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Post by ajk on Apr 2, 2018 20:00:00 GMT -5
I've read news reports that say younger people in NK don't care much about the government and are much more entrepreneurial. I wonder if this is Kim trying to score points with them.
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Post by truth on Apr 4, 2018 15:28:59 GMT -5
North Korean reaction to Kpop girl idol band Red Velvet
Exactly the same reaction as their 2003 reaction to Baby Vox
Hilarious.
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Post by truth on Apr 8, 2018 20:16:10 GMT -5
North Korean reaction to K-Rock band YB The reaction was surprisingly good. They try to maintain poker face for all other songs, but I guess you just can't resist rock. At the same time, I am worried for some of them who couldn't resist but to smile during the performance since the song is about freedom. Especially the girl at 6:04. The lyric at 6:04 goes "I'll spread my wings and fly freely all over the world" The girl's expression looks like she has just been enlightened by the gospel. This is probably the first time she's ever heard something like this. There is even an English lyric in this song which goes "God, save me." Some of them, although hesistant at first, even sang along when the vocal Yun Dohyeon tried to get them to sing along together. After the performance, Yun Dohyeon pretty much takes shot at KJU by saying "I know you guys are in a difficult situation and yet you followed along. I'm very touched", which implies that he knows that you people are being watched. What's scary is that Kim Jong Un was watching the whole concert at the VIP seat. KJU's reaction during YB's performance.
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Post by ajk on Apr 25, 2018 16:06:05 GMT -5
So yeah, their nuclear testing facility is pretty certainly destroyed. And of course KJU is going to cut the best deal he can for now, since he has no choice but to put the program on hold anyway. So these upcoming negotiations, they'd better squeeze NK hard because simply stopping testing is basically no concession at all.
From today's Washington Post:
North Korea’s mountain mystery: Is Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site still functional? by Adam Taylor April 25 at 12:23 PM
In upcoming talks between the United States and North Korea, one of the key details is a mystery at a 7,200-foot-high point in the country's north: Mount Mantap.
This mountain hosts part of a facility, Punggye-ri, that has been the site of all six of North Korea's nuclear weapons tests. The most recent test, carried out underground on Sept. 3, caused a 6.3-magnitude earthquake. Analysis of the seismic data suggested that the explosion's yield was as high as 250 kilotons, almost 17 times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that his country would not only suspend nuclear and missile tests, but also shut down Punggye-ri.
The move was greeted warmly by President Trump, who called it “big progress!” But observers suspect that Kim's announcement wasn't as generous as it seemed. After so many damaging tests, some noted, Mount Mantap had probably exhausted its use anyway.
On Wednesday, a group of Chinese scientists said they believe the testing site had already collapsed. According to the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, this team was led by Wen Lianxing, a geologist with the University of Science and Technology of China, and concluded that last year's test had turned the mountain into “fragile fragments.”
Any damage to Mount Mantap could lead to radioactive dust escaping through cracks or holes, a big problem for North Korea and neighbors such as China, the study claims. “It is necessary to continue monitoring possible leaks of radioactive materials caused by the collapse incident,” Wen’s team said in a statement, according to the South China Morning Post.
The study is due to be released in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, probably next month. However, his team is not the only one expressing worry about the structural integrity of Mount Mantap. After the September test, commercially released satellite imagery appeared to show that the mountain had shifted during the explosion and diminished in height.
“What we are seeing from North Korea looks like some kind of stress in the ground,” Paul G. Richards, a seismologist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, told The Washington Post in October. “In that part of the world, there were stresses in the ground, but the explosions have shaken them up.”
Mount Mantap may have “tired mountain syndrome,” experts suggested, a phrase that was applied to Soviet nuclear test sites after their repeated use fundamentally altered the rock mass around them. It is not clear whether this would mean that Punggye-ri would have to be abandoned as a testing site: The United States did not abandon sites that suffered from earthquakes and other disturbances because of repeated testing.
