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Maybe if our prison system in the USA was a model for human rights and justice then maybe we would be outraged. The USA despite having 5% of the world's population having 25% of the world's prisoners. We have the highest incarceration rate of the world by far. Its kinda difficult to get outraged about another country's injustice concerning its prison population while we have our own problems in the USA concerning human rights and injustice with our justice system and industrial prison complex.
lots of money to be made in criminal justice. police to catch the evil drug criminals, lawyers to defend/prosecute them, judges to sentence them, corrections officers to guard them and countless other supporting personnel. that's why you have so many evil people locked up because they dared to use drugs.
We have a lock em up and throw away the key mentality. In other nations non violent offences that are treated with drug rehab for people with addictions and substance abuse problems we impose draconian prison sentences and house them with violent offenders. I'm not trying to give North Korean a pass on human rights abuses but the thing is North Korea has never proclaimed themselves to the world to be a model for democracy and freedom so we know from the get go things is not going to be kosher there because they are ruled by a line of despots that employs the use of the cult of personality to foster their image among their people.
Because the Chinese are good friends of No. Korea and we and others don't want to start a war with Chinese backed No. Koreans. China supplies them with most of their war material.
Actually, no.
The Chinese aren't "friends" with any other country. They don't want a US-oriented united Korea on their border--to that extent, North Korea is a useful foil. But only barely.
China has never provided North Korea with any significant level of armament. Up until the mid 70s, the USSR provided all of North Korea's arms (and was North Korea's ally in the Korean War...not China). Since the mid 70s, North Korea has built its own armament industry, making money by selling technology to other pariah countries like Iran and Pakistan.
China has some serious issues with North Korea. For one, they have a North Korean illegal immigrant problem similar to the problem the US has with Mexico. For another, North Korea is dangerously unstable and risks Chinese relationships with other countries.
Nor is their relationship with North Korea that stable. For instance, no Chinese official has yet been granted a face-to-face meeting with Kim Jong Un. The recently executed official, Jang Song-thaek, Kim's uncle, had been the primary contact with China, and Jang's assistant--also executed--was the only other contact with China.
In other words, China currently doesn't even have a North Korean contact. Some observers believe that the specific reason Jang was executed was because Kim did not approve of his deals with China, and that this was intended as a slap in China's face.
What does North Korea have that South Korea wants? Nothing. South Korea is perfectly happy with the way things are. They are prosperous and happy. The last thing they want is millions of starving, illiterate, brainwashed savages streaming across their northern border.
That is one of the meanest, most cold-blooded statements I've ever read.
Because they are Korean. They are family. Many in the south are related to many in the north. The only reason the south escaped being brutalized the way generations of the north have been is because we, the West, kept them out of there. We helped them become what they are.
Korea as a people has existed for over 2000 years. Would you just write the north off because of 65 or so years of being pawns in a global conflict?
Actually, I heard somewhere that if North Korea's million man army were to invade the south, the goal would be to slow them down for as long as possible until more help arrives. I'm not sure that million man army could be stopped for awhile. At minimum, they could easily blow up Seoul. Once the great big fleets o'bombers and reinforcements arrive things could be different, particularly because I'm not sure that North Korea has many fuel resources.
But they could definitely wreak lots and lots of havoc initially if the north decided to invade.
The "million man army" is a hollow farce. They have "armored divisions" in which not even a single truck has moved in 30 years. They haven't exercised anything larger than a couple of battalions in decades, nor have they exercised resupply operations. As Donald Rumsfeld learned in Iraq, invading and holding territory takes more than front-line penetration forces--it takes forces in the rear to maintain what you've taken. The DPRK doesn't have it.
The ROKs, however, are truly tough hombres in their own right, and they have created effective killing zones in all the possible DMZ invasion routes. The DPRK has zero ability to launch an actual invasion of South Korea that would last longer than a couple of days. Most likely, DPRK soldiers would get no farther than the first kimchee stand.
What North Korea can do, however, is launch commando teams that might wreak a bit of havoc before the ROKs mop them up. More dangerous, though, are the hundreds of DPRK hardened artillery sites (HARTS) in in mountain tunnels within range of Seoul, which could devastate Seoul within 24 hours.
Back in the 70s, it would have taken tactical nukes to disable the HARTS sites in time--and the US was prepared to use them. Today, it might be possible with a slew of smart weapons, although the supply of US smart weapons were drawn from South Korea to Iraq and Afghanistan. I don't know if they've been replenished.
That is one of the meanest, most cold-blooded statements I've ever read.
Because they are Korean. They are family. Many in the south are related to many in the north. The only reason the south escaped being brutalized the way generations of the north have been is because we, the West, kept them out of there. We helped them become what they are.
Korea as a people has existed for over 2000 years. Would you just write the north off because of 65 or so years of being pawns in a global conflict?
This is true. Just like the Germans--probably more--South Koreans dream of reunification. A good many living South Koreans still hope they can be reunited with relatives in the north. If the DPRK collapses like East Germany, the ROKs won't think twice about reunification. They know how much it will cost, but they will do it instantly.
Last edited by Ralph_Kirk; 02-19-2014 at 09:11 PM..
Well, North Korea has a long history of Holocausts.
There was massive slaughter under Japanese rule up to 1945.
Then after 1945 the US bombed every possible air target in the north.
When they ran out of targets, they bombed irrigation dams in the north, which is a major war crime, killing thousands of peasants and destroying farm lands.
What? No. There was no US bombing in North Korea in 1945. There was during the war...but the US also bombed in South Korea, not to mention Germany and Japan. Well, gosh, the US nuked Japan...and yet Japan and Germany are US allies today.
You really believe that info you posted represents Japan? That is like saying Miley Cyrus represents the USA.
It is my sad duty to report that there are hordes of people under the age of 30 that think she does. And it is even more unfortunate that those people vote.
Maybe if our prison system in the USA was a model for human rights and justice then maybe we would be outraged. We as citizens are so conditioned to human rights abuses that we joke about sexual assault on prisoners by another inmates. We even have a prison in Guantanamo Cuba for the exact purpose of inmates of having virtually no legal recourse against human rights abuses. The USA despite having 5% of the world's population has 25% of the world's prisoners. We have the highest incarceration rate of the world by far. Its kinda difficult to get outraged about another country's injustice concerning its prison population while we have our own problems in the USA concerning human rights and injustice with our justice system and industrial prison complex.
US is simply waiting for North Korea to do something dumb. China would help them if US just did an outright attack, but China would not by an ally with NK if they decided to go in attacking other countries.
As of now, there's absolutely no reason for the US to do anything against North Korea. It would be pretty stupid.
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