Doublethink » North Korea

Want to travel to North Korea?

galt1984 — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:26:29 +0000

Thanks to the Korean Friendship Association (haha) and the International Korean Business Center (hahahaha North Korean business), North Korea will be inviting–not tourists, but–”friends” to come and see North Korea on some spectacular dates. These dates include the Worker’s Part of Korea Anniversary, Kim Jong-il’s 70th anniversary, and Kim Il-sung’s 100th anniversary. There are two trips for each date: one fore everyone but U.S. citizens, and the other for just U.S. citizens. Hmmm…something’s fishy here. Anyway, if you’re interested you can find this great “deal” here at the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s national website. Enjoy!

The Next Book I Plan on Reading…

galt1984 — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:45:32 +0000

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea gives the reader an inside look at six people inside of North Korea and how they are affected by the repressive regime everyday. Barbara Demick’s book has been compared by some reviewers to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Cheery thought. I expect that this book will be insightful and will open the eyes of many to the daily plight of living in an Orwellian system. It will be very interesting to learn about the real life Oceania and the terror and demands it puts upon its subjugated citizens.

A Typical Day in the Life of a North Korean Teenager

galt1984 — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:54:06 +0000

This is a short story I wrote about a North Korean teenager and one of his many dreary days. If I may be so bold, I do particularly like the ending as I feel that it really encompasses the daily cyclical grind of hopelessness in North Korea. You can find the story here. Please enjoy!

More North Korean Soccer Fun

galt1984 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:21:48 +0000

According to ESPN, five North Korean soccer players tested positive for steroids at the Women’s World Cup. Hilariously, their coach said that the steroids were accidentally taken in combination with traditional Chinese medicine based on musk deer glands. The reason for the medicine? They got struck by lightning of course. You can find the beautifully enriching story here.

Awesome…

galt1984 — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:07:14 +0000

Just for anyone that didn’t know, KCNA (which is the Korean Central News Agency) has for the last 13 odd years kindly translated Korean news into English so that we Americans can be wowed and amazed by the technological ingenuity, intellectual sophistication, and cultural diversity of the North Korean government and people. The reports and stories are usually false and often hilarious, but their use of descriptive adjectives to describe the greatness of Kim Jong-il is second to none. Just an interesting inside look at the North Korean propaganda machine. You can find the home page of this North Korean Ministry of Truth here.

All good here.

Go North Korea Soccer!

galt1984 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:53:18 +0000

After the North Korean men’s national soccer side was publicly lambasted with criticism after their failures at the World Cup in South Africa, the North Korean women’s coach, Kim Kwang Min, came up with an interesting excuse in order to avoid undergoing the same fate after his team lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the first round of group play in the FIFA World Cup. He said his team was affected by, yes, lightning, that hit his players about a month ago. With the creativity of that excuse, he might actually manage to escape the North Korean government sending his family to a work camp. Go North Korea! You can find the whole story here.

Do They Ever Stop?

galt1984 — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 23:27:23 +0000

According to an ABCNews article that you can find here, North Korea is very close to creating an electromagnetic pulse bomb. Yahoo! No doubt this came at the cost of the housing and food of 2 million North Korean citizens, but hey, it’s whatever. It seems that an almost cyclical pattern is emerging in terms of North Korea, its weapons , and the rest of the world. Cycle= 1. North Korea infuriated at U.S. war games/South Korean war games/U.S. and South Korean mobilization/west Iowa girl scout cookie sale. 2. North Korea threatens to unleash devastating nuclear/electromagnetic/biochemical capitalist-destroying doomsday weapon upon South Korea and Western civilization. 3. Everybody gets very, very scared 4. Nothing happens. 5. Repeat. Unfortunately, one day North Korea may cross the line, and well then, we are all screwed. Gotta love good ol’ Kimmy.

Coolest Videogame Ever?

galt1984 — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:02:44 +0000

This year on March 8th, the coolest videogame of all-time will appear in stores. It is called Homefront, and it is a first person shooter that puts the player in the shoes of an American guerrilla fighter who is resisting North Korean occupation. The setting is near-future America, where America has collapsed economically, and Korea has expanded and decides to invade the U.S. You can find the IGN preview here. The main site for the game is here. I cannot honestly think of a more awesome gaming idea than this one. I mean who doesn’t want to fight evil North Korean soldiers in suburban America? Not only will this game just be fun to play but also it will be eerily relevant as the future that the game foreshadows is one that is scarily plausible.

In-game vehicle? pleaseeeee?

I cannot wait to see the myriad of North Korean totalitarian elements on American soil.

Uh oh.

Really Really Scary

galt1984 — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:26:02 +0000

My favorite (and least favorite) government of all time– the Democratic (uh huh) People’s Republic of Korea– is at it again. They have engaged in some not very nice acts against South Korea, causing international reprimand of their actions.

North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire Tuesday after the North shelled an island near their disputed sea border, killing at least two South Korean marines, setting dozens of buildings ablaze and sending civilians fleeing for shelter.

The clash, which put South Korea’s military on high alert, was one of the rivals’ most dramatic confrontations since the Korean War ended, and one of the few to put civilians at risk, though no nonmilitary deaths were immediately reported. Sixteen South Korean soldiers and three civilians were injured and the extent of casualties on the northern side was unknown…

The exchange represents a sharp escalation of the skirmishes that flare up along the disputed border from time to time. It also comes amid high tensions over the north’s apparent progress in its quest for nuclear weapons – Pyongyang claims it has a new uranium enrichment facility – and six weeks after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il anointed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as the heir apparent.

I cannot state how much I love ripping into the North Korean government. They are the perfect modern-day totalitarian government. Their people are incredibly poor, they have about zero civil rights, and their chances of escaping are slim to none. The government is masterful in exactly three areas: propaganda, military parades, and royally pissing off the entire Western world. They have already accomplished 1 and 3, saying that the attack was South Korea’s fault (the North fired first, again). And we will probably see a nice military parade soon. Hopefully, their soldiers will be marching with muskets.