Anyone just watched the BBC's attempt to portray the North Koreans as a bunch of complete looneys. Anyone know if its true or not?

Reminded me of the C4 programme "behind the veil" doing the same hatchet job on Afganistan a few months before invading.

Why did they only show one nightime satelitte image of the whole country and then pretend what is happening there is a mystery when it is suspected that modern satellite cameras can resolve down to ten centimeters e.g. they can count the number of people sitting round a table in a pub garden (and probably count the glasses if they are not too close together).

Guess whats next?

War no doubt,
their eyes are too close together

Very soon they will commit a terrorist act against a Western country and we'll hate them like we do everybody else.
Bush will find evidence that Bin-Laden's been hiding out there ever since he fled Iraq in his Ford Transit filled with the WMD that Saddam was trying to hide.
Dosen't it make you sick.

Why did they only show one nightime satelitte image of the whole country and then pretend what is happening there is a mystery when it is suspected that modern satellite cameras can resolve down to ten centimeters
Barnowl your wider point might be right, they have been led by a bunch of wackos for far too long, this is a story that will be going on for another ten years at least. This won't end with the walls coming down and a bit of adjustment, as happened in Germany. There is a lot of dislocation to happen here, tomorrow or next week or next year or whenever.

As far as the bog-standard satellite images go - they would be untouched images bought from a commercial provider that has no reason to lie about these things. When this government starts releasing images of North Korean beer-garden tables, be skeptical, very damn skeptical - and don't blame the BBC.

They're definitely a bit wierd, personal dynasty handed down from father to son, country on the verge of starvation, famine in the fields, nuclear research in the towns. Many thousands US soldiers peering across the border.

Doubt this is an Afghan style set-up though. The Empire is a bit overcommitted at the moment and any invasion of N. Korea would cost much more heavily that Irak in terms of lives etc.

More likely it's part of a campaign we'll be enjoying to remind the public that only George & Tony can save them from danger in this scary world.

Brausen spouted:
They're definitely a bit wierd, personal dynasty handed down from father to son, country on the verge of starvation, famine in the fields, nuclear research in the towns. Many thousands US soldiers peering across the border.

any invasion of N. Korea would cost much more heavily that Irak in terms of lives etc.



The idea of a third world war is not beyond belief given the current state of the world. IMHO it will be because of a terrorist attocity e.g. "they" finally get their hands on a working nuclear weapon which can only have one response from the country under attack and their allies, a resource fuelled war ( they have it, we donlt, we want it, so lets take it) or the North Koreans.

At first you would think it obvious why not give North Korea the same treatment as Iraq, they now publically aknowdelge that they are seeking WMD's, thay have removed UN monitoring gear within nuclear facillities, have tiees to terrorisim and have a hatred of the US ( i guess we can add the "western allies" to that list)

BUT unlike IRAQ N.Korea is allied with China, a billion people, a massive army, a whole load of nuclear weapons.

Any such attack on N Korea would no doubt be seen as threatening to China, at best it would harm political relationships at worst it would spark a third world war, but in order to achieve a desirable outcome from it all, why not get china to do it for us ?

Given that the Chinese want to been seen as a civillised and developed country with no ties to terrorisim and the like - any actions by N Korea reflects badly on them, so it is desirable for N Korea to tiody up its act should it wish to continue to enjoy the otherwise protective big brotherness that china gives.

But this is all not forgetting that N Korea is a country run by KIM Chong-il a man who

in 1978 orchestrated the kidnapping of Choe Un-hui, his favorite South Korean actress, and her husband a noted movie producer. They were taken to North Korea where they were held for eight years, to teach him how to make movies.

not to mention the human rights issues, why expenditure on the millitary is forever increasing because of the threat from the west [meh] or even his extenditure on cognac being 700 times that of the average salary,

While Kim reportedly watches CNN and scans the internet for several hours a day, a critical question concerns how accurate his perception of political reality.

I just hope he comes across dogbomb one day :D

[Saudi irks me too]

All down to $$$ IMHO. When the USA come up with enough lucre North Korea will start talking about disarmament etc.

I dunno if he'd have time or energy for a war. Seems like the Alan Clark of Asia



Kim Jong Il's "Pleasure Team"


In order to please Kim Jong-il and his close associates, North Korea maintains a group of pleasure women, called the pleasure team at each specially prepared villa. The existence of the team was revealed to the outside world in the 1980s, when North Korea abducted a number of young women from Hong Kong, Maccao and Middle East countries in order to reinforce the pleasure team."

The pleasure team is again broken down into a "satisfaction team," which performs the duty of providing sexual pleasure, a "happiness team," which conducts a massage service, and a "dancing team," which conducts and singing and dancing performances.


The 5th Section of the Party Organization and Guidance Department is responsible for recruiting members of this pleasure team. Annually the section orders its branch offices in provincial and city Party chapters to select a certain number of beautiful candidates from among female students attending senior high schools. The number of candidates is 100 times the required number of new members. About one tenth of these first-hand candidates will be sent to the Namsan Medical Clinic located at Munsu-dong in Pyongyang for a physical examination, and then from among them 50 will be sent to the Secretary's Office of Kim Jong-il for a final examination.

The candidates will undergo about 6 months of technical training, in accordance with their specialties decided by the Party authorities, before they are given chances to make a two- week observation tour abroad.





http://www.freenorthkorea.net/archives/freenorthkorea/000714.html

hes the man

Another long-term lover was Li Sang-jin, who was his classmate at Kimilsung University.
She was married to a Foreign Ministry official, according to diplomatic sources.
The famous Korean movie actress Hong Yung-hui was introduced to Kim Chong-il by an
aide who knew his boss's tastes. Consenting to become his mistress earned her the leading
role in the revolutionary opera
A Flowerselling Maiden

heh heh