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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...rning-home.html

 

North Korea has banned its own citizens working in Libya from returning home, apparently out of fear that they will reveal the extent - and final outcomes - of the revolutions that have shaken the Arab world.

 

 

By Julian Ryall, Tokyo

 

7:39AM BST 27 Oct 2011

 

Pyongyang had a close working relationship with the regime of Moammar Gaddafi before the popular uprising that unseated him. That revolution was completed with Gaddafi's death at the hands of insurgents last week - leaving Kim Jong-Il as one of a dwindling band of old-fashioned dictators on the planet.

 

An estimated 200 North Korean nationals are in Libya and previously worked as doctors, nurses and construction workers, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. They had been dispatched to the country in order to earn the hard currency that Pyongyang requires to fund its missile and nuclear weapons programmes.

 

Yonhap reported that the North Korean nationals have been left in limbo, joining their compatriots who are stuck in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries with orders not to return home.

 

North Korean media has so far failed to report that Gaddafi is dead and the government has made no moves to officially recognise Libya's National Transitional Council as the legitimate governing authority of the country.

 

The decision to ban its own nationals from returning indicates just how concerned the North Korean regime is of the news leaking out to its subjugated people.

 

An editorial in The Korea Herald stated that the one per cent of North Koreans who are aware of the Arab Spring uprisings will be top-level party and administration officials, as well as the trusted few who are permitted to travel to China on business.

 

"Pyongyang’s silence about the fall of the dictators in Tunisia and Egypt and the bloody death of Gaddafi reveals Kim Jong-il’s awareness of the vulnerability of his regime in the process of a third-generation dynastic succession of power," the paper said.

 

"Despite their boasting of the perfect loyalty of the 23 million people to the party and the leader, the ruling elite are afraid of what effect the information on the fates of the overseas dictatorships will have on the oppressed people of the country."

 

The paper suggested that recent conciliatory moves towards the government in South Korea and the United States may indicate an increasing pragmatism about the problems that beset the regime, ranging from economic stagnation to widespread hunger for a large part of the population.

 

"Kim Jong-il should know how precarious his situation is since the global league of dictators has continued to shrink more speedily this year," the paper stated. "Violent demonstrations are raging in the two Middle East nations and it is a matter of time before the North Korean people reach the limit of their endurance of hunger and repression and rise up against Kim’s rule."

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QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 12:40 PM)
How many true dictatorships are there left in world? I don't know much about sub-Saharan Africa, but I'm guessing they have a few.

 

There is still alot. Africa has a bigger problem with warlords right now.

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QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 12:41 PM)
I'm suprised Kim Jong-il didn't just invite them people back and then kill them.

 

I wonder how far off a country like North Korea is from revolution. I think they have a while. He's got that country on lock down.

 

I watched a special about a group that went into NK under the guise of offering free dental care to people, and snuck cameras in. It was just amazing to watch and listen to the people, even if their own homes as to how dedicated they were to Il. They even said prayers to him at meals. It was like watching the worlds biggest cult in action.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 12:45 PM)
I watched a special about a group that went into NK under the guise of offering free dental care to people, and snuck cameras in. It was just amazing to watch and listen to the people, even if their own homes as to how dedicated they were to Il. They even said prayers to him at meals. It was like watching the worlds biggest cult in action.

 

Yeah I saw that. It's really crazy. It's a total authoritarian nightmare.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 12:45 PM)
I watched a special about a group that went into NK under the guise of offering free dental care to people, and snuck cameras in. It was just amazing to watch and listen to the people, even if their own homes as to how dedicated they were to Il. They even said prayers to him at meals. It was like watching the worlds biggest cult in action.

 

There was a similar NatGeo documentary following a doctor giving cataract surgery and teaching NK's doctors on how to perform it. Malnutrition is rampant and many people get them at a young age.

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QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 12:52 PM)
There was a similar NatGeo documentary following a doctor giving cataract surgery and teaching NK's doctors on how to perform it. Malnutrition is rampant and many people get them at a young age.

 

Actually I think that was the one. I think I mixed up my doctors. It was chilling.

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QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 12:41 PM)
I'm suprised Kim Jong-il didn't just invite them people back and then kill them.

 

I wonder how far off a country like North Korea is from revolution. I think they have a while. He's got that country on lock down.

 

I just watched a NatGeo documentary about NK with Lisa Ling from 2007. It was amazing the amount of brainwashing/fear those people have for him. The entire documentary was "covering" an eye doctor's treatment of thousands of north koreans suffering from cataracts. There's a scene where the bandages of various people are removed in a big group setting. The first thing these people do after getting their eye sight back is to rush over to a picture of Kim Jong-Il (which is everywhere, including everyone's home) and start praising him. Just screaming and crying out of love for the guy. It was incredibly disturbing. If there was a way to assassinate the entire leadership of NK in one swift move, i would be all for it.

