I'm afraid of North Korea

[barbie]

One of my favorite memories was walking through the village in fall to visit my wife when the rice farmers stopped me and offered a big drink of fresh made Makgeolli from a big plastic jug.  I really liked that stuff.

Yes. I love drinking Mageolli. Nowadays diverse local brands are available. A disadvantage of it is that it will not last more than 2 weeks, although a few can last a few months in the refrigerator. Red wine can last several years, but even canned Makgeoli hardly lasts a year. Most commercial Makgeolli brands contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame for mass production, and I prefer a few local brands without any additive.

barbie~~

[Jenntrans]

Barbie, Me too. For all it is worth at least President Trump has gotten farther than any other president since the armistice was signed splitting the 38th Parallel more or less and creating the DMZ. I would love to see Phyongyang wit the same amount of traffic as Seoul. You can go to any youtube video and compare the difference. Hyundai, Daewoo, and a lot of other corporations come from South Korea. What comes from North Korea? I was totally in awe when I got in country and went out that night on my first "Soju experience", that is kind of a right of passage first night at your duty station. It actually reminded me of LA or NYC. Even on satellite pics at night North Korea is pretty dark compared to South Korea. I have heard so many horror stories from North Korean defectors and what they had to endure. Not only endure but what they had to lose. Not just them but their families. I would love to see both Koreas united but not under a Kim Regime.

So maybe there is a little hope now that the Kim now and future Kim no we are tired of playing the games. I doubt we will ever see reunification but at least South Korea may live in peace without the constant knowledge that the north may invade.

[barbie]

Barbie, Me too. For all it is worth at least President Trump has gotten farther than any other president since the armistice was signed splitting the 38th Parallel more or less and creating the DMZ. I would love to see Phyongyang wit the same amount of traffic as Seoul. You can go to any youtube video and compare the difference. Hyundai, Daewoo, and a lot of other corporations come from South Korea. What comes from North Korea? I was totally in awe when I got in country and went out that night on my first "Soju experience", that is kind of a right of passage first night at your duty station. It actually reminded me of LA or NYC. Even on satellite pics at night North Korea is pretty dark compared to South Korea. I have heard so many horror stories from North Korean defectors and what they had to endure. Not only endure but what they had to lose. Not just them but their families. I would love to see both Koreas united but not under a Kim Regime.

So maybe there is a little hope now that the Kim now and future Kim no we are tired of playing the games. I doubt we will ever see reunification but at least South Korea may live in peace without the constant knowledge that the north may invade.

Yes. I can see a glimpse of hope in the near future, at least some economic cooperation.

Clearly N. Korea has two advantages: 1) the yet undeveloped and unpolluted nature, 2) labor power. S. Korea desperately needs the two. Any possible economic cooperation between the 2 Koreas will boost the economic growth of the both countries. Many mountains and beaches of N. Korea can attract millions of tourists not only from S. Korea but from other countries, too.

barbie~~

[Jenntrans]

As for the unpolluted? I can't really say. As for the labor power? Even in South Korea, the people know how to work hard. But it is not forced labor though.

But to get unpolluted nature, you have to live among it and with it instead of against it. Cities will always be polluted with waste and industries and just smog itself from the amount of people driving vehicles. I am part Native American and even now a lot don't follow the guidelines set forth by nature. Do I really need to go to a one hundred acre multiplex to see a movie and be entertained for what, two hours? Do I really need to shop at a mall or can I buy the same shoes and clothes on Main Street with just a sidewalk between the grass and trees if they let them grow? I will pay a little more.

Barbie, pollution happens everywhere and not to sound like a globalist but what happens in China effects the West Coast because of the atmosphere and the way the winds works in the northern hemisphere. As for labor? No one wants to seem to work or start at the bottom anymore. I have a nephew that went to college and actually thought he would be making 100 thousand per year. He was sadly mistaken.

I would love to see Korea reunified but not in communism though. That does not seem to work forever and total capitalism doesn't either because you get bubbles that burst.

Hopefully both countries will be able to get along, trade between one another and those in the south that have family in the north and vice versa can cross the DMZ and reunite and reconnect with one another.

One good thing is that North Korea is holding a K Pop concert. Maybe they like K Pop now after the south blasted it across the DMZ. Hell I always liked it and still have cassettes. I used to watch Korean TV over AFKN shows.

[barbie]

As for the unpolluted? I can't really say. As for the labor power? Even in South Korea, the people know how to work hard. But it is not forced labor though.

Big companies here have moved their factories abroad, especially to Southeast Asia and China, because of high labor cost here in S. Korea. The average labor cost in N. Korea is every far lower than that of Southeast Asia and China. The close distance between S. and N. Korea will save a lot of money in transportation. The labor power of N. Korea is so much attractive to S. Korea.

Now people here are talking enthusiastically about possible tourism in N. Korea after the historic summit between the 2 Koreas. One mountainous area of N. Korea was particulary mentioned by the S. Korean president.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaema_Plateau



That plateau is comparable to the Alps. The dream will come true, hopefully.

barbie~~

[MaryT]

I think that recent developments, especially the shared Winter Olympics and the summit meeting between North and South Korea, are really good news.  I hope that they can keep up the momentum. 

It could still be a problem that North Korea does not have a democracy even by China's standards.  I do sometimes feel somewhat sorry for Kim Jong-Un, though.  Dictators don't always have as much real power as outsiders think.  It seemed to me that he may have been a young man who did not ask for total power but felt that he dared not dismount the tiger.

Still, good news is good news.  There is no room for complacency, though.  Three years after the Berlin Olympics, and less than a year after the summit in which Neville Chamberlain announced "peace in our time", WW2 began.