Hell on earth

[Fragony]

It exists http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071468/#.UQY023y9KSN

In the meantime the food-shortages are reported to be so bad that they started eating eachother, madness. All hail the glorious corpulent leader who doesn't look all that hungry

[Lemur]

Old news, Frags. This is much more current (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/cannibal-horror-as-10000-north-koreans-starve/story-fnb64oi6-1226563035481):

'We Have Meat'

January 28, 2013—A FATHER in North Korea is reported to have been executed by firing squad after murdering his two children to eat them during a "hidden famine" that may have killed more than 10,000 people last year.

In a litany of horrors documented by undercover reporters, another man dug up his grandchild's corpse for food and a third, driven mad by hunger, boiled his own child and ate the flesh.

The stories were collected by Asia Press, a specialist news agency based in Osaka, Japan, which has a network of "citizen journalists" inside North Korea and is regarded as credible.

Dozens of interviews and clandestine reports have led it to conclude that "considerable numbers of people" - probably more than 10,000 - have died in North and South Hwanghae provinces, south of Pyongyang, the capital.

North Korea has not officially confirmed any deaths. A government-supervised mission by the UN last September reported a food surplus in both provinces, yet the clandestine reporting depicts a pattern of misery and death while Kim Jong-un, the country's leader, spent lavishly on banquets and missile tests. One informant, an official in South Hwanghae, said: "In my village in May, a man who killed his own two children and tried to eat them was executed by a firing squad.

"While his wife was away on business he killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: 'We have meat.'

"But his wife, suspicious, notified the Ministry of Public Security, which led to the discovery of part of their children's bodies under the eaves."

In its detailed 12-page report, Asia Press identifies reporters and sources by pseudonyms. "Particularly shocking were the numerous testimonies that hit us about cannibalism," said the agency's Jiro Ishimaru.

Gu Gwang-ho, one of the reporters in North Korea, wrote: "There was an incident when a man was arrested for digging up the grave of his grandchild and eating the remains."

In May in Haeju, South Hwanghae's main city, a man who had killed 11 people and sold the meat as pork was executed by firing squad.

"In a village in Chongdan county, a man who went mad with hunger boiled his own child, ate his flesh and was arrested," said a mid-ranking official of the ruling Korean Workers Party.

These incidents reportedly took place as Mr Kim, 30, marked his ascent to power with a new image, a glamorous wife and two costly rocket launches.

Last week, he followed these with a defiant pledge to retaliate against the latest UN sanctions by staging a third nuclear weapons test "aimed at the United States".

Early last year, officials confiscated food from farm collectives in North and South Hwanghae to supply the army and reward the privileged residents of Pyongyang for their loyalty to the Kim dynasty, the undercover reporters say.

But then a drought struck and, from April to June, farmers and their families in these "breadbasket" provinces began to die.

"One family was completely wiped out, everyone died of starvation, while another family gave up hope of living and killed themselves," said Gu.

A hospital administrator said there was no wood for coffins or cremations, so the dead had been wrapped in straw mats and tipped into an unmarked common grave.

"The farming villages I visited from May to June were in such a tragic state that I had to cover my eyes," the party official added. "There was no food at all. Casting out elderly parents or abandoning children was nothing rare."

"Political waste" on celebrations and extra rations for Pyongyang were key factors, according to the reporters.

Mr Kim, a plump, beaming figure, ordered new apartment blocks, imported equipment for a fairground and a dolphinarium, staged lavish festivities and appeared at a pop concert with his pregnant wife.

"The smooth transfer of power . . . was the top priority," according to the reporters. The famine in the Hwanghae provinces has passed its peak, the reports say. It is probable that when the UN team visited the area in the autumn, it was shown no evidence of it.

Japanese government sources say North Korea has developed a compact nuclear weapon that can fit on to a missile capable of reaching the US's west coast. The device may be equal in force to the atomic bomb that destroyed the city of Nagasaki in 1945, the sources told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

As Mr Kim celebrates his first year in power, it is clear thousands have paid for his adventures.

