North Korea puts Japan to shame in its refusal to surrender

[Chango]

Just a couple thoughts...

First, while there was no shortage of fanatics in Imperial Japan, they were were a distinct minority. Most folks in Japan just wanted to live their lives and weren't looking to cause or experience death. What really happened was the militarists gained power, hijacked the culture to their own ends, brainwashed, propagandized and brutally enforced their will, basically just like the Nazis did to Germany.

In other words, the Kamikaze guys were doomed far before they ever climbed into the pilot's seat; they would have been killed by their own and their families punished had they not and knew it without a doubt. I suspect that's the true force behind getting a man to purposely fly a plane full of explosives into an enemy ship.

The idea that 1940's Japanese people were foaming-at-the-mouth living weapons at the command of their emperor is a lingering propaganda tool from the American side that made it easier for farmboys from Iowa to go over there and slaughter "Nips". After the war it was used to trump-up the victory too, by making the defeated enemy seem that much scarier.

North Korea was (and is) in a similar situation. Dissent means torture and death from their own government.

None of this is true testament to the will of the a nation's people. It's the experience of peoples reduced to animals for fear of their master's rod coming down on their backs.

[383man]

I have never heard that Korea had more tons of bombs dropped on it then Japan did in WWII. Heck the US had over 1000 B-29's in the Pacific by the summer of 45 and were using them against Japan. I know they used no where near that many B-29's in Korea as they did not keep to many on active duty after WWII. I thought they did not use much more then 150 B-29's in Korera ? If they dropped more tonnage of bombs on Korea its news to me as I have never heard that ? Ron

[mwruckman]

Originally Posted by Dd714

On that topic, this is interesting because I was lead to believe that Stalin was reluctant, but gave Kim the OK because 1.) The Soviet Union got the A bomb (thanks to Julius and Ethel Rosenburg for that), and 2.) He saw the US lack of involvement of full communist take over of mainland China as a sign of weakness and proof that the US would in fact not get involved in Korea. Mao was the reluctant one. Your article gives much more interesting background on the political games being played behind the iron/bamboo curtain. It's an almost amusing mom and dad relationship that Korea had with the communist powers - Dad (Stalin) would only say yes if Mom (Mao) approved.
As it was, he may have gotten his wish about the US. As I remember it, the Soviet Union walked out of a UN session and made the tactical mistake of letting the UN to approve combined military action against north korea. Going by some old history lesson memories here however.

The man who was most responsible for getting engineering blue prints of Trinity into the hands of Dept. S of the NKVD was a Manhattan Project staffer in the Theory section named Klaus Fuchs. Fuchs also got into Soviet hands, detailed design information of the ceramic membranes used to separate U235 from U238 of the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion plant in Oakridge. Fuchs came to the Manhattan project when US and British efforts to build nuclear weapons were merged in 1942, he was a member of the British team. Fuchs was the perfect spy in that he had the knowledge and access to information that allowed him to sort out the most important technical information and supply commentary about it that made it easy for the Russian technical team to grasp the details. The Russian spy ring had several US army personnel who were the couriers who got the material Fuchs prepared from New Mexico to New York and the Soviet Consulate. While the Rosenberg's were not involved in the Manhattan project they were involved in other Soviet spying because the Russians were also interested in other things besides the Bomb. Julius Rosenberg was an electrical engineer at ATT Bell Laboratories and had knowledge of advanced radio and radar technology. Also, one of the US Army couriers who no doubt passed Fuchs reports to Moscow Center was a brother of Ethel Rosenberg. The Rosenberg's were framed by the Soviets (who ratted them out) who used them as a cutout to throw American intelligence (FBI) off the track of more valuable intelligence personnel. It apparently worked.

[totsuka]

North Korean and North Koreans are one of the few countries and people that deserved to be wiped out.