It is difficult and probably impossible to dismiss the government of N. Korea. There are no N. Koreans with anything remotely resembling free will. They probably want more food, better housing, and jobs and a feeling of being safe in their own country.

Real about the repressive regime in N. Korea; it may be the worst in the world.

I can’t imagine it. North Korea is so closed off to the rest of the world. If is going to happen, it won’t be any time soon. The North Koreans seem to worship their leader like a God. Wanting to significanlty change the country or revolt against the leader would be like all of Alabama becoming atheists and liberals. I assume you are American and know how unlikely that is.

But Alabamians presumably still have free will, if all that lard and moonshine haven’t rotted their brains.

Oh, I know about the terrible regime in North Korea. I’m not that ill-informed.
My question is not whether or not it is possible, but whether or not Koreans, the average joes of both countries, would like it to happen. I know it isn’t likely at all to happen.
Obviously, South Koreans want North Korea’s brutal regime to end, at the very least because it’s a national security threat. And very little in the way of public opinion polls comes out of North Korea, but I was hoping some Koreans on Fluther could give me their prognosis. What about the North Koreans? Do they at least wish that they could spread the teachings of the Eternal President Kim Il-Sung to South Korea so that there would be one Korea, united under their militant cult of personality?

I’m not convinced all North Koreans are happy with their lives, hard to believe there isn’t some degree, be it greater or lesser, of ferment/revolt amongst citizens, even if it is not openly expressed, and where there is some degree of dissatisfaction surely there are seeds of revolution waiting for the right opportunity to sprout…

There are bound to be relatives trapped apart on both sides of the DMZ who would love to reunite. The new N Korean leader seems to be not as tight assed as his old man .

Only when China thinks it will gain more than it loses will the two Koreas merge again.

If it ever happens it will be in quite a few years I think. I spent some time in Korea and while there isn’t an openly hostile vibe, there is definitely a major division of mentalities. Just looking at how closely they monitor each other at the borders and stare each other down all day is proof enough to me that it will be a minute.

It is difficult for me to understand how the population of N Korea can remain ignorant of the fact that they are so much worse off economically than their neighbors, S Korea and China. It is a case of being able to fool all the people all the time. You hear the same story all the time, about how people who manage to escape suddenly realizing how much they had been deceived. If the population ever understands what is going on, it will lead to revolution, and maybe reunification.

Have you seen this famous photo?

I doubt the south really wants it. The North’s economy is effectively nonexistant, and a unification would tear down the south’s as well.

I have this theory that in order to really break up North Korea, you have to fight fire with fire. The innocent people of North Korea have been brainwashed by propaganda. Therefore, I believe the only way to “unbrainwash” them is through propaganda attacking the propaganda they’ve been accustomed to.

Did you know that some North Koreans believe that the father of Kim Jong-il could control the weather? Sometimes as far as believing that he created the world. You have no idea how f——ed up that country is. It’s something out a fantasy novel.

@WestRiverrat that is a very simplistic view of PRC’s relationship with NK. Since the so called Korean war (and first Taiwan crisis), North Korea has been China’s ally. It is a fellow “communist” state (though neither China nor NK are communist in the true sense of the word), but it is also a PR issue for the Chinese.

Secondly, the PRC believes in the non-interference in the matters of other nations, hence by default it will object to any actions taken by forein governments to change the status quo (a strategy well suited if one has issues with human rights violations themselves and wish others to leave them alone about it).

Thirdly, China needs to secure as much of the Chinese sea as possible if it is to proceed with its stupenduos development. It needs to do that to secure its oil imports and to better protect its coast, which after all is where most of the special economic zones are located. Better to have a… controversial ally up there then a pro-western, pro-Russian, or pro-Indian satellite and potential beach head for invasion. Nota bene, often when someone wanted to invade China they went through the area currently known as North Korea – that is why China supported NK in the Korean war in the first place – to secure its own borders.

Now consider NK is a nuclear power with one of the largest militaries in the world – who in their right mind is going to try and intervene there. China definitely has no incentive to destabilize its own borders, and the US cannot intervene because of the history there; Europe is too far away and too divided, the Middle East has its own problems right now, not sure about South America – anybody have a perspective on these guys?

In short neither the BRICS nor the USA and/or Europe (and NATO in general) has either the political and military resources to do anything concrete about N. Korea. Right now all we can hope for is IMHO that “the new guy” will see that his people are suffering needlessly, and fix the situation from within.