All-for-Joffrey Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Whuuuuuuuh? Ummmmmmmmmmm, that's satire right? Fes -- did you actually file an FOIA about Dennis Rodman? :lmao: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Truly, the sun does not set on this great empire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hmmm...considering that the entire operation was performed under cover of darkness, perhaps it could more appropriately be called: The Empire on Which the Sun Never Shines. Empire Where the Sun Never Shines and Never Sets Only North Korea can pull off such a seemingly paradoxical reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 This isn't NK's version of The Onion or January Fool's day is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Fes -- did you actually file an FOIA about Dennis Rodman? :lmao: Not me. Something/one called MuckRock did, I just found out about it when the Washington Post linked to the CIA's response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 We must give all praise to Glorious Leader! All hail. /swishes his official NK unicorn hair brush to the four corners of the earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All-for-Joffrey Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Damn, looks like the sun voyage story originated from a satirical news outlet and not the North Korean press. http://www.policymic.com/articles/80001/did-north-korea-really-claim-to-land-a-man-on-the-sun-here-s-the-full-storyWhere the joke originated: Did North Korea really claim to put a man on the Sun or do people just like making Kim Jong-un look like a super-duper extra sillypants?Despite outlandish North Korean propaganda like Kim Jong-il's vaunted all-time golf scoring record and the supposed discovery of a unicorn lair in Pyongyang, this one would already be sending up red flags even if it wasn't easy to track down the original source. This articleoriginally appeared on the Waterford Whisper News, a satirical Irish site (think The Onion)which runs headlines like "Ground-Breaking WIT Study Finds Link Between Obesity and Over-Eating" and "World Leaders Renew International Lie-To-People Pact." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jace, Extat Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Ummmmmmmmmmm, that's satire right? Fes -- did you actually file an FOIA about Dennis Rodman? :lmao: Seems totally legitimate. I've been to the sun myself, though, so they can't claim to be the first. It's totally true that you have to leave under cover of darkness, though, lest you totes get roast by the solar cosmic irradiating moon particles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horza Posted February 16, 2014 Share Posted February 16, 2014 Aftershock of the Jang execution ripples through the cross-border community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summah Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Kim Jong-un was just elected with 100% of the votes and 100% turnout. The North Korean news agency said: This is an expression of the absolute support and trust of all voters in the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] government, the genuine people's power which serves the people and relies on them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Kim Jong-un was just elected with 100% of the votes and 100% turnout. The North Korean news agency said: I don't even understand how North Korea's electoral system is supposed to work in theory. Each assembly seat only has one name on the ballot, and people vote 'yes' or 'no' on if that person should take the seat. Its clear what happens when the votes are 'yes,' but what about 'no' votes? And this isn't purely hypothetical, people who fall out of favor are going to be removed from the assembly by order of Kim/the ruling cadre. Or maybe it is hypothetical, and people who are going to be removed don't even get to show up on the ballot so that they can rejected with 100% of the vote; they just aren't there and a new selected name is. Even if this is a hypothetical point though, I am curious what the idea behind the system is; most one-party states don't have this 'yes' or 'no' thing, there's just one party, you vote for its people, and end of story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summah Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I wonder what would happen to someone who voted no? Maybe I shouldn't think about that too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solmyr Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I wonder what would happen to someone who voted no? Maybe I shouldn't think about that too much. I wonder what would happen if everyone voted "no". It won't happen, but what if? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacuna Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I wonder what would happen if everyone voted "no". It won't happen, but what if? Obviously, you blame the imperialist west. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Summah Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I wonder what would happen if everyone voted "no". It won't happen, but what if? Stalin or Mao style purges? I assume given the 100% that they track everyone's vote and punish people who vote no or don't vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 You think they bother to count the votes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Well, the book I read on North Korea Nothing to Envy* portrayed the North Korean government as far less powerful and all-seeing than it is generally portrayed in the west. NK is so dysfunctional that the vast majority of people living there are in a more or less unending quest for food. This understandably undermines government power. The government has been been gradually losing the war on the black market since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Government propaganda is still omnipresent and works to some extent, but they are relying heavily on the idea that even if everyone is hungry, things are even worse elsewhere. Fortunately, this lie is collapsing, as cell phones from SK and China are increasingly getting smuggled into the country, and many many NK people have relatives in either the South or China. Now, obviously there are certain things the government will not tolerate, and it is possible that voting "no" is one of them. But I think it is mostly that NK citizens know that voting no would do nothing, and put themselves in harm's way. So why bother? * Very good book by the way. If you find NK fascinating, I would definitely pick it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 You think they bother to count the votes? Not at all. I'm just curious what the theoretical underpinnings of the system are, with the yes/no stuff. If North Korea were a functioning democracy (and its official constitution pretends it is), how would that even work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solmyr Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 Stalin or Mao style purges? I assume given the 100% that they track everyone's vote and punish people who vote no or don't vote. That's exactly my point - if everyone votes no, they can't punish everyone. If they send everyone to labour camps, who's gonna run their capital? Heck, who's gonna guard the labour camps? Even a tyrannical government is reliant on its population. If they lock them all away or murder them, all they are left with is an empty stretch of land that they call theirs, but would be unable to maintain. I guess for everyone to vote "no" there would need to be organisation and the natural reaction of government would be to discover and punish the instigators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horza Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 If that's the state of support for the regime no votes cast in a sham election are the least of its worries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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