[Fragony]

Didn't know it was known already, just read it on news-site that usually very up to date. Too horrible. If any regime needs some spanking it is this one, I knew there was famine but this is beyond my imagination. Pure horror 'we have meat'

Gawd.

[Greyblades]

[Insert comment about finishing the current crop of moral crusades before starting another]
[Insert snark about who will pay for it/deal with aftermath]
[Insert doubts that further intervention will not make it worse]
[Insert comment about American forwarded anti imperialism means any attempt of sorting them out will one day result in them ruling themeselves once again and with an unchanged culture will end up in the same mess again with different corrupt and evil rulers]
[Insert disarming smilie making the previous statement seem like a joke in case someone tries to confront me about it]

[Husar]

I agree with Greyblades on every single point he would have made.

[Fluvius Camillus]

Didn't know it was known already, just read it on news-site that usually very up to date. Too horrible. If any regime needs some spanking it is this one, I knew there was famine but this is beyond my imagination. Pure horror 'we have meat'

Gawd.

Please don't say you mean PowNews by this?

I wonder how long this charade can be kept up. Surely this system will collapse within the next 50 years.

I would suggest everyone this short documentary, it's lovely:
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/vice_guide_to_north_korea_episode_1_of_3

~Fluvius

[Lemur]

Some days I love the internets. (http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/29/rave-reviews-for-north-korean-gulags-on-google-maps/)

[HoreTore]

I rarely support war.

A war on North Korea, however, is one I would support wholeheartedly, and without reservations.

[Strike For The South]

I rarely support war.

A war on North Korea, however, is one I would support wholeheartedly, and without reservations.

Why? Let the bastards implode

I don't need another expensive nation building project.

[HopAlongBunny]

And they actually do have WMD's. Dangerous to mess with ppl carrying :p

[Montmorency]

Just goes to show how clever the regime really is...

[Lemur]

North Korea under martial law (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9838626/North-Korea-under-martial-law.html) (which is different from a normal day ... how?)

In an emergency meeting of his top defence and security officials on Saturday, the North Korean leader issued a series of orders that included the conclusion of preparations for a new nuclear test, the Joongang Daily reported.

North Korean state media has also reported that Kim ordered his officials to take "effective, high-profile state measures."

While it has been anticipated that Pyongyang will go ahead with what will be the regime's third nuclear test, in spite of international pressure to refrain from doing so, analysts had predicted that the blast would be timed to coincide with the birthday on February 16 of Kim Jong-il, the former leader who died in late 2011, or the inauguration of the new government in South Korea nine days later.

The reports now suggest that the demonstration of North Korea's nuclear prowess is more imminent.

In March 1993, North Korea placed the nation under martial law shortly before it announced it was withdrawing from the Treaty in the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The regime also ordered its troops to be ready for war.

Pyongyang's preparations have been corroborated by South Korean government officials and sources in Beijing, with surveillance images suggesting that the mouth of the shaft has been sealed in readiness for the test at the Pyunggye-ri site.

North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006 and carried out a second underground detonation in May 2009.

This latest test is in direct response to international criticism of its launch of a rocket in December that Pyongyang claimed was for peaceful purposes. The United Nations Security Council concluded unanimously that it was a test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Lee Myung-bak, the president of South Korea, ordered the military to be ready to make a "strong response" to any provocation from North Korea.

[The Lurker Below]

I thought this was going to be about Eugene, OR.

Is it merely coincidence that N Korea has so many submarines? dun dun dunnnn

Seriously I would pull 8th Army out of Korea today and let S Korea liberate the northern people tommorow. They wouldn't really need the full day, they could be back in time for dinner. However South Koreans are really very smart people and have probably no desire to get themselves so dirty.

