Infamous 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang begun in 1987
yitbos
Posted on 05/12/2009 11:19:10 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
ANALYSIS-North Korea's prosperity push could raise poverty
12 May 2009 08:01:56 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Jon Herskovitz
SEOUL, May 12 (Reuters) - North Korea's plan to mark the centenary of the birth of its founder and eternal president, Kim Il-sung, with major rebuilding projects will likely drag its ravaged economy deeper into poverty.
But that in turn may eventually force the hermit state to be more cooperative with the outside world, which has been trying with little success to halt Pyongyang's efforts to build nuclear weapons in return for aid.
The programme to forge a "great and prosperous nation" by 2012 was a central part of the mandate for Kim Jong-il, son of the founding president, when parliament extended his official leadership in March for five years.
The goals for the broken economy are lofty. The North wants to revamp its railways, coal mines, steelworks and electrical supply, end hunger and strengthen its already large military.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
Chia's current tyranny is said to be a reaction to catastrophic end of Ceausescu regime, which most resembled N. Korean regime in Europe. He wanted to make sure that he does not end up like Ceausescu. However, he is acting like Ceausescu in his last days, judging from his last ditch push for mega projects.
Despite his strenuous attempt to escape Ceausescu's fate, I hope Chia's end would be no different: one last Great Leap Forward, which would lead to total oblivion.
Ping!
Thank God foreign investment in our treasuries and a strong domestic spending push isn't our plan!
Oops. My bad.
The parallel between Chia and Ceaucescu are not apt.
Romanians had access or knowledge from other Eastern Bloc news outlets. They knew what had happened in East Berlin, Czechoslovokia, Hungary before it hit their nation and the end came for the dictator.
North Korea by comparison is a Soviet gulag. They even consider information originating from China as criminal. There is no parallel between the final days of any communist eastern bloc nation and North Korea. I suspect that if the DPRK fell the ROK would be met with catastrophic costs and generations of former DPRK citizens that would never be able to adapt to life once their great lie was exposed as a great lie.
It is true that level of repression is an order of magnitude higher in N. Korea. Still, basic dynamic of ruling regime is more or less the same. The regime isolates itself from outside influence. Propaganda and domestic repression are ratcheted up, and the regime embarks on huge state project to reassert itself politically, trying to display it is still in control.
However, it is the last ditch attempt to mortgage whatever shelf-life it has in order to secure stable future, which is basically a fantasy.
N. Koreans know by now that they are living in a lie, but they do not realize how bad the lie actually is. That will become apparent when they experience outside life themselves, not just watching from video.
The threat of catastrophic cost is a leverage N. Korea used against its neighbors to have its way. However, leaving it alone become catastrophic, too, if N. Korea has nuke and ICBM, along with unending stream of outside aids(tribute.) It won't live quietly on handout. It will go out and maul somebody.
Another year we let Chia Head have its way, the worse is the consequence we have to deal with eventually. S. Koreans in general got tired. For all that they put up with, they got nothing.
Infamous 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang begun in 1987
yitbos
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yitbos
That’s one very ugly building.
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