North Korea's new leader to be named in the next 24 hrs

Supposedly. And yes, I was aware of this 'news' when it was still new

This is gonna be fun discussing how we're closer to nuclear holocaust this time tomorrow.

So it's probably going to be the short fucker's son, Kim Jong-un, but some analysts suggest we could be surprised, with the de facto leadership possibly going to Kim's brother-in-law, Chang Sung-taek, who is in charge of the military or something.

So, are we still fucked?

Quote :

but some analysts suggest we could be surprised

It's going to be Elmo. That red fur is no coincidence.

He's actually got blonde fur, but it's covered in blood permanently.

But in all seriousness, what the hell is a poor country like North Korea going to do against the rest of the world? Luxembourg invading Belgium seems more likely to me.

Yeah, they're like the tough kid in the playground... against three hundred tougher kids. Oh, except Kim is actually a totally childish wanker.

I'm not all that worried about North Korea nuking us.
I mean, maybe them starting some kind of conflict that spreads is a realistic concern because they are constantly threatening Japan and South Korea, and then there's the fact that if we do anything to them China might not like it, and all that shit...I mean there's no question it's a somewhat dangerous situation..
But still I don't think they're all that scary to us in particular.
I'm more concerned about what's going to happen to them domestically when/if everything falls apart there. I mean, the extent of the control that the government exerts over the North Koreans and the extent to which they've managed to isolate them from the global community is pretty remarkable, and you can't maintain a society like that forever. At least, it seems unlikely. And I just wonder how volatile it's going to be there when/if all of that falls apart.

edit:So Aaron you've probably seen this/know this already but I just watched this video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11384688

And they said that Kim Jong Il's first son isn't considered fit for the job because he tried to go to Japan to see some kind of disney theme park thing, and the second one is to 'feminine' which I find pretty funny....other than that it wasn't particularly informative.

I agree with Spokes
We had this whole discussion in class about reunification of the Koreas and whether or not the world wants that and we pretty much agreed, no. When West and East Germany reunited there were tons of problems b/c the Russian half was so dominated by Communism. Same would probably happen but 10x worse if all the sudden NK gov. fell apart. I heard that North Koreans didnt even know man had landed on the moon. Idk if that's true but if it is think about how impossible it would be to integrate them into the modern world. South Korea would be fucked. Best bet is the next guy just like to flash his tech-9 once in a while.

Pintsogin makes a good point. If the Korea's reunited everybody would just leave the northern part and go south. And the north needs a lot of fixing up.

ThusSpokeYourFace wrote:

and then there's the fact that if we do anything to them China might not like it

I don't know about that. I don't think they are best friends, since North Korea destroyed the bridges connecting them to China.

I don't see why they couldn't reunite. Sure it'd be bad at first but in the long-run it'd be muuuuch better for everybody there, and they're the only real victims in the situation.

Great minds, baby

pizza wrote:

There were also a lot of hurdles in the process of reunification in Germany but in retrospect, it was worth it.

The people in the east of your country do not agree. In fact, they would love to go back to communism, because at least they had jobs.

I know a number of Russians and ppl from former USSR states. Most say their parents wouldn't mind going back to Communism.

if they ended up reunifying SK would be drained in pretty much every way, and the US would be expected to help out. Probably by investing billions of dollars we don't have.

Last year a Dutch journalist, Jelle Brandt Corstius, made documentary about Russia and the countryside was completely drained of life after communism left. He said he encoutered about 200 ghost towns during the making of the show. All the young people had left for the big cities and left the elders to die. I think the same thing is going to happen if you'd reunite the Korea's. Although I'm not saying the people of North Korea don't deserve better I don't think something radical would make it a better place.

And provided for jobs.

I'm not saying the DDR was great or anything, but at least they had jobs. What do they have now?

I love how you italicise the wrong words

Jong-un is now General. First time he's been mentioned at ALL officially.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11417016
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/09/reuters-kim-jong-ils-youngest-son-named-general-in-n-korean-succession-signal/1
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/North+Korea+leader+named+general/3586202/story.html

Where did I say they didn't have full employment in the Third Reich? They had it before that, but not since Germany reunited. The switch back to "freedom" is where it went wrong for the people in eastern Germany. The big difference is that now they don't have jobs. But hey, at least they can say it sucks without being killed!

Aaron wrote:

Jong-un is now General. First time he's been mentioned at ALL officially.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11417016
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/09/reuters-kim-jong-ils-youngest-son-named-general-in-n-korean-succession-signal/1
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/North+Korea+leader+named+general/3586202/story.html

So Jong-il is still in charge?

Yeah he'll probably be in charge until he dies, and even then I think his brother-in-law will effectively be running the country, cos Jong-un is so inexperienced. He'll probably still be announced as the next leader tomorrow though.

then there's the military/international relations factor. China likes NK b/c its a buffer between us and them. They wouldn't handle a downfall well.

just nuke the bastards already

Aaron wrote:

Yeah he'll probably be in charge until he dies, and even then I think his brother-in-law will effectively be running the country, cos Jong-un is so inexperienced. He'll probably still be announced as the next leader tomorrow though.

But isn't Kim Jong-il's dad still in charge as the only dead head of nation in the world? It's getting real complicated now

Tim wrote:

Aaron wrote:

Yeah he'll probably be in charge until he dies, and even then I think his brother-in-law will effectively be running the country, cos Jong-un is so inexperienced. He'll probably still be announced as the next leader tomorrow though.

But isn't Kim Jong-il's dad still in charge as the only dead head of nation in the world? It's getting real complicated now

Yeah but he wasn't so much of a prick

blake wrote:

just nuke the bastards already

Why would you say that?

It's not as though it's the poor fuckers living there who have done anything. The only bad North Koreans in the world are the government, who let millions die for their own selfishness. By selfishness, I mean the kind of prick who's running the country that employs people to make sure that his rice grains are the exact same shape and size, who had thousands put to death for not crying at his father's death, etc.

Aaron, I've got some pictures from North Korea. Should I post them here?

Of course you should baby. I so wish I could take North Korean studies at uni

I'll just read books. I'll post the propaganda I've got. They're so fucking cool.