quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
There are a bunch of elderly, hard nosed communist, ruthless warhawk generals in their military hierarchy who have been itching for war for decades. We should hope that whomever ascends will keep them in check as some of those evil bastards would use chem-bio-nuclear weapons in a heartbeat.

Those fuckers can't possibly be that stupid. I know they've been brainwashed for decades but even they can't be that stupid.

If little kim is indeed dead or dying, this would be a great opportunity for regime change.

But I'm not entirely sure the South Koreans want reunification because it hurt West Germany pretty hard when the Soviet Union collapsed. The East Germans were enslaved for 45 years or so; the North Koreans have been enslaved longer and likely with much more brutality. Reunification would likely flood the south with hundreds of thousands of refugees who are malnourished, illiterate, have no work skills, dependent on others, etc.

South Korea deserves better than that.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
.

But I'm not entirely sure the South Koreans want reunification because it hurt West Germany pretty hard when the Soviet Union collapsed. The East Germans were enslaved for 45 years or so; the North Koreans have been enslaved longer and likely with much more brutality. Reunification would likely flood the south with hundreds of thousands of refugees who are malnourished, illiterate, have no work skills, dependent on others, etc.

South Korea deserves better than that.

it would take 2-3 generations to 'breed out' the communist group think from the NORKS if reunification ever occurs

ROKs economy would be crushed for a good while

from a humanitarian standpoint it would be awesome

from a practical standpoint a trainwreck to play out

---------------------------------------------

I have a feeling the commies in China want to keep NK going so there's a buffer country between South Korea and themselves.

quote:

If little kim is indeed dead or dying, this would be a great opportunity for regime change.

But I'm not entirely sure the South Koreans want reunification because it hurt West Germany pretty hard when the Soviet Union collapsed. The East Germans were enslaved for 45 years or so; the North Koreans have been enslaved longer and likely with much more brutality. Reunification would likely flood the south with hundreds of thousands of refugees who are malnourished, illiterate, have no work skills, dependent on others, etc.

South Korea deserves better than that.

You are right about West Germany absorbing the cost of re-unification. And you're right that South Korea deserves better than that.
However, the people of North Korea deserve better too. The Kim regime doesn't even treat the people as fully human. They are just slaves.

I think Graham’s reasoning is correct.

“US Senator Lindsey Graham has weighed in on reports Kim Jong Un has died, saying he would not be 'shocked' if the North Korean despot was 'dead or incapacitated', as the dictator's 31-year-old sister emerges as his most likely sucessor.

He said in such a tightly controlled state as North Korea rumors about the leader's death would not be allowed to go 'unanswered'…”

https://mol.im/a/8258101

As it is with the Pope’s health, “Kim Jong Un is ‘officially well’ until he is ‘officially dead’.”

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Reunification would likely flood the south with hundreds of thousands of refugees who are malnourished, illiterate, have no work skills, dependent on others, etc.

Not just south But a collapse of NK would flood China with refugees.

I may be misremembering, but I think that South Korea has a special tax designed specifically to build up a pile of cash for the eventual reunification. It'll be a mess when it happens, but they're looking to mitigate that.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
From elsewhere:

quote:

Kim Jong Un-responsive

So, is Un responsive or unresponsive?

Furthermore, if his sister is handed the keys to the Hermit Kingdom, could it be termed an un-Un?

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Reunification would likely flood the south with hundreds of thousands of refugees who are malnourished, illiterate, have no work skills, dependent on others, etc.

Not just south But a collapse of NK would flood China with refugees.

Go north; got to cross a river (the Yalu; about half of the border w/China). Go south, got to cross the DMZ. Kaboom!

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
As it is with the Pope’s health, “Kim Jong Un is ‘officially well’ until he is ‘officially dead’.”

I don’t understand.

When JPII was suffering from age and fatigue he still performed public masses when even though it was difficult and sad to see the strong and vigorous man that helped conquer the Soviet Union struggle with the simple task of speaking. Indeed, his real and public suffering became his real and public public ministry. It was quite beautiful in That way.

Since JPII was the last pope to die in the last few decades and since it was public knowledge that he was suffering and declining before he passed away ... so I am confused.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Just to clarify from a cardiologist’s standpoint as it’s frequently misrepresented in the media:

If the patient is “brain-dead” it’s far more likely that he came to the cath lab in that state. Again in a Western cath lab, a cardiac arrest occurring in the cath lab is highly likely to be resuscitated successfully unless there is a huge amount of cardiac muscle that is not pumping.

