Andrei Lankov
Andrei Lankov
Andrei Nikolaevich Lankovis a Russian scholar of Asia and a specialist in Korean studies...
bloody regime until wait
They (the U.S.) could do nothing but wait until the regime collapses, or they could attack, which could be a very bloody war.
checks collapsed country expensive foreign information keeping last looking police random second state
For decades, this country was second only to Albania, or even second to none, for keeping out all information about foreign countries. But the old state supervision, where the police would do random checks looking for things like radios, collapsed over the last decade. It was too expensive to run.
changes happened meaningful reforms
The 2002 reforms were just a recognition of changes that had happened already. It's not reform in any meaningful sense, there was just a disintegration of the state.
suffering violence unbearable
To not have your suffering recognized is an almost unbearable form of violence.
exercise korea two
Most people in Seoul don't care about the North's belligerent statements: The farther one is from the Korean Peninsula, the more one will find people worried about the recent developments here. Scary impressions are important to North Korea because for the last two decades its policy has been, above all, a brilliant exercise in diplomatic blackmail. And blackmail usually works better when the practitioners are seen as irrational and unpredictable.
career cases class education few good korean north seem south
There are very few cases of a young, educated, middle-class North Korean defector who would get a good South Korean education and then make what would seem as a 'normal' career in the South.
economic signs visible
There are no visible signs of economic reform, There's a big difference.