Collapse of Regime can start from Within

 No war is needed from the reunification of Korea.

 Last year, the "Center for Strategic and International Studies's Beyond Parallel" in the USA released new polls that reflected the opinions of ordinary North Korean citizens.

  It shows that out of the 36 people polled, none said that the country's public distribution system of goods provides what they want for a good life, and only 1 said they do not joke in private about the government.
(Source: www.businessinsider.com/north-korean-opinions-kim-jong-un-2016-11) 

 From the poll, we can tell that many people are very unsatisfied with their current regime, and often criticize or even joke of them behind their backs. Other sources also reveal new phenomena such as people destroying statues of the leaders. But the problem is How can they start a peaceful revolution since no one dares to risk their lives and to have 3 generations executed.

 

North Korea Freedom Coalition

Who is the North Korea Freedom Coalition?

The North Korea Freedom Coalition was founded in June, 2003 to work for the freedom, human rights, and dignity of the North Korea people.

The North Korea Freedom Coalition currently has over 70 public member organizations representing millions of American, South and North Korean, and Japanese citizens as well as other nations, along with many individual members.

The North Korea Freedom Coalition also has private members that provide humanitarian relief inside North Korea and members in China and other nations that feed, shelter, and rescue North Korean refugees.

The North Korea Freedom Coalition works closely with elected officials, other non-governmental organizations, and governments to achieve its goals.

The North Korea Freedom Coalition is most proud of the fact that all the major NGOs in the USA, Japan, and South Korea, and especially the North Korean defectors' organizations, are either members of the Coalition or work as partners with the Coalition on its many activities.

What are Goals of the North Korea Freedom Coalition

• Make Human Rights the key policy of all governments in dealing with North Korea
• Save Lives by helping rescue refugees and pressuring China to end its brutal repatriation policy
• Close down political prison camps in North Korea
• Pressure North Korea to Release all abductees including Korean War POWs
• Promote information into North Korea through all means
• Get food aid directly to the North Korean people and end all food aid distribution controlled by the regime
• Bring freedom, human rights, and dignity to the North Korean people

http://www.nkfreedom.org/

Working Group on North Korean Women, a non-profit organization to raise awareness of human rights violations of North Korean women.

Who is Working Group on North Korean Women?

The Working Group on North Korean Women is a non-profit organization and it is comprised of organizations, human rights activists, and experts dedicated to engaging and educating the international community on the grave human rights abuses suffered by North Korean Women.

The main goal of the Working Group on North Korean Women is to make North Korean Women’s Rights a mainstream issue at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

• A statement prepared by the Working Group on North Korean Women was submitted by Jubilee Campaign to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and made part of the Commission’s official record. This furthers the Working Group’s objective of bringing the plight of North Korean women to the attention of the CSW.

• On March 17, 2017, the Working Group on North Korean Women held an event at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York City. The event was titled North Korean Women: Destitution and Human Trafficking in China. 

• As part of our efforts to raise awareness about the situation faced by North Korean Women in North Korea and China, our working group will be submitting communications to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

http://www.nkwomen.com/

As of May, 2017 about 30,490 North Koreans successfully arrived at South Korean.  Among them 71 percentage is women. Some North Korean refugees are still suffering from human trafficking and slavery at suburban areas in China where have difficulty in finding brides or labors. 

Working Group on North Korean Women is especially working to raise awareness of human rights violations of North Korean women.

Source: https://www.voakorea.com/a/3835827.html

Education for understanding each other for harmony between South and North Korea are important to be well prepared for the peaceful unification of Korea.

Tensions between South Korea and North as well as the USA and North Korea are getting higher and higher.

Prejudice and misunderstanding must disappear in order for Korea to prepare well for the unification.
Education for understanding each other harmony between South and North Korea are important to be well prepared for the peaceful unification of Korea.

http://www.daejonilbo.com/news/newsitem.asp?pk_no=1281519

North Korea, a "Thief of the World"?