North Korea is a fundamentally secretive society, and its nuclear program is among its most secretive aspects. Most analysts are forced to rely heavily on commercial satellite imagery when assessing Mount Mantap and Punggye-ri. Although their findings are important, there may be limits to what they can tell us about North Korean policy.
A website, 38 North, that focuses on North Korea and frequently publishes satellite imagery published an unsigned commentary on Monday that said Punggye-ri is “still, as far as we can tell, fully operational.” The website noted that although one part of the testing site did appear to be inactive — the North Portal — other parts still appeared to be functional.
The following day, 38 North published an analysis by Frank V. Pabian, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. and Jack Liu that pointed to satellite imagery from Friday, the day after Kim's announcement. The imagery showed at least eight mining carts and a new structure at Punggye-ri's West Portal, a site not directly under Mount Mantap and not previously associated with nuclear tests but one with new tunneling seen as recently as early April.
The authors said the unusual presence of the carts, parked and apparently not in use, could be the “first visible indication that North Korea intends to cease further tunneling,” but they added that this was speculation and would require more assessment. Ultimately, it is not clear why there would have been tunneling at this site previously, or why it might have stopped.
When Kim announced last week that North Korea would suspend nuclear weapons and missile tests, he said that “the northern test site has finished its mission,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The news agency also paraphrased Kim and said the test site would be “dismantled to transparently guarantee the discontinuance of the nuclear test.”
The language fits with North Korea's narrative of its suspension of testing. In November, Kim said that North Korea had “finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force” — suggesting that its testing had served its purpose.
But pledges to dismantle Punggye-ri may be empty if the site is unusable anyway. Without outside inspections, it is also unclear whether a “dismantled” nuclear testing site could be easily restarted at a later date or whether North Korea has alternative testing facilities lined up.
www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/04/25/north-koreas-mountain-mystery-is-punggye-ri-nuclear-test-site-still-functional/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.acdaf8ba4b83
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Post by truth on Apr 25, 2018 16:51:09 GMT -5
So yeah, their nuclear testing facility is pretty certainly destroyed.
It's only a single one and it's not the first time they did this. They destroyed one back in Kim Jong Il era 12 years ago only to build it again. We can hope for the best, but I have doubt that KJU will actually completely get rid of all of his nukes. I mean he can always hide one or two nukes even after making it look like he got rid of all nukes. You'd never know. The rumor is that they'll sign a peace treaty and bring an end to a Korean War that technically had been going on since the ceasefire in 1953. Hopefully, NK opens up their country like China did in 1970s and accept capitalism, but I have doubt on this as well since NK regime is built upon so much lies unlike China. Opening up their country like China could delegitimize the NK regime. Nevertheless, NK needs to apologize for invading SK first if a peace treaty is to be signed and stop lying to their people that the United States invaded NK first after invading and colonizing South Korea. NK also teaches their people that SK has been colonized and enslaved by Americans for the last 70 years and NK has to free their brethrens from evil American bastards. Hopefully, NK people can start expressing their feelings freely in the near future just like 32,000 NK defectors in South Korea. Funny clip from show that features NK defectors. South Korean actress who recently played a North Korean in a movie introduces herself in Pyongyang dialect and the show host tries to get her to have conversation in Pyongyang dialect with a North Korean defector who came from Pyongyang. The funny part is that SK actress speaks in Pyongyang dialect, but the NK defector speaks in Seoul dialect. The NK defector came to SK in 2014 and she already forgot how to speak in her home dialect lol.
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Post by sageuk on Apr 25, 2018 16:56:21 GMT -5
Those memoirs from North Korean escapees say that in their history books they tend to teach that the South Koreans started the war. No surprise that they would claim that.
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Post by truth on Apr 25, 2018 17:03:13 GMT -5
Those memoirs from North Korean escapees say that in their history books they tend to teach that the South Koreans started the war. No surprise that they would claim that. Which is something they need to stop teaching if a peace treaty is to be signed and apologize to SKs about. Big reason why NK is lying to their people is because we are technically still at war and they want to secure their regime. Ok, we'll sign a peace treaty and you can keep your regime like you want. At least start teaching your people real history if a peace treaty is signed. They also need to stop teaching their people that SK is the poorest country in the world while NK is the richest, which is pretty much opposite from the reality.
