Posted on 10/15/2011 10:24:10 AM PDT by jazusamo
Nowhere on earth does the contrast between freedom and tyranny, and their corollary prosperity and poverty, reveal itself more vividly than on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea has boomed, producing an ultramodern high tech society whose corporate giants vie for leadership in global industry after industry, and whose popular culture is consumed all over East Asia. In the North, under the hereditary Stalinist Kim dynasty, a million or more citizens died in a famine, and widespread malnutrition has made the younger generation inches shorter than their Southern neighbors, on average, and the people have no access to foreign media or the internet. (See also A Holodomor for the New Millennium.)
Last weekend I stepped onto North Korean territory, if only for a minute, and within the confines Demilitarized Zone, in the famous conference building straddling the border, where North and South Koreans can talk directly. It was a 45 minute bus ride from the center of Seoul.
I was spending a week in South Korea, and viewing the Demilitarized Zone was definitely on the to-do list. It turned out to be pretty easy, and a big business exists catering to the free world's desire to get a glimpse of a truce line in a war that, on paper, still exists.
I knew that Seoul and Korea had completed a lot of infrastructure investment in the past decade or so, but the scale, sophistication, and even glossiness of the transportation system made a strong impression. So did the skyscraper and car-filled cities, obviously part of the first world (with a flair), in the place of the third world city of the 70s I found on my first visit. Everything worked, and a lot of things you encounter in public are as nice or nicer, as sophisticated or even more advanced than,..
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I first visited the DMZ in 1961 where the “stop fighting” took place at Panmunjom. It was neat, clean and painted. The NK soldiers glared at us (USO trip for Army troops stationed at Camp Kaiser). They appeared jealous and resentful. The 1st Cav patrolled the fence, but NK kept sending squads to harrass them and Camp Thomas. You are so right about the difference between freedom and tyranny.
I don't believe the NK soldiers feel a lot differently to this day. It's really difficult to understand how the NK people live under the conditions they have to endure, even much of the army are living like that also.
The Norks do so well because they got rid of the greedy corporations decades ago.
Just don’t try to tell this story to the Wall Street protesters.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.