The WaPo reprinted a piece they ran on “prosperous” North Korea back in 1986. Very interesting in both how things have changed… and how they haven’t.
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The WaPo reprinted a piece they ran on “prosperous” North Korea back in 1986. Very interesting in both how things have changed… and how they haven’t.
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Kim “Chong” Il…where’s Cheech? It’s no wonder people can’t figure out Korea(s) when the romanization keeps changing all the time.
Wait a minute: “Juche is also evident in economic strategy. While the south is thriving by tying its future to the world economy, its rival has relatively little foreign trade (about $2.5 billion in 1985, Japanese officials say, compared to the south’s $31 billion). It prefers to make everything it can itself, ignoring economies of scale. Although it could buy them overseas more cheaply, it makes locomotives, trucks, bulldozers and boring machines in its own factories.”
Dumb, dumb, dumb, particularly the “ignoring economies of scale” part. Guess when you have unlimited slave, uh, juche labor you don’t worry about that.
well korea is obviously doing very well with an increase of 3000years in their history in only 20 years. so by 2026 it should be up to 8000 years, and far more grand too i’m sure.
Rowan, I think the “3000″ may have been dog years.
The same dog they had to eat in the 1990s.
Good article. Little known fact that South Korea’s economy only passed north Korea’s in the late 70s, early 80s. Until the late 1970’s, more countries had diplomatic relations with north Korea than with south Korea. However, that was probably due to all those “non-aligned” countries from Asia, Africa and South America backing each other up at the expense of American puppets, ie South Korea.
On that note, a historic milestone was passed just this past August when the Guinea became the last country in Africa to establish formal relations with South Korea. (More here. See also here, which delves into much of what you mention in your comment.)
Yankeesfan, North Korean old timers still remember that the southern part of Korea was less developed than the northern part. That’s in part why North Korea propaganda continues to claim that South Koreans are slaves to the US (and probably why the US gave South Korea 6 times more economic aid than it did for the whole of South American from the 50’s to the early 70’s).
PS. I recommend that you read, ‘Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader’ (”Simply the best book ever written about North Korea”).