What's up in North Korea?
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 19:40
VIEWED: 8478
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International TV broadcasters have been repeatedly showing tanks trundling through Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square in a demonstration of North Korean national power.
But when Patrick Thornquist, a Chicago teacher visiting the North Korean capital at the end of last week, arrived in the square, he was surprised by what he saw. This iconic square — Pyongyang's political, military and symbolic heart — was full of children rollerblading and shouting with joy.
One of leader Kim Jong Un's contributions to the nation has been building roller-skating parks and promoting entertainment facilities. And Thornquist was struck by the fact that, on watching the news later that day, it was still featuring footage of tanks.
"It was definitely interesting to see tanks on BBC in the hotel, as if that was that day, when we'd been in that square a couple of hours earlier and nothing like that was happening," he says.
"In terms of seeing military on the streets and propaganda, that's the same as I've seen the last few months. A lot of military were doing the construction work that's been going on for a good few months, also tree-planting, which goes on every year," Carr says. "So I didn't really see any military doing anything different from usual."
That view has been backed up by other accounts, notably from an Economist correspondent in Pyongyang who had spotted the buses covered with camouflage nets but concluded that any preparations were "more comical than convincing — like a version of 'Dad's army' in totalitarian drag." http://www.npr.org/2013/04/08/176543508/visitors-to-north-korea-see-no
thing-out-of-the-ordinary]
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"It was definitely interesting to see tanks on BBC in the hotel, as if that was that day, when we'd been in that square a couple of hours earlier and nothing like that was happening," he says.
Wait, what ? The 'free' Western media, and none other than the BBC themselves, trying to craft a narrative that isn't entirely ( or remotely ) close to the truth ??
That's just CRAZY talk !!
Just what sort of 'tea bagger' would ever dream up such nonsense in the first place ?
Patrick Thornquist, a Chicago teacher...
Oh. Never mind.
Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen
Resident USA Freedom Fundie
" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall
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Invade me, invade me, come on over and invade me....I love you!
Safelite repair, Safelite replace
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Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen
Resident USA Freedom Fundie
" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall
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Maybe there's something to this...Quote:
Kim Jong-un's goal? Status as the unequivocal god-king of the North
As Kim Jong-un breathes fire and possibly prepares to test another long-range missile, the North Korean leader’s main advantage is that no one knows who he is or what he is capable of instigating.
We know he went to a Swiss boarding school under an assumed name, and likes good food and basketball. That’s about it. That vague portrait contrasts sharply with what we know about, say, US Secretary of State John Kerry and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who are discussing the North Korean crisis today in Seoul, and whose lives are a matter of public record, down to the names of their household pets.
But in recent days, North Korea watchers have begun to say that Kim Jong-un is showing he is definitely in charge of North Korea, that his leadership is bold and forceful, and that he is using his bellicosity in challenging the mighty United States to make himself a legendary figure for North Koreans, every bit as powerful and heroic as his father and grandfather, whose colossal statues and giant photos are found in every nook and cranny of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“This is the first crisis between Kim Jong-un and the world,” says Alexandre Mansourov, a longtime Korea-watcher for the US government who studied in Pyongyang and is now with Johns Hopkins University. “This confrontation is not material, not about military capability. It is about his [Kim’s] reputation. He is carving out his personal stamp. He will no longer live in the shadow of dad and granddad. He is now the man. And he is succeeding.” More at http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2013/0412/Kim-Jong-un-s-go
al-Status-as-the-unequivocal-god-king-of-the-North?nav=87-frontpage-entryLeadStory
Would like to think that's it, and that he's non-stupid enough to know that sabre rattling on both sides is fine and good as long as neither pushes it too far. He can burnish his reputation until it blinds the eyes of his people happily, if that's all it is.
I kinda figured all this was "same old, same old"--he threatens us, we give him money, etc., until the next time he gets uppity and threatens us, then we give him money and so forth. Cementing his stature would make sense too...
I'm not sure what Rap is trying to convey with his sarcasm. Surely it couldn't be that he thinks ANYONE, right, left or middle, isn't aware our politicians play fast and loose with the truth when it serves their needs, and that America/Britain/every country has its own form of propaganda? It SEEMS like he's snarking, but I can't figure out what he's snarking AT, given surely he's not dumb enough to think we blindly follow our...oh, wait, maybe he does...given HE blindly follows his right-wing talk-show hosts and talk radio and FauxNews... Yeah, maybe that's it. Who knows? Who cares?
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When you're bluffing, keep on bluffing, and keep raising the stakes higher, hope the other guy will drop out of the pot, and you'll never have to even show your openers.
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Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
When you're bluffing, keep on bluffing, and keep raising the stakes higher, hope the other guy will drop out of the pot, and you'll never have to even show your openers.
Worked out aces for Saddam.
Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen
Resident USA Freedom Fundie
" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall
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Maybe so, NewOld, 'course, it didn't work out for US too well when Saddam kept upping the bluff, either, did it? Maybe these guys don't realize WE'VE got nutcases running things, too...
Hey, ho, let's invade North Korea, too; THAT'LL show 'im!
eeeep...
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Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Maybe so, NewOld, 'course, it didn't work out for US too well when Saddam kept upping the bluff, either, did it? Maybe these guys don't realize WE'VE got nutcases running things, too...
Hey, ho, let's invade North Korea, too; THAT'LL show 'im!
eeeep...
Invade 'em, no. Just bomb 'em back to the Stone Age. No,-- wait,-- maybe that would be Forward to the Stone Age-- oh. never mind.
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