Posted on 08/19/2010 9:41:15 AM PDT by LibWhacker
The capital's population had grown accustomed to a slightly better diet compared to the rest of the country. But the sanctions, the five-year plans and currency reform are beginning to be felt. And the population shows signs of timid protests against the regime.
Seoul (AsiaNews) - The population of Pyongyang, the capital of the Stalinist regime of North Korea, is increasingly frustrated because of the price of basic necessities and lack of basic foods in stores, according to former residents, who have fled to South Korea. They point the finger at the last year’s disastrous currency reform and against the five years economic plan, which the regime insists on continuing.
According to one source, "market prices continue to rise. The population is angry, and complains of these factors. According to some estimates, 60% of the population is dissatisfied with the authorities". On the other hand the inhabitants of Pyongyang, given its proximity to political power, were used to having better access to goods passing through the country: now they have to survive on potatoes.
The same source, who went as far as China in search of food, continues: "Life just won’t return to normal, food distribution no longer works, and the complaints this time are different from what has been heard in the past. In July and August, only potatoes were distributed to workers and other residents of Pyongyang, we are beginning to see real protests against the government".
A further sign of the disaster is ongoing by the privileged classes of society, such as members of the military and national security agencies, which receive limited rations as the rest of citizenship. Until recently, however, their diet was comparable to that of an Eastern European capital in the days of communism in.
North Korea has lived for at least two decades, an untenable food situation. Based on the principle of Juche - the self-sustainability preached by the first dictator Kim Il Sung - the government has pursued economic projects that have proven unsuccessful.
Added to this are the heavy penalties imposed by the international community after Pyongyang’s announcement it was developing a nuclear arsenal, which have in fact eliminated all foreign goods from the market, and the terrible currency reform ordered by the "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il last December.
To prevent further defections in the high military ranks, in fact, the dictator has removed two zeros from the currency, eliminating savings and investments. In this way he has forced into poverty even the wretched middle class in the country, throwing it into panic. "Now - says the source - the effect of all this is hitting the capital. But without food, patriotism will not last long".
A starving populace is a terrible thing. A starving army is a very dangerous thing. Hungry soldiers tend to be just a touch unpredictable.
Oh you mean like the OBumster's her in the US.
This makes NK desperate. Desperate entities do desperate things. This is dangerous.
I only hope that little turd lives long enough for the people to hang him
This is America, once the Democrats have autocratic control. It would only take about two decades of Obama to have us groveling in the fields looking for any missed potatoes.
This is what pelosi, Reid, and Obama have in store for us:
The worker’s paradise!
See how well it works in other countries
I looked at NK on Google Maps yesterday. It looks wholly depopulated! Are there less people living there than in the Adirondaks? I can’t believe that more than a few tens of thousands are still remaining in NK.
Obama’s style of Communism strikes again!
Hmmm. Hard to lord it over a country when everyone is either dead from starvation or has fled.
“Only potatoes”
That is interesting. I thought for sure it would be rice.
If the radical environmental fascist have their way North American will look like North Korea from space at night, a dark and bleak patch of earth with a scattered dot of light here and there for the elite.
This can’t be true.
Everyone knows that collectivism leads to abundance and happiness. Just ask Harry and Nancy.
They need to setup some farmer’s markets juuuust across the border in eyesight of the North.
And run by people who weigh no less than 250 lbs.
I read last night that 20% of the NK yearly budget is spent on Kim Jung Il and his luxuries.
Isn't Socialism/Communism great! It always ends up with starving people.
This morning’s news of a North Korean military jet that crashed just across the border, inside China, and the likelihood the pilot was attempting to defect, is just another indication of the level of desperation that may be mounting inside the North Korean national prison society.
Maybe based on intelligence about such matters, the South Korean government has, this past week, broached a subject that everyone there had previously been unwilling to make any direct proposals about - how to fund the needs of unifying the country under a South Korean government, after the North collapses.
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