North Korea

[Tom]

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=82755

Now thats a damn cool thread. Interesting to see the photos you don't normally get to take.

Can anyone guess what these blocks are for? Hint, they're near the border

 

[rynnor]

This must be one of the most biased pieces I've seen written about North Korea.

It has its problems but so does the guy who wrote this - I dont understand why he's suprised to see tank traps when the war with the US backed South never ended and the US could invade at any time - the americans are still shit scared of communism on an almost religious level.

He can tell a plaster statue from a marble one just by looking at it from a distance eh? he must be a genius And the smeary glass ones just silly - I particularly liked the 'the lift was broken for 15 mins!!!!' - of course that never happens under democracy - lol!

Its not a rich country because they are forced to maintain a massive army for defence and the US blocks them exporting almost everywhere.

It is however changing and trying to bring in market forces to an extent but this isnt helped by the fact that the US still blocks it off hoping it will simply collapse.

Perhaps when I get out there I can bring you a more realistic picture of the country.

 

[Wij]

This must be one of the most biased pieces I've seen written about North Korea.

It has its problems but so does the guy who wrote this - I dont understand why he's suprised to see tank traps when the war with the US backed South never ended and the US could invade at any time - the americans are still shit scared of communism on an almost religious level.

He can tell a plaster statue from a marble one just by looking at it from a distance eh? he must be a genius And the smeary glass ones just silly - I particularly liked the 'the lift was broken for 15 mins!!!!' - of course that never happens under democracy - lol!

Its not a rich country because they are forced to maintain a massive army for defence and the US blocks them exporting almost everywhere.

It is however changing and trying to bring in market forces to an extent but this isnt helped by the fact that the US still blocks it off hoping it will simply collapse.

Perhaps when I get out there I can bring you a more realistic picture of the country.

lol - the US doesn't fear communism any more. Kim keeps the war effort up because it helps justify his dictatorship, same with the big army. It's all for the sake of control. Seriously, are you Alec Baldwin ?

 

[throdgrain]

Rynor you've lost the plot old son

 

[nath]

Kim keeps the war effort up because it helps justify his dictatorship, same with the big army. It's all for the sake of control.)

Kim = Bush. Dictatorship = Presidency.

 

[mank!]

they be damned cool pikchas.

disregarding politics and all that, i like looking at pictures of places i've never seen or know very little about. cheers for the link tombobjim.

 

[Wij]

Kim = Bush. Dictatorship = Presidency.

OK - entirely different point, badly made and skirting the issue but otherwise gr8.

 

[nath]

Mayhaps, but I was bored.

The guy posting the pictures did make some silly points though - i.e. the elevator being stuck for 15minutes. Plus "even in china they draw a fork".... so what?

 

[Mobius]

Wow, those pics are really cool. I'm gonna be spending hours on those forums now

 

[rynnor]

lol - the US doesn't fear communism any more. Kim keeps the war effort up because it helps justify his dictatorship, same with the big army. It's all for the sake of control. Seriously, are you Alec Baldwin ?

Theres still a part of the American psyche that fears communism because its different - the US still tries to export its brand of 'democracy' to various countries round the world partly because it wants the rest of the world to be like the US - its paternalism on a global scale.

 

[rynnor]

Rynor you've lost the plot old son

Not really - after such a biased article I merely tried to balance it out - the truth is somewhere in between.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Can anyone guess what these blocks are for? Hint, they're near the border

Deathstar laser turrets!

 

[Mazling]

Chilling, surreal stuff. Nice find.

 

[Ono]

North Korea is a country waiting for something to happen. The South Koreans want unification as do most of the public in the North - but it's not going to happen until the leadership from the North come out of the dark ages.

Some pictures from a poster at on another forum after his visit to North Korea:

http://www.soldave.34sp.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=12

He had dog soup whilst there

 

[rynnor]

Its not actually very difficult to go there if you go on one of the Friends of North Korea trips - I wonder what percentage of those who book onto the trips are actually working for intelligence agencies tho

 

[Aada]

Chilling, surreal stuff. Nice find.

Why chilling? its just a countrys way of life they probably don't know any different and don't care.

 

[taB]

IIRC from a documentary a saw a while back, the blocks are to stop tanks. They also have some suspended above the road. For about £1400 you can have a weeks holiday in N. Korea now, from train in and out of Beijing. Definately high on my places to go list!

Ben.

 

[rynnor]

IIRC from a documentary a saw a while back, the blocks are to stop tanks. They also have some suspended above the road. For about £1400 you can have a weeks holiday in N. Korea now, from train in and out of Beijing. Definately high on my places to go list!

Ben.

Aye, its a unique culture and well worth a trip I'd say - its number one on my places to visit list - most country's around the world are now pretty samey - North Korea isnt...

 

[djpringle]

To be honest it doesn't look that much different from South Korea. Get away from Seoul and the other major cities and it's a different world.

