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Will capitalism free North Korea?
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Hater Depot



Joined: 29 Mar 2005
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:05 am    Post subject: Will capitalism free North Korea? Reply with quote
This guy seems to think so.

Quote:
A creeping revolution, both social and economic, is under way in North Korea and it seems there's no turning back. For decades, the country served as the closest possible approximation of an ideal Stalinist state. But the changes in its economy that have taken place after 1990 have transformed the country completely and, perhaps, irreversibly.

[snip]

In North Korea, which for decades was so different, this meant a revolution. The new situation undermined the government's ability to control the populace. People involved in the new market activities are independent from (or inured to) subtle government pressures that had ensured compliance for decades. One cannot promote or demote a vendor, transfer him or her to a better or worse job, nor determine his or her type of residence (though admittedly, most people still live in the houses they received when the old system was still operating).


Interesting article. I agree with him that the North will collapse from the bottom up, unlike the USSR. I think the best way to help this along is to attach conditions to all humanitarian aid: inspectors to make sure the food goes to people who need it and isn't just used to strengthen the military and reward loyalists. I wish the Seoul government wasn't undermining the World Food Program in this regard.
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rapier



Joined: 16 Feb 2003
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Will capitalism free North Korea? Reply with quote
Hater Depot wrote:
I wish the Seoul government wasn't undermining the World Food Program in this regard.


Reward bad behavior, punish good: the Korean way of doing things. Bit like a hagwon.
Suck up to Kim Jong Il, but demonise their proven allies the Americans.
I suppose the age old practise of placating ones enemies and neglecting your friends is an old survival mechanism of the korean nation.
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hypnotist



Joined: 04 Dec 2004
Location: I wish I were a sock
PostPosted: Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Having just come back from Singapore, I answer:

I doubt it. But maybe there'll be fewer people in labour camps (and more working in sweatshops).
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The Bobster



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 7:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Did a search, and the entire article can be found here. It's a good read, worth more than a couple of paragraphs as given in the OP.

Welcome to capitalism, North Korean comrades

It's also here : Policy Forum Online
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Hater Depot



Joined: 29 Mar 2005
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Oh, heh. Thanks Bobster, I meant to link it but I forgot and then thought I had. Embarassed
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EFLtrainer



Joined: 04 May 2005
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
On a general note: while a lot of the more conservative and not-so-conservative pundits like to say pressure from the US led to the collapse of the old USSR, I think it's basically bunk. (But, yes, I am over-simplifying...) The primary cause, it seems to me, was the slow realization that what existed beyond the Iron Curtain was a lot better (in some ways) than what existed behind it. This came from international media, music, V of A, travel on the part of citizens, etc.

There were no tanks at the Berlin Wall.
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Manner of Speaking



Joined: 09 Jan 2003
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't think its capitalism which will free North Korea so much as freedom of information. In some ways North Korea is like an ecosystem that abhors oxygen, that is trying to sustain itself in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. It's trying to seal off information from the outside, but because information is so ubiquitous (sp?), like a gas, it tends to diffuse into places where it is absent. Every bit, every single molecule, of open information from the outside world that leaks into North Korea is a threat to the current regime. EVERY bit.

The balloon is aging and crumbling, and won't last forever.
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Hater Depot



Joined: 29 Mar 2005
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ron and Mikhail's Excellent Adventure

The Myths of Ronald Reagan

These articles more than anything else shaped my thinking about Reagan's role in the Cold War. Fred Kaplan in particular is my favorite writer on military issues.
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Gwangjuboy



Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Location: England
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Did anyone see the secret footage of North Korea released by CNN last night? Those images were awful.
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Hater Depot



Joined: 29 Mar 2005
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
No, I missed it and then I missed the repeat showings.. is there any way to watch it online or order a DVD of it?
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jinglejangle



Joined: 19 Feb 2005
Location: Far far far away.
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hater Depot wrote:
No, I missed it and then I missed the repeat showings.. is there any way to watch it online or order a DVD of it?


I'm not entirely sure we're talking about the same thing, but I saw footage of a NK dissenter being executed last night.

You can find it on CNN.com
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