North Korea

[vox_populi]

My friend told me that Kim Jong Il visited China and was really inspired by their "market socialism" and planned to introduce it in North Korea.
Is this true?

Sorry my computer fucked up

[leftist resistance]

He did visit China some time ago.the rest,i don't know

[Tekun]

Well I don't know much about his trip, can u give us a date?

But I doubt that he would adopt "market socialism"
The dominance and tyranny that he has displayed throughout all sectors of Korean society would collide with any elements of "market socialism"
In other words, those who owned the means of production would collide with the firm grasp and policies he imposed on North Korea's economy
Therfore, I doubt that he would allow any threats or challenges to his socio-economic rule

[vox_populi]

I agree, it seemed pretty unlikely...i'm going to ask my friend if he remembers the date tomorrow.

[Jadan ja]

I think that North Korea has or had some experiment with capitalism in one of the provinces, but I cannot remember where I read it. If someone knows any thing more about that, please post a link.

Also, a really long time ago, when I was 9, I think, I saw on the news that North Korea started to import Coca Cola. I cannot remember anything clearly, so if anyone knows anything about that or something similar, can you please confirm that it is not a false memory?

[travisdandy2000]

Hey, I'm the General Secratary of the Songun Politics Studies Group U.S.A., and I can assure you the DPRK has no intention of straying from socialism. Revisonism has been roundly and repeatedly rejected by the WPK. Thanks.
http://www.geocities.com/songunpoliticsstudygroup/index.html

[Janus]

My friend told me that Kim Jong Il visited China and was really inspired by their "market socialism" and planned to introduce it in North Korea.
A date would be very helpful but I think that he did visit China recently. Either that or he's planning to. However, those trips are very secretive and no one is very sure about what they discuss.

[Fidelbrand]

Market socialism would probably ruin the hermit hereditory kingdom. I think chances are low.

[Xiao Banfa]

Why is there so little about Marxist-Leninism on that site?
Why has the DPRK taken the pictures of Marx and Lenin down from the parliament building?

[People's Coalition]

I dislike Northn Korea, its nothing but a Stalinist Paradise.

I don't even consider NK socialist, its just an Oppressive Dictatorship.

[ReD_ReBeL]

Kim Jong Il's Visit to China May Signal Desire to Open Economy
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may be seeking to further open up the economy of one of the world's most isolated nations, North Korean analysts said, citing his nine-day visit to China that ended yesterday.

``Kim Jong Il wanted to see for himself the effects of an open economy, and also show it to his closest aides,'' said Jun Bong Geun, a researcher at South Korea's state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul. ``China was also eager to show the North Korean leader as well.''

Kim visited China's central and southern provinces of Hubei and Guangdong to see economic boom towns such as Wuhan, Yichang, Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Shenzhen, China's official Xinhua news agency said. North Korea's Korea Central News Agency described the towns as being ``where the cause of modernization is being successfully carried out.''

China is North Korea's biggest economic, political and social ally and trade with China comprised nearly half of North Korea's international commerce in 2004, according to South Korea's state-funded trade promotion agency, KOTRA. As many as a third of North Korea's 23 million people are starving after a decade of drought, famine, floods and economic mismanagement, South Korea's government estimates.

North Korean exports to China grew 48 percent in 2004 to $586 million from the previous year, Chinese imports to North Korea also grew 27 percent to $800 million in the same period, the South Korean trade agency said.

Economic Opportunity

China regards North Korea as ``less of an economic burden and more of an economic opportunity for trade and investment,'' Peter Beck, Seoul-based director of the Northeast Asia Project for the International Crisis Group, said during an interview yesterday with Bloomberg television. ``Trade and investment is booming between China and North Korea.''

Among those named by the Korea Central News Agency in Kim's entourage for the visit to China were his top economic aides and ministers. It was Kim's fourth trip to China since he took over as leader after his father Kim Il Sung's death in 1994. His last visit took place in April 19.

The nine-day trip was Kim's second longest overseas journey since his 24-day visit to Russia in July-August 2001.

Kim's visit came amid doubts over the future of six-nation talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons program. North Korea accuses the U.S. of ``hostile policies'' in freezing the assets of eight North Korean companies and blocking U.S. business with a bank in Macau, China, accused by the U.S. of helping North Korean companies launder illicit funds.

Diversion Tactic

``It's Kim Jong Il's quintessential diversion tactic -- shift the focus away from its criminal actions and thus ease international pressure, by raising hope that North Korea may open its economy,'' said Lee Jung Hoon, a professor at the Graduate School of Yonsei University in Seoul. ``If he had wanted to open up North Korea's markets, he would have done so already, long before his nation's economy floundered.''

North Korea, with a population about the size of Taiwan's and an economy only one-fourteenth as large, is trying to barter economic aid from the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia in return for scrapping its nuclear arms program. The economy grew 2.2 percent in 2004 after a 1.8 percent expansion in 2003, South Korea's central bank said in May.

``North Korea has to return to six-nation talks if it wants to convince us that it wants to be a member of the global community,'' said Lee. ``Kim Jong Il has to lay to rest concerns about weapons distribution, money laundering and other criminal acts.''

Six-nation Talks

A fifth round of the talks with North Korea, involving the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, ended on Nov. 11 in Beijing without an agreement. North Korea refused demands to shut a reactor used to make weapons-grade plutonium. The talks are tentatively set to resume this month.

North Korea's government said on Jan. 3 it won't resume the six-party talks unless the U.S. lifts sanctions against the country, KCNA reported at the time.

Kim, who met China's President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, in Beijing during his latest visit, reiterated his commitment to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and promoting the six-nation forum as a means to resolve the nuclear weapons dispute, according to KCNA.

North Korea on Sept. 19 pledged to give up nuclear weapons and rejoin international accords to halt the spread of such arms. In return, the U.S. said it wouldn't attack North Korea and affirmed it doesn't have any nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Source (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aJualC2jIYsw&refer=japan)

[BattleOfTheCowshed]

I would not be surprised. It would save the North Korean's from starvation and utter decay. A massive new economic market would open up for China to use. NK would likely rapidly modernize like China did and become a new powerful, ally for China. Assuming that Jong Il guided the transition, it might also solidify his power.

[Fidelbrand]

If I were China, I would never side with this deceased comrade (DPRK).

DPRK is the worst joke made on the "'Left".