North Korean Sabre Rattling 2013 We Nuclear Baby!

[Callisto]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9310OL20130402


Oh lawd. USS Decatur deployed to provide missile defense for SK


As a side note thats a pretty badass name.

that's my hometown, lol

[Callisto]

I'm curious, does NK actually export anything of value? I'm assuming they have to have oil or some sort of important metals/resources for China to bother feeding them...

[Gokku]

They have land, influence china's claim on Asia as a whole and generally piss in America's morning cup of tea every so often. That alone is reason for China to keep em around. Especially since they get plausible "not our fualt" when ever NK acts up. They are like that uncle who buys a nephew a bb gun feedsnthem pizza and candy and then drops them off at their parents house.

[Niiro]

They're China's Israel.

Not the best metaphor but it's close enough and I'm lazy.

[Vuitton]

China wants N. Korea there as a physical buffer from S. Korea (and the U.S.) Also, China keeps them propped up because they don't want to deal with the millions of refugees that would flood into China if N. Korea went down.

[Plow]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9310OL20130402


Oh lawd. USS Decatur deployed to provide missile defense for SK


As a side note thats a pretty badass name.

uh...




...


slow news day?

[Helm]

China's human rights issues also seem less egregious next to NK's own operations.

[BadKarma]

Boss Toss will defend the motherland

[Kerberoz]

I'm curious, does NK actually export anything of value?

They produce a good bit of opium; not sure if any gets exported, though.

[Cail]

TwitterSteve Herman @W7VOA
We've noted Chinese netizen postings on Baidu, Sina Weibo, Baidu Tieba reporting PRC increased mobilization, jets along border with #DPRK.
No way at this point to confirm the China netizen reports nor ability to authenticate photos being posted. #DPRK

Possible military movement by China to the border of NK

[Kohan]

They produce a good bit of opium; not sure if any gets exported, though.

It's definitely sold to foreign buyers. It's one of North Korea's only substantial forms of income. Or at least, it was—they're more into selling meth now, if I remember correctly.

[Guitarman]

NK shut off access to a joint manufacturing plant. Allowing SK workers to return home but none to enter the plant. Apparently this is a bad sign.

[Qalbert]

can't the SKs just roll their own joints

[Kerberoz]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/na...ntal-collapse/

tl;dr there's almost no arable land left, and the land has been deforested for firewood to the point that it can't hold onto soil

[Callisto]

NK shut off access to a joint manufacturing plant. Allowing SK workers to return home but none to enter the plant. Apparently this is a bad sign.

I guess this us a big deal because NK makes a lot of money off the plant, if they shut it down it means they'd rather lose the income than stay civil. Seems self-defeating, though.

[Kerberoz]

Meh. No different than a kid holding their breath until their shitty parents buy them candy (or their good parents let them pass out).

[Stromgarde]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/na...ntal-collapse/

tl;dr there's almost no arable land left, and the land has been deforested for firewood to the point that it can't hold onto soil

I knew North Korea was pretty badly off, but this it's starting to look like a post-apocalyptic parody of itself. The plant closing is worrying; a lot of the foreign policy experts NPR has had on have said that the closure of that plant would be the trigger point for when they begin to get concerned.

[Salodin]

Cmon now, we know nk heard that story and did it so that we'd pay more attention to them. Absolutely not worried, nk is a problem the world wants contained. No one wants to be the nation that has to fix them.

[zoobernut]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/na...ntal-collapse/

tl;dr there's almost no arable land left, and the land has been deforested for firewood to the point that it can't hold onto soil

That is really fascinating. In college I took a history class that talked about Societal collapses and we read a book called "Collapse" there are many societies that were doomed for this exact same reason. It is hypothesized that this is what happened to the people who lived on Easter Island and many others.

[Vandole]

https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/319533820430934016

everyone into my vault