Do you think North Korea qualifies as communist?

[Stylesjl]

Since no evidence has been provided, I'm going to have to assume warpus (and the rest of you lot, for that matter) are trolling in an effort to obfuscate this discussion. You have failed.

How do the elections in North Korea work?

No really, i'm cereal

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

How do the elections in North Korea work?

No really, i'm cereal

The last elections were held in 2003 for the SPA, Supreme People's Assembly, the rough equivalent of a western House of Commons. This is the body which legislates. It is not a difficult concept around which to wrap your mind.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

"It is questionable -- nearly impossible -- to launch dissident acts in public on streets in North Korea which still remains tightly controlled," Nam Sung-Wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University, said.
source

Individual rights are greatly curtailed. Dissent against the government or its leaders is illegal; citizens must obtain permission before legally traveling or leaving their province.
source

North Korea's government routinely detains, tortures, and imprisons thousands of individuals who are either dissidents or alleged saboteurs.
source

Forgive me, I did not see this post initially.

You must find alternate sources. I am in Beijing, and both the websites you cited are blocked by Chinese censors. In any event, Wikipedia is a poor source for information on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, since it flies in the face of the concept of expertise and is subject to the whims of the ignorant Western masses who are deliberately misinformed and lied to about the DPRK by corporate and political interests in the Western world.

 

[Stylesjl]

The last elections were held in 2003 for the SPA, Supreme People's Assembly, the rough equivalent of a western House of Commons. This is the body which legislates. It is not a difficult concept around which to wrap your mind.

Can these election results be verified to be free and independent of government control? Are you aware that there is curtailment of free speech? Are you aware that most experts consider the SPA to be a rubber stamp body? Are you aware that there is a significant cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong il and that the assembly voted him "Eternal President?" Don't these all seem a little suspicous to you?

 

[silver 2039]

You must find alternate sources. I am in Beijing, and both the websites you cited are blocked by Chinese censors

Theres your proof.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

You must find alternate sources. I am in Beijing, and both the websites you cited are blocked by Chinese censors.

Beautiful irony

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Theres your proof.

I'm quite confused. I'm in China, a state well known for kowtowing to the Yankee dollar that has post-1976 done nothing but bootlick its imperialist masters. I would very much enjoy an explanation of how Chinese censors have anything to do with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. You see, I was under the impression that the People's Republic of China was a separate country from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and that the two had separate domestic and foreign policies. You have some information to the contrary?

 

[Gladi]

I'm quite confused. I'm in China, a state well known for kowtowing to the Yankee dollar that has post-1976 done nothing but bootlick its imperialist masters. I would very much enjoy an explanation of how Chinese censors have anything to do with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. You see, I was under the impression that the People's Republic of China was a separate country from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and that the two had separate domestic and foreign policies. You have some information to the contrary?

Because, you know, China is keeping PDRK afloat? With doantions of food and stuff?

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea trades actively with the People's Republic of China. What's your point? The economy of the DPRK is currently experiencing healthy growth and within a decade or so they will be enjoying prosperity once again.

 

[luiz]

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea trades actively with the People's Republic of China. What's your point? The economy of the DPRK is currently experiencing healthy growth and within a decade or so they will be enjoying prosperity once again.

It goes a bit beyond that I'm afraid.
China is the only thing keeping the north koreans alive. It's not about trade, it's about aid that China gives the NK gvt. in order to keep them as a pupper state and a permanent threat against the West and South Korea.

BTW censorship in NK is much more extreme than in China. Foreigners aren't even allowed to take pictures there, and must be escorted all the time by government officials. I actually know someone who went there alongside a brazilian news delegation that went last year, and he said he would rather live in war-torn Somalia than in that Orwellian hellhole.

Grow up. Drop your purely ideological speech and compare the living standards of the "masses" of SK with those of NK. What matters is living standards, not silly ideologies. As a matter of fact even China post-Xiaoping is light-years ahead of NK in terms of quality of life of the citizens. How come?

 

[nonconformist]

Forgive me, I did not see this post initially.

You must find alternate sources. I am in Beijing, and both the websites you cited are blocked by Chinese censors.

F'kin' PWNED.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

It goes a bit beyond that I'm afraid.
China is the only thing keeping the north koreans alive. It's not about trade, it's about aid that China gives the NK gvt. in order to keep them as a pupper state and a permanent threat against the West and South Korea.

