4 ms·

I hope to live long enough to see North and South Korea unified like East/West Germany. But somehow I suspect it is going to be a lot harder for that to happen

by ck2 11y ago

I hope to live long enough to see North and South Korea unified like East/West Germany. But somehow I suspect it is going to be a lot harder for that to happen given the nuclear weapons involved and then learning how southern look down on northern folks.

ZanyProgrammer 11y ago
And the small fact that the North is a totalitarian shithole.
- ck2 11y ago
  100% Chinese sponsored totalitarian sh*thole. Yet the world keeps supporting China.
  - ceejayoz 11y ago
    I don't really blame China for propping the regime up. A collapse of North Korea will likely be one of the largest humanitarian crises in human history. 25 million people with minimal education, skills mostly useless to the modern economy, and a failed infrastructure. I wouldn't want that on my border either.
    - amyjess 11y ago
      This is why the best way to deal with North Korea would be to support a coup that replaces the Kims with a less-crazy dictator, so they could slowly build things back up without trying to force them to integrate into China or SK.
  - mason240 11y ago
    China is not happy with current situation either.
- kuschku 11y ago
  East Germany was also not a great place – the largest domestic intelligence agency ever, everyone spying on each other, a totalitarian regime, a wall so that no one could flee, food was there, but you had no bananas, no chocolate, or any other expensive food. All in all, if one sees it objectively, east germany wasn’t /that/ different from North Korea.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - jccooper 11y ago
    East Germany was in poor condition relative to West, but nowhere near as disparate from the west as the Koreas are from each other. Though in East Germany you could get no bananas, in North Korea you can't get rice.
- mahouse 11y ago
  South Korea is much better. Not.
  - sanxiyn 11y ago
    South Korea is much better.
    - mahouse 11y ago
      http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/opinion/south-koreas-invasion-of-privacy.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/opinion/south-koreas-invas... http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apps-that-monitor-kids-smartphone-use-popular-in-south-korea-1.3076349 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apps-that-monitor-kids-sma... etc
      - ceejayoz 11y ago
        I think most folks would take South Korea's internet censorship and surveillance over North Korea's "three generations of your family go to labor camps to die" approach.
      - dba7dba 11y ago
        South Korea is MUCH better. No comparison. At least kids have smartphones.
bkeroack 11y ago
This book gives an interesting take on it: http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0143122916 http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0... According to it, the South considers the North so underdeveloped and backward that it isn't worth the cost of unification (which it estimates in the billions). Which makes sense considering that virtually the entire population of the North would require intensive medical care, subsidized housing, assimilation training, etc. Not to mention the cost of rounding up and trying the leadership for decades of crimes against humanity. It's an awful mess.

by ck2 11y ago

ZanyProgrammer 11y ago

And the small fact that the North is a totalitarian shithole.

ck2 11y ago
100% Chinese sponsored totalitarian sh*thole. Yet the world keeps supporting China.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  I don't really blame China for propping the regime up. A collapse of North Korea will likely be one of the largest humanitarian crises in human history. 25 million people with minimal education, skills mostly useless to the modern economy, and a failed infrastructure. I wouldn't want that on my border either.
  - amyjess 11y ago
    This is why the best way to deal with North Korea would be to support a coup that replaces the Kims with a less-crazy dictator, so they could slowly build things back up without trying to force them to integrate into China or SK.
- mason240 11y ago
  China is not happy with current situation either.
kuschku 11y ago
East Germany was also not a great place – the largest domestic intelligence agency ever, everyone spying on each other, a totalitarian regime, a wall so that no one could flee, food was there, but you had no bananas, no chocolate, or any other expensive food. All in all, if one sees it objectively, east germany wasn’t /that/ different from North Korea.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- jccooper 11y ago
  East Germany was in poor condition relative to West, but nowhere near as disparate from the west as the Koreas are from each other. Though in East Germany you could get no bananas, in North Korea you can't get rice.
mahouse 11y ago
South Korea is much better. Not.
- sanxiyn 11y ago
  South Korea is much better.
  - mahouse 11y ago
    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/opinion/south-koreas-invasion-of-privacy.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/opinion/south-koreas-invas... http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apps-that-monitor-kids-smartphone-use-popular-in-south-korea-1.3076349 http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apps-that-monitor-kids-sma... etc
    - ceejayoz 11y ago
      I think most folks would take South Korea's internet censorship and surveillance over North Korea's "three generations of your family go to labor camps to die" approach.
    - dba7dba 11y ago
      South Korea is MUCH better. No comparison. At least kids have smartphones.

bkeroack 11y ago

This book gives an interesting take on it: http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0143122916 http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Camp-14-Remarkable-Odyssey/dp/0... According to it, the South considers the North so underdeveloped and backward that it isn't worth the cost of unification (which it estimates in the billions). Which makes sense considering that virtually the entire population of the North would require intensive medical care, subsidized housing, assimilation training, etc. Not to mention the cost of rounding up and trying the leadership for decades of crimes against humanity. It's an awful mess.