[jmaroneps37]

Why should we believe him?

[dfwgator]

I think the end game is coming. And it will be when China finally decides it’s not worth it anymore. The trick is coordinating taking out Kim with South Korea in a way that won’t result in their borders being overrun with refugees.

[AU72]

China will end this when they see more loss than gain in continuing this dictatorship.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Korea could be to Trump what the Berlin Wall was to Reagan. The parallels are there.

[Snickering Hound]

[ealgeone]

I'd figure the Left would love the little urchin. NK is everything the Left would want:

No guns

Complete government control of everything

Abortion on demand

State controlled media

What doesn't NK have the Left doesn't desire?

[Mr. K]

Trump should airlift CD’s to them

(or videotapes- they are probably that far behind)

Also send a crew there to take back the Pueblo. Tell them we are coming to get it, and tell them there will be big smoking holes in the ground where their military bases used to be if they give us any crap.

[VanShuyten]

Very worrisome, if true.

Failing dictators have a penchant for lashing out before they go down. I hope there are a few reasonable generals left, and they aren’t executed by anti-aircraft guns before it happens.

[SkyDancer]

I keep thinking about that American student who was jailed for fifteen years for taking that propaganda flag from the hotel he was staying in. Will Trump negotiate his release?

[Stosh]

Somebody needs to make a short, concise documentary on Nicolae Ceaușescu, translate it into Korean, put it on a medium North Koreans could access, and scatter copies all over the country.

[DiogenesLamp]

South Korean TV dramas and movies smuggled from China are already popular in the North, he said.

Reminds me of this:

Chuck Norris vs. communism.

Smuggling in video tapes (Like Chuck Norris movies) was exactly how Romanians learned that the rest of the world was greatly outpacing them in wealth and happiness. It unsettled the masses to the extent that they became angry at the government that was holding them back.

It led to revolution.

[Puppage]

North Korean Defector Says Kim Jong-Un’s Control Is Crumbling

Yeah, that tends to happen when one executes ones military commander with an anti aircraft gun.

[Gman]

The former East Germany was absorbed pretty quickly once folks got a taste of freedom and capitalism.

[jalisco555]

I recently read a fascinating book called North Korea's Hidden Revolution. It's by Jieun Baek, a young Korean-American scholar who has closely studied the NK defector community. Her thesis is that much of what we believe about NK is wrong. First, it's not a hermetically sealed prison. Western, and especially South Korean, TV shows, movies, books etc. are smuggled in bulk into the country and are widely consumed. The people know that their propaganda is a lie.

Second, she says that North Korea is no longer really Communist. The old Communist system of distribution of basics collapsed in the mid-90's famine and has never been brought back. Instead, North Korea has a thriving market economy which started simply during the famine but has grown to be the principal supplier to the people. Markets with hundreds of stall supply everything from food and clothing to medicines and electronics. A highly hopeful and interesting book.

[pabianice]

Making Kim Jong Toad more desperate is a way to liken his use of force. Not a good idea.

[Boogieman]

“But the leader’s efforts to clamp down on information and products from outside North Korea have been unsuccessful because the police accept bribes in exchange for freeing smugglers and people caught watching banned movies and dramas.”

Just like with the Soviets, eventually corruption dooms every totalitarian state. You can crush the people under the state’s heel, but you need some stooges to do that, so you can’t crush all the stooges too. Eventually, even those stooges want a better life than the state will allow, and they let the system break down.

[CrazyIvan]

With a little luck he'll end up hanging around at an Essa station like Mussolini.

[TBP]

Then now is the time to make a move.

[Rashputin]

Ok, we have this defector business out of the way, now comes the chorus singing, "give them aid to strengthen the faction that wants to oust Fatty"

JMHo