Comments on: Will North Korea’s Failure to Control Markets Mean the End of the Regime? http://freekorea.us/2010/02/08/will-north-koreas-failure-to-control-markets-means-the-end-of-the-regime/ Wed, 23 May 2012 16:56:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Pops http://freekorea.us/2010/02/08/will-north-koreas-failure-to-control-markets-means-the-end-of-the-regime/comment-page-1/#comment-70826 Pops Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:14:24 +0000 http://www.freekorea.us/2010/02/08/will-north-koreas-failure-to-control-markets-means-the-end-of-the-regime/#comment-70826 Time will tell. But cracks have appeared in the regime's former iron-grip over its poor citizens. Kim Jong-Eun, or even KJI, may be the proverbial Dutch boy with his finger in the dike (should we call him a Hans Brinker?). How long before the backside pressure builds enough and widens the holes and cracks? Despite pathetic and nasty regime efforts to retain their grip the whole damned regime will fold. And when it does, big question is, will it go out with a whimper or a lot of noise? Time will tell. But cracks have appeared in the regime’s former iron-grip over its poor citizens. Kim Jong-Eun, or even KJI, may be the proverbial Dutch boy with his finger in the dike (should we call him a Hans Brinker?). How long before the backside pressure builds enough and widens the holes and cracks? Despite pathetic and nasty regime efforts to retain their grip the whole damned regime will fold. And when it does, big question is, will it go out with a whimper or a lot of noise?

]]> By: kushibo http://freekorea.us/2010/02/08/will-north-koreas-failure-to-control-markets-means-the-end-of-the-regime/comment-page-1/#comment-70813 kushibo Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:21:59 +0000 http://www.freekorea.us/2010/02/08/will-north-koreas-failure-to-control-markets-means-the-end-of-the-regime/#comment-70813 Reuters:<blockquote>Reuters has a long round-up on the failure of the Great Confiscation, with this being the bottom line: “The collapse of the market system brought about by the currency revaluation produced rare civil uprisings. But the violence appears to have been sporadic and should fade as long as the North allows market activity to return.”</blockquote>I'm busy with a work project so I haven't been able to write up the Reuters article, but the second sentence misses one thing: Even if the markets are restored, many people — including those once heavily invested in the local branches of the regime — lost their savings and those savings are still lost. This is a game-changer in a way that I don't think a lot of the foreign press is recognizing, and the blasé business-as-usual attitude may leave a lot of surprised people. Reuters:
Reuters has a long round-up on the failure of the Great Confiscation, with this being the bottom line: “The collapse of the market system brought about by the currency revaluation produced rare civil uprisings. But the violence appears to have been sporadic and should fade as long as the North allows market activity to return.”

I’m busy with a work project so I haven’t been able to write up the Reuters article, but the second sentence misses one thing: Even if the markets are restored, many people — including those once heavily invested in the local branches of the regime — lost their savings and those savings are still lost. This is a game-changer in a way that I don’t think a lot of the foreign press is recognizing, and the blasé business-as-usual attitude may leave a lot of surprised people.

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