Comments on: Stalinism the answer for N. Korea’s woes?

By: p gw pkr

p gw pkr — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 07:14:02 +0000

p gw pkr

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By: virtual wonderer

virtual wonderer — Tue, 05 Apr 2005 10:07:54 +0000

Hmmm… a piece from the “non-partisan” AEP. And he says that “ordinary Stalinism” is superior to “communism with Korean Characteristecs.” This is something I think many of us can agree with considering this “Songun Juche” Korea is only marginally superior to Pol Pot’s agrarian utopia.

But I couldn’t help but wonder if Eberstadt was trying to convince his conservative peers about “carrot” based approach. The assumption seems to be that DPRK will never reform to a level that will be satisfactory, hence any baby-step approach will be better than where we are now—especially in order to start DPRK on the road to “legitimacy.”

Am I reading this thing wrong?

A trully memorable quote–NK is the only urbanized literate society to experience famine…

By: James

James — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 17:16:50 +0000

I am sorry, I was under the impression this was a somewhat informal forum to discuss Korea related issues and so my comments were written in a spirit of humor. They are never meant to be offensive. As for the Marmot, you are right and I was not acccusing you of quoting opinions ass fact but rather responding to the posting made by HK.

By: robertneff103

robertneff103 — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 08:53:35 +0000

“NK needs change-ANY change but for them to adopt Stalinism would be gay guy with a bad case of hemorrhoids needing to have sex with his man.”

What the………….? Are you speaking from experience? This has got to be the funniest comment I have read yet on this blog. I can imagine someday, someone , getting up in front of a group of academia and journalist and say…………………..it would be like a gay guy with a bad case of hemorrhoids needing to have sex with his man.

I wonder if they will someday teach this phrase to students learning English?

By: Cloud

Cloud — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:54:49 +0000

Nick should’ve gone a bit farther back in his modest proposal and said the DPRK needs Leninism and an NEP system. Heh.

By: e.r.

e.r. — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 03:15:06 +0000

It’s a joke, isn’t it?

By: The Marmot

The Marmot — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 03:05:32 +0000

James — to be fair to HK, I don’t think he’s ever let on to be a highly educated student of Korean/Korean studies. As for quoting blogs as if they were fact, I quote commentary from other blogs, which is by definition opinion, not fact. I could be wrong, of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever quoted a news story from another blog that wasn’t backed up with a primary source.

By: Mark J

Mark J — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 03:00:32 +0000

It’s hard to see what information Eberstadt bases his argument on. Like many of the comments so far, he’s just basing it on the tired old unsubstantiated stuff you find in the media, rather than an understanding of the current, or even recent, situation in the DPRK. He says “the political system is hostile to entrepreneurial activity, even by state-owned companies,” but that’s long out of date IMO. The problem is they don’t have a clue how to do it.

By: James

James — Wed, 30 Mar 2005 01:12:45 +0000

Not to argue with the idea that NK needs change-ANY change but for them to adopt Stalinism would be gay guy with a bad case of hemorrhoids needing to have sex with his man. Next to them changing nothing, that has got to be the worst thing for them to do. As for HK and his comment, while I agree whole heartedly with him on his views on moving to Korea and quoting other blogs like they are fact, I did notice that his own blog seemed more the ranting of a person in need of some anger management rather than a highly educated student of Korean/Korean studies like he lets on to be.

By: Paul Webb, USA

Paul Webb, USA — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 22:50:05 +0000

Yeah, that sounds good. Replace one failed system with another failed system.