Do you think visiting North Korea is unethical?
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Well they’re propagandised sociopaths who think starving a whole nation is justified so long as the nation doesn’t share their politics.
Yep, even if we decided that the DPRK government is utterly evil, sanctions have only strengthened its legitimacy in the eyes of North Koreans. The only goal this is fulfilling is harming the people.
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Oh that sounds like it would be good with just vegetable broth! I do struggle traveling trying to find vegan options, or explaining that I don't want meat/eggs. Personally I would want to see what the hiking trails are like there!
I know
I try to veganize Korean dishes and use vegan Korean recipes, but I haven't found a great nengmyeun recipe yet. There's absolutely no better dish on a hot summer day than nengmyeun IMO. And for sure, the hiking would probably be amazing, but extremely cold if not during the peak seasons, haha. -
Yep, even if we decided that the DPRK government is utterly evil, sanctions have only strengthened its legitimacy in the eyes of North Koreans. The only goal this is fulfilling is harming the people.
The wests play book, people seriously think starving other people is ok for some reason because they’ve never gone a day without food in their lives.
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The wests play book, people seriously think starving other people is ok for some reason because they’ve never gone a day without food in their lives.
Country not aligned with the US? Bad, and therefore okay to starve.
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Yep, even if we decided that the DPRK government is utterly evil, sanctions have only strengthened its legitimacy in the eyes of North Koreans. The only goal this is fulfilling is harming the people.
What do you mean by “if”? That’s a fact and exposed by many defectors / informers and by the regime itself (their behavior). Also, it’s the NK government that’s starving its people. You think if sanctions were lifted people would suddenly be well fed? Wild.
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No amount of sanctions have risked government collapse in the DPRK either, all sanctions have accomplished is collective punishment. This is a deeply chauvanist take.
Neither will any amount of support for that corrupt government.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA486005
We’ve helped them before. They take our shit don’t give it to the masses then shoot missions over Japan. You don’t know your history or what you’re talking about.
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I would say, it's more dangerous to visit US than NK.
In the US you can be in trouble for many reasons.I have to say, it's easier to be in trouble while traveling in the US than in NK.
Show me the law where the us imprisons a family for generations for the sins of another like they do in North Korea. Stop being stupid.
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What do you mean by “if”? That’s a fact and exposed by many defectors / informers and by the regime itself (their behavior). Also, it’s the NK government that’s starving its people. You think if sanctions were lifted people would suddenly be well fed? Wild.
The problem with reporting on the DPRK is that information is extremely limited on what is actually going on there. Most reports come from defectors, and said defectors are notoriously dubious in their accounts, something the WikiPedia page on Media Coverage of North Korea spells out quite clearly. These defectors are also held in confined cells for around 6 months before being released to the public in the ROK, in... unkind conditions, and pressured into divulging information. Additionally, defectors are paid for giving testemonials, and these testimonials are paid more the more severe they are. From the Wiki page:
Felix Abt, a Swiss businessman who lived in the DPRK, argues that defectors are inherently biased. He says that 70 percent of defectors in South Korea are unemployed, and selling sensationalist stories is a way for them to make a living.
Side note: there is a great documentary on the treatment of North Korean defectors titled Loyal Citizens of Pyongyang in Seoul, which interviews North Korean defectors and laywers legally defending them, if you're curious.
Because of these issues, there is a long history of what we consider legitimate news sources of reporting and then walking back stories. Even the famous "120 dogs" execution ended up to have been a fabrication originating in a Chinese satirical column, reported entirely seriously and later walked back by some news outlets. The famous "unicorn lair" story ended up being a misunderstanding:
In fact, the report is a propaganda piece likely geared at shoring up the rule of Kim Jong Eun, North Korea's young and relatively new leader, said Sung-Yoon Lee, a professor of Korean studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Most likely, North Koreans don't take the report literally, Lee told LiveScience.
"It's more symbolic," Lee said, adding, "My take is North Koreans don't believe all of that, but they bring certain symbolic value to celebrating your own identify, maybe even notions of cultural exceptionalism and superiority. It boosts morale."
These aren't tabloids, these are mainstream news sources. NBC News reported the 120 dogs story. Same with USA Today. The frequently reported concept of "state-mandated haircut styles", as an example, also ended up being bogus sensationalism. People have made entire videos going over this long-running sensationalist misinformation, why it exists, and debunking some of the more absurd articles.
As for sanctions, yes, they are the primary cause of resource issues. There was mass famine in the DPRK in the 90s during the dissolution of the USSR, a problem that has since gotten far better. Starvation and resource scarcity isn't a deliberate choice by the government, in fact the DPRK frequently tries to expand trade, but can't import or export effectively due to sanctions, ergo it relies on minor trade with the Russian Federation and PRC. If sanctions were lifted, then trade would increase and the DPRK would have more resources to work with, ergo less issues with starvation (which currently aren't as big a problem to begin with as they were in the 90s).
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Neither will any amount of support for that corrupt government.
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA486005
We’ve helped them before. They take our shit don’t give it to the masses then shoot missions over Japan. You don’t know your history or what you’re talking about.
The US destroyed 80% of buildings in the DPRK, and dropped more tons of bombs on it than the entirety of the Pacific Front of World War II. Millions of Korean citizens, civilians included, were murdered by the US. Providing minor aid during the dissolution of their biggest trade partner, the USSR, while sanctioning them out of building up their own industry for trade with the world for necessities doesn't cancel that out at all.
Their nuclear program is to prevent the genocide the US committed against them from ever happening again, if you want to end the nuclear program then you should look to normalizing relations.
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Unwise, certainly
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