Posted on 03/25/2008 2:24:40 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Ping!
I knew it was coming, just not this soon.
How sad for the innocent people of North Korea !
Why delay the inevitable? Without outside food aid I doubt if Kim Jung Il could last a year. Of course, chaos would probably be the result, as well as mass starvation, but they’re already starving according to the article. China and the ROK would have a mass refugee problem, but they’re both rich nations. The DPRK needs to go, just as East Germany did.
FWIW
With the Expansion of North Korea’s Jangmadang, Possibility of a “Mass Starvation” Reduced
By Kim So Yeul
“The reason for the mass starvation that occurred in late 90s is that North Korea faced natural disasters without expanding the markets capability to substitute for the broken planned economy capability, and so the damage to North Korean citizens was inevitably large.”
Dong Yong Seung, the Samsung Economic Research Institute’s Economic Security Team Chief, speaking at the 19th Expert Forum sponsored by the Peace Foundation on the 19th, explained that, “The market in North Korea has expanded in the last 10 years. The supply and demand structure of daily necessities, including food items, has been formed.”
Continued Mr. Dong, “Because the market capacity has expanded, the possibility of a mass-scale starvation occurring is no longer high. In actuality, the change in food prices is being monitored at the market.”
He explained, “If South Korea sends food aid to the North, food provision increases, because the intermediary wholesalers will bring out a lot of the food items that have been held. As a result, there is a decline in the food price. In the areas of trade, a similar phenomenon has been taking place. North Korean trade organizations can achieve their quota due to the plan of the authorities.”
Further, he revealed, “Within North Korean factories, there are family enterprises that were allowed, as affiliated laborers, to produce necessities using the by-products of the factory. Therefore, the market-connected family enterprises were recently supporting factories.”
He explained the result: “Thats why these kinds of family enterprises, which manufacture products through purchasing materials from markets and the factory were raising their profits, even when the factory has not been operating due to the paralysis of the capacity of the planned economy.
Simultaneously, Mr. Dong advised, regarding the North Korean policy of the Lee Myung Bak administration, “There is a need to maintain consistency by reestablishing the basic principles of economic policy towards the North.”
He said, “The reason for pursuing economic cooperation with the North is to promote change in the North and to improve its economic situation through its entry into the international economy. There is a need to reestablish basic principles such as helping to activate the South Korean economy while improving the quality of the North Korean citizens’ lives.”
http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=3423
He put severe restriction on private trade/business activities. He let people fend off for themselves after the massive famine in mid 90's. However, he apparently does not like what he sees. His vaunted state control has been gradually eroding. Now he want to stem the tide even if it leads to creating some civilian starvation victims.
Yep, that’ll teach them.
But I just read the other day NK was looking to strengthen ties with Namibia. Maybe they can help...
More:
24 Mar 2008 press release from ReliefWeb
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SODA-7D34Y4?OpenDocument
Jefferson Award: ‘Hero’ helps North Koreans find new lives
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/356264_jeffbuck25.html
Grrrr. Let Putin and Hu feed them. They created the mess.
Food shortages, famines, floods, bad harvests...
These have been going on for almost two decades now, with no end in sight.
The humanitarian thing would be to offer fat pensions, immunity from prosecution and luxurious mansions to all the big brass in North Korea if they will just agree to peaceful reunification.
Too bad it will never happen. I don’t see the end in sight any time soon, either.
Has Chia Pet rationed this thing out for food?
The last time they had a shortage like this they went in for Soylent Green in a big way.... The older South Korean people still remember their relatives in the north and will want to help ... I hope they send bullets instead of rice...
If he can’t feed the military, he is all done. Somebody is going to knock him over fairly soon.
Can’t believe some military type doesn’t take control in N.Korea and march out chi pet and his ruthless gang.
You have to know that some of the military have been to the south and seen the differences in conditions.
However, the US government this week sent an humanitarian expert to Seoul to discuss North Korea’s food situation.
lol. Of course.
LLS
Is uranium edible?
But yet we can flip the bill for trips to Africa for Uranium. I bet Chia’s plate is full at every setting also.
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