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> Now I do believe that North Korea could make great scientific and technological strides on its own. Its economy may be faltering, but I suspect their culture

> Now I do believe that North Korea could make great scientific and technological strides on its own. Its economy may be faltering, but I suspect their culture seeks out the very brightest people & puts them to work on very hard problems. or kills them.

jostmey 14y ago
North Korea appears to have had at least partial success building a nuclear weapon. It is my personal belief that Iran is incapable of doing the same. I base this belief on the little that I know about the two cultures. One society is a communist government, that will presumably accept anyone provided that they tow the party line, and the other demands religious fanaticism, and disrespects over 50% of their population. I am not saying I approve of the North Korean government (that said, I don't like most governments). But I do believe the North Koreans are better positioned to be a real threat.
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  My father-in-law was a VP for Northrop Grumman's satellite and aerospace division whose primary customer was the US government. Needless to say, this put him in contact with many people and many defense secrets. North Korea is the thing that keeps him awake at night. The combination of the capability you mention with egotistical insanity at the reigns is never a good combination.
- pyre 14y ago
  | One society is a communist government, that will | presumably accept anyone provided that they tow | the party line You do realize that if you fail to tow the party line your entire family gets sent to a concentration camp (even if they were all towing the party line), right?
  - PeterisP 14y ago
    Yeah, and if the regime starts to need you for whatever reason, then you get picked right back from the concentration camp (at least Stalin did it many times). The parent post is claiming the efficiency difference from not repressing the people you need to do X; repressing/not repressing innocent people is somewhat irrelevant for that part.
- Spooky23 14y ago
  The other difference is that North Korea is a Chinese buffer state and is explicitly enabled by the Chinese for their own purposes. The danger is that nobody really understands the power structure within the DPRK, if Kim or some crazy military faction decides that they can act unilaterally, anything can happen. The Iranians at the end of the day are playing the 21st century version "the great game". They have strategic goals, and they aren't a 1984-style totalitarian state.

jostmey 14y ago

North Korea appears to have had at least partial success building a nuclear weapon. It is my personal belief that Iran is incapable of doing the same. I base this belief on the little that I know about the two cultures. One society is a communist government, that will presumably accept anyone provided that they tow the party line, and the other demands religious fanaticism, and disrespects over 50% of their population. I am not saying I approve of the North Korean government (that said, I don't like most governments). But I do believe the North Koreans are better positioned to be a real threat.

SoftwareMaven 14y ago
My father-in-law was a VP for Northrop Grumman's satellite and aerospace division whose primary customer was the US government. Needless to say, this put him in contact with many people and many defense secrets. North Korea is the thing that keeps him awake at night. The combination of the capability you mention with egotistical insanity at the reigns is never a good combination.
pyre 14y ago
| One society is a communist government, that will | presumably accept anyone provided that they tow | the party line You do realize that if you fail to tow the party line your entire family gets sent to a concentration camp (even if they were all towing the party line), right?
- PeterisP 14y ago
  Yeah, and if the regime starts to need you for whatever reason, then you get picked right back from the concentration camp (at least Stalin did it many times). The parent post is claiming the efficiency difference from not repressing the people you need to do X; repressing/not repressing innocent people is somewhat irrelevant for that part.
Spooky23 14y ago
The other difference is that North Korea is a Chinese buffer state and is explicitly enabled by the Chinese for their own purposes. The danger is that nobody really understands the power structure within the DPRK, if Kim or some crazy military faction decides that they can act unilaterally, anything can happen. The Iranians at the end of the day are playing the 21st century version "the great game". They have strategic goals, and they aren't a 1984-style totalitarian state.