

Korea Execution Is Tied to Clash Over Businesses - danso
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/24/world/asia/north-korea-purge.html?pagewanted=2&smid=tw-share&pagewanted=all&_r=0

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spullara
I'm surprised that the NY Times refers to North Korea as only Korea in the
title of the article. I wonder if they found they got more click throughs when
which country they were referring to was ambiguous?

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anonu
they should be one nation

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JanezStupar
Un seems to be pretty bold. What it remains to be seen is if he is also wise.

Lately I haven't been paying attention to the speculations about the internal
affairs of the North Korea. However it does seem that this year he has been
showing a pretty brutal side.

He now has to show mercy and goodwill somehow. So the people that are ruled by
fear, may rationalize it away with a reason for respect.

Disclaimer: What I am trying to do here is to have a rational debate about
realpolitik. So please try to refrain from passing moral judgement.

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phaus
>Un seems to be pretty bold. What it remains to be seen is if he is also wise.

Having people executed when you are a dictator isn't really bold. He had his
aunt's (Another major source of power in NK) blessing. If he hadn't, he
probably couldn't have pulled it off without getting killed.

I think that its also been demonstrated that he isn't wise either. Think about
it. The young, western educated man that inherits the throne in North Korea
has the potential to become one of the greatest statesmen in history, simply
by implementing a series of idiotically simple reforms. All he had to do was
let China know that he's ready, and they would probably provide him with
shitloads of support to make sure that he doesn't get assassinated by the old
guard. Even if did die in the process, I'd rather that be my legacy than
"Hurr, Durr, I executed my ex-girlfriend and everyone she knows!"

China's getting pretty tired of NK's shit. They just want them to stop being
hardline communists and start making money off of the western world like they
have been doing for decades.

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JanezStupar
> Having people executed when you are a dictator isn't really bold. He had his
> aunt's (Another major source of power in NK) blessing. If he hadn't, he
> probably couldn't have pulled it off without getting killed.

For killing people in general, no. But for killing major hubs of power you
need to be either crazy or have some balls or no brains.

> I think that its also been demonstrated that he isn't wise either. Think
> about it. The young, western educated man that inherits the throne in North
> Korea has the potential to become one of the greatest statesmen in history,
> simply by implementing a series of idiotically simple reforms. All he had to
> do was let China know that he's ready, and they would probably provide him
> with shitloads of support to make sure that he doesn't get assassinated by
> the old guard. Even if did die in the process, I'd rather that be my legacy
> than "Hurr, Durr, I executed my ex-girlfriend and everyone she knows!"

Indeed, it does seem that he acts more like a spoiled brat who will have his
friend shot, because he took his toy. Than a sophisticated machiavellian
ruler.

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chongli
_Indeed, it does seem that he acts more like a spoiled brat who will have his
friend shot, because he took his toy. Than a sophisticated machiavellian
ruler._

He's a real-life Joffrey Baratheon!

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sigzero
"The two men died in front of a firing squad. But instead of rifles, the squad
used antiaircraft machine gun..."

I can't imagine much was left.

~~~
phaus
When he first took power, he had a General executed via Mortar Squad.
Allegedly he told his men he wanted every trace of his existence to be erased.
That's one way to do it.

The General had allegedly been "Drinking and carousing" during the mandatory
2-year period of mourning for Kim Jong Il.

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T-zex
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un was "very drunk" when he ordered the
execution of two aides close to his purged uncle, according to Japanese
newspaper reports.

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10535033/Kim-
Jong-un-very-drunk-when-he-ordered-execution-of-uncles-two-aides.html)

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elag
North Korea is no doubt a terrible place with a siege economy but these
'pieced together by South Korean intelligence' stories - emaciated soldiers
etc - are embarrassingly Judith Milleresque.

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belluchan
There's zero to nil chance we'll invade North Korea ever. North Korea could
devastate the global economy by bombing Seoul which is within artillery range
and Japan, which it can fire missiles at.

North Korea would have to act first and they will never do that unless they
are cornered.

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sixQuarks
Isn't it possible to drop elite forces into the country, have them locate and
then simply execute the top leaders?

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mef
Do you think that would increase or decrease the chances of the North Korean
military launching nukes?

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ak217
They don't seem to have any nukes to launch, nor the ability to sustain
conflict. The only thing they are capable of is provocations and a one-time
surprise attack (the artillery probably wouldn't do significant damage, but a
dirty bomb snuck across the border would).

Given their escalating fondness of low-level provocations, the option of a
surgical strike against the leadership gains appeal over time (but doesn't
outweigh the downsides of having to deal with a broken nation afterwards yet).

~~~
belluchan
> nor the ability to sustain conflict.

How do you know this? The CIA world factbook puts N Korea's army at 6 million
people. Seems like they have the ability to weather a sustained conflict just
fine:

[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/...](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/geos/kn.html)

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alexeisadeski3
The NYT is so foolish in their coverage. Everything is about money? Really?

These internecine clashes are about everything _but_ money. These are life or
death personal conflicts. It's about political power and the goods which come
with that - sure money is one, but it's ancillary.

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l33tbro
Uncharacteristically ignorant headline from NYT

