News Kim Jong Un Given 4-Star General Status at age 28

[mugaliens]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100928/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_succession" .

How embarrassing!

 

[alt]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100928/ap_on_re_as/as_nkorea_succession" .

How embarrassing!

Did you see the news reports, the video footage. Chilling stuff - straight out of Orwell's 1984. What a place !

 

[airborne18]

Did you see the news reports, the video footage. Chilling stuff - straight out of Orwell's 1984. What a place !

You have to watch the documentary "Welcome to North Korea". Really is an eye opener

 

[alt]

You have to watch the documentary "Welcome to North Korea". Really is an eye opener

Thanks - I've heard of it but haven't seen it. I'll see if I can get it.

 

[waht]

I bet the 46 South Korean sailors died so that the young general could prove himself.

 

[mugaliens]

I bet the 46 South Korean sailors died so that the young general could prove himself.

I wouldn't put it past that regime.

You have to watch the documentary "Welcome to North Korea". Really is an eye opener

It's available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=welcome+to+north+korea+documentary&aq=1". You even have two options, all 53 minutes at once, or broken into six parts!

 

[mugaliens]

Just finished the Welcome to North Korea documentary. It was filmed in 2001, two years before I moved to S. Korea.

Unbelievable. I was going to say "sad," but "pathetic" more aptly describes what that government has done to the people of that country. They citizenry are so brainwashed it's likely they honestly believe that Kim Jong Un is a diety and deserves his promotion.

ETA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_268_pBvPs&feature=fvw".

 

[nismaratwork]

Not surprising, but maybe not bad either. Kim Jong Il is crazier than most... maybe Un will just be messianic and monomaniacal, but slightly more predictable. Here's to hoping.

 

[alt]

Not surprising, but maybe not bad either. Kim Jong Il is crazier than most... maybe Un will just be messianic and monomaniacal, but slightly more predictable. Here's to hoping.

One possible 'hope' is that Un has been educated it the West, and having being thus subjected to Western 'decadence', might find it preferable to the alternative extant in his country.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

One possible 'hope' is that Un has been educated it the West, and having being thus subjected to Western 'decadence', might find it preferable to the alternative extant in his country.

Which surprises me. You'd think he'd have been kept on a tight leash.

 

[nismaratwork]

I don't think it's ignorance of the west that drives Kim Jong Il... just his people. After all, he enjoys liquor and movies... presumably he wanted to share the same stuff with his kid. It's the NK people who are in the dark.

 

[alt]

I don't think it's ignorance of the west that drives Kim Jong Il... just his people. After all, he enjoys liquor and movies... presumably he wanted to share the same stuff with his kid. It's the NK people who are in the dark.

Yes, but wouldn't you say kept in the dark by Il and his regime ? The old commie mentality that he's been brought up with, educated in, dies not at all (liquor, movies, and naked romps with nubile NK chicks notwithstanding).

I have generally noted though, that where a person is educated makes for a good dose of his formative years. Therefore, I was remarking that Un, though strident as his father might be on the outside, might have a different set of values on the inside - having a good taste of the West in his formative years.

Then again ..

 

[russ_watters]

I have always believed that dictators pick a belief system primarily as a governing strategy and that it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their actual beliefs.

Edit...for that matter, don't all politicians do that?

 

[nismaratwork]

I have always believed that dictators pick a belief system primarily as a governing strategy and that it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their actual beliefs.

Edit...for that matter, don't all politicians do that?

Yes, and yes... in my view and experience.

 

[mugaliens]

I don't think it's ignorance of the west that drives Kim Jong Il... just his people. After all, he enjoys liquor and movies... presumably he wanted to share the same stuff with his kid. It's the NK people who are in the dark.

How much you want to bet he and his son have unlimited Internet access? (smirk)

 

[Astronuc]

Interestingly, I heard this story on the BBC this morning -

Kim Jong-il son speaks out against North Korean successionKim Jong-nam says he opposes hereditary transfer of leadership after younger half-brother tipped to become next ruler

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/12/kim-jong-il-son-opposes-dynasty

North Korea leader's eldest son 'opposes dynasty' Kim Jong-nam has said in the past that he has "no interest" in succeeding his father The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il says he opposes a dynastic succession that would see his younger half-brother take power.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11520566

Maybe there is hope for the North Koreans.

 

[G037H3]

Of course he's opposed, if his brother is being chosen ahead of him.

 

[Astronuc]

Of course he's opposed, if his brother is being chosen ahead of him.

Apparently he didn't want it. He'd prefer to hang out in Macao.

 

[G037H3]

Afraid of assassination or an uprising. :P

 

[nismaratwork]

Maybe he doesn't have the stomach to play the role he'd need to. It's one thing to benefit from the setup in another country... it's another to play "the great ruler" at home. I'm kind of baffled that anyone would want to run a country when they can have money and freedom as an alternative.

 

[G037H3]

Maybe he doesn't have the stomach to play the role he'd need to. It's one thing to benefit from the setup in another country... it's another to play "the great ruler" at home. I'm kind of baffled that anyone would want to run a country when they can have money and freedom as an alternative.

There's this incredible concept called civic/societal responsibility. There hasn't been any in 65 years, but it is still a concept.

 

[lisab]

From Astro's Guardian link:

He said he hoped Kim Jong-un would "do his best to bring abundance to the lives of North Koreans" and that he was ready to help from abroad.

Lol...

 

[G037H3]

From Astro's Guardian link:



Lol...

moral support! lol

 

[mugaliens]

I'm so glad the entire world can read this thread!

Except, perhaps, the unbelievably isolated N. Korea. What an incredible contrast to the unbelievably open S. Korea. NK: poorest internet access on the planet. SK: most advanced internet access on the planet.

Perhaps the younger son was chosen because the older took one look at his legacy and said, "no way!"

I hope the younger son follows the older son's rationality.

One can only hope. And if it's not rationality, then perhaps integrity, righteousness, even simply "doing the right thing." Hopefully the younger one hasn't been so mindlessly brainwashed he's unable to make his own decisions. Perhaps that's what happened to their father, and it's not him, but the ruling military regime which puppets (how's that for an action verb?) a leader.

Oh, joy. Look what misery it's bought their people.

If the younger is either incapable or unwilling to accept the horrific legacy of his father and grandfather, then he will most certainly doom yet another generation of millions to gross, inescapable, abstract poverty resulting in the deaths of many more millions.

Let us all, please hope and pray, he is not that stupid.