How does the N. Korean gov't justify its actions?

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

Fucking pirates.

It seems they kidnapped a dozen Japanese people right off a Japanese beach, about 25 years ago. People who were inoffensively going about their business. Two couples strolling on the beach. A thirteen year old girl returning home from an errand. They were jumped from behind, tied, and taken by boat to North Korea, where apparently they’ve spent their lives training N. Korean spies in Japanese language and customs.

Now the N. Korean government admits that they were kidnapped, and has allowed them to briefly visit their homeland, but…they don’t want to let them return permanently. And just to make sure they don’t try anything funny, they refused to let their children go along for the visit.

And this government expects to be treated like a mature member of the community of nations. Shit, maybe W was right about the “axis of evil” thing.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

Theologians define Evil as a supernatural force vying against God to corrupt mankind. Secular humanists define Evil as any behavior that enhances an individual’s success at the expense of the success of others. And I define Evil as the enjoyment I get from watching thousands of innocents squirm in terror as I destroy the very underpinnings of everything they believe and hold dear in my quest to command supreme domination over all life.
EVIL IS NOT A PHILOSOPHY. IT IS NEITHER A MEANS NOR AN END. IT IS AN ATTITUDE AND A LIFESTYLE.
Make no excuses. Support no ideology. Never explain. You’re EVIL. Just do it.
–Commodore Vierundsechzig, Supreme Leader of the International Brotherhood of Rapscallions

From villiansupply.com

Frivolous, but a valid point in reference to the OP.

[Sublight]

Something I’d wondered about was, why kidnap?

There are hundreds of thousands of Koreans living in Japan who speak the language fluently, and a significant minority of them support the Pyongyang government over Seoul. It seems like it would be a trivially simple matter to just do some covert recruitment from among sympathizers, as the former Soviet Union had done in America. Instead of bringing in willing volunteers to help them, they do this.

It really does come off sounding like Bosda’s ‘evil for the sake of evil’ definition.

[Monty]

Ah, but Sublight, those living in Japan have the luxury of supporting the Pyongyang government from afar. They can tout how wonderful the dictatorial regime in Korea is whilst they enjoy the fruits of a democratic country in Japan.

[happyheathen]

How does the N. Korean gov’t justify its actions?

maybe:

it is a Sovereign state. it need answer to no one.

it’s called realpolitik.

not all is sweetness and light.

shocked? read history.

[divemaster]

Taken from a lengthy article:

There were an estimated 3,000 Christian churches in the northern part of the Korean peninsula before the country was partitioned at the end of World War II. Hundreds of thousands of Christians fled to the South before the border was sealed by the Korean War. Religion was declared an “imperialist invasion tool” by the Communist regime…

Reports of persecution of Christians outside of Pyongyang continue to filter out. Defectors say the control of society is so total it’s almost impossible to believe in anything religious. “Education sessions" identify Christian leaders in order to extract them from society. In the notorious “Prison No. 15” in the northern part of the country, an estimated 6,000 Christians are incarcerated with little hope of release. Christian prisoners are considered insane, and their families are identified for extermination for three successive generations.…

Lee Soon Ok, 55, spent seven years in a political prison camp in North Korea. She was not a Christian, but saw how Christians were treated.

“The torture, and the worst ways of execution, were most harsh on the Christians,” she said. "They didn’t give them clothes. They were considered animals. And in the factories, they killed them by pouring molten steel on them."

© 2001 The Washington Post Company
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 10, 2001; Page A01
By Doug Struck

The entire article had a profound affect on me. I cried for days after reading it. My wife is Korean and a devout Christian. She had the good fortune to be born in the South and never had to face the horrors of the North. But I can’t help but share her pain at her people (meaning all Koreans, not just the Christians) being torn apart and families destroyed by those murderous bastards.

[Neurotik]

The lesson (as always): No matter what religion or ideology is held by those with absolute power, horrible things are done to those who disagree with them.

It’s a universal rule. And a horrible one at that.