7 ms·

Random fact that I learned recently, 20% of the North Korean population was killed during the Korean War (1950-1953). Mostly with Napalm. :(

Cieplak 9y ago
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-war-crime-north-korea-wont-forget/2015/03/20/fb525694-ce80-11e4-8c54-ffb5ba6f2f69_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-war-crime-nor...
- sleepingeights 9y ago
  These people are insane. > And if North Korea ever does change, if the Kim family were overthrown or were to voluntarily loosen its chokehold on information, a U.S. apology for the bombing could help dispel 65 years of hate. Consider the response of white americans in the US after the Imperial Japanese bombed a military force in Pearl Harbor, with almost zero civilian casualties. It quickly became common sentiment in the US to respond by ridding the world of the "yellow scourge" after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The US response was to carpet bomb Japanese cities full of civilians, carpet bomb foreign cities held by Japan holding civilians and citizens of foreign nations, etc... then to top it off, they felt fully justified to drop two nuclear bombs on two cities full of civilians in Japan to teach East-Asia a lesson. They didn't drop it on the military which was massed in the southern parts of Japan, the US intentionally dropped TWO ATOMIC bombs on cities full of civilians! How do they expect the North Koreans to just be appeased by their "apology"? It's crazy, crazy, crazy on the part of the US as well. It's actually insanity.
  - averagewall 9y ago
    But what if they hadn't? Japan was invading most of Asia with mass killings along the lines of ISIS and the Nazis. Are you saying ISIS should also be left alone and America not try to stop them? Japanese civilians at the time weren't really innocent. The whole country was working for the war effort, mainly to kill other Asian people.
    - _nedR 9y ago
      >Japanese civilians at the time weren't really innocent. Wow, Its fascinating, the mental gymnastics people perform to rationalise the atrocities their side perpetrates while in the same breath deploring the atrocities committed by the other side.
      - abritinthebay 9y ago
        I think the people that say these things have a very poor understanding of what their own governments do in their name. If they didn't they wouldn't paint with such a broad brush.
      - allendoerfer 9y ago
        That's what you get, when you give children an identity resolving around your moral high ground, you being the greatest, you bringing freedom to the world, praising veterans who defend you against constant threats (in itself a contradiction), having a romantic relationship with your flag and the list goes on and on. You better not take that away, because what defines you if you do?
    - AriaMinaei 9y ago
      > Japanese civilians at the time weren't really innocent. The whole country was working for the war effort, mainly to kill other Asian people. Wow, this is sounding terrifyingly similar to how suicide bombers justify their targeting of civilians. It's sad to see how easy it is for people who didn't grow up under the dogma of fundamentalist religion can still come to this way of thinking. My friend, I implore you to think really hard about what you said, and take the time to recalibrate your moral compass. I can only hope that at some point in the future, you'll come to think that, war or not, enemy or not, killing civilians is bad. There is no shade of grey. It's only bad.
      - fit2rule 9y ago
        From whom do governments gain power? (Hint: its not banks..)
  - PerfectDlite 9y ago
    > The US response was to carpet bomb Japanese cities full of civilians, carpet bomb foreign cities held by Japan holding civilians and citizens of foreign nations, etc... then to top it off, they felt fully justified to drop two nuclear bombs on two cities full of civilians in Japan to teach East-Asia a lesson. Looks like your perception of history is... a little bit skewed.
IslaDeEncanta 9y ago
The US dropped more bombs on North Korea than we dropped on all of Europe and Japan during WWII. Proxy wars between superpowers never work out well for the actual people affected, and we should not be so forgetful of that.
- friedman23 9y ago
  It worked out well for the South Koreans
  - devoply 9y ago
    It was no treat for anyone involved: Number of Americans killed in the Korean War: 36,000 Number of Americans wounded in the Korean War: 105,000 Number of South Koreans killed in the Korean War: 415,000 Number of South Koreans wounded in the Korean War: 429,000 Estimated number of Chinese and North Koreans killed in the Korean War: 1,500,00013 I would like to hear more from historians as to what would have happened had the war never occurred. My guess is a united Korea would be in line as a periphery of China with their level of technology... with Kim Il Sung and his family long gone and irrelevant. I would also like to add that Americans know nothing of modern war never actually having had to live through it or having to deal with its consequences on their livelihoods, economy, or psychology. War for Americans is stuff that happens to other people... where they send oblivious young men to fight who are usually forgotten as soon as they are sent off to protect "freedom".
    - dmos62 9y ago
      In a recent talk by Chomsky, he described US Air Force literature or rather documentation of the Korean conflict. Apparently the bombing was so thorough, they ran out of targets in North Korea. Not only military, but infrastructure and cities as well, as I recall. One of the impressive things about post '53 North Korea is that they did a complete rebuild.
      - dingaling 9y ago
        There was a lot of pressure from the operations level to expand bombing into China, which tactically made a lot of sense; NK and Chinese MiGs retreated across the Yalu River each night and there were plenty of worthwhile targets such as supply dumps and routes. However the JCS denied all such requests and remarkably there were only two or three violations during the entire war, such as the August 1950 strafing-attack on Antung airfield. The USA offered compensation afterwards despite that being the home of over 100 MiG-15s engaged in the war.

