Lil Kim. Kim Jong-il "anointed" his son as the heir to his throne or whatever he calls it.
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So what do you guys make of this as well as Lil Kim Sr.'s cry for attention with his nukes? Personally I think he's preparing for the inevitable bitch-slap now that China and Russia have distanced themselves. I also think this is just like last time he tested nukes, he's jealous that countries like Iran are getting all the attention.

He was anointed in January and it's just been made formal. It's not exactly unexpected as his succession has been widely discussed because of his apparant ill health in recent years. The guy the US will actually be watching closely is Chang Sung-taek who it's believed will act as regent between il's vacating the throne and un's succession proper.

China is a UN Security Council member and under pressure to condemn North Korea... same goes for Russia. What they say publically means nothing. It's all a facade.

Nitro


He was anointed in January and it's just been made formal. It's not exactly unexpected as his succession has been widely discussed because of his apparant ill health in recent years. The guy the US will actually be watching closely is Chang Sung-taek who it's believed will act as regent between il's vacating the throne and un's succession proper.

China is a UN Security Council member and under pressure to condemn North Korea... same goes for Russia. What they say publically means nothing. It's all a facade.

They still wont oppose NATO or the UN as a whole if they decide to remind N. Korea of its place and slap it around a bit. While S. Korea isn't exactly a utopia, look at how well it has been doing. If the N. Korean people thought they had a chance of being like S. Korea do you think they would even attempt to fight? The problem with poor communist countries is how are you going to motivate people to fight when you get invaded? These arent the determined communist revolutionaries from the cold war, these are not the religious fanatics of the Middle East. North Koreans would most likely welcome any foreign power bringing food, water, and the promise of a crazy dictator not taking all your shit.

immortaldanmx

Nitro


He was anointed in January and it's just been made formal. It's not exactly unexpected as his succession has been widely discussed because of his apparant ill health in recent years. The guy the US will actually be watching closely is Chang Sung-taek who it's believed will act as regent between il's vacating the throne and un's succession proper.

China is a UN Security Council member and under pressure to condemn North Korea... same goes for Russia. What they say publically means nothing. It's all a facade.

They still wont oppose NATO or the UN as a whole if they decide to remind N. Korea of its place and slap it around a bit. While S. Korea isn't exactly a utopia, look at how well it has been doing. If the N. Korean people thought they had a chance of being like S. Korea do you think they would even attempt to fight? The problem with poor communist countries is how are you going to motivate people to fight when you get invaded? These arent the determined communist revolutionaries from the cold war, these are not the religious fanatics of the Middle East. North Koreans would most likely welcome any foreign power bringing food, water, and the promise of a crazy dictator not taking all your shit.

North Korea does not have enough natural resources to warrant an invasion by UN or NATO, not that any of the countries who may be interested have an appetite for another war at the moment.

They'll probably get more sanctions slapped on them, but what will that achieve?  Just make the people hungrier while those in power carry on.  I think civil unrest is the only thing that will topple the dictatorship but the people still see Kim Jong Il as a great leader and view him in some regard as the state itself - so to speak badly of him is to speak badly of your country.

As long as they don't move on their threats to S. Korea the situation won't change at the moment, but I think if they did they would be squashed pretty quickly.

Iad umboros

immortaldanmx

Nitro


He was anointed in January and it's just been made formal. It's not exactly unexpected as his succession has been widely discussed because of his apparant ill health in recent years. The guy the US will actually be watching closely is Chang Sung-taek who it's believed will act as regent between il's vacating the throne and un's succession proper.

China is a UN Security Council member and under pressure to condemn North Korea... same goes for Russia. What they say publically means nothing. It's all a facade.

They still wont oppose NATO or the UN as a whole if they decide to remind N. Korea of its place and slap it around a bit. While S. Korea isn't exactly a utopia, look at how well it has been doing. If the N. Korean people thought they had a chance of being like S. Korea do you think they would even attempt to fight? The problem with poor communist countries is how are you going to motivate people to fight when you get invaded? These arent the determined communist revolutionaries from the cold war, these are not the religious fanatics of the Middle East. North Koreans would most likely welcome any foreign power bringing food, water, and the promise of a crazy dictator not taking all your shit.

North Korea does not have enough natural resources to warrant an invasion by UN or NATO, not that any of the countries who may be interested have an appetite for another war at the moment.

They'll probably get more sanctions slapped on them, but what will that achieve?  Just make the people hungrier while those in power carry on.  I think civil unrest is the only thing that will topple the dictatorship but the people still see Kim Jong Il as a great leader and view him in some regard as the state itself - so to speak badly of him is to speak badly of your country.

As long as they don't move on their threats to S. Korea the situation won't change at the moment, but I think if they did they would be squashed pretty quickly.

That was essentially my point. They would be slapped back in their place so quickly my S. Korea and NATO that it would be pointless. And I highly doubt the people are as fond of Lil Kim as is portrayed. After all, theyre poor, hungry, and they go without basic essentials while he lives a life of luxury.

immortaldanmx


That was essentially my point. They would be slapped back in their place so quickly my S. Korea and NATO that it would be pointless. And I highly doubt the people are as fond of Lil Kim as is portrayed. After all, theyre poor, hungry, and they go without basic essentials while he lives a life of luxury.

Not that they're fond of him at all, just it's not in their culture to openly criticise him as he represents the country to them.   Or so the ex-UK diplomat to N Korea was saying the other night.  Basically, they won't admit that he is a problem, even amongst themselves.  But there isn't any source of political momentum to start a movement against him from within North Korea itself.  Whether it really is on the brink of implosion (which it looks like it has been for nearly 2 decades) or it will continue to stagger along remains to be seen.

Edit - I just spotted I wrote "they think he is a great leader".  Meant that as in the large meaning, not the proficient one.

Just remember you can blame N.K being shitty on China and what is now Russia.

The US knew North Korea had enough plutonium to make a nuclear bomb in the early 90's, so Clinton put in place an aid deal whereby they would recieve the oil and non-plutonium producing reactors required to meet its energy needs if they halted their nuclear ambitions. A decade and a half of appeasement by the US government and a decade and a half of North Korean lies has seen us reach this point. North Korea has successfully developed nuclear weapons.

The problem is that Kim Jong Il isn't going to be responsive to the same kind of carrot and stick tactics that work with other world leaders because both he and his country, due to the nature of their rediculous isolation are completely out of touch with the real world. He believes without a shadow of a doubt that the best protection his country has from outside threats is the development of a nuclear deterrent. There is no society in North Korea. The populace are slaves to the regime. I've been to China on several occasions and things were bad enough there, especially in Beijing, but North Korea is far far worse. They simply can't be reasoned with.

The problem is that not only can they not be reasoned with, but they don;t see any benefit for them from a peaceful coexistance, nor do they have much to lose from any kind of confrontation. Stop food and energy aid and the citizens starve, eventually the country would collapse and millions of North Korean refuges pour into South Korea and China. The US can't scale up it's military presence in the region because it's something that both China and Russia heavily oppose. Chila tolerate an American military presence in South Korea simply because it's in their interests to avoid North and South Korea going to war.

Kim Jong Il believes his survival and that of his regime lies with a percieved credible nuclear threat. China aren't offering support for UN sactions against the North, and the last thing they want is a unified Korea under a pro-American government as we've seen put in place in Iraq.