  I feel sorry to put the title like this, as I believe the majority of North Korean people are honest and sincere, but since recently the country being faced with multiple sanctions, the government has started to seek income by unlawful means such as stealing from foreign banks.

  In recent years, North Korean government has stolen 80 million USD from Bangladesh national bank, 60 million USD from Taiwan, and more from national banks of Mexico and Poland. Moreover, North Korea has also carried out massive hackings of computers in big institutions worldwide. From these facts, we can state that the North Korean regime is indeed a "Thief of the World".

  For sure the "strong players" in UN may also have a responsibility in this situation, such as Western allies fail to solve the threat in peaceful ways, and Communist and Socialist allies only blaming the West for the escalation of treating rather than trying to solve the problem together.

  From the previous post, we learn that North Korea's economy has failed because of its own multiple errors from the past, and the recent crimes can also be attributed to this. So why aren't there anyone to assist the country transforming into good status economically and socially, but only observing the worsening government and global situation? Sanctions as a solution? No. It alone cannot shut the belligerence of the regime, but only to bring more negative effects. Maybe it's time for multilateral Discussion, and solve the problem with Words rather than fists. Today is Diwali, a Hindu festival celebrating light, to chase away darkness and evil. May there be more light in North Korea too.

EU and Japan submit a resolution about the violations of human rights in North Korea.

EU and Japan submitted a resolution about the violations of human rights in North Korea.
South Korean government will do its best for the UN resolution to pass.

I wonder why South Korea is not included in the list of countries submitting the resolution to the United Nations.
While EU and Japan prepared the resolution about the violations of human rights in North Korea, I wonder what the department of unification, South Korean government organization, was doing?

https://www.voakorea.com/a/4067807.html

"University Student’s Group for Unification (통일대학생동아리연합)" is a united group of college students from 9 universities in South Korea for the unification of Korea

Some South Korean college students and some college students who were former North Korean refugees organized a united group of 9 school clubs at 9 universities in South Korea.

The official name of the group is "University Student's Group for Unification (통일대학생동아리연합)".

Even though their majors at universities are different and they are attending different universities, there is one common thing between them. They get together to be friends to each other and discuss the ways toward the harmonious unification of Korea.

The list of members of "University Student's Group for Unification".

The Catholic University of Korea (가톨릭대학교),
Korea University (고려대학교),
Dongguk University (동국대학교),
Sogang University (서강대학교),
Sookmyung Women's University (숙명여자대학교),
Yonsei University (연세대학교),
Chungang University (중앙대학교),
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교),
Hanyang University (한양대학교)

https://www.facebook.com/Tongdaedongyeon/

They participate in volunteer service at the Seoul National Cemetery. They meet regularly four times a year and enjoy sports games together such as skiing.

I think this is a good sample of the harmonious unification of Korea. Such group activities of college students will have a great influence on spreading the idea of Korea's harmonious unification.

http://www.rfa.org/korean/weekly_program/defectors_life/defectorsklife-09292017103253.html

"University Student's Group for Unification" participated in a Forum hosted by "the Institute for Peace Affairs" to discuss the unification of Korean Peninsula.  

South Korean college students and college students who were former North Korean refugees held a meeting whose topic is "Let us talk about the unification of Korea".

"University Student's Group for Unification" hosted indoor sports games for members to be more intimate with each other.

"University Student's Group for Unification" received an award from Korea National Cemetery because of its dedicated volunteer service for the cemetery.

Members of "University Student's Group for Unification" took pictures in front of Korea National Cemetery. The cemetery was established for veterans who died in Korean independence Movement under the Japanese Colonial Rule, Korean War, and Vietnam War.

