North Korea and the Nukes

[Galaril]

Well now that the UN has finally at least attempted to show they have a pair to the NORKS (North Koreans) and passed some sanctions what will happen next? I am very worried in general, that the boarding of North Korean ships will definitely include shooting. Do we really believe the North Koreans will let American, British, Australian or Japanese( ) coast gaurd /navy personnel board there ships and search them? No chance. And on a similar note here are a few pieces for anyone interested in the whole gamut of Korean pennisula stuff.

Here is a piece on a poll in South Korea which doesn't surprise me that much on who is to blame for the North Korean nukes crisis. The US of course.
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Four in 10 South Korean adults think the United States is the country most responsible for North Korea’s declared nuclear test on Oct. 9, a survey said yesterday.

Forty-three percent of the respondents aged over 19 picked the United States as the country most responsible for the North’s nuclear test.

The survey of 500 adults was conducted by Research Plus, a local research firm, by telephone Oct. 10-11.

North Korea was chosen as the second most responsible country with 37.2 percent, followed by South Korea with 13.9 percent, China with 2.4 percent and Japan with 1 percent.
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And there is a very interesting article on the North Korean Regime times by North Korea scholar B.R. Myers. He recently wrote an op-ed to the New York Times warning readers that North Korea just might be suicidal. In particular, Myers notes that while North Korea is often described as “Stalinist,” its worldview is much closer to fascist—and ultimately suicidal—Japan of the 1930s and 1940s. A good read and as frightening as it sounds not to far of the mark I think.
Since it requires registraion tor ead I posted the article below enjoy:

Kim Jong-il’s Suicide Watch


HOURS after Monday’s nuclear test, President Bush issued a stern warning to North Korea — but only against the passing of nuclear technology to other states or non-state entities. The president’s declaration thus reflected a confident consensus in Washington that while Kim Jong-il may try selling his nukes, he would never dream of using them himself. Why not? The explanation was given by a former national security adviser, Donald Gregg, on Monday: “Don’t panic. Kim Jong-il’s objective is survival ... not suicide.”

The same soothing logic could be applied to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, but of course it won’t be. These long-term diagnoses of Mr. Kim’s psyche are a roundabout way of saying that because he is not a fundamentalist Muslim, he is unlikely to do anything really crazy.

This sort of cultural profiling, however, can get us into real danger. Japan’s emperor during World War II, Hirohito, was neither religious nor suicidal, and he led his nation into a war that no rational leader could have hoped to win. The point is relevant, because although journalists persist in calling North Korea a Stalinist state, its worldview is far closer to that of fascist Japan.

Like the Japanese in the 1930’s, the North Koreans trace the origins of their race back thousands of years to a single progenitor, and claim that this pure bloodline makes them uniquely virtuous. The country’s mass games — government-choreographed spectacles with a cast of more than 100,000 — are often mistaken by foreign journalists as exercises in Stalinism. They are in fact celebrations of ethnic homogeneity. “No masses in the world,” the state-run Cheollima magazine reminded readers in 2005, “are purer and more upright than our masses.”

In state propaganda, Kim Jong-il is often linked, as Hirohito once was, to images of white horses, snow-capped mountain peaks and other symbols of racial purity. South Korea, on the other hand, is regarded as contaminated by too close contact with other races. At a recent meeting between generals from both Koreas, the North delegation’s leader condemned the South for allowing racial intermarriage. “Not a single drop of ink,” he intoned, “must be allowed to fall into the Han River.”

Naturally enough, the North Koreans’ race theory, like that of the Japanese fascists, actuates a blithe indifference to international law. A uniquely virtuous people has no reason to obey its moral inferiors, be they allies or enemies. China has now learned that despite decades of military and economic assistance it can draw on no residue of good will in dealing with Pyongyang.

Neither can the South Koreans, whom the North Koreans will revile for their ethnic treason no matter how much cash they pump northward. This utter imperviousness to gestures of friendship and conciliation bears obvious implications for the prospect of normal relations between North Korea and America.

The northern regime has so far restricted its racial propaganda to the home audience, because it wants the world to go on misperceiving it as a Stalinist state. This way we continue to pin our hopes on the kind of trust-building dialogue that worked so well with Communists in the 1980’s — and failed so disastrously with the pure-race crowd a half-century earlier.

While the North Koreans could kill a lot of people, they do not pose as great a threat to world security as imperial Japan did. Never have they shown any interest in forging an empire. All the same, the irrationality of their worldview is such that we should, at the very least, stop assuming that they would never use their own weaponry.

While Kim may not be suicidal himself, he shares Hirohito’s penchant for encouraging this quality in his people: “Defense until Death” is an increasingly popular slogan. In 2003 a colorful poster was disseminated to the foreign press showing a fat missile in flight with a suicide-readiness slogan on it: “Yankee, take a good hard look.” That isn’t bad advice.

B. R. Myers, an associate professor of North Korean studies at Korea University, is the author of “Han Sorya and North Korean Literature.”

[sachmo71]

I'm so glad we have yet another cute moniker for a group that is not our own. It makes it so much easier to show how little respect we have for them.

[Anthony]

this was the reaction to the UN sanctions:








oooooh....you said Norks....nevermind.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

I'm so glad we have yet another cute moniker for a group that is not our own. It makes it so much easier to show how little respect we have for them.

Actually, when I was in the US Air Force Intel in Korea, this term was widely used. Believe me they are calling us far worse

[Anthony]

if they're calling us poopypants i swear to God that'll be the last straw

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

this was the reaction to the UN sanctions:








oooooh....you said Norks....nevermind.

(I thought it was funny...)

SI