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Monday, June 11, 2018

Studying Kim and Korea


A friend of mine who is Han Chinese explained the East to me years ago and now that I read modern updates on the summit, his words ring truer with each article.  He said this.  Look at the Yellow Sea.  It is entirely encircled by China, Korea and Japan in a small area.  And it was in this area that each country grew from ancient times.  All three different cultures and hold themselves and hold dearly that they are the superior race of the world.  [Hitler!!] China is the big country with many minorities, but dominated by the Han people who look down on the minorities.  Japan differs in language and physically, has a warrior society of great loyalty and is at enmity with the Chinese continurally.  The Koreans are a small country, oft-dominated by the other 2 but have found a niche in being creative and artistic and pugnacious.  They think of the others as dullards.  The Japanese are disciplined and their businesses are always determined to build a better mouse trap—somewhat like the Germans.  The Koreans are like the Hungarians in the middle.  The Chinese who venture overseas are somewhat like Americans in being entrepreneurial.

            Thus Kim Il Sung was a Russian Army volunteer who was installed by the Russians after the War.  They equipped his army heavily and a few years later he tried to take over the democratic South.  Mao intervened to save Kim..  Ever since they look at NK as a buffer state between themselves and the S. Koreans and Japan, backed by USA.  More than anything they want USA to leave.  And they look down on the NK’s as fellow communists but foreigners, like a little step brother.  The Kims and now Kim Jong Un have kept China at arms length as well.  Kim just recently visited China for the first time.  The nukes are part and parcel of Kim showing not just USA but also China and Japan not to mess with him.  China wants him as a satellite in their orbit of control.  So look for Kim to request USA give his country food and business. 

            Yet as this goes on, the NKs do unbelievably pugnacious things.  They have kidnapped about 1500 Japanese and southern Koreans to gain knowledge of the modern world.  Thjey have the world’s 4th largest military on ready for attack or defense.  They sink foreign ships.  Blast off rockets.  They do nuke tests.  They threaten USA with annihiliation.  There are almost 2 million of the population of 25 million in prisons.  If you do something wrong, your entire family goes to prison with you.  Their population is divided into hostile families, loyal families, and apparatchiks.  The hostile families, about 40% of the people, get menial jobs and starve.  Kim himself is sadistic, roams the countryside with an armored vehicle topped by an antiaircraft machine gun which he uses for sport to kill unsuspecting people for purposes of terrorizing the others. His hackers have shut down Sony, several public utilities in small countries, and could possibly do something similar in USA.  So why hasn’t USA done something about Kim?  It would be the death of Seoul and half of S. Korea.    

            Instead of doing the sanctions as they promised, the Chinese have begun trying to be the supplier of Kim and make him a puppet.  They worry about the summit, being cut out ot the loop. They fear that he goes too far in threats that Trump might just declare war and such a war would not only bring destruction to Korea but also much of China and create an NK refugee problem of 10 million. The Japanese worry that Kim would missile them just as a warning. They swore off war two generations ago but now are warming to the notion of developing their own nukes.  If they do, nobody, even USA can stop them.  They have the expertise   China knows this. And USA knows that the time of dithering and diplomacy has to get serious, very serious, now. And so I pay little attention to all the bullspitters commenting on TV.  Half of them know nothing of the situation. Half are just partisan politics people.