Korea Thread: Fumbling to take a bite of kimchi

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Korea Thread: Fumbling to take a bite of kimchi

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

Ditocoaf posted:

Maybe China and the US can BOTH pay SK to reintegrate with NK. 40% overlapping interest is enough to make that work out, right?

Prop up some sham unity government filled with Chinese and South Korean suits, and break up the country into zones of interest. Chinese companies gets to mine and have slave factories in this zone, while South Korean companies gets to mine and have slave factories in that zone. Give people a tad more food than they're receiving now and give them access to Chinese and South Korean media, and they'll be happy for a few decades at least. Just imagine the hilltop removal and strip mining that will follow 21st century technology discovering a whole country worth of natural resources to exploit.

When the whole thing comes falling apart in 20-40 years it'll be someone else's problem.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2014 00:52

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 00:10

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

fishmech posted:

This really isn't true. North Korea has all sorts of modern tech for civilians, you just have to be in the upper few million of people to be able to afford it. Their military stuff is crap because the state can make big bucks off selling some of their newer tech they had to other places, but the same sort of thing doesn't really apply to consumer goods. The kind of stuff a decently well off middle class resident of Pyongyang might have in their apartment - an ok HDTV, a cheap smartphone and tablet, a cheap computer - are going to be pretty similar to what you might have as a lower middle class resident of Seoul.

The main thing is the Pyongyang resident has to deal with food still being more likely to be a worry, the electricity being unreliable, and the media they can access being pretty lovely. And of course this all gets worse as you go down the scale to the other regional cities, and then people struggling to get by in the countryside are going to have less stuff. But they'll all still have heard of poo poo like computers and phones, and at least the party officials or whatever in the nearest town will have them

Also most North Koreans probably don't buy into the regime's story about stuff the way you seem to think either, at least no more so than East Germans really bought into everything the DDR government was saying, even those in the fringes of the country where receiving west German radio and TV was difficult to impossible.

Also remember that those luxuries in Pyongyang are poo poo that's cheap to slap in. A lovely HDTV, a smartphone/tablet, and maybe some battery packs to deal with blackouts aren't breaking the bank. They're a cheap way to paint a paper thin veneer of western luxury onto the lives of a select few. Just because the regime can afford a few thousand bucks a pop to give a few people some toys doesn't mean it won't be a gigantic nightmare to deal with things like food, electricity, medicine, and basic plumbing for the millions of people who currently exist solely to produce food for the select few or hold guns to scare the west. Like you said, that's going to be the real problem.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2017 00:13

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

rear end struggle posted:

and we have lift off

let's see how the orange retard responds

CNN is reporting it failed. I guess the orange retard is off the hook and it's the little fat boy's ball.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2017 00:14

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

Main Paineframe posted:

Otto Warmbier, in death, is becoming a conservative icon. Apparently, the alt-right dug up a bunch of old "maybe it wasn't a good idea for a frat boy to travel to a notoriously brutal anti-US dictatorship on a 'party tour' and get drunk as hell" takes and are claiming them as evidence that he's a victim of some kind of leftist crusade against straight white males.

Maybe we'll see conservatives flock to North Korea to prove their conservative street cred by doing dumb poo poo and getting arrested.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 01:24

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

Baronjutter posted:

I need some up to date website that tells me which authoritarian dictatorships US conservatives worship as a country with strong leaders who get things done, and which are enemies due to being authoritarian dictatorships.

It's called Trump's twitter.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 01:29

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

OhFunny posted:

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/882698361689837569

Haley must be going solo on this since the State Department is dysfunctional.

She's probably taking orders from Trump - reread her statements and it certainly appears that she's reading some of his words verbatim.

Mr. Nice! posted:

That's 25% failure rate on equipment they have been maintaining that was being operated by the best soldiers.

The fixed artillery on the border is old and dilapidated and is certainly not manned well enough to achieve anything close to 75% success rate. I'm not trying to say that it wouldn't have some effect. All I'm saying is it is very low on the priority list behind the massive socioeconomic problems that have been the real stopping force behind unification of the peninsula.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that the artillery was not at one point a massive part of the deterrence, but that was also back in Il Sung's day.

Do you have anything to back this up besides "ehhh I'm sure it's all junk"? We have real world data from small artillery exchanges. Why should we ignore that real data and replace it with a theory that has no supporting data?

# ¿ Jul 5, 2017 22:40

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

OhFunny posted:

If that's the case then I think we're definitely headed to war with North Korea.

Normally you'd think so but Trump is such a loving idiot that you can't tell if he's gearing for war or if he's just trying to puff up and fan his feathers more than the other peacocks.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2017 22:54

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

mastershakeman posted:

conversely, no one would notice or care if one hit the south side

Trump administration declares victory in Chicago war on crime.

# ¿ Jul 29, 2017 19:19

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

Willo567 posted:

So if we do end up using a nuke on North Korea, the world is hosed because now everyone is going to start using nukes, right?

Using nukes is still going to really piss off your target�s neighbors and �kill as many civilians as possible� isn�t going to magically become every country�s goal.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2017 14:51

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

Reminder that a ton of Americans were either isolationist or supporters of Nazi Germany right up until we entered WW2.

A large chunk of South Koreans being apathetic or viewing the North positively doesn't mean they won't fight for their homes if they have to.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2017 04:18

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 00:10

A GIANT PARSNIP: Apr 13, 2010; Too much fuckin' eggnog

Shadow0 posted:

No, that was an automatic extension to April 30th. My flight was for May 1st, so I went in to get an extension:
So they gave me this:

The second time I went in, this time without a flight or anything, I got this:

which seems fine?
But also this:

So now the question is, which is it?

The conversation wasn't tremendously clear when I was in the office, so I had left after seeing my passport feeling like I had an extension, but now I'm so confused. Getting to the office to ask them again isn't easy. Though maybe I can have a Korean call them.
Should I ask the US Embassy?

Dunno if you eventually got help or not, but I would absolutely ask the embassy.

# ¿ May 2, 2020 18:38

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Korea Thread: Fumbling to take a bite of kimchi