[Husar]

Seriously I would pull 8th Army out of Korea today and let S Korea liberate the northern people tommorow. They wouldn't really need the full day, they could be back in time for dinner.

Just like the Germans captured Paris by Christmas 1914 and the French captured Berlin by Christmas 1914?

[The Lurker Below]

Just like the Germans captured Paris by Christmas 1914 and the French captured Berlin by Christmas 1914?

you didn't know? when it comes to French invasions the Germans always invert their numbers.

[HopAlongBunny]

Peace will reign unless, and until, China gets tired and invades N.Korea.

[Papewaio]

Let China prove it is a credible superpower and has the ability, will and finesse to clean up North Korea be it the first or last option of diplomacy.

[HopAlongBunny]

I expect the "clean-up" will be as swift and certain as the U.S. one in it's backyard (not holding my breath)

[Fragony]

I expect the "clean-up" will be as swift and certain as the U.S. one in it's backyard (not holding my breath)

There is enough artillary aimed at Seoel to completily destroy it in case of an attack, thousands will die

[Montmorency]

That assumes the artillery emplacements will in the event be in good order, will have sufficient ammunition, will not be suppressed by counter-artillery or air-strikes...

[Fragony]

That assumes the artillery emplacements will in the event be in good order, will have sufficient ammunition, will not be suppressed by counter-artillery or air-strikes...

Glad I only have to think about what I am going to eat for dinner

[Rhyfelwyr]

[Insert comment about finishing the current crop of moral crusades before starting another]
[Insert snark about who will pay for it/deal with aftermath]
[Insert doubts that further intervention will not make it worse]
[Insert comment about American forwarded anti imperialism means any attempt of sorting them out will one day result in them ruling themeselves once again and with an unchanged culture will end up in the same mess again with different corrupt and evil rulers]
[Insert disarming smilie making the previous statement seem like a joke in case someone tries to confront me about it]

Not necessarily, look at the post WWII US involvement in South Korea and Japan. Things took a few decades to become stable but they never even came close to being a fraction as bad as the current North Korean regime.

There were pretty specific conditions that allowed North Korea's regime to develop the way it has and I don't really see a scenario where it could come back after a US or Chinese invasion. Chaos and a breakdown in government eg Afghanistan etc is the complete opposite of how the il-Sung's work.

[Greyblades]

Not necessarily, look at the post WWII US involvement in South Korea and Japan. Things took a few decades to become stable but they never even came close to being a fraction as bad as the current North Korean regime.

They also weren't brainwashed to this degree, released from the kim's control there's reason to fear that they would be quite vulnerable to someone trying to taking thier place, while unlikely to go back to the way they are now, such manipulation could do some serious damage to a recovering society. And that's not even taking into consideration the serious amounts of cultural screw ups that any reconstruction force could cause. (http://www.cracked.com/article_19098_6-wtf-japanese-trends-you-can-blame-white-guys.html)

[Lemur]

[R]eleased from the kim's control there's reason to fear that they would be quite vulnerable to someone trying to taking thier place[.]
I refer our readers back to the excellent essay, A Nation of Racist Dwarfs (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2010/02/a_nation_of_racist_dwarfs.html).

[T]he North Korean [system] has actually succeeded in producing a sort of new species. Starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult: This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming.

[Greyblades]

Dude, you've seen the kind of crazy stuff people do outside of opressive regimes revolvong around worship of one man, I predict that one charismatic lunatic saying he's the reincarnation of dear kim could do some real Jonestown level of stuff.

[Lemur]

Oh, I'm generally agreeing, not disagreeing with you.

Truth of the matter, though: This is China's backyard. And the DPRK survives at China's pleasure. Until the day China sees a profit and a non-destabilizing endgame for the DPRK, well, they're just gonna keep on being bat-guano crazy.

[Veho Nex]

There is enough artillary aimed at Seoel to completily destroy it in case of an attack, thousands will die
Millions