North Korean Leader Dies

[ParadiseLost 333]

Is anyone else amazed at how badly koreans are taking the death of their leader - its such a closed society there!

[chelsea89 4]

I'm not at all surprised. He was worshipped by them literally, they hold congregations where they " thank the leader" for being merciful and gracious to their country.

[ParadiseLost 333]

I actually don't know much about North Korea but 10 days of mourning for their leader shows they really must have loved him!

[the sad clown 3]

It helps to have the entire state mobilized around his personality cult. Media, education, and law enforcement are all thoroughly engaged in creating and maintaining this cult. Even if they didn't love him, there still would have been a ten day mourning period. The state decrees it, and the state holds control over each and ever life within its borders.

 

My wife is Korean, so I have read some about North Korea. I hope the new government can break away from this past and start along the path of reunification with South Korea.

[Teckni 1]

Considering this new leader has no experience, I have a feeling North Korea is taking a turn for an even greater worse. The Kim Jong family all needs to be charged for crimes against humanity as mass murderers.

[the sad clown 3]

Considering this new leader has no experience, I have a feeling North Korea is taking a turn for an even greater worse. The Kim Jong family all needs to be charged for crimes against humanity as mass murderers.

If things get worse than they are now, I doubt the military leaders will allow him to rule for long. He'll either be a figure-head or a sacrificial lamb, depending on whether he cooperates and his perceived value as a propaganda tool.

[ala'adin 184]

When I first read the story i thought that the people would have been happy, but they looked genuinely upset. I initially thought it was all for show as the world has known him to be a tyrant for many years. In fact some papers ran with the headline "tears for a tyrant"... I guess it goes to show again how we on the "west" only ever see one side of the story...

[the sad clown 3]

When I first read the story i thought that the people would have been happy, but they looked genuinely upset. I initially thought it was all for show as the world has known him to be a tyrant for many years. In fact some papers ran with the headline "tears for a tyrant"... I guess it goes to show again how we on the "west" only ever see one side of the story...

And why would the North Koreans release a video of people happy that their cultic leader died? Everything is controlled there. You can't even leave the country without risking your own life or the lives of your family. Nevertheless, I do not doubt that they did succeed in gathering enough people who were capable of shedding tears to make the video. All that takes is a program of thorough indoctrination. Surely you can believe that is possible, why, you already believe it is possible with every false religion out there.

[zain al 1]

Still any leader brave enough to stand against the judeo-american hagemony deserved to be admired.

[ala'adin 184]

And why would the North Koreans release a video of people happy that their cultic leader died? Everything is controlled there. You can't even leave the country without risking your own life or the lives of your family. Nevertheless, I do not doubt that they did succeed in gathering enough people who were capable of shedding tears to make the video. All that takes is a program of thorough indoctrination. Surely you can believe that is possible, why, you already believe it is possible with every false religion out there.

 

I do not disagree with you, but my post was only intended to show the disparity between the two medias

[ParadiseLost 333]

We may only see one side but I think they only see one side too...

[superstar 0]

I actually don't know much about North Korea but 10 days of mourning for their leader shows they really must have loved him!

 

It's not love. It is fear induced by a lifetime of brainwashing. NOT LOVE....FEAR.

[Scotia 1]

I think this sums up the media in North Korea............

 

Kim Jong-il may have only played golf once, but he was still apparently able to record the best round in the history of the game. That is of course if you believe the questionable claims by media outlets in Pyongyang in 1994. He was said to have shot 38 under par (an unbelievable 25 shots better than the world record) on a regulation course, including an astonishing 11 holes in one. Talk about beginner's luck! Sadly, the Guinness Book of Records have yet to recognise the Dear Leader's achievements on the fairway.

 

from MSN, 13 unlikely 'facts' about Kim Jong-il

[superstar 0]

It helps to have the entire state mobilized around his personality cult. Media, education, and law enforcement are all thoroughly engaged in creating and maintaining this cult. Even if they didn't love him, there still would have been a ten day mourning period. The state decrees it, and the state holds control over each and ever life within its borders.

 

My wife is Korean, so I have read some about North Korea. I hope the new government can break away from this past and start along the path of reunification with South Korea.

 

It's a nice thought, but it really can't happen without a very high cost, economically and socially. The North and South Koreans are as different as Saudia Arabis and Enland. The Germans did it but the Soviet indoctrination was mild compared to the mind f...k placed on the North Koreans.

[the sad clown 3]

It's a nice thought, but it really can't happen without a very high cost, economically and socially. The North and South Koreans are as different as Saudia Arabis and Enland. The Germans did it but the Soviet indoctrination was mild compared to the mind f...k placed on the North Koreans.