Cieplak 9y ago

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-war-crime-north-korea-wont-forget/2015/03/20/fb525694-ce80-11e4-8c54-ffb5ba6f2f69_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-war-crime-nor...

sleepingeights 9y ago
These people are insane. > And if North Korea ever does change, if the Kim family were overthrown or were to voluntarily loosen its chokehold on information, a U.S. apology for the bombing could help dispel 65 years of hate. Consider the response of white americans in the US after the Imperial Japanese bombed a military force in Pearl Harbor, with almost zero civilian casualties. It quickly became common sentiment in the US to respond by ridding the world of the "yellow scourge" after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The US response was to carpet bomb Japanese cities full of civilians, carpet bomb foreign cities held by Japan holding civilians and citizens of foreign nations, etc... then to top it off, they felt fully justified to drop two nuclear bombs on two cities full of civilians in Japan to teach East-Asia a lesson. They didn't drop it on the military which was massed in the southern parts of Japan, the US intentionally dropped TWO ATOMIC bombs on cities full of civilians! How do they expect the North Koreans to just be appeased by their "apology"? It's crazy, crazy, crazy on the part of the US as well. It's actually insanity.
- averagewall 9y ago
  But what if they hadn't? Japan was invading most of Asia with mass killings along the lines of ISIS and the Nazis. Are you saying ISIS should also be left alone and America not try to stop them? Japanese civilians at the time weren't really innocent. The whole country was working for the war effort, mainly to kill other Asian people.
  - _nedR 9y ago
    >Japanese civilians at the time weren't really innocent. Wow, Its fascinating, the mental gymnastics people perform to rationalise the atrocities their side perpetrates while in the same breath deploring the atrocities committed by the other side.
    - abritinthebay 9y ago
      I think the people that say these things have a very poor understanding of what their own governments do in their name. If they didn't they wouldn't paint with such a broad brush.
    - allendoerfer 9y ago
      That's what you get, when you give children an identity resolving around your moral high ground, you being the greatest, you bringing freedom to the world, praising veterans who defend you against constant threats (in itself a contradiction), having a romantic relationship with your flag and the list goes on and on. You better not take that away, because what defines you if you do?
  - AriaMinaei 9y ago
    > Japanese civilians at the time weren't really innocent. The whole country was working for the war effort, mainly to kill other Asian people. Wow, this is sounding terrifyingly similar to how suicide bombers justify their targeting of civilians. It's sad to see how easy it is for people who didn't grow up under the dogma of fundamentalist religion can still come to this way of thinking. My friend, I implore you to think really hard about what you said, and take the time to recalibrate your moral compass. I can only hope that at some point in the future, you'll come to think that, war or not, enemy or not, killing civilians is bad. There is no shade of grey. It's only bad.
    - fit2rule 9y ago
      From whom do governments gain power? (Hint: its not banks..)
- PerfectDlite 9y ago
  > The US response was to carpet bomb Japanese cities full of civilians, carpet bomb foreign cities held by Japan holding civilians and citizens of foreign nations, etc... then to top it off, they felt fully justified to drop two nuclear bombs on two cities full of civilians in Japan to teach East-Asia a lesson. Looks like your perception of history is... a little bit skewed.

IslaDeEncanta 9y ago

The US dropped more bombs on North Korea than we dropped on all of Europe and Japan during WWII. Proxy wars between superpowers never work out well for the actual people affected, and we should not be so forgetful of that.

friedman23 9y ago
It worked out well for the South Koreans
- devoply 9y ago
  It was no treat for anyone involved: Number of Americans killed in the Korean War: 36,000 Number of Americans wounded in the Korean War: 105,000 Number of South Koreans killed in the Korean War: 415,000 Number of South Koreans wounded in the Korean War: 429,000 Estimated number of Chinese and North Koreans killed in the Korean War: 1,500,00013 I would like to hear more from historians as to what would have happened had the war never occurred. My guess is a united Korea would be in line as a periphery of China with their level of technology... with Kim Il Sung and his family long gone and irrelevant. I would also like to add that Americans know nothing of modern war never actually having had to live through it or having to deal with its consequences on their livelihoods, economy, or psychology. War for Americans is stuff that happens to other people... where they send oblivious young men to fight who are usually forgotten as soon as they are sent off to protect "freedom".
  - dmos62 9y ago
    In a recent talk by Chomsky, he described US Air Force literature or rather documentation of the Korean conflict. Apparently the bombing was so thorough, they ran out of targets in North Korea. Not only military, but infrastructure and cities as well, as I recall. One of the impressive things about post '53 North Korea is that they did a complete rebuild.
    - dingaling 9y ago
      There was a lot of pressure from the operations level to expand bombing into China, which tactically made a lot of sense; NK and Chinese MiGs retreated across the Yalu River each night and there were plenty of worthwhile targets such as supply dumps and routes. However the JCS denied all such requests and remarkably there were only two or three violations during the entire war, such as the August 1950 strafing-attack on Antung airfield. The USA offered compensation afterwards despite that being the home of over 100 MiG-15s engaged in the war.