea needed.

I mean WOW. What a turn around. Thoughts? We might see an end of the hilarious/tragic state that is North Korea? As funny as some of their crazy shit is a LOT of people die and suffer in north Korea. But here we are. A sane (looking) leader. Is this some crazy ploy? Opinions people

 

[Keoul]

Funny, I read it as "Kim Jong Unoffers olive branch to south"
Still a bit suspicious though, don't go on hoping for world peace and all that just yet, don't forget they still launched a missile a couple of years back.

Let's just wait and see how things play out before praising him.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Eh, I'll believe it when I see it. It would definitely be a positive development if the two countries could work out their differences, but these sort of overtures have been made before and led nowhere.

Maybe the North Korean people just need some exposure to the things they've been missing out. Get them to play a few matches of Starcraft so they'll realize just how shitty Pyongyang Racer is.

 

[Amethyst Wind]

South Korea would basically have to be handed the reigns of North Korea for them to even think about accepting a ceasefire with the aim of eventual reunification. As things stand, South Korea is a reasonably successful state and doesn't want millions of (this is a quote) 'uneducated peasants' crossing the border from North to South.

 

[Doclector]

It's funny. Just last night I was kept up by thoughts that that things were getting weird. Not just for me, not just were I live, but that I could sense something intangible that everything was just a bit off.

And now I wake up to king crazy actually attempting peace with people.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Yeah... I give it a week.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

The question I have is did the North Korean people hear this speech? Even if the whole thing is bs its still quite ballzy for him to do if they did hear it. The entire N.K. society is built around the all powerful, all perfect, godlike figure that is the leader. They pray to portaits of him in their homes! To show weakness like that could have very bad consequences.

It would like if God held a press conferance and just went out and said, "Yeah I fucked this world up, my bad." Ignoring the whole God showig his face thing people would flip.

In the end we shall just have to wait and see.

 

[Basement Cat]

Time wise I give this thread until the Mods shake off their New Year's Eve party hangovers before it gets transferred to R&P.

OT: North Korea is in a pickle, no question about that. Kim's lived outside the nation long enough to realize that he cannot successfully keep the nation frozen in time.

One way or another N. Korea is going to have to come out of its shell.

Will this be it? Or the beginning of a series of growing pains?

Time will tell.

 

[NicotineStainedSoul]

Just the other month NK fired a test of a long range ballistic missile, supposedly for peaceful purposes.

This turn of events isn't anything new. NK has consistently played the world like this, one minute sitting down for peace talks and the next infuriating their neighbors with threats and aggressive action. The country subsists on handouts and plays the god cop bad cop routine every time to ensure they keep flowing.

The only hope I see for NK to be brought to heel would be if modern china finally decides they are done shielding this backward communist cousin from the rest of the world. Drop all aid, it only exists as long as its propped up and the second that is removed things will get ugly, but its gotta happen sooner or later. I'd rather see it happen before they are actually capable of dropping a nuke on the south or japan so as to lessen what will already be catastrophic damage and loss of life.

Another thing is, as much as he is the new dictator, he is still young and unproven and not as venerated as his father or grandfather...yet. He might want his country to go in that direction but he must appease the workers party and the extremely influential military. If i recall when he assumed power there was a complete reshuffle of the military, preventing any immediate threat of coups for power at the point of transition.

This is a dangerous game and I hope his intentions are good but he isn't going to be able to make any great leaps anytime soon without risk of division and coups. But I doubt this new Kim wants to shake the boat too much and it would be suicidal if he did.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Not sure what to think of it.
If it's true, I would think that most of the citizens will have a hard time to accept it (depite the bad times they're in, they still believed their nation is number 1 well from the documentries I've seen from that nation especially when they view their deceased leader was godlike).
Also depending how much reintegration, it may take a while for them to abjust with the rest of the world (like technologies, teachings and etc).

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I honestly hope the leaders of North Korea are starting to own up to the job, otherwise... it probably won't end well.

 

[aba1]

I wouldn't be surprised if Kim Jung Un was always under the thumb of his father and now with his father out of the way he is looking to try things a bit more his way and less his father. I could just as easily be wrong so I guess the only thing we can do is watch and see.

 

[AnarchistFish]

One of the first things Un did in power was ask for aid in return for some nuclear deal. He obviously has a different tact to his father.

 

[Pinkamena]

It's not too unbelievable. South Korea has set aside 50 billion dollars as a buffer for when the two countries (and also their economies) merge.

 

[White-Death]

I think he just wants Starcraft.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I was reminded the other day by a friend of mine (who studies Korean) that actually for a while after the Korean war North Korea was pretty prosperous, certainly more so than the South which was heavily reliant on US military and developmental aid at the time. It was only when increasingly strict isolationist policies cut the nation off from international trade that it all started to go wrong.

Ultimately, Kim Jong Un is going to have to find a way to stand down from or reinterpret some of the Juche ideals of his father and grandfather if North Korea is ever going to recover. "Science and technology" is not going to do anything if citizens in the DPRK can't export their products to the rest of the world or bring in any foreign currency.

Part of me suspects that the people will actually go with him on this. There are a lot of families in the DPRK who lost contact with relatives and friends during the civil war and many people do have something to gain from stronger ties between North and South even when you discount the potential economic benefits to them. The real issue is his own bureaucracy and military, and whether they'll go along with him on any plans for reform.

It's a good start, and given that Kim Jong Un is a new leader he brings much more of a blank slate with him than if his dad tried to pull a move like this, for example. Still, despite his supposedly untouchable position he's going to need to show a lot of political balls if he wants to reform his country.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I hope this is true, this was in his new year speech to the nation, so all North Koreans heard it, and he admitted they needed help and were poor! That is huge, this can't just be swept under the carpet.

Something's going to happen, be it coup, assassination, unreasonably ridiculous terms that South Korea immediately veto, but there is the small chance that this is a sincere proposal from a powerful man, and peace could result in it. Whatever happens it's going to be big big news.

 

[Lunar Templar]

'it's a trap' springs to mind to be honest

 

[fix-the-spade]

I mean WOW. What a turn around. Thoughts? We might see an end of the hilarious/tragic state that is North Korea?

Lip service (because that missile test last month pissed everyone off, including China next door).

Or he's about to get dragged away and shot by his military, who think it might be nice to have enough fuel to keep the lights on at night.

 

[jetriot]

If he sets his political prisoners free and shuts down the horrific prison camps then we can believe him. Until then he is still a monster.-