General North Korea thread

[Isolder74]

Pictures from North Korea. Surreal and stupid are the words that come to mind

Eating...grass? Can you even get any nutrition from that? Or was he harvesting for something else?

Hardly anything. The human body isn't built to deal with it. But when you are starving I guess anything is worth a try.

[Thanas]

Pictures from North Korea. Surreal and stupid are the words that come to mind

Eating...grass? Can you even get any nutrition from that? Or was he harvesting for something else?

The guy is not eating grass. He is harvesting weeds for salat, which is common even in well-fed EU countries. My aunt for example makes a great dandelion and nettle salad.

[Borgholio]

The guy is not eating grass. He is harvesting weeds for salat, which is common even in well-fed EU countries. My aunt for example makes a great dandelion and nettle salad.

Really? I never thought of dandelions and nettles to be anything more than common garden / lawn weeds to be eradicated...

[Thanas]

Oh, you can do all sorts of well-tasting things with them. There's salad, soup, paste, you can put them on and bake them with fish......using them has a long tradition, especially in countries that have gone through hunger years.

[Broomstick]

Dandelions are pretty tasty salad greens. You want to pick the leaves before they flower for best flavor and tenderness. Waiting until after they flower means more bitter and fibrous.

In extreme famine people have been known to eat grass just to have something to fill up their belly, but I don't think North Korea is quite that bad off at present.

[Spekio]

I remember, when reading Nothing to Envy, that during the widespread famine in the 90's-00's, people were eating grass and tree bark if only to mask their hunger.

Not sure if that is actually still the case.

[Broomstick]

It might still be done by those most disadvantaged. I haven't heard of it being a widespread practice outside of the bad famine years.

In WWII some Europeans did similar things to stretch dwindling food supplies during the worst of the war years. The practice always seems to show up with things get desperate enough that people are in real danger of dying from lack of food.

[Irbis]

In WWII some Europeans did similar things to stretch dwindling food supplies during the worst of the war years. The practice always seems to show up with things get desperate enough that people are in real danger of dying from lack of food.

WWII? Try 1989-1994 period

Sadly, there is a reason why various dictators and quasi-dictators are popular in old WP countries. I don't think I saw as bad as picking weeds, but scouring forest for edible fruits, mushrooms, and vegetables, with a side of poaching, most certainly.

Pictures from North Korea. Surreal and stupid are the words that come to mind

Can I ask what did you found surreal, out of curiosity?

Yes, NK is very poor country, but most pictures wouldn't looks out of place in other 3rd world countries, hell, I can easily show almost identical examples of dilapidated buildings, poor farmers and grey market stalls right now, in EU (though thankfully it got better since about 1-2 decades ago).

To me, some of descriptions under pictures looked really leading, I saw similar things firsthand and in most cases real explanation was plain stupidity, not maliciousness like suggested.

Anyway, one thing that surprised me were two girls holding hands. I wonder if it's just cultural difference and it was nothing, or if that was what it would be here.

[mr friendly guy]

Pictures from North Korea. Surreal and stupid are the words that come to mind

I found the image of people on computers with no electricity to make it work surreal. Presumably there are times when they do have power so buying a computer isn't just for propaganda purposes and it does have it uses some of the time. But definitely surreal.

[Metahive]

It's the attitude that the North Korean leadership has towards its own nation's status that makes it surreal. People hunger, things break down and life's standard's are about on 17th century Thirty Years War Germany's level with government goons brutalizing the populace instead of marauding mercenary armies and yet what's the leadership most concerned about? That you don't document either of that OR portray Kim Dynasty paraphernalia in an "undiginified" context. It's like the Kim Dynasty is annoyed and ashamed that it actually has to share "its" country with the rest of the population.

[Darth Tanner]

Quite a lot of the world has immense trouble keeping their electricity grids running 24/7... obviously they don't force people to pretend as if the power hasn't gone out but still for a third world country its not uncommon.

Until you think what South Korea achieved.

[Thanas]

Pictures from North Korea. Surreal and stupid are the words that come to mind

Can I ask what did you found surreal, out of curiosity?

The shining stature while the city was crumbling, the PCs with no electricity but people still had to pretend it worked, the refusal to show soldiers relaxing, to document malnutrition etc. But even more, the general attitude of "pretend everything is fine"

Anyway, one thing that surprised me were two girls holding hands. I wonder if it's just cultural difference and it was nothing, or if that was what it would be here.

