North Korea

[Anonymous]

Here's hoping this situation in North Korea occupies the news long enough for Kim Jong II's fashion sense to be adapted throughout the world. That hair! Those glasses! Those outfits! He's a fashion dynamo!

Oh, and should we ignore his attempts at extortion or enter into discussions? Is North Korea a bigger threat than Iraq? Discuss.

[Reeko]

Absolutely not. He is grasping at straws trying to shake down the West for money. His withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is a rediculous ploy to keep NK on the front page of the American newspapers.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not. He is grasping at straws trying to shake down the West for money. His withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is a rediculous ploy to keep NK on the front page of the American newspapers.
But what about the glasses? You have to admit, he has cool glasses.

[Troy S Goodfellow]

Absolutely not. He is grasping at straws trying to shake down the West for money. His withdrawal from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is a rediculous ploy to keep NK on the front page of the American newspapers.

Well, I wouldn't call it a ridiculous ploy. After all, it worked the last time NK threatened to withdraw.

Is NK a bigger threat than Iraq? It's a more plausible threat, though neither one is especially likely to attack anything. Iraq is neutered and years behind NK on the nuke thing, and Saddam isn't a certified nutcase like Kim. But NK is being contained by more than one state. It's lack of fuel reserves prevent from undertaking a major offensive, though they could obliterate Seoul in the first half hour of any war if they chose to.

The glasses are cool in a Jack Osborne kind of way. The Mao jacket is not.

Troy

[Anonymous]

The people in Iraq don't necessary like Saddam, if Saddam is ousted, I truly do believe that there will be rejoicing on the streets of Baghdad. But Kim is a God to the people of North Korea. You can replace him as leader but you'll have a much harder time replacing him in the hearts of North Koreans.

[Idar Thorvaldsen]

The glasses are cool in a Jack Osborne kind of way. The Mao jacket is not.

I believe the jacket was very popular in South Korea a time back, when relations between North and South were getting better.

As to whether North Korea or Iraq is more dangerous, it is hard to say. But North Korea's Communist Mind-Control style is a lot creepier than Iraq's brutal despotism.

[SpoofyChop]

Orson Scott Card has some very interesting and highly intelligent things to say about North Korea.

http://www.rhinotimes.com/greensboro/osc2.html

[Tyjenks]

Orson Scott Card has some very interesting and highly intelligent things to say about North Korea.

http://www.rhinotimes.com/greensboro/osc2.html

Nice link. Thanks Spoofy.

[Jason McCullough]

It's amusing that Card doesn't even try to provide sources for his theories. "I'm just reading a map!"

Thanks, really.

[SpoofyChop]

It's amusing that Card doesn't even try to provide sources for his theories. "I'm just reading a map!"

Thanks, really.

He's just that smart! :D

[Dirt]

And a delightful piece of fiction it is.

The man doesn't know jack shit about the geopolitics between China and Taiwan. Neither North/South Korea and China. He's also wrong, clearly, about Rov... I mean Bush's final decision (the one that the Republican pundits have been denegrating Clinton for) which is to have discussions with North Korea to continue to provide aid to the country. Here's my own piece of fiction:

USA: You helped to create the regime, now help us broker a resolution.

China: You created the Axis of Evil, you take care of it yourself, we have our own problems to deal with.

Knowing full well that the USA will either have to concede to North Korea or face having to fight a war on 2 fronts.

[Qenan]

It's amusing that Card doesn't even try to provide sources for his theories. "I'm just reading a map!"

Thanks, really.

He's just that smart! :D

He writes well, but I'm not convinced there's much reality to it. And Bush is a goddamned hypocrite.

[Idar Thorvaldsen]

Is this (http://www.korea-dpr.com/16feb.htm), in fact the official homepage of the DPRC? The domain is registered to the president of the Korean Friendship Association, as far as I am able to ascertain. It seems legitimate, but it seems improbable that any country would let itself be represented by this.

[Jason McCullough]

No, that's the official homepage. They're that kooky.

The Song Of National Defense here (http://www.korea-dpr.com/KFA_hymn.mp3) is the funniest thing I've ever heard. It's a SHOWTUNE.

And if this (http://www.korea-dpr.com/souv3.htm) wasn't $40 I'd be all over it.

[Lunch of Kong]

...that's the official homepage.

The way I heard it, the guy asked the North Koreans if they would sponsor his North Korea fanpage, and they said yes. So now it's the official North Korean homepage.

I think I heard this on an NPR interview.

[Sean Tudor]

LOL! There is a tourism section !!!

