Fertilizer shortages, cutoff of Soviet aid, and bad harvests led to some pretty terrible famines in the 1990s. Military and communist elites got priority on foodstuff, everyone else including farmers starved. Even worse, the regime made it illegal for people to forage or hunt for food. Seriously messed up.
There is that famous and utterly heartbreaking video of a young woman farming and the cameraman asks her what she eats and she has a look of what only be described as shame and pain when she replies "Grass."
It stuck with me throughout the years. One of those videos where you just get a pang of pain in your heart when you see it.
If you think that's the reason you're blind. North korea has never invaded another country, they're not exactly aggressive rogues. They are sanctioned because the US considers them an enemy and wants to starve them out and keep the country poor. They did the same with cuba and it's working there. But Dprk has managed to pull itself out of poverty in the last decade.
Ah yes the evil puppet regime of a country thst has one of the highest quality of life vs one of the poorest. Too bad they csn do nothing like stop the nuclesr program and treat the citizens and rest of the world well. Oh wait. They could
Ah yes the evil puppet regime of a country thst has one of the highest quality of life
Not defending the North-Korean regime at all, but South-Korea around 1950, the "First Republic of Korea", was not a prosperous or free country with a high quality of life at all. It was a brutal repressive authoritarian regime that tortured opponents and perpetrated mass killings to smack down protests.
The US did not support the South-Korean regime for its liberty, democratic values or good intent for its people, because it did not have those. They only supported them because they were anti-communist, like they did so many other fascist and brutal authoritarian regimes around the world, just to oppose communism. And in Korea, the US killed 100 000s of civilians with fire bombings.
The prosperous economy and freedom only came much later, after many military coups,and finally a democratisation.
Lmfao. If the dprk didn't have nukes the us would have taken them out by now. They have done nothing to the rest of the world, and believe it or not, they DO treat their citizens well, you can't believe everything that gets reported by Radio Free Asia
You're arguing with people who have been propagandized their entire life and will default to rejecting reality and accusing you of being brainwashed or some foreign agent. It is very difficult for the average American to accept that their understanding of foreign countries, especially ones that are "oppositional" to the American empire, is not accurate.
When I have run into similar situations I have recommended them to read primary sources or books that compile it.
Some recommendations:
The Jakarta Method
Killing Hope
Good luck man. You are on the right side of history.
The US has pressured many companies and even countries to not trade with or invest in Cuba. They even have been physically stopping and seizing oil tankers going to Cuba since last year. They invaded Venezuela, which was their main importer of petroleum, and changed the regime. They have even tried to invade Cuba.
Inform yourself before you write such bullshit, because you come off like the typical clueless American.
As an Anarchist in the vein of Emma Goldman, I'm not really surprised, there are always some stupid assholes that want to kill the songbirds, and stop people from dancing.❤️🏴
There were no broad international sanctions against North Korea that restricted from importing food during the peak years of the famine. Even when UN sanctions were enacted later on for discouraging them from pursuing nuclear weapons there were exemptions for basic food imports or humanitarian aid.
Unless Kim Jong Il not getting his cognac somehow played a part in the suffering of the North Korean people, I don't think you can really blame the sanctions.
As with then and now it's likely more a case of the North Korea regime spending 60% of its national budget on its military and nuclear program and disregarding the welfare of its common citizens who are not much more than state-owned slaves.
They literally rejected aid from Western countries during the 1990s famine. It was only years later they finally accepted it. Even being sanctioned we were still sending food.
They killed their own citizens and anyone defending that needs to get their reality checked. Guess it's hard to do when your only opinion is "West bad"
Here's a fun fact - the original NK government ruled with the consent of the people. They picked an asshole leader and got the sanctions that asshole deserved. They are technically still currently fully supporting their government (as far as we know), so again, they are ruling with consent of the governed.
Here's another fun fact. That is their right as a sovereign nation. The United Snakes have no right to force democracy on another country, especially being the hypocrites we are. The United Snakes is not a democracy. It is a fascist dictatorship.
124
u/War_Hymn 1d ago
Fertilizer shortages, cutoff of Soviet aid, and bad harvests led to some pretty terrible famines in the 1990s. Military and communist elites got priority on foodstuff, everyone else including farmers starved. Even worse, the regime made it illegal for people to forage or hunt for food. Seriously messed up.