 

[Paradroid]

... Can anyone guess what these ...he road? (noting the slopes under the blocks)

 

[Yaka]

meh just watch JSA a damn kewl film about the the north and south army along the border.

 

[Alliandre]

It doesn't seem that bad. Poland didn't look to different when I visited, and they've been democratic for a long time. That, and Poland hasn't hasn't had their trade blocked by the US.

I could see very easily why a Russian would want to make a very biased view of a Communist country..

 

[DaGaffer]

It doesn't seem that bad. Poland didn't look to different when I visited, and they've been democratic for a long time. That, and Poland hasn't hasn't had their trade blocked by the US.

I could see very easily why a Russian would want to make a very biased view of a Communist country..

God, how soon they forget. Think about what you've just said about Poland, and ask yourself why that is? Could it be because even after nearly 20 years, the damage caused by Communism was so profound that you can still see its effects? I can't believe that anyone on here is being an apologist for North Korean (e.g. Stalinist) Communism, the worst social engineering experiement of the last 100 years. The people in North Korea are starving and we're supposed to believe they think they're in a worker's paradise. Get real.

 

[Alliandre]

God, how soon they forget. Think about what you've just said about Poland, and ask yourself why that is? Could it be because even after nearly 20 years, the damage caused by Communism was so profound that you can still see its effects? I can't believe that anyone on here is being an apologist for North Korean (e.g. Stalinist) Communism, the worst social engineering experiement of the last 100 years. The people in North Korea are starving and we're supposed to believe they think they're in a worker's paradise. Get real.

In my opinion, bringing it out of a Communist Dictatorship will hardly help. There are plenty of places in the world that aren't Communist that have a hell of a lot worse problems that North Korea. I would hardly say it's as extreme as Russia was under Stalin's reign.

I'm not condoning the society. I hate the idea of Communism, even if it's actually implemented properly, and everyone did what they was suppose to (ie. work despite everyone getting equal benefits anyway). What I'm saying is, you can't point all the problems of North Korea at the dictatorship in control. America have some of the blame for blocking as much trade as they can with them.

Also, it's been proved time and time again (Iraq, the Soviet block..) that sudden change from this sort of government causes lots of problems in the short term and solves nothing within the foreseeable future apart from Democratic Country leaders fears. In the future, maybe they'll start to lean more towards a capitalist and/or democratic approach, and things may start to get better, like China. What I seriously hope doesn't happen is another Iraq debacle.

On a side note, nice pictures, but I definately wouldn't want to visit. The place looks ugly.

 

[DaGaffer]

Name one other country in Asia where most of the population exists below subsistence level. Yes, you can argue that there are other non-communist countries with as many problems, but in the case of NK it makes more sense to look at its neighbours; particularly China and Vietnam as nominally communist countries that aren't basket cases, but also SK (of course). You don't have to bring a country out of communism through shock tactics (once again look at China and Vietnam), but unfortunately, to use a European parallel, NK is probably most like Romania under Caucescu, not really Communist, but a dictatorship/extreme personality cult, and they tend to only be broken by violence, either from without or from internal colllapse.

 

[gmloki]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/axis.shtml

Documentary on the Beeb a few years ago touching on this subject.

 

[rynnor]

Name one other country in Asia where most of the population exists below subsistence level.

Burma? places down there are in a bad way - thats why theres a massive influx of burmese girls and women prostituting themselves on the chinese border.

It has a dictator and the life expectancy is far lower than in North Korea plus its ridden with HIV and AID's.

Yes, you can argue that there are other non-communist countries with as many problems, but in the case of NK it makes more sense to look at its neighbours; particularly China and Vietnam as nominally communist countries that aren't basket cases, but also SK (of course).

SK was and is heavily supported by the US - not a fair comparison.

China is fricking huge and although the cities are becoming wealthy the peasants in the countryside are still dirt poor and if you think China is a happy state to live in nowadays you arent looking hard enough.

Vietnams doing better now but despite tourism its still a poor country.

The whole of Asia is poor compared to the West but its not that important - considering how much money they have the commuters on the tube this morning didnt look exactly ecstatic

 

[DaGaffer]

Burma's got some of the same dictatorial problems as NK, so draw your own conclusions. South Korea is/was supported by the US, but so what? You could make exactly the same argument about Japan; the point is they are part of a capitalist framework, of course its a fair comparison, in fact its the whole point. China and Vietnam are trading nations; they are engaged with the capitalist world and that's why things are improving, 'happiness' is hardly the point; the trend is in the right direction. NK can't engage with the outside world becaue it would mean the end for its masters when its people realised how badly they've been conned.

 

[rynnor]

NK can't engage with the outside world becaue it would mean the end for its masters when its people realised how badly they've been conned.

Have they been conned? What about us? We supposedly live in a democracy but we basically live in a two party state where theres practically no difference between them? Surely thats just a more sophisticated form of dictatorship?

 

[Tom]

lol.