Richard Fernandez on that low-level rumbling sound:
A number of reports suggest that North Korea may be in internal crisis. The signs are vague but pervasive. The Wall Street Journal reports that pamphlets are circulating in the North disparaging the current Kim and “praising Ri Yong Ho, the former military chief who was ousted in July”. Other telltales include vandalizing of Kim statues, acts which have been blamed on South Korean agents, and orders to the police to round up restive elements…Some analysts have even mooted the possibility of a North Korean Spring and note that a spike in arrests would suggest the current Kim is losing the power to automatically command respect.
It sounds like North Korea is about to replace its despotic tyrant with a tyrannical despot, and about time too.
“Perhaps in the end the only places in the world where a “socialist planned economy” will be taken seriously are in the ivory towers of Western universities which are the Camp 14s of the mind.”
What an eloquent,and true statement.
The Liberal left has no interest in the socialist North Korean death camp, only in making sure that Al Qaeda soon becomes the dominant power in North Africa.
They support the US paying for the North/ South border to keep the south Koreans out of the north, while they insure the US/ Mexico border is wide open for the importation of drugs, crime, diseases and welfare immigration into the US.
Now Kim Sr.might have ended it all with an all out pyrrhic attack on South Korea but Kim Jr probably wants his chance to live in luxury as the Korean Lord and Master so he’ll probably play the “gimme” card “or I’ll do the following”. When will people finally realize that socialism in all its forms never works for long.
I will miss the Kim Jong Numero Un twitter feed, funny as hell sometimes. Unless whoever is doing it pretends to tweet from hell.
Trouble in the Peoples Paradise.
North Korea in financial trouble after blowing $100 million on tributes to dead leader Kim Jong-il
Much like anyone who has spent any time in the 3rd world…..my impressions on returning….
…..despite our air terminals being crowded (by our standards) they immediately seem roomy and less oppressive. Living in the 3rd world is much like the crowded interior of an airliner….
We notice fat people…..
I have long pondered the survivibility of the NORK regime, when this gaunt people’s rulers are chubby playboys….the optics are obvious…..poor image management. This current unrest may not have occurred if the current Kim and his late father had gone on a diet.
If these reports are true, maybe we will witness the Ceaucescu-ing of the KIMS.
At any rate a prudent South Korea would quietly increase their alert status. There’s never been a scenario in which an isolated dictaor lashes out at a common enemy as a means to rally the troops and provide cover for eliminating rivals…..nah, that would never happen.
Let’s think of five ways in which a North Korean Spring might go bad. Especially if the US interferes.
Re sasquatch: do the North Korean people ever see their leaders? Or only doctored photographs? Controlled media are wonderful, as we should know.
The Chinese didn’t hear of the moon landings for years. Sort of like Benghazi and our MSM only more so.
G5T- I think your are on to something. Recently read a book about N. Korea written by a refugee from there who is now a consultant for the US Government. N Korea is much more complex than we can imagine. There will be no “Spring” there in the foreseeable future. The leadership has the people there on a leash tighter than a virgin’s hoo-haw.
North Koreans have been so brainwashed that they actually did cry when Kim-il died. They worship their leaders without reservation.
Do yourself a favor and read The Impossible State by Victor Cha. There’s a lot of statistics there but still a great deal of meat.
“North Koreans have been so brainwashed that they actually did cry when Kim-il died.”
If I lived in a country where failing to cry with appropriate sincerity brings six months in a re-education camp, I’d cry too. And I would not be faking it.
North Korea has had an internal crisis for a long time. There are always purges, defections and dissent. It is not a matter of if but when the floodgates of this Stalinist state will open. Kim Jong-Un will conduct his rocket blackmail before the South Korean election in a couple of weeks and China will protect it. The West will blindly had over food and other aid, keeping that corpse alive. It is still unclear what is going on in Camp 22, whether the prisoners were liquidated or whether is was just abandoned and over-run by starving villagers nearby. And, sadly, no one cares enough to inquire.
Was Ri Yong Ho a closet democrat or advocate of freedom? Somehow I doubt it.
Kim is the thickest looking kid since Baby Doc Duvelier.