His dad pulled the same crap a few times. The last time was back in '09.
The nation that cried wolf.
Sorry, I was up in the mountains this weekend, no internet, so no Dope.
First off, I was junior modding, I admit it, but It was late, I was tired and pissed about Rand dumping in what has been a really interesting thread.
Rand, if you can’t see why your obnoxious comment called called out, that’s your problem not mine.
Enough hijacking…
I was stationed in Seoul for three different years in the 80s and 90s, pulling shifts in full MOPP gear during drills and exercises, I’ve heard the blustering and posturing from the North Koreans before, but the timber and tone just sound different this time. I was there when the North’s submarine grounded itself and the sailors went on the run throughout South Korea. Several people were killed before all the sailors were captured, but even that didn’t feel as dangerous as this does.
Maybe they sound increasingly stressed and while they have renounced the Armistice before, it just feels different.
I really hope I’m wrong.
I used to collect the North Korean Propaganda that found it’s way to Seoul, but had to give it up before I shipped out, as it was illegal to possess. there were leaflets and postcards that would be dropped by weather style balloons, and even had some video tape of a children’s movie about killing the American Devils from the 70s. I really wish I still had some of that stuff, it was an art form in it’s own right. Off to ebay…
I don’t have a cite, but the South Koreans are picked for that duty partially based on height. Edit: yanceylebeef, can you corrobrate this?
I always love to see pictures of the SK border detail…they look super-sharp, and the glasses add a nice touch of bad-assery.
The Mouse that Roared?
This summer, coming to New York…
The height requirement is a bit of an urban legend. That’s not to say that the ROK army doesn’t pick bigger soldiers to serve at the Peace Village, but I’ve seen US Army soldiers there around d 5’10"
So, it’s not official policy, but I’m sure it happens.
NO ONE is going to tell China jack shit in advance. They will find out what we’re doing by watching it from their surveillance satelites.
How would be able to tell the difference?
Damn it. I wanted to make that reference.
http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm
Certainly the internal rhetoric is different this time. Normally the primary tone of the reports is about the wish to re-unify all of Korea, despite the continued divisive actions by teh ebil USA.
You got a point.
I hope you are, too. It’s so very hard to tell with North Korea - will they really invoke the wrath of both the US and China down on their heads (and the rest of the world, as far as that goes) because they are completely out of touch with reality? It’s hard to believe that they actually could go that far, but completely out of touch with reality people (and nations) do breathtakingly stupid things sometimes.
North Korea as a nation is Mentally Ill. It does not do rational things. It does not think rational thoughts or have a rational philosophy. So we cannot expect a rational and reasonable response to any of this.
However, having experience in this sort of thing, I can also tell you that giving in to their insane ideas of what should happen isn’t going to benefit anyone either, not even them.
All we can do is watch our back, stay strong, and wait for the outcome. Which will either be an insane burst of violence ending in their death, or a complete internal meltdown. Just like with a dangerously psychotic individual.
If they go with the Insane Death Blossom Orgy Of Fire, please don’t be surprised at their lack of humanity in the horrific things they are willing to do in order to hurt those around them.
It feels a lot like the Waco Texas situation to me. I’m not sure that - even in hindsight - anyone has figured out a way that we could have “won” that one.
I continue to disagree. Throughout the '90s they would do crazy stuff for attention, then calm down in return for more aid, then do something else crazy for more attention and then get more aid. That’s fucked up and terrible, but it’s rational. But that’s not working anymore and they So I hope they can rationally get themselves out of this.
I dunno. I think they’re putting on a crazy act to cover up the fact they’re genuinely crazy.
It’s like the national version of aggressive panhandling.
Allegedly, a North Korean TV show about Modern America:
Can’t comment on its provenance.
Remember the UN Sanctions stating banning luxury goods? They know the relative standards of living and import goodies to give as attaboys.
Baring a palace coup (looking less likely) od an over war started by the South (looking increasingly likely); this is more of same. If you look into internal policy changes under Un, there is some hope for improvement - one blur had him promising the farmers that they could keep 50% of their private crops. How many tones that actually means is yet to be seen, but hi IS raising hopes for a brighter future.
Maybe we could make a deal with China: they restrain Ki, and we restrain Song they both need muzzles - now th e South is making noises it wants its very own nukes.
Has anyone else noticed that, despite advance notice of the impending Boom!, simply nobody seems to know what kind of explosion this was, how big (tons of TNT) it was, how large (physical dimensions) it is?
I suspect that simply being ignored by everybody is 60% of its annoyance - it seems like their “Latest test is a Massive Improvement!!” Much Smaller - Close to fitting on Missile!"
World: “Yawn. Let us know when you can feed your people, 'K?”
They told the North Koreans not to perform that nuclear test last month and they did it anyway. What makes you think they can restrain them further?