Sources of Pictures: Jae Duk Seo, Vice-President of "University Student's Group for Unification"

Animation GIF image: Susie Han (Susie Maria Han), Woodbridge High School, Irvine, California

Reasons of North Korea's failure in industrialization

  Since the end of World War 2, many East Asian countries have gone though industrialization and modernization, from poverty to prosperity. Japan and "Four Little Dragons (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore) " can be the typical examples.

  A scholar, Ezra Vogel, analyzed the factors of those countries' success, which are:
- Confucian heritage (high saving rate, group-oriented)
- US's generous aid (postwar reconstructions, aid from international organizations)
- Destruction of Old Order (feudal system and conservative strata gone after wars)
- Sense of Political and Economic Urgency (learned that USA won because of economic superiority)
- Eager and plenty Labor Force (hardworking young generation), and
- Learning from Japanese model (technological and commercial knowhow)

  Speaking of failure of North Korea when compared with its successful neighbors, personally I consider the geopolitical alliance with the neighboring Socialist states (China, Russia) since Cold War period is the main cause of its tragedy.
  This situation can be traced back to Kim Il Sung (grandfather of Kum Jong Un)'s success as a guerrilla fighter and later backed by Soviet Union to be "used" as a "puppet" for combatting US.
  The regime (Communism, "Juche" ideology), system and the allies caused North Korea's lagging level of modernization. Lack of market economy and competition among business brings no stimuli for the economy. Also the conservative notion of "self-sustain" cancels the opportunities of learning and communicating with foreign ideas, people, and models.

Does China still want the North Korean buffer zone?

Yes and here is why.

First, we need to look at some recent history of China and maybe we can get some idea of its reasoning. 

In the 1800's the British East India Company began trading goods with China but China would only accept payment in silver. the britishs were getting nervous about the amount of silver leaving their shores and were looking for something to trade that would bring some silver back. that product was opium.

The problem with this was that too many Chineses were getting addicted to it and not coming to work so the Emporer suddenly banned it. 
The britishs did not like this and so the opium wars began. 

China were defeated and forced to open more trading ports, then the French got in on the act, then the Americans, Dutch, etc. 

It's a good article and you can read it here

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-opium-wars-the-bloody-conflicts-destroyed-imperial-china-17212

After that,  Japanese wanting to expand their influence in the region, attacked in the Korean peninsula in 1894. at that time, Korea was a client state to China but Japan saw Korea as a convenient source of iron ore and coal and a tug of war began.

Again China lost and had to cede Korea to Japan.
And if that wasn't enough, they invaded again in 1937 occupying a good part of China until the end of World War 2 in 1945. 

So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that China intervened when UN forces got too close for comfort in the 1950 Korean war.

So you see, China has had many years of invasions and defeats and now realizes that it has been vulnerable to attack from the Pacific coast on numerous occasions.
These events have left a deep scar in the Chinese mindset and they realize now that when things go bad in Korea, it's bad for China as well.

fast forward to today

Korea is divided into North and South with the North supposedly having close ties with China. But it's more of an alliance of convenience really. the two countries do not like each other.

The uneasy alliance has its advantages though.

First and formost for China, North Korea provides a good buffer zone for stability in the region. China values this above all else as it has its hands full watching its other borders.
the last thing it wants is an open border with United States forces. 

China has easy access to North Korean coal and minerals and North Korea gets the hard cash it needs.
North korea gets its oil and food from China so a big leverage over North Korea there.
China obliges by sending back North Korean defectors and the regime likes that because it limits the amount of information that gets out to the world about how bad North Korea is.

Underneath the surface though, relations are not as close as is publicly portrayed.

It has even gotten to the point where there is speculation of debates in China about weighing the benefits of keeping the regime propped up or letting it fall.

Here is an interesting interview with Ely Ratner of the council on foreign relations (CFR) relating to this. 

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/8/10/16125076/china-north-korea-donald-trump-xi-jinping-kim-jong-un

There was some hope that Kim Jong Un might change the status quo but this has not been the case.
From his actions, he has shown himself to be incompetent, arrogant and inconsiderate of his people. 
Building an amusment park, day care centers and multi million dollar ski resort only available to the relatively wealthy while his people struggle? this still blows me away...how irresponsible can you get.