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Post by sageuk on Apr 25, 2018 17:13:39 GMT -5
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Post by truth on Apr 25, 2018 17:40:52 GMT -5
Sad, but many of them if not most had adjusted to life in South Korea as well. The people who come out in these NK defector shows are one of the examples. They were the first to come out and say that most defectors adjusted to life in SK and don't wish to go back when one defector came out on NK state media to blast the SK after going back. I think people who come to SK alone are usually the ones that have hard time adjusting to life in SK. Ones who brought their entire family usually settle better.
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Post by sageuk on Apr 25, 2018 18:01:58 GMT -5
It sucks that these people are ostracized by South Koreans though, after all they've been through to escape
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Post by truth on Apr 25, 2018 18:12:15 GMT -5
It sucks that these people are ostracized by South Koreans though, after all they've been through to escape Well, you can't help it. SK is still technically at war with NK and NK continuously attacked SK various times since the ceasefire with the most recent one being in 2015. Not to mention that NK continously threatens to nuke Seoul and turn SK into sea of fire. The image of NK defectors did improve a lot due to the defector TV shows like the clip I posted above. There are defector Youtubers now as well. There's an English Youtube channel called AsianBoss that occassionally features interviews from NK defectors. Check it out when you have a chance. Here's their most recent video featuring a NK defector.
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Post by ajk on Apr 26, 2018 14:54:39 GMT -5
...NK needs to apologize for invading SK first if a peace treaty is to be signed and stop lying to their people that the United States invaded NK first after invading and colonizing South Korea. NK also teaches their people that SK has been colonized and enslaved by Americans for the last 70 years and NK has to free their brethrens from evil American bastards. This. I'd love to know how many of the NK people still accept the NK government lies about all this and how many know the truth. If most know the truth then it's not such a big problem...but if most don't know any better then it's tough to see KJU going to them and saying, You know the whole story we constantly shove down your throat about the American aggressors? Well guess what we made it all up. The shock of hearing that your entire understanding of the world, and the reason for your government being so aggressive, it all based on fraud and lies, well it's hard to see KJU risking the backlash he'd get from it. Maybe the best that can be hoped for is some sort of long-term deal that sets up a better government for NK and kicks in upon KJU's death. Hard to see him agreeing to anything that gives up any power or authority any time soon.
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Post by sageuk on Apr 26, 2018 16:13:28 GMT -5
Answer's obvious: fear.
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Post by truth on Apr 27, 2018 0:19:35 GMT -5
...NK needs to apologize for invading SK first if a peace treaty is to be signed and stop lying to their people that the United States invaded NK first after invading and colonizing South Korea. NK also teaches their people that SK has been colonized and enslaved by Americans for the last 70 years and NK has to free their brethrens from evil American bastards. This. I'd love to know how many of the NK people still accept the NK government lies about all this and how many know the truth. If most know the truth then it's not such a big problem...but if most don't know any better then it's tough to see KJU going to them and saying, You know the whole story we constantly shove down your throat about the American aggressors? Well guess what we made it all up. I think most still accept government lies. The exceptions are people who live in border area with China since they have contact with Korean-Chinese who live across the border(just like French Canadians, there's a region in China that has Korean as an official language) and people who live in this area are usually the ones that defect to South Korea after learning the truth.
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Post by sageuk on Apr 27, 2018 17:17:22 GMT -5
So much positivity over the news that the Korean War is formally ending at the Korean summit. Videos of Kim Jongun walking on South Korean soil spreading, the first time a North Korean leader has done so since 1953. Photos of Moon Jae-in and the North Korean dictator shaking hands all over the place. And Putin's puppet is trying to take credit for it.
I'll be called a killjoy for saying this, but that's just it. "Formally". Its a formality. Nothing else. We'll see what happens from here. I suppose transitioning from "armistice" to "formal peace treaty" is a step forward, though it could be viewed as just for show.
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