I've seen grown women who most definitely were not gay hold hands, it is nothing in most nations.

[Broomstick]

In WWII some Europeans did similar things to stretch dwindling food supplies during the worst of the war years. The practice always seems to show up with things get desperate enough that people are in real danger of dying from lack of food.

WWII? Try 1989-1994 period

Really? It appears I need to update my personal knowledge bank. I'd also prefer not to derail this thread, could you perhaps list of a few nations/situations so I can do a little research on my own? (I only picked WWII because I was certain it had happened in that time period)

I don't think I saw as bad as picking weeds, but scouring forest for edible fruits, mushrooms, and vegetables, with a side of poaching, most certainly.

As I said, such things are common when times get tough. My mother-in-law retained a fairly comprehensive knowledge of wild foods in her area, gained from an impoverished childhood in Appalachia. Some of that knowledge includes knowing how to detoxify some wild foods - the massive quantities of water and the significant time to detoxify foods like pokeweed and acorns make them unlikely daily fare in good times but vital resources to fall back on in bad times.

Yes, NK is very poor country, but most pictures wouldn't looks out of place in other 3rd world countries, hell, I can easily show almost identical examples of dilapidated buildings, poor farmers and grey market stalls right now, in EU (though thankfully it got better since about 1-2 decades ago).

You can find it in the US, too, both in the past and in rural poverty areas in the present.

[Irbis]

The shining stature while the city was crumbling, the PCs with no electricity but people still had to pretend it worked, the refusal to show soldiers relaxing, to document malnutrition etc. But even more, the general attitude of "pretend everything is fine"

Well, *shrug*, I guess my mileage varies, because I saw some of the 'everything is fine' rituals first-hand in childhood. Very, very milder version, but still, when you actually went to state parade once I guess it doesn't look odd anymore. Ditto for 'photographing forbidden' signs everywhere on strategic objects, which were struck from the law in early 2000s. Hilariously enough, despite opposition claiming we should keep that to preserve NATO secrets (as if Russia didn't knew where all garrisons were or how they looked...).

Same with crumbling buildings, lack of electricity, queues, though in this case it was early capitalism where state abandoned many functions it did before. Shiny, new buildings only appear when someone pays for it, and when people care about food and shelter only, no one does. I can still find just identical scenes in half million city in the middle of EU if I bothered to look, especially when older and downsided groups live, so it doesn't look that strange to me either.

I've seen grown women who most definitely were not gay hold hands, it is nothing in most nations.

Again, in people's democracies, the ruling clique was either progressive (and gays were officially tolerated in 'everyone is equal' policies) or conservative, and it was banned like in any good old fundie state. North Korea was conservative in my impression so it stuck me as odd.

I found the image of people on computers with no electricity to make it work surreal. Presumably there are times when they do have power so buying a computer isn't just for propaganda purposes and it does have it uses some of the time. But definitely surreal.

That would be surreal, yes, if the description under photo was true. I might be cynical, but I saw enough sensationalist shit about eastern Europe that wasn't true to anyone who actually lived there to treat all photos with "this country is so backwards" description with suspicion unless confirmed by independent source.

[Thanas]

Irbis, they might be conservative in that society largely does not agree that gay people even exist, which means that by definition holding hands would not be gay as the people in question cannot possibly be gay. A similar thing is apparently happening in South Korea where it is usual for men to hug or sit on each others lap if close friends but which there isn't anything gay about it.

[mr friendly guy]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-31/a ... ea/5491454

South Korean man sentenced to hard labour for life in North Korea
Updated 24 minutes ago

South Korean missionary Kim Jong Uk
PHOTO: South Korean missionary Kim Jong Uk speaks during a news conference in Pyongyang in February 27, 2014. (Reuters/Kyodo)
RELATED STORY: North Korea fires shells near South Korean warship, says SeoulRELATED STORY: N Korea renews threat to conduct nuclear missile testRELATED STORY: North Korea should face ICC over rights abuses: KirbyRELATED STORY: Jailed US citizen Kenneth Bae appeals for release
MAP: Korea, Republic Of
A South Korean man has been sentenced to hard labour for life in North Korea, after being convicted of espionage.

North Korean state media is reporting missionary Kim Jong Uk had confessed to setting up an underground church.

The KCNA news agency says Kim confessed to his guilt, including state subversion, espionage, anti-state propaganda, agitation and illegally entering the country.

