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Coming from a country that had it almost as bad as North Korea, I can say that nothing can be done from outside and little can be done from inside. There is on

by asimeqi 15y ago

Coming from a country that had it almost as bad as North Korea, I can say that nothing can be done from outside and little can be done from inside. There is only a handful of people that are in charge in North Korea that can try to effect some kind of change. But even if suddenly one day they wake up with the best of intentions and all cleared up about where they would want to go, i.e. to achieve some sort of South Korean democracy, it will be extremely hard to improve anything in a short amount time (and by short time I mean around 10 years). Basically the people living there today are screwed. Ideologically they have grown up to expect everything handed down from the state. How can the state hand down everything if it doesn't own everything? Economically, maybe 90% of economic activity is useless. In a free economy all of them would be closed. How would you cope with 90% unemployment?

GFischer 15y ago
You remind me of a National Geographic article on post-communist Russia, and how the elderly wanted to go back, since the new system was much harsher on them. And post-communist Russia is an example of what could happen in North Korea, replacing one group of tyrants with a mafia. Only N.K. doesn't have the kind of natural resources Russia has. Maybe Albania might be a better example.
- asimeqi 15y ago
  Albania is the nearest one can come to find a similar regime to North Korea's. The country was so totalitarian you weren't free to choose almost anything. The school where you went, including the branch of study in University was decided by the state. Where to work was decided by the state. The state provided you with a house (after many, many years of waiting). The state even told you where to buy the bread, where to buy the milk, where and in what day to buy the meat, all in different stores of course. The state "guaranteed" the right to work, so almost everyone got a job and all jobs had quite similar salaries. Almost nobody had savings since salaries and prices were calculated to balance themselves for a normal family. Since everybody had to work, lots of fictitious jobs were invented. And people learned soon enough that no matter how much you worked you still got paid and got paid the same, so nobody was really working. So, when the communism collapsed in 1990, the country collapsed too. What saved the people was the fact that Albania is a very small country of 3 million in the middle of Europe so about 30% of people were able to immigrate. Now where would 8 million of North Koreans immigrate if suddenly communism collapsed in their country? I don't know.
  - jeltz 15y ago
    "Now where would 8 million of North Koreans immigrate if suddenly communism collapsed in their country? I don't know." Many would migrate to China, and this is probably one of the main reasons why China tries to keep the status quo in North Korea. China does not want a collapse of their neighbour.
nknight 15y ago
> How would you cope with 90% unemployment? Special Economic Zones are the name of the game, and yeah, it'd take decades to transform the whole economy -- China's still working on it. But the standard of living can start increasing almost immediately with the combination of trade and increased aid once they stop being an international pariah. "Screwed" is on a spectrum, and you can start moving up immediately, if slowly.

by asimeqi 15y ago

GFischer 15y ago

You remind me of a National Geographic article on post-communist Russia, and how the elderly wanted to go back, since the new system was much harsher on them. And post-communist Russia is an example of what could happen in North Korea, replacing one group of tyrants with a mafia. Only N.K. doesn't have the kind of natural resources Russia has. Maybe Albania might be a better example.

asimeqi 15y ago
Albania is the nearest one can come to find a similar regime to North Korea's. The country was so totalitarian you weren't free to choose almost anything. The school where you went, including the branch of study in University was decided by the state. Where to work was decided by the state. The state provided you with a house (after many, many years of waiting). The state even told you where to buy the bread, where to buy the milk, where and in what day to buy the meat, all in different stores of course. The state "guaranteed" the right to work, so almost everyone got a job and all jobs had quite similar salaries. Almost nobody had savings since salaries and prices were calculated to balance themselves for a normal family. Since everybody had to work, lots of fictitious jobs were invented. And people learned soon enough that no matter how much you worked you still got paid and got paid the same, so nobody was really working. So, when the communism collapsed in 1990, the country collapsed too. What saved the people was the fact that Albania is a very small country of 3 million in the middle of Europe so about 30% of people were able to immigrate. Now where would 8 million of North Koreans immigrate if suddenly communism collapsed in their country? I don't know.
- jeltz 15y ago
  "Now where would 8 million of North Koreans immigrate if suddenly communism collapsed in their country? I don't know." Many would migrate to China, and this is probably one of the main reasons why China tries to keep the status quo in North Korea. China does not want a collapse of their neighbour.

nknight 15y ago

> How would you cope with 90% unemployment? Special Economic Zones are the name of the game, and yeah, it'd take decades to transform the whole economy -- China's still working on it. But the standard of living can start increasing almost immediately with the combination of trade and increased aid once they stop being an international pariah. "Screwed" is on a spectrum, and you can start moving up immediately, if slowly.