[Supertanker]

I'm seriously thinking about buying a Socialist Achievement Mousepad (http://www.cafeshops.com/cp/prod.aspx?p=kfa.3191346), if just for the irony value.

[Captain Cookiepants]

And if this (http://www.korea-dpr.com/souv3.htm) wasn't $40 I'd be all over it.

He just looks so happy to be in the sun watching the show!

[Jason McCullough]

Here's an absolutely, fucking terrorfying timeline for NK's nuke production from Kristof (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/04/opinion/04KRIS.html).

Feb. 14: The C.I.A. confirms that North Korea is reprocessing plutonium, making a pre-emptive U.S. military strike more difficult because of the risk of radiation leakage.

Feb. 15: "This is not a crisis," the White House declares.

March 17: North Korea announces that it will resume missile tests. Stocks plunge in Tokyo and Seoul.

March 26: North Korea test-fires a two-stage Taepodong 2 missile. It soars over Japan, knocking 9 percent off the Tokyo stock market. C.I.A. analysts warn that a three-stage version of the Taepodong 2 could reach the U.S. mainland.

March 27: "This is not a major crisis," the White House declares.

April 7: On the birthday of the late Great Leader Kim Il Sung, North Korea resumes construction of a nuclear reactor in Taechon that will be capable of producing plutonium for 44 warheads annually.

May 1: The U.N. Security Council approves sanctions. Without Chinese enforcement they mean little.

June 29: North Korea completes reprocessing, and the plutonium is dispersed to be made into warheads.

July 10: North Korea tests a nuclear device. Stocks tumble worldwide, leading a big Japanese bank to the edge of bankruptcy.

July 12: North Korea formally declares itself a nuclear state, proudly asserting that the "Korean Bomb" will be used on behalf of all Koreans to combat Japanese and American aggressors. Stocks plunge worldwide, triggering a Japanese banking crisis and a global recession.

July 13: "This is not a monumental crisis," the White House says.

July 15: Tokyo's mayor, Shintaro Ishihara, launches a campaign for prime minister on a platform of building nuclear weapons.

July 20: With its plutonium safely hidden, North Korea begins to pressure the U.S. to negotiate a package solution to the crisis. Its troops spray machine-gun fire across the DMZ. South Korean and Japanese stock markets fall 7 percent.

Aug. 1: A sealed vial of anthrax is found in an Osaka subway car. No one is hurt, but some commentators suggest it is a message from North Korea to the U.S.: "You'd better talk to us."

Aug. 5: Iranian and Libyan nuclear buyers are spotted shopping in Pyongyang.

Aug. 6: "We shouldn't exaggerate this crisis," the White House says. "As we've said from the beginning, we're always ready to sit down with North Korea and talk."

Aug. 13: Donald Rumsfeld offers three military options to President Bush. The minimal one calls for a cruise missile strike on North Korea's known nuclear facilities (but because the plutonium has been reprocessed and the warheads hidden, we cannot take out its nuclear arsenal). The maximal one also destroys the North's air defense system and much of its artillery.

Aug. 16: Intelligence intercepts suggest that North Korea will respond to even a minimal U.S. military strike by launching conventional missiles at Japan, and to a broader strike by turning Seoul into "a sea of fire." The C.I.A. warns that if the North finds itself losing a conventional war, it will use chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons against Japan and U.S. forces in South Korea. All sides brace for a new Korean war, which the C.I.A. estimates could kill one million people.

Aug. 17: Colin Powell is told by President Bush: "If only we'd listened to you two years ago about the need to engage North Korea! Even this February, if only we had started negotiations. I'm sorry, Colin, we blew it." Then Mr. Powell wakes up and realizes he was dreaming.

Iraq, even if we fuck it up, won't lead to this kind of nightmare. I hope the Bush team is smarter than they look.....

[Met_K]

Didn't you watch The Daily Show the other night? Bush is a wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am type guy when he's not on the cameras! He's sure to woo that crazy fashion-statement-obsessed Kim Jong! Woe, I bet those guys will become the best of pals, seeing as how Bush has the Texan Cowboy Hat Of Schmooz (+6 charisma!) he wears whenever he's not at the White House.

Oh, Georgie, what will we ever do when you forsake us for your new friend Kim? No more regular television appearances? No more letting Donnie Rumsfield throw the constitution around like he wrote it? No more ignoring Powell simply because he's a real live person and not some evil alien robot?

Georgie, we love you!

[Sean Tudor]

One thing that always makes me laugh is when Bush II delivers one of his serious speeches - his head always bobs up and down. Funny stuff ! :D

[Anonymous]

That's because Dick Cheney has his hand up his ass, moving his mouth.