"The accused admitted to all his crimes: he committed anti-DPRK religious acts, malignantly hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK overseas and tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang ... for the purpose of setting up underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK while luring its inhabitants into South Korea and spying on the DPRK," KCNA said in its report on the trial.

North Korean prosecutors were reported to have sought the death penalty for Kim.

The Christian missionary appeared on North Korean television in February, where he confessed to spying for the South Korean intelligence agency while conducting his church activities.

Pyongyang has dismissed calls from Seoul for his release and for his family to visit him.

Last year, US citizen Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years hard labour.

The Korean-American missionary was charged for seeking to topple the government in Pyongyang.

Kim's sentence comes as military tensions between the two Koreas have been simmering for several months.

Earlier in May, Seoul accused North Korea of firing two artillery rounds across their maritime border near a South Korean navy patrol ship.

While the shells did not hit the vessel, the South replied with several rounds.

North Korea has warned that recent "provocative" activities by US troops at a truce village on the heavily fortified inter-Korean border could lead to a "catastrophic" military clash.

[Ahriman238]

Now the EU is 'viewing with alarm' possible developments in the DPRK's nuclear technology.

VIENNA - The European Union said on Wednesday it was concerned that North Korea - which has threatened to carry out a new nuclear test - was enhancing its ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads for the country's missiles.

In a statement at a meeting of the 35-nation governing board of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the 28-nation EU said it was "deeply concerned" about reports that North Korea may be preparing a fourth nuclear test since 2006.

"We remain equally concerned that the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is increasing its ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads for their missiles," the statement read. It did not give details.

North Korea has long boasted of making strides in acquiring a "nuclear deterrent", but there had been general scepticism that it could master the step of miniaturizing a nuclear warhead to mount on a ballistic missile.

But there has been a shift in thinking since North Korea conducted a nuclear test in February last year and amid on-off indications it is preparing another, and some experts now say it may be closer than previously thought to putting a nuclear warhead on a missile.

The isolated and poverty-stricken state, which regularly threatens to destroy the United States and South Korea, defends its nuclear program as a "treasured sword" to counter what it sees as U.S.-led hostility.

No one outside the inner circle of North Korea's nuclear program fully knows what advances the country has made.

[Broomstick]

Nothing in the article says "North Korea", but "over the Pacific" would be the route a North Korea to US missile would travel.

Pentagon declares test of Ballistic Missile Defense System a success

(CNN) -- The U.S. military successfully conducted a test of the Ballistic Missile Defense System in a joint military exercise on Sunday, the Pentagon confirmed in a statement.

"This is a very important step in our continuing efforts to improve and increase the reliability of our homeland Ballistic Missile Defense System," Missile Defense Agency Director Vice Adm. James D. Syring said in the statement.

A long-range, ground-based interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and successfully intercepted a simulated incoming ballistic missile threat launched from a test site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, colliding over the Pacific Ocean.

The Pentagon says initially it appears that all the systems and components performed as expected.

The agency says it will spend the next several months conducting an extensive evaluation based upon telemetry and other data it got during the test.

"We'll continue efforts to ensure our deployed ground-based interceptors and our overall homeland defensive architecture continue to provide the warfighter an effective and dependable system to defend the country," Syring said.

A number of U.S. government and military defense agencies participated in the joint exercise, including the Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force 30th Space Wing, U.S. Northern Command, the Army and the Navy.

The Pentagon says Sunday's test of the Ballistic Missile Defense System was the 65th successful hit-to-kill intercept out of 81 attempts since 2001.

[Spekio]

North Korea considers new Seth Rogen film an act of agression.

This is on par with the bad hair day incident.

[Ahriman238]

I saw a trailer for that film, and immediately thought they'd overreact to it.

[Borgholio]

I love how they describe Seth Rogen as a gangster. Priceless.

[Isolder74]

They did the same thing when Team America: World Police. So far their response is under par on this one. As of right now they are complaining that their leader is featured in the film no matter the context.

[Lagmonster]

It would be just great for historians if North Korea declares a start to the "Seth Rogan War". The guy's publicity would be tremendous.

[Metahive]

They should be grateful for making Kim Jong-un look like a an actual adult instead of a pudgy manchild.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Anyway, one thing that surprised me were two girls holding hands. I wonder if it's just cultural difference and it was nothing, or if that was what it would be here.

Girls holding hands are otherwise displaying public signs of affection are a very common sight in most East Asian countries, and it isn't considered homosexual or romantic in any way. It's a cultural thing. I remember my first trips to China and Japan I was initially thrown off by the sight like you are.