There are no reliable sources that will back you up on this matter. The only ones that matter have a vested interest in keeping your opinion of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea negative, and those that don't matter couldn't possibly have the credentials to know anything.

BTW censorship in NK is much more extreme than in China. Foreigners aren't even allowed to take pictures there, and must be escorted all the time by government officials. I actually know someone who went there alongside a brazilian news delegation that went last year, and he said he would rather live in war-torn Somalia than in that Orwellian hellhole.

That's great, well as soon as you get your "friend" here on these forums, or in contact with me somehow, then saying such might contribute something. Otherwise, your "friend" is a useless source of information. You may as well tell me you read it on p430 of a book in your public library.

Grow up. Drop your purely ideological speech and compare the living standards of the "masses" of SK with those of NK. What matters is living standards, not silly ideologies. As a matter of fact even China post-Xiaoping is light-years ahead of NK in terms of quality of life of the citizens. How come?

Do not twist my words. Have you not read any of my Democratic People's Republic of Korea oriented posts in other threads? I state emphatically that there are and have been hardships in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since the Soviet Union collapsed. The difference between you and I is that I'm not some ignorant philistine going around ranting "OMG DICTATORR STARVING HIS POEPLE LOLZ" and instead choose to examine rationally the causes of the hardships the people of the DPRK are currently experiencing. The famine is over, it is receding. It will take some time to reach pre-1994 levels of prosperity (need I remind you, for most of the two nations' history as separate states, the DPRK was far more prosperous than the ROK), but they're getting there.

F'kin' PWNED.

Why must you people continue to be idiots? We are not talking about China. If this were a thread on China, and if my position were that China is still a people's democracy, then the point would be valid. But this thread were not on China, and such a position is not mine. Chinese censors have nothing to do with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Unless, of course, you have new information that states that one has been annexed by the other.

 

[warpus]

Forgive me, I did not see this post initially.

You must find alternate sources. I am in Beijing, and both the websites you cited are blocked by Chinese censors. In any event, Wikipedia is a poor source for information on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, since it flies in the face of the concept of expertise and is subject to the whims of the ignorant Western masses who are deliberately misinformed and lied to about the DPRK by corporate and political interests in the Western world.

Any website that I'll find will be blocked by these so-called censors.

Either you are trolling or you really believe all the nonsense you've been spouting about North Korea. Either way, further correspondence with you would be pointless.

 

[Azale]

Try checking the discovery times channel website, or look up the program that aired on the discovery channel a few months ago.

It illustrated the hardships and tortuous practices of your treasured DPRK. How about the rule where if 1 person is convicted of "crimes against the state" about 3 GENERATIONS OF HIS FAMILY are imprisoned??? And KILLED! And these were accounts told by North Korean REFUGEES. Why are the running Pasi?

You need to grow up. Your already in China, just go to North Korea and have a grand ol' time. You sicken me..

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

So, in other words, you cannot or do not believe in discussion with people of opposing political beliefs?

 

[warpus]

So, in other words, you cannot or do not believe in discussion with people of opposing political beliefs?

You are so ignorant about what is happening in North Korea.. (dare I say brainwashed?) that it's impossible to have any sort of intelligent discussion with you about the matter.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

You are so ignorant about what is happening in North Korea.. (dare I say brainwashed?) that it's impossible to have any sort of intelligent discussion with you about the matter.

So, in other words, you've decided to abandon any pretense of debate or discussion and have resorted to insulting me? And you accuse me of trolling?

Kettle, pot. And in reverse.

 

[amadeus]

So, in other words, you've decided to abandon any pretense of debate or discussion and have resorted to insulting me? And you accuse me of trolling?

Regardless of any evidence we present that North Korea is a totalitarian Stalinist state, you will have a convenient excuse to ignore or attempt to "refute" that evidence with North Korean state propaganda.

In short, you're a lost cause. There is absolutely no room for reason with you. That is why there's no point in continuing tihs discussion.

 

[classical_hero]

You are so ignorant about what is happening in North Korea.. (dare I say brainwashed?) that it's impossible to have any sort of intelligent discussion with you about the matter.

Unfortunately it seems so.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Wow, and I was under the (clearly mistaken) impression that insults and flames were against forum rules.