He is resistant to Chinese style economic reform and has become more rigid in his thinking. Punishment for "illegal" cell phone use has become more severe. the methods of tracking calls to China have gotten more efficient also.
This indicates that North Korean society is becoming more aware and hungry for outside information and the regime is afraid. it is afraid of the population becoming aware and seeing the regime for what it really is. a more aware population and a rigid government will eventually clash and this is probably has China nervous as well.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=14745&cataId=nk00100


There is evidence that the gulags are expanding indicating that more prisoners are being added. not that China cares about this but I'm just giving the reader an idea of Kim Jong Un.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10496464/North-Korean-gulags-expanding-satellite-images-show.html

The execution of Jang Song-Thaek was a blow to China NK relations as he was the main intermediary between the two countries. no doubt this had a profound negative impact on chinas attitude toward Kim Jong Un. 
It is rumored that Kim got wind of a conspiracy to replace him and had Jang executed. 
Maybe it's true, Jang probably saw the new leader for what he was and realized he is going to be bad for North Korea.

http://www.asiapress.org/rimjin-gang/report/arrest-displacement-suicide-purge-jangs_affiliated_cadres-continues/

And finally, China is feeling pressure from around the world regarding North Korea nuclear development.every time NK launches a missile, the world looks to China to do something and this puts pressure on China and it makes them look bad.

I can understand why NK is doing this though. they see it is a deterrent to invasion but it could turn into something else down the road.
North Korea has seen what happened to Iraq and Libya when they gave up their weapons of mass destruction. NATO just walked in an took what they wanted. these invasions and occupations were based on lies by the way. Iraq was taken by direct force and Libya by proxy.
NATO has been trying to topple the Syrian government (again based on lies) and would have by now if it weren't for Russia.

So the regime looks at this does not trust the western powers.
It knows its conventional military would not withstand a NATO assault and so the nuclear deterrent is the regimes key to survival.
South Korean and united states joint military exercises every year simulating a war with the north does not help matters either. 

I just want to add here that the corporate media coverage of North Korean nuclear capability is overblown. I'm talking about the delivery systems and quick deployment capabilities part of it. they are at this point, not a threat to mainland united states.
The western corporate media are just parrots for governments and corporations and are drumming up the usual fear and tension but that is for another post.

So in summary

The North Korean regime is a pain for China and it is not happy with Kim Jong Un.
It would like North Korea to allow economic reform Chinese style but that would mean opening up to the rest of the world. The NK regime is so afraid of being exposed for what it is that it can't let that happen. Its crimes are too grat.
Kimg Jong Un and his inner circle would be hanging from lamp posts in no time.


If it is in China's best interest to let the regime fall however, it will let it fall.
It doesn't want that though because it means that it would have to deal with a flood of refugees and would have to intervene somehow in the Korean Peninsula.
China also knows that the united states is declining economically and in time will not have the influence it once did so maybe China is just waiting it out.

Having said all that, here are some good reasons why China might just let the regime fall.

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2075170/north-korea-loses-its-use-china-loses-its-patience

North Korean refugees are the small piece of unification to South Korea so that South Koreans should be more warmhearted to North Korean refugees.

Once North Korean refugees successfully arrive in South Korea, usually they are taken in hand by the National Intelligent Service (Korean CIA) and interviewed for several weeks to determine that they are true refugees or North Korean spies or Chinse-Koreans.

After the interview with Korean CIA, North Korean refugees are sent to the Unification Ministry's Half-way House, Hanawon for three months to prepare for the new life in South Korea. They receive social orientation and job training at Hanawon.

After they graduate from Hanawon, they are given financial assistance and help in finding jobs and houses.

