Hidden Nook
"Because in Cyberspace, no one can hear you scream."
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Korean Woes
[Media Source*] (Hat Tip: Instapundit, Solomonia, One Free Korea, Just One Minute)
It looks like technology (as well as other factors) are contributing to the downfall of the North Korean "utopia:"
The construction of cellular relay stations last fall along the Chinese side of the border has allowed some North Koreans in border towns to use prepaid Chinese cellphones to call relatives and reporters in South Korea, defectors from North Korea say.
And after DVD players swept northern China two years ago, entrepreneurs collected castoff videocassette recorders and peddled them in North Korea. Now tapes of South Korean soap operas are so popular that state television in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, is campaigning against South Korean hairstyles, clothing and slang, visitors and defectors have said.
This can't be good for "Kimmy." As more North Koreans realize the economic gap between their southern cousins, and with the U.S. getting impatient at the progress of the "Six Talk Meetings," it probably won't be long until the regime collapses under it's own weight (especially if economic sanctions are applied).
Ironically you would think that this would be something that South Korea would be desiring, but it seems that South Korea is more interested in keeping the regime affloat to avoid paying for the reconstruction than in helping out their northern neighbor.
Behind Seouls decision is a basic calculation: A collapse of North Korea, highly militarized and deeply impoverished after nearly 50 years of Stalinist rule, would be simply too expensive, in both economic and political terms. So officials here largely oppose steps that could destabilize Kim Jong Ils regime, which many US policymakers would just as soon see disappear.
"Some people seem to look for the North to collapse," said South Koreas president, Roh Moo Hyun, in an apparent reference to US hard-liners during a pointed speech in Los Angeles late last year. But, he said, that "would cause an enormous disaster for the people of the South."
So much for caring about our neighbor, right? It seems that they are more interested in their pocket book than in the current status of their northern cousins. Last I checked the U.S. spent lots of money rebuilding South Korea after the war. But I guess the "love of money" is supreme in the affairs of men. Selah?
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By Darnell Clayton ⢠5:15 PM ⢠Email Post ⢠â¢
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