# How do you solve a problem like North Korea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 7, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292 "2013-03-07T15:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/101 "2013-03-12T07:10:59Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > I actually wouldn’t be surprised if the Chinese along the NK border share a lot of cultural similarities with the North Koreans. That part of China used to be part of Korea, and I think there are still communities there that speak some form of Korean. > > I would be really surprised if North Korean defectors were allowed to join the Korean army at all. The idea that being friendly with NK = traitor to your country still exists in the south. Producing material that seems to praise the NK in any shape or form can get you arrested, even in these enlightened times. Koreans are one of the recognized ethnic groups of China, and there are plenty of ethnic Koreans who are Chinese in good standing and have been for hundreds of years. They’re mostly in Jilin province, on the border, but you can find them here and there everywhere; they’ve found themselves suddenly quite fashionable since the Korean Wave swept Asia. A lot of them are hairdressers, for some reason… ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/102 "2013-03-12T08:03:30Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > 50,000 NK citizens work in a “joint venture” on the SK border. NK makes about $90Millio/yr hard money on this operation. It’s still open. That’s not an open border. It’s a cash cow for the North’s government. And it’s also a potential group of South Korean hostages. > [@](#): > > They cut the Red Cross line Cut, don’t answer. Same old same old. > [@](#): > > A military line is still open Is it being answered? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/103 "2013-03-12T08:05:14Z")
> [@Scholar\_Beardpig](#): > > Koreans are one of the recognized ethnic groups of China, and there are plenty of ethnic Koreans who are Chinese in good standing and have been for hundreds of years. They’re mostly in Jilin province, on the border, but you can find them here and there everywhere; they’ve found themselves suddenly quite fashionable since the Korean Wave swept Asia. > > A lot of them are hairdressers, for some reason… I was surprised while I was walking into the Wal-mart near my apartment in Maoming, China when I heard someone speaking Korean. I stopped in my tracks, turned around and saw a guy talking on his cellphone. Apparently, he was calling family back in Jilin Province. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/104 "2013-03-12T08:07:05Z")
> [@Scholar\_Beardpig](#): > > I couldn’t give you a web-friendly cite, but I know it was written in the book _Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader,_ by Bradley K. Martin. Yes, there is a tremendous amount of re-training involved, and most of their positions are just sinecures, but there is a standing offer for any North Korean officer who defects to the South to be re-commissioned. > > Then again, the book was written in 2006, so the situation may have changed… I lived in South Korea from 1977 to 1979 and 2005 to 2012. I don’t recall a single one of the refugees from the North being commissioned into the ROK military. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/105 "2013-03-12T08:25:29Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > … > Is it being answered? I don’t remember that being reported in the SK news article I saw - I have no idea how they test, and I don’t have privy to that number, so I can’t call. Just on a wild guess: the North would at least give the little red lamp a glance if unidentified beeps started coming across their radar screens They get the PR buy taking a humanitarian line off the hook; their populace may not even know that military lines exist and would therefore not care; the leader ship would risk war by cutting the military - would they do that if there were no political gain from doing so? The South news mentioned the military line; the North mentioned only the Red Cross. ---
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/106 "2013-03-12T14:18:38Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I lived in South Korea from 1977 to 1979 and 2005 to 2012. I don’t recall a single one of the refugees from the North being commissioned into the ROK military. Yi Ung-pyong. He’s mentioned in both the book I mentioned before, and in _North of the DMZ,_ by Andrei Lankov - which also mentions that the 1962 law had such a provision, though it no longer does. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/107 "2013-03-12T14:39:37Z")
Here’s a thought. Tell China (and sign a pact to the effect) that if NK collapses and Korea unifies, that the US will not station troops anywhere in the former NK territory. China relaxes and lets the renegade NK government collapse. \Peace dividend ensues. China has business relations with SK and in principle wouldn’t have trouble with them as a direct neighbor, it’s the US troops and equipment that gets their “knickers in a twist”. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/108 "2013-03-12T14:46:52Z")
> [@Scholar\_Beardpig](#): > > Yi Ung-pyong. He’s mentioned in both the book I mentioned before, and in _North of the DMZ,_ by Andrei Lankov - which also mentions that the 1962 law had such a provision, though it no longer does. Can you find a good link to that person? I tried, but got a lot of irrelevant stuff. Oh, if anyone’s interested, here is some good reading I just saw a few minutes ago: [Why China Still Supports ‘Little Brother’ North Korea](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-china-wont-little-brother-185700923.html). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/109 "2013-03-12T14:48:56Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > it’s the US troops and equipment that gets their “knickers in a twist”. Actually, that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. It was likely true in the 1950s but today, it has nothing to do with the facts on the ground. China simply doesn’t want any change in the situation. It’s not the American presence that they’re concerned about, it’s the presence–or, more accurately, the possible lack of presence–of North Korean’s current government. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/110 "2013-03-12T14:49:14Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Here’s a thought. Tell China (and sign a pact to the effect) that if NK collapses and Korea unifies, that the US will not station troops anywhere in the former NK territory. China relaxes and lets the renegade NK government collapse. \Peace dividend ensues. > > China has business relations with SK and in principle wouldn’t have trouble with them as a direct neighbor, it’s the US troops and equipment that gets their “knickers in a twist”. I think it’s more the thought of millions of impoverished, emaciated North Koreans streaming into China that has them worried. ---
**Author:** ![Scholar\_Beardpig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Scholar\_Beardpig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scholar_Beardpig)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292/111 "2013-03-15T15:08:05Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Can you find a good link to that person? I tried, but got a lot of irrelevant stuff. > > Oh, if anyone’s interested, here is some good reading I just saw a few minutes ago: [Why China Still Supports ‘Little Brother’ North Korea](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-china-wont-little-brother-185700923.html). I’m afraid I don’t have any such information; all I’ve got are two books, both of which are several years old. But I recommend them highly as pleasure-reads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-north-korea/652292.md?page=5)