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Kim Jong Un will be a gak sight crazier than his old man. This I can be sure of.
You only have to look at crazies like Uday Hussien to see that. Spoilt, indoctrinated, and uber powerful does not a good combination make!

This will end badly.....

I lived in South Korea for a couple of years, so would like to offer my few cents if I may. I think most likely his death might slowly start to bring in a new era, but the chance of the North coming out all-guns blazing is small for a number of reasons.

After a lifetime combination of immense privilege and perpetual indoctrination I'm guessing "not very" but we'll have to see, I guess. Who knows, he might surprise everyone. He'll be assuming the mantle of a massive cult of personality though and I don't think anything good has ever come of those.

Kim Jong-un, the heir apparent, was educated in Switzerland. I hope that he has had enough experience of the world to realise the terminal situation the North is in. The door has already been opened a crack, with sales of Chinese communication equipment (mobiles, computers etc.) which mean that NK, or at least some of the population, are less isolated now than they have ever been in the past. Most likely, at least for the first few years, he will follow policies similar to his father, and will be encouraged to do so by Jong-il's sister, Ki, Kyong Hui, who if rumours are to be believed has been pretty much running the country from behind the scenes for the last few years anyway.

But

And this is a hotdog chewing, no exercise in 3 years, big 'but'. The situation exists for some kind of coup to occur, perhaps not immediately because the country would not be ready for it with national mourning going on, but over the next 6 months. The military is extremely powerful politically, and intertwined with the government. I would argue it would never be easier for a general to decide he can make a better go of it. Certainly, the structure is in place for something like this to happen, and it is important to note that the indoctrination of the majority of the populace does not extend to the upper echelons of government. Will it be a good thing if this happens? That remains to be seen, and you could make the argument that similarly the current South Korean democracy springboarded on the back of a military government.

One good thing is that there was a document released by wikileaks, showing the minutes of a conversation between US and China concerning North Korea. China said that if there is a coup, they will not intercede in support of the regime. If true, this is somewhat heartening.

To be honest I think the current situation in North Korea is a travesty, and the division of the country is one of the most unfortunate in modern history. The political polorasiation, and squaring off between the great powers in the cold war, has now ended. I hope it is time to put right the wrongs of the Potsdam conference, and by extension the fact that one of the most prosperous nations in Asia exists directly next to one of the poorest and most desperate. The Korean people are a single race and most of them want reunification, even as they realise the short term problems it will create. Hopefully now the 'Dear Leader' is dead, the iron grip on the people will begin to slip, and just the slightest opening of the door to the rest of the world, either through Kim Jong-Un or the victor of a 'night of the long knives', will bring about much needed change.

Medium of Death wrote:

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Mr. Kim died from Roneriness during a train ride on Saturday, a weeping television announcer said.

...fixed.

Hopefully we can see some kind of change for the people of North Korea. Positive change that is.

Fixed spelling

Can we not just get an enterprising fellow to assassinate them?
Blame it on a voodoo curse or climate change or something...

Pacific wrote:Kim Jong-un, the heir apparent, was educated in Switzerland.

Ah, yes, sorry, I was completely forgetting his Swiss education. That's a very good point.

Pacific wrote:To be honest I think the current situation in North Korea is a travesty, and the division of the country is one of the most unfortunate in modern history. The political polorasiation, and squaring off between the great powers in the cold war, has now ended. I hope it is time to put right the wrongs of the Potsdam conference, and by extension the fact that one of the most prosperous nations in Asia exists directly next to one of the poorest and most desperate. The Korean people are a single race and most of them want reunification, even as they realise the short term problems it will create. Hopefully now the 'Dear Leader' is dead, the iron grip on the people will begin to slip, and just the slightest opening of the door to the rest of the world, either through Kim Jong-Un or the victor of a 'night of the long knives', will bring about much needed change.

Absolutely agree. I hope Kim Jong-il's death might be the start of that process, though it's going to be long and difficult however it happens.

You know more about the region and its situation than I do - do you think that in the proces of (hopefully) opening that door to the rest of the world, the DPRK will expose itself to hostile or predatory foreign interests? I can only imagine a number of governments and business entities seeing that as an opportunity for exploitation.

Also, do you think it's possible that - say as a result of a military coup - the country might become even more aggressively insular or hostile toward its neighbors? That seems like it would be suicidal, geopolitically, but I ask anyway out of curiosity.

South Korea has put it's army on high alert.
China has put a crisis team into effect.

Is hostile action expected?

.....NOT THE DEAR LEADER.....god, crazy dictators are becoming endangered!, where's green peace when you actually need 'em!

Doing something useful, like saving whales. Which is good, I'd rather have them saving the gentle giants rather than the bat gak crazy dictators!

Castiel wrote:Doing something useful, like saving whales. Which is good, I'd rather have them saving the gentle giants rather than the bat gak crazy dictators!

Sorry, but crazy dictators make much better news than whales

Huffy wrote:

Castiel wrote:Doing something useful, like saving whales. Which is good, I'd rather have them saving the gentle giants rather than the bat gak crazy dictators!

Sorry, but crazy dictators make much better news than whales

Nah, but then I'm an ecologist! Also, the more dictators they remove the less competition I have.........