I agree.... I read somewhere ( sorry , don't remember where) , that supposedly this fellow dropped and the doctor began CPR. I don't know about N. Korea , but when these things happen here , there is usually a lot of confusion ( lost time). I'm guessing the Dr. was not standing nearby , was probably too intimidated to begin CPR early and because this fellow is obese , it's difficult to do effective CPR anyway. Then they would have had to get him to the ambulance , diagnosed and then sent to the cath lab.... If they were doing CPR the whole time on this obese person ....then it would be extremely unlikely that he would not have brain damage. My guess is they ended up with a live heart and a dead brain....

Just my guess.....mike

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
There are a bunch of elderly, hard nosed communist, ruthless warhawk generals in their military hierarchy who have been itching for war for decades. We should hope that whomever ascends will keep them in check as some of those evil bastards would use chem-bio-nuclear weapons in a heartbeat.

Those fuckers can't possibly be that stupid. I know they've been brainwashed for decades but even they can't be that stupid.

If little kim is indeed dead or dying, this would be a great opportunity for regime change.

But I'm not entirely sure the South Koreans want reunification because it hurt West Germany pretty hard when the Soviet Union collapsed. The East Germans were enslaved for 45 years or so; the North Koreans have been enslaved longer and likely with much more brutality. Reunification would likely flood the south with hundreds of thousands of refugees who are malnourished, illiterate, have no work skills, dependent on others, etc.

South Korea deserves better than that.

Hopefully it isn't the stupid ones who seize power. They have been on the brink for decades. Our motto in South Korea when I was stationed there was "We fight tonight" because both sides were locked and cocked. They have been living in that bubble for 5 decades, blowing smoke up their own asses for so long that some of them believe their own propaganda, believing that they are all powerful. On the other hand information does filter across the DMZ both ways so not everyone is clueless. Let's hope reason prevails.

Even if he dies, the region won't become Western or under Western influence. It will remain Communist oriented and both China and Russia will prop up NorK to ensure that.

China uses NorK in the region and they can't let that pawn turn Western to be a model that would undermine China and they Communist ways. Russia shares a border with NorK and the would never let a pro Western or democracy based nation on their border.

Unless the internal ruling party are prepared to reject communism, China's heavy handedness and ready to embrace SouK and the US, the most we can expect is NorK lite.

Having spent a year in South Korea back in the sixties, courtesy of Uncle Sam, what has always worried me is that our leaders will assume that the North Koreans wouldn't do this or that because "that would be stupid" or "that would not be logical". What passes for their system of logic is far removed from our own. I remember a book entitled Korea Patterns, written by an American, whose father was a missionary and who had grown up in Korea. He addressed the subject of reverse logic with several examples. The one I remember was of a Korean family riding on a hot train in the Summertime. It would not be unusual for the father to strip down to his underwear while reading the newspaper. This caused him no embarrassment, rather others around him should be embarrassed to notice him. Another example was the logic of some but not all, Koreans, that it was morally OK to steal from others, because they did not care enough about their possessions to guard them better.
As a result of this, I have not always had faith in the idea, that they would not attack us because "that would be suicide".

quote:

Originally posted by x0225095:

quote:

Originally posted by 2BobTanner:
As it is with the Pope’s health, “Kim Jong Un is ‘officially well’ until he is ‘officially dead’.”

I don’t understand.

When JPII was suffering from age and fatigue he still performed public masses when even though it was difficult and sad to see the strong and vigorous man that helped conquer the Soviet Union struggle with the simple task of speaking. Indeed, his real and public suffering became his real and public public ministry. It was quite beautiful in That way.

Since JPII was the last pope to die in the last few decades and since it was public knowledge that he was suffering and declining before he passed away ... so I am confused.

"I say, son, you're built too short. The fast ones go over your head."

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
I have a feeling the commies in China want to keep NK going so there's a buffer country between South Korea and themselves.

Yeah, and from your and Sig209's posts, I'm kinda wondering if the South Koreans are happier having a buffer of bad mountains and psycho Norks between themselves and both Communist China and the Russians.

On the other hand, there's apparently already a healthy population of Norks on the Chinese side of the border, and Norks have been crossing into China to provide cheap labor for a long time. If the PRC gets hit with a huge wave of refugees, then surely that'll either lower the number of Norks that the South Koreans will need to take care of or it'll (you should pardon the expression) 'flatten the peak' a bit by spreading out the number of Norks who'd need...integration? reintegration? whatever - services in any given period of time.

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
What passes for their system of logic is far removed from our own.

When I was there in 90-91 courtesy of Uncle Sam, we didn't call it the "Land of the Morning Calm", it was the "Land of the "Not Quite Right".