Posted on 11/03/2009 9:02:53 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
In North Korea, the military now issues economic orders
By Blaine Harden
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
SEOUL -- North Korea's military, whose nuclear program vexes the Obama administration, has grabbed nearly complete command of the nation's state-run economy and staked out a lucrative new trade in mineral sales to China to make money for its supreme commander, Kim Jong Il.
As it deepens its dominance over nearly every aspect of daily life, the Korean People's Army is also deploying soldiers to take first dibs on all food harvested in the isolated, chronically hungry country, according to the latest assessments of analysts.
The army has earned hundreds of millions of dollars selling missiles and weapons to Iran, Pakistan, Syria and other nations. But its two nuclear tests, the most recent of which occurred in May, have triggered U.N. sanctions that are now choking off arms sales. So the army has come up with a new business model, taking over the management of state trading companies to rapidly increase sales of coal, iron ore and other minerals to China, according to trade data and analysts.
The potential profits are eye-popping: China is one of the world's most voracious consumers of raw materials, and North Korea's mineral reserves are worth $5.94 trillion, according to an estimate by South Korea's Ministry of Unification. China has been critical of North Korea's nuclear program and missile tests, but it also has vastly increased its economic ties with Kim's government.
Kim is increasingly creaming off a significant slice of Chinese mineral revenue to fund his nuclear program and to buy the loyalty of elites, according to "North Korea, Inc.," a recent report by the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington-based group funded by the U.S. Congress.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ping!
When was North Korea's state-run economy NOT in complete control of the government???
Unfortunately yes.
OTOH, if it is less powerful than its neighbors there’s always the UN and the US...
Obama approves of this.
The first is for alcoholics whose mental/emotional problems torment not only them, but the people who love and care about them.
The second group that I pray for is the civilian population of North Korea.
These people only know dystopian living conditions throughout their entire lives. Beatings, arrests, massive pollution, gulags, public executions, wrongful imprisonment, filthy water, starvation, etc... I pray for them, that God may have mercy as they suffer under the tyranny of a communist dictator.
Please keep these people in your prayers.
Yeah like Mob state or City of Chicago LOL!
You know, if we invade them now, one to two days at the most, they’d go down without a struggle, because the people would likely see us as their liberators, and the military would quickly run out of steam, because no subjugated economy could maintain a spirited defense for long.. As destitute as the situation is we should not even entertain negotiating with the animals in the Nork government. That would be the same as saying, “give up your dreams of freedom for to save our own skin we would sooner negotiate with your slavemasters...” Besides they are militarily impotent, they could at most pose a threat to Seoul, and to any points within 20 km of the DMZ, but little beyond it.
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