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Originally Posted by Bill Haywood
Nuclear war, of course.
Wrong. NK has no intention of going to war. They know it would be suicidal. They are literally surrounded by their enemies, and the support from China is questionable. They don't even have the expertise to reliably deliver a nuclear weapon, especially in terms of hitting the US.
The only reason they even pursued the nuclear program was to gain leverage in negotiations to lift sanctions, receive more aid, or have a sit down with the US directly, which we aren't willing to do. The South has been sending them food for decades. They feel bad for the citizens of the regime. The north tries to use their weapons program as leverage to get more aid (food). SK's Kim Dae-Jung used his "Sunshine policy" towards the north for years, trying to help/appease the North. It might have gotten the wrong idea in their heads. Some people looked at this policy as detrimental, and I have to partly agree.
In short NK acts like a petulant child. When they don't get what they want they start their saber rattling. When they are ignored, they do it more. That's why they tested nukes. Everyone was ignoring them for years.
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The aid you mention is a part of it. But the regime retains power by persuading the people that it protects them from imminent destruction and is a Big Player. Much of the theatrics is aimed at maintaining that drama. Since you study Korea, you know who Bruce Cumings is and should reread him.
Wrong. Their power is absolute. Kim needs no legitimate reasons to do anything. He's made political purges and simply executed any perceived rivals in government. If he can do this to the people who actually wield some sort of power, why do you think he needs to have do anything to control people who can't even feed themselves? The population are starving, poor, and routinely put into prison camps or executed when they disobey. There is no chance of an uprising in NK. The people are controlled by the propaganda of the Kim family being living gods and absolute police/military power. They have that pounded into their heads since birth. Their hatred of the US/South Korea is only a part of it.
I don't know about Cumings and I don't care to. I don't need to read some academic's interpretation of North Korea to understand what's going on there, I can read for myself what's going on.
This is a constant type of argument by people like you. "You should read X". It's silly. I don't have to read someone's book to understand a topic.
Last edited by wil318466; 05-14-2015 at 05:23 PM.