Comments on: North Korea Said WHAT?!?

North Korea Said WHAT?!?

wendell — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 20:53:56 -0800

FilteredNewsFilter: The only headline about North Korea in most of the media is that the U.S. Wants North Korea Working Group Talks to Resume Before the End of April. But, if you live in Australia or parts of Asia, you will have heard about N.K.'s rather shrill official statement claiming that the U.S. is "driving the military situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war" with "moves to put the strategy of pre-emptive nuclear attack into practice." Fighting words. How come nobody in the 'real media' around here seems to have noticed it yet?
I will withdraw my snark if BOTH stories make the morning papers tomorrow, but I doubt it.

By: tingley

tingley — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 21:00:33 -0800

I believe drudge was linking to the "brink of nuclear war" story earlier in the day. Does that count?

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 21:03:11 -0800

Good for Drudge. I see he got it from Yahoo Singapore. It sure ain't on Yahoo USA yet.

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 21:05:29 -0800

but 5-yard penalty for equating Drudge with the quote real media unquote

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 21:06:48 -0800

we're not getting all the Iraq news either...but with NK I think they just get bitchy when we ignore them--I don't think they'd actually do anything, and Cheney's in the region now too.

By: Zonker

Zonker — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 21:16:29 -0800

Hey, the realest of real media in the U.S. has been on this story for more than a year now. It's not as if we haven't heard this from North Korea before.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 22:13:57 -0800

This is not news, by any measure. The North Koreans say things like this every single time they think they're not getting enough attention. They're completely predictable. The only reason for this latest 'I'm gonna hold my breath until you give me some candy' outburst is that Dick Cheney is in Asia at the moment to try and suck up to the Chinese, after they got annoyed because America recently sold Taiwan some weapons systems. Interesting timed, that sale. That's the real story, I'd say, but I similarly doubt that you'll hear much about it in the media. Standard scumbag procedure, in other words, for the ~~greatest nation~~ biggest arms dealer in the world.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 22:52:09 -0800

How come nobody in the 'real media' around here seems to have noticed it yet? Because most people know that North Korea is, to use the technical term, bugfuck crazy, and says stuff like this all the time when they're not asserting that Kim Jong Il invented the solar system.

By: Meridian

Meridian — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 23:10:27 -0800

"We are also forced to consider the possibility that Kim may attempt to robo-meld with other members of the Axis of Evil" There used to be another amusing Onion article about president Kim Jong Il unfolding into a 70-foot-tall, 62-ton giant robot but it dissapeared off their website. (The images in the archive.org link seem to dissapear from the page after a few seconds). Well, I thought it was amusing anyway.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Fri, 09 Apr 2004 23:58:11 -0800

Bush and Blair have expressed a desire to start a nuclear war.

By: azazello

azazello — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 00:19:50 -0800

biggest arms dealer in the world. Not to defend the DPRK, but... I thought that was the United States?

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 00:23:00 -0800

That's what I was saying. Perhaps I was unclear.

By: rwkenyon

rwkenyon — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 00:30:31 -0800

Maybe in the English-speaking world the only headlines about North Korea are about "working groups" and "nuclear war." But if you can read French, this article by Michel Temman, published in the April 7, 2004, edition of the Parisian daily Libération, discusses the Western businesses busily setting up shop in Pyongyang as they await an "opening." According to the article, Nestlé, Vivendi, Alstom, DHL, and Citibank are closely monitoring events in the "hermit kingdom" and several Japanese and South Korean companies are already operating factories in North Korea. The Germans are so "enthusiastic" about doing business in North Korea that they plan to open a Goethe Institut in Pyongyang during 2004. Les éclaireurs du capitalisme rôdent à Pyongyang http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=192339

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 06:26:09 -0800

Les éclaireurs du capitalisme rôdent à Pyongyang Capitalist rodents sent the eclairs to Pyongyang?

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 10:33:09 -0800

Right before the '88 summer games in Seoul, the DPRK was making rumbles about reunifying the peninsula by force of arms. Nothing new here 'ceptin' maybe some nukes, but I don't think they'd be able to fire off more than one before being wiped off the face of the earth.

By: TBoneMcCool

TBoneMcCool — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 14:17:55 -0800

Wendell, ever consider that North Korea has cried wolf one too many times, and the media aren't buying it anymore? Read all about the North Korea propaganda machine in this Associated Press article: Propaganda in North Korea: Hatred for U.S. taught early, reiterated often