Even though their living conditions are much better comparing with what they had experienced in North Korea, they feel something insufficient with their new life in South Korea.

Some North Korean defectors miss their families they left behind, and feel guilty for having left them at North Korean regime who will persecute their families for having a family member who left North Korea. Some North Korean defectors don’t feel they are fully accepted by South Korea.

I hear that some former North Korean refugees return to North Korea.
How is it possible?
Who is responsible for these unbelievable happenings?
North Koreans are still suffering from starvation. Why do they want to return to North Korea?
Foods are not everything.

Someday the 23 million people in North Korea and the 46 million citizens of South Korea will live together under one government.

If North Korean refugees have much difficulty in adjusting themselves to their new lives in South Korea or if North Korean refugees feel cold shoulder from South Koreans or if North Korean refugees are not treated by neighbors in a warm and appropriate way in South Korea, the peaceful and harmonious unification of Korea will be impossible and beyond the dreams.

Even though South Koreans and North Koreans use the common language, the gap and difference in daily expressions, lifestyle, favorite tastes of foods, music, movie, television programs, dances have been bigger and bigger since Korea was divided in 1948.

North Koreans need time and strong support including financial assistance. South Korean people must be more warm-hearted toward North Korean refugees because they are the small piece of the unification of South Korea.

If North Korean refugees cannot be happy with their new lives in South Korea, how can South Korea expect the successful and harmonious unification of Korea?



https://www.brookings.edu/research/embracing-north-korean-defectors-the-small-unification-of-korea/

The unification of Korea will be better for Chinese economy too.

Some Chinese scholars think the unification of Korea will be good for Chinese economy too.
I hope more Chinese scholars and more Chinese high-rank officials think in this way.
North Korea has been a buffer zone between China and South Korea since Korean War.
Does China still want the buffer zone?

I hope Chinse realize the benefit from the unification of Korea is much bigger than the benefit from keeping Korea divided into two parts.
I hope Chinese realize the loss caused by keeping Korea divided into two parts are much bigger than the unification of Korea.

Kim Jong Un does not listen to China anymore.
North Korea can survive from the isolation from the world as long as possible.
In the meanwhile, the pains and starvation of North Korean people become more severe.

The unification of Korea will have a great influence on the development of Chinese economy.

Chinese produces will be imported by train or by truck. Chinese travelers can take a trip to Korea by train or by truck. Transportation by airplane is much more expensive than that by train.

 

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/10/01/0200000000AKR20171001039300009.HTML

We Don't Want War!!!

  Recently there has been so many news about the UN conference.
It's a good chance that different nations gather to discuss and make improvements.
UN was established after WW2, to establish a global society of peace and friendship for all.

  However, instead of peaceful negotiations, representatives of both North Korea and USA
were quarrelling like kindergarten children based on their own interests.
The purpose of UN is to serve ALL Humanity, not only the politicians.

  And what is worse, is that media often only focus on the negative side, seeking to attract audience by creating tension and fear. In my opinion, the UN, politicians, and media have all failed to implement their responsibility of establishing a peaceful and harmonious society.

  Trump is an "enemy" for Kim, and North Korea is an "enemy" for USA.
But the people of both sides, as well as other places, all hope for eternal peace.
Dear UN, please don't ignore the voice of people who want to live in peace, and
Dear Human, stop being a slave of the politicians and ideologies.
Be a master of your own Fate!!!

North Korea can trigger Volcano Eruption!

  Everyone wants to live in Peace.
But making peace with people is not enough. We have to make peace with Nature!

  As North Korean regime's nuclear test continues, Mt. Paektu (in Chinese Chángbáishān) which borders with China is being observed to have abnormal activities recently. The continuous nuclear tests have also triggered unnatural earthquakes so far.

  As a member of planet earth, human beings cannot forget that this is the only single planet we share with one another. As long as we still have no technology to immigrate to other stars, we have to cherish our only home and live in peace.