People will rise against N Korean regime, says defector - Polidicks

[URL="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38741078"]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38741078[/URL] [QUOTE]In August last year, Thae Yong-ho became one of the highest-ranking officials ever to defect from North Korea. In a wide-ranging interview in Seoul, he tells the BBC's Stephen Evans he believes leader Kim Jong-un would be prepared to attack the US with nuclear weapons, but that the regime will one day fall. There are moments when the usually fluent English of the North Korean defector halts. His voice quivers and he pauses. His eyes grow moist. These moments of silent emotion come when Thae Yong-ho thinks about his brother back in North Korea. He told the BBC that he was sure that his family have been punished for his defection. This realisation both grieves him and steels him against the regime. "I'm sure that my relatives and my brothers and sisters are either sent to remote, closed areas or to prison camps, and that really breaks my heart," he said. If he could imagine his brother shouting to him in anguish from prison in North Korea, what would he reply? "That is really a question I don't like to even think about. That is why I am very determined to do everything possible to pull down the regime to save not only my family members but also the whole North Korean people from slavery." It was his closer family in London who persuaded Thae Yong-ho to defect. He found himself defending the regime to his children, particularly his younger son who was a bright kid in a West London state school. The lad grew long hair and wondered how he would be treated back in North Korea. Why, the teenager asked, were North Koreans barred from the internet? Mr Thae said that in the privacy of their home, they started being honest about the regime, because "you can't lie to your family". He started leading a double life, addressing far-left groups in Britain about the virtues of socialism while denouncing it at home - and all the time having to tell his sons that they mustn't breathe a word. He increasingly asked those he met from the West about life in Seoul. North Korean diplomats travel in twos so each keeps an eye on the other. So his questions about the West were often while his (presumably) unsuspecting comrade was taking a break with a visit to the toilet at their favourite West London curry house. Then, eight months ago, Mr Thae and his family vanished from the embassy where they lived, only to turn up in Seoul. He won't say how that journey was made, whether the secret services of Britain or the United States or South Korea were involved. But he did expand on the process whereby he changed his mind. The son who prompted the change had won a place in Imperial College in London. But he will now study in South Korea - life as an obviously Korean student in London would have been too dangerous, exposing him to the risk of abduction by North Korean agents.[/QUOTE] Fascinating story, interview and article.

The sooner they fall the better. It is insane that a whole people can be in slavery like this.

The question is, who would move in? South Korea or China? Which country could handle the clean up? Or who would be willing to? Would be expensive.

[quote]If he could imagine his brother shouting to him in anguish from prison in North Korea, what would he reply?[/quote] Fucking seriously? Why ask him that. Also, I hope I see NK's regime fall in my lifetime. Those people deserve to live in the modern age without being forced to believe a pudgy little "god" rules over them.

[QUOTE=Tuskin;51724156]The question is, who would move in? South Korea or China? Which country could handle the clean up? Or who would be willing to? Would be expensive.[/QUOTE] It would probably be a UN mission that would help manage all of that.

No Tyranny is eternal, they'll fall eventually its only a matter of when

Good, I can't wait to see Kim get beaten by his own people

[QUOTE=!LORD M!;51724099]The sooner they fall the better. It is insane that a whole people can be in slavery like this.[/QUOTE] Yes but at what cost?

Here's hoping. I wish someone would just do something about them, countries like North Korea shouldn't be allowed to exist as far as I'm concerned.

[QUOTE=Bucketboy;51725184]Yes but at what cost?[/QUOTE] I'm guessing you mean lives? I mean sure, if we take that route, then nothing in this world would have been done. I get it, it sucks, because most likely this is it, this life we have is it, and death is the cold realization of that. You don't want to see it in masses because you don't want to be reminded that death is just around the corner, but we can't live like that. Yes people will die, lots of people most likely, but lots of people die every day for no good reason at all. In this situation their deaths would be the steps towards a free Korea and not one where these poor folks have to live in fear every single waking moment of their lives.

[QUOTE=Bucketboy;51725184]Yes but at what cost?[/QUOTE] Well, see, it's like this. Even if it costs millions of lives, eventually the fact that we're no longer sitting on our asses while people die and suffer under a brutal dictatorship that actively costs the world money currently in humanitarian aid, military power to guard the borders against, etc, it's still only a one time cost that honestly we're going to have to pay either way in some form. A million lives now or X+1 million later. Where X is quantified as the amount of "cost" in lives and resources over time until the eventual collapse later. And before you ask yes, I would gladly give my own life if it meant that a far greater number of people and their posterity don't have to suffer their entire lives in that hell of a country.

I doubt it. Right now NK is undergoing a subversion of sorts due to a new elite called money masters [url]http://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-rise-of-north-koreas-money-masters-47708[/url] North Korea I bet won't be over taken by south Korea or China. It will remain but will change drastically

Yeah, North Korea is doing subtle changes that are similiar to china but at a slower rate. A new middle class is emerging there and they like their wealth so I doubt theyll fight against the regime

Considering the political situation in S. Korea and the US, I wonder if the timing of this change will produce anything that otherwise wouldn't be expected.

[QUOTE=ImUnstoppable;51727104]Yeah, North Korea is doing subtle changes that are similiar to china but at a slower rate. A new middle class is emerging there and they like their wealth so I doubt theyll fight against the regime[/QUOTE] It will cause a transformation. Not all revolution s are violent. From what little I understand, free markets tend to democratize politics to some degree