But you didn't hear that, did you?

So a kid with nuclear weapons at his disposal....I see no problem....thinking back on my days at Four-Pappa-Three..

@Gorechild: Damn you! beating me to the post with that gem of humour!

Personally I'm concerned, transition periods in tyrannical regimes always leaves uncertainty and the possibility that at least 1 western country will decide to send in the troops, which ends up with another bunch of western countries sending theirs in as well...

A Kvlt Ghost wrote:

Pacific wrote:Kim Jong-un, the heir apparent, was educated in Switzerland.

Ah, yes, sorry, I was completely forgetting his Swiss education. That's a very good point.

Pacific wrote:To be honest I think the current situation in North Korea is a travesty, and the division of the country is one of the most unfortunate in modern history. The political polorasiation, and squaring off between the great powers in the cold war, has now ended. I hope it is time to put right the wrongs of the Potsdam conference, and by extension the fact that one of the most prosperous nations in Asia exists directly next to one of the poorest and most desperate. The Korean people are a single race and most of them want reunification, even as they realise the short term problems it will create. Hopefully now the 'Dear Leader' is dead, the iron grip on the people will begin to slip, and just the slightest opening of the door to the rest of the world, either through Kim Jong-Un or the victor of a 'night of the long knives', will bring about much needed change.

Absolutely agree. I hope Kim Jong-il's death might be the start of that process, though it's going to be long and difficult however it happens.

You know more about the region and its situation than I do - do you think that in the proces of (hopefully) opening that door to the rest of the world, the DPRK will expose itself to hostile or predatory foreign interests? I can only imagine a number of governments and business entities seeing that as an opportunity for exploitation.

Also, do you think it's possible that - say as a result of a military coup - the country might become even more aggressively insular or hostile toward its neighbors? That seems like it would be suicidal, geopolitically, but I ask anyway out of curiosity.

It's difficult to imagine how North Korea could be more insular and hostile than it is now, without actually going to war.

Remember it is a nation which in the past 18 months has torpedoed a South Korean warship, shelled a South Korean town, and shot a ballistic missile towards Japan.

War erupts on the Korean Penninsula then NATO (western countries) are in the fight.

Jihadin wrote:War erupts on the Korean Penninsula then NATO (western countries) are in the fight.

Two reasons why not...

1. $$$ - Can anyone really afford a war against North Korea?

2. China - Whether they like the current regime or not, China won't tolerate US troops marching into Pyongyang

I doubt very much will change. N Korea may rattle the sabre every so often (launching missiles and sinking boats), but they really can't afford a war.

If anyone wants to read a good book about North Koreans (i.e. the people, not the nutters in charge), may I recommend this...


It is an incredible read.

NATO will go to South Korea aid if the North comes down western corridor. If the North decides to nuke...well not much room to maneuver after that on a penninsula. Biggest issue is the mass exodus that China going to have to deal with soon from North Korea. South Korea border way to mined/fortified for any attempts to cross.

I really don't think North Korea could invade the south even if it wanted to. This country was starving to death not so long ago. I can't believe their basic foot soldiers are in good shape at the moment.

Goodnight, sweet Prince.

Is a strange country though, no one knows how old he was, nor how old his son actually is.

NSFW:Language


He never recovered...

Their line divisios are fed well. Granted your not going to see left overs thrown away. Kimchi and rice will sustain you a long time....lots and lots of soju to...you won't gain any weight from kimchi and rice but its filling. Great for a headcold and cucumber kimchi is the best. I think NATO ountries though will send humanitarian supplies to China though if what they're saying comes true. The terrain of Korea is perfect for foot soldiers but the best time to "invade" is Jan and Feb when the rice paddies are frozen over. Its siberian cold

Dead? I didn't even know he was il(l).


Arf!

That was terrible Albatross. ( )

Albatross wrote:Dead? I didn't even know he was il(l).


Arf!

Dreadwinter wrote:Awwwwwwww man. We have been burning through evil dictators like crazy in the past few years. We are going to run out at this rate! Who will we hate then?!

Africa my friend, Africa. That place will always be incredibly beautiful to look at, and even more scary to visit. Its full of crazy dictators

It's been a bad year for Monsters, and a great year for humanity.

I just wish his death had been at the end of a hangman's noose and that his government had died with him.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

MrDwhitey wrote:That was terrible Albatross. ( )

Too FETHING funny.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple months, that for sure

The title of this thread should have been Kim Jong-dead.

Say what you will about the "Dear Leader", but I will always be grateful to him for giving us Pulgasari.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulgasari

You're all missing the most important point... why hasn't dakkadakka honored this dynasty with its own ranking track for forum posters??!?! You could start as capitalist aggressor and advance up through starving civilian all the way to Eternal President. If North Korea hasn't given us enough to fill the track, we could have a contest to come up with progressively aggrandizing yet functionally useless titles! This could be bigger than santa hat avatars....

died from fatigue during a train ride on Saturday

Sounds more like.... A TEAM OF SEALS INVADED HIS COMPLEX AND SHOT HIM FULL OF HOLES WITH A MACHINE GUN

Can't say I'll miss the guy, althougn his blog is pretty cool: http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/