N. Korea - WTF.

[AZhitman]

Kind of a painful read, but damn. Really makes me wonder where our priorities are:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/24/us/north- ... index.html

Good thing I'm not Congress, I'd be calling for airstrikes on NK, Somalia, and a host of other pissant countries.

[szh]

Puts things in perspective ...

We have things easy here, and still whine too much about it.

Z

[C-Kwik]

Its always sad to hear even though I grew up hearing about North Korea when my parents watched their Korean news channels. And its unfortunate how little the average American knows about it. I get asked all the time if my family is from the North or South. My usual response is if you meet someone from the North...buy a lottery ticket. The odds are easily that bad.

[AZhitman]

I wasn't aware of that, Chano. My heart hurts for those people - Of everything we have, our freedoms are EASILY the most precious.

[C-Kwik]

Sadly, a bigger priority for most of them would be just having enough food on the table.

If you have Netflix, there was a National Geographic documentary on North Korea. The basics of it is that Western doctors were allowed in to treat blindness caused by malnutrition. Its apparently a relatively easy procedure. They treated a large room full of people. And when the bandages came off, the first thing these people did was thank their "dear leader" for restoring their eyesight. It was heartbreaking that they didn't know that their "dear leader" was the cause of the blindness in the first place. I'd almost welcome the ignorance if I lived there. I'd hate to know the grass is actually greener. I'd highly recommend watching it if you have any curiosity about the lives these people live. Ironically, the reporter who went in with the medical staff is Lisa Ling. Her Sister Laura was one of the reporters detained by North Korea at the border a few years ago.

I'm hopeful that there will be some change under Kim Jong Un, but its unlikely he was chosen if he wasn't most like his father. I'm not holding my breath.

[AZhitman]

<sigh>

It's heartbreaking... we only get 80 or so years on this rock, and that seems to be a horrible and miserable way to spend them.

[C-Kwik]

<sigh>

It's heartbreaking... we only get 80 or so years on this rock, and that seems to be a horrible and miserable way to spend them.

Well hell, I think their life expectancy is only 63 years.

[AZhitman]

Mine would be 15 minutes. I don't do well in captivity.

[hannibal]

Sadly, a bigger priority for most of them would be just having enough food on the table.

If you have Netflix, there was a National Geographic documentary on North Korea. The basics of it is that Western doctors were allowed in to treat blindness caused by malnutrition. Its apparently a relatively easy procedure. They treated a large room full of people. And when the bandages came off, the first thing these people did was thank their "dear leader" for restoring their eyesight. It was heartbreaking that they didn't know that their "dear leader" was the cause of the blindness in the first place. I'd almost welcome the ignorance if I lived there. I'd hate to know the grass is actually greener. I'd highly recommend watching it if you have any curiosity about the lives these people live. Ironically, the reporter who went in with the medical staff is Lisa Ling. Her Sister Laura was one of the reporters detained by North Korea at the border a few years ago.

I'm hopeful that there will be some change under Kim Jong Un, but its unlikely he was chosen if he wasn't most like his father. I'm not holding my breath.

I saw this. Very interesting the way people credit Kim Jong Il for everything.