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QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 01:04 PM)
I just watched a NatGeo documentary about NK with Lisa Ling from 2007. It was amazing the amount of brainwashing/fear those people have for him. The entire documentary was "covering" an eye doctor's treatment of thousands of north koreans suffering from cataracts. There's a scene where the bandages of various people are removed in a big group setting. The first thing these people do after getting their eye sight back is to rush over to a picture of Kim Jong-Il (which is everywhere, including everyone's home) and start praising him. Just screaming and crying out of love for the guy. It was incredibly disturbing. If there was a way to assassinate the entire leadership of NK in one swift move, i would be all for it.

 

And everyone tries topping the previous person in their praise of Il.

 

That scene, and the scene in the house at the meal. Brr.

 

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QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 01:04 PM)
I just watched a NatGeo documentary about NK with Lisa Ling from 2007. It was amazing the amount of brainwashing/fear those people have for him. The entire documentary was "covering" an eye doctor's treatment of thousands of north koreans suffering from cataracts. There's a scene where the bandages of various people are removed in a big group setting. The first thing these people do after getting their eye sight back is to rush over to a picture of Kim Jong-Il (which is everywhere, including everyone's home) and start praising him. Just screaming and crying out of love for the guy. It was incredibly disturbing. If there was a way to assassinate the entire leadership of NK in one swift move, i would be all for it.

 

The problem with taking him out is that, if the people truly do believe he's some sort of deity or something, then they're not going to take very kindly to the people that did it.

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QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 01:26 PM)
The problem with taking him out is that, if the people truly do believe he's some sort of deity or something, then they're not going to take very kindly to the people that did it.

 

Seemed to me that most of that was out of fear, not love or admiration. I'm sure he has some followers in the military, but not anywhere else.

 

The bigger problem is what to do with China and Russia. You'd basically have to get their approval before doing anything.

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QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 01:49 PM)
Seemed to me that most of that was out of fear, not love or admiration. I'm sure he has some followers in the military, but not anywhere else.

 

The bigger problem is what to do with China and Russia. You'd basically have to get their approval before doing anything.

 

It's as if the entire country has been living in a cult for the last 60 years. I don't know how well their society would function if The Glorious Leader were suddenly gone.

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QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 03:06 PM)
It's as if the entire country has been living in a cult for the last 60 years. I don't know how well their society would function if The Glorious Leader were suddenly gone.

 

If his son didn't take over, the place would collapse into chaos.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 03:07 PM)
If his son didn't take over, the place would collapse into chaos.

 

Honestly though, assume that happens and for 5 years there is chaos. That would be approximately a gazillion times better than what they have now. Though I suspect that the global community could come in, or even locally South Korea could come in, and keep things steady while they figure it out. Again, absent Kim Jong Il and some military supporters, I don't think there's much animosity towards the south or the rest of the world.

 

Of course that's me making a huge assumption. Maybe they truly do believe the crap he's been brainwashing them with for decades.

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QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 04:22 PM)
Honestly though, assume that happens and for 5 years there is chaos. That would be approximately a gazillion times better than what they have now. Though I suspect that the global community could come in, or even locally South Korea could come in, and keep things steady while they figure it out. Again, absent Kim Jong Il and some military supporters, I don't think there's much animosity towards the south or the rest of the world.

 

Of course that's me making a huge assumption. Maybe they truly do believe the crap he's been brainwashing them with for decades.

However...those "military supporters" also have the bomb.

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QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 03:22 PM)
Honestly though, assume that happens and for 5 years there is chaos. That would be approximately a gazillion times better than what they have now. Though I suspect that the global community could come in, or even locally South Korea could come in, and keep things steady while they figure it out. Again, absent Kim Jong Il and some military supporters, I don't think there's much animosity towards the south or the rest of the world.

 

Of course that's me making a huge assumption. Maybe they truly do believe the crap he's been brainwashing them with for decades.

 

There is no doubt that the world would come to their aid assuming the son didn't take over. Aid would pour into NK. The biggest problem would be the generations of brainwashing, and getting people to accept the aid, not to mention trust in whatever government took over. Think of learning there is no Santa Claus times a billion, and you are probably still short of what these people see the world as.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 04:27 PM)
I don't know that you can really plan for the trauma an entire country learning their world view wasn't anything close to what they thought it was.

Especially if those leaders go down in a "Flash" of glory.

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