Posted on 12/09/2009 4:32:23 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Winter of discontent looms for N Korea
By Christian Oliver and Kang Buseong in Seoul
Published: December 9 2009 07:41 | Last updated: December 9 2009 07:41
The North Korean grapevine is delivering stories of increasing hunger and shortages sparking rare public dissent in the wake of last week’s redenomination of the currency just as the country’s bitter winter closes in.
The change to the new won, which carry a face value of 1 per cent of that of old won, was supposed to be completed over the weekend, but reports suggest the situation is still unsettled and confused though there is no indication that the authorities are unable to contain public reaction. The disruption comes as Stephen Bosworth, the US special envoy to Pyongyang, meets North Korean leaders on Wednesday on his official debut visit.
“North Koreans are starving because people are reluctant to sell in the market,” said Park Sang-hak, a defector who is president of Fighters for Free North Korea, a Seoul-based campaign group. “Some people have even crossed into China to buy rice with yuan.”
Although impossible to verify stories from defectors who rely on contacts in the North, there are tales of frustrated shoppers openly protesting about the leadership in Pyongyang and people weeping in public for the first time since the 1994 death of the founder of the regime, Kim Il-sung. There are even astonishing stories of graffiti and leaflets attacking Kim Jong-il, the son and successor as leader to the late Mr Kim.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Chia Head had already created huge baggage to N. Korean economy by launching the drive to build 100,000 new buildings in Pyongyang. That requires a lot of scarce resources to drain from already decrepit economy.
Chia Head may end up like Ceausescu if he keeps it up. For a guy who reportedly did thorough study of Ceausescu's downfall to avoid making same mistakes, Chia Head sure behave like him, who did exactly the same thing for Bucharest, Romania's capital. He razed huge section of old downtown Bucharest and embarked on mega building projects.
Ping!
Been praying for the people of North Korea to do just that - Caucesceau Mr. Chia Head as you call him.
God plesae help and deliver the people of North Korea....
Thanks for the continued updates.
freezing and starving is such a cruel terrible death.
After the demise of Stalin and Mao, there is no worse place on earth than North Korea
and our adminstration toads and the so-called “UN” continue to suck up to the monsters in charge.
All the lives in North Korea are not worth one American life lost to save them
Looks like a good road for tanks.
Peace on earth to men of good will.
Thank you so much for the link to that article.
I did not know til reading it that North Korea was once known as the “Jerusalem of the East”.
I did know that South Korea has a tremendous and dynamic Christian population and am very glad to read the information of a re-dedication to prayer for those in the North.
We know God hears our prayers - and He moves in response to them - and perhaps even in this latest horror in N. Korea - we are seeing something akin to what happened in Romania and Poland....
Oh I PRAY that it is!!!!
LOL - amen!
Wow.
The change to the new won, which carry a face value of 1 per cent of that of old won
Wow, it is going to take a ton of won to buy won ton....
Gee that is spooky hardly no one is on the road
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