You are right. It will require a great cost. But even an opening up of the society by degrees is moving in the right direction and could result in the gradual convergence of the two societies to the point where reunification might be a more feasible project. I don't really know the future though, so I have no idea how things will play out. It could be much more rapid than that or it could never take place. I'd still like to hope. I would be encouraged just to see the economic and social conditions of North Koreans improve with a departure from the near complete isolationism imposed on the country.

[superstar 0]

You are right. It will require a great cost. But even an opening up of the society by degrees is moving in the right direction and could result in the gradual convergence of the two societies to the point where reunification might be a more feasible project. I don't really know the future though, so I have no idea how things will play out. It could be much more rapid than that or it could never take place. I'd still like to hope. I would be encouraged just to see the economic and social conditions of North Koreans improve with a departure from the near complete isolationism imposed on the country.

 

The problem lies with the youth of South Korea. Most of them don't feel a connection with the North. They are really two separate people. It would probably be better for the N. Koreans to come out of the trance and join the world on their own, first. The South would have to open up too many mental hospitals(I'm not kidding about this point), and their ecomnomy would suffer so much.

[the sad clown 3]

The problem lies with the youth of South Korea. Most of them don't feel a connection with the North. They are really two separate people. It would probably be better for the N. Koreans to come out of the trance and join the world on their own, first. The South would have to open up too many mental hospitals(I'm not kidding about this point), and their ecomnomy would suffer so much.

I wonder how much of that is due to the prospect not seeming real to them though. I would like to see what happens to public opinion if North Korea did begin to make moves that made the possibility of reunification more feasible.

[ParadiseLost 333]

It's not love. It is fear induced by a lifetime of brainwashing. NOT LOVE....FEAR.

Relax. Just because they may have been brainwashed which probably is the case, does not mean they didn't love him - I am sure they are thought from a young age to worship him

[the sad clown 3]

Still any leader brave enough to stand against the judeo-american hagemony deserved to be admired.

That is a narrow mindset. It is not the case that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. He wasn't brave, he just loved power and the idea of him wielding it with absolute control, at least within the confines of his country. His megalomania cost the people under his control many years of malnutrition and increasing poverty if not their very lives. I wouldn't think a Muslim could admire such a leader, given the tenets of Islam.

[Younes 202]

That is a narrow mindset. It is not the case that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. He wasn't brave, he just loved power and the idea of him wielding it with absolute control, at least within the confines of his country. His megalomania cost the people under his control many years of malnutrition and increasing poverty if not their very lives. I wouldn't think a Muslim could admire such a leader, given the tenets of Islam.

 

I agree. Standing up against the US or a country that is anti-Islamic is not something admirable in itself. The North Korean leader/dictator definately was destructive. There is nothing admirable about him.

[the sad clown 3]

I agree. Standing up against the US or a country that is anti-Islamic is not something admirable in itself. The North Korean leader/dictator definately was destructive. There is nothing admirable about him.

I should add that the same sort of misguided thinking (the enemy of my enemy...) is precisely what has been going wrong with much of American foreign policy. We have supported regimes simply because they say they are opposed to our current opponent without any long term considerations of how the dynamics of the situation can change within just a short period of time, transforming all of the resources we offered into weapons against us. This is what happens when the leadership fails to make a principled stand in policy development and execution and instead attempt to take shortcuts offered to us by dubious allies. They lie to themselves thinking that it is pragmatic instead of what it really is, foolishness masquerading as wisdom.

[zain al 1]

You need to be brave to stand against the judeo-american supremacy - unlike some goody goody muslim leaders.

[ParadiseLost 333]

And 2 wrongs don't make a right

[Wanderer 21]

I should add that the same sort of misguided thinking (the enemy of my enemy...) is precisely what has been going wrong with much of American foreign policy. We have supported regimes simply because they say they are opposed to our current opponent without any long term considerations of how the dynamics of the situation can change within just a short period of time, transforming all of the resources we offered into weapons against us. This is what happens when the leadership fails to make a principled stand in policy development and execution and instead attempt to take shortcuts offered to us by dubious allies. They lie to themselves thinking that it is pragmatic instead of what it really is, foolishness masquerading as wisdom.

This just makes the warnings against entering into "entangling alliances" from America's founding fathers ring truer today than ever before.

[the sad clown 3]

This just makes the warnings against entering into "entangling alliances" from America's founding fathers ring truer today than ever before.

I am not as adverse to alliances, but there certainly needs to be a more principled approach to foreign policy.