Any hope for change in North Korea?

Oh, I have absolutely no doubt that change is on the horizon. I expect North Koreans to be dying violently in droves before long, instead of in the current quiet desperation and starvation.

Maybe that wasn’t the change you had in mind… ?

If you’re asking if there’s hope for a “hoped-for” change, then no, I don’t see that in the immediate future. Just more of the same insanity.

@truecomedian
“why in this day and age, do we (all of us humans) need bombs and guns.”
I think deterrence has some validity. Of course, it rests on a certain set of assumptions about what matters to a country/government but to some degree it must be true that people value not being bombed. As for why North Korea wants to be able to bomb the US, I doubt they plan to use such a bomb if they get it. Probably its for posturing (though of course, no one has idea what the North Korean leadership is really thinking… so for all I know they feel suicidal).

“I hated Koreans ever since the Virgina Tech shooting I’ve wanted to even the score.”
I assume you’re joking.

@CyanoticWasp Interesting theory…
Why do you think the new leader will make things worse? Or do you just mean that with the leadership acting essentially the same things will have to get worse?

I wonder if maybe Kim Jong-un is different from his father. I remember reading that he had little interest in politics till he was considered for the leadership recently and so he may not be as committed to the policies of his predecessors. That being said, he may just let the military do what it wants as long as he gets booze and women (or whatever it is he wants).

My only source of hope is that a new leader may feel more vulnerable to pressure from other government and therefore there might be a window for some serious carrot and stick diplomacy with a large stick.

@roundsquare I think the new kid was raised in a box and he’s comfortable there and unlikely to want to break out of it. I think his father is psychotic, and therefore I have little hope for improvement from the son. I think that Gorbachev and Yeltsin showed the dangers of attempting to be radical change agents for such closed-down societies (and the Soviet Union hasn’t been as bad as Korea is now for over a half-century), and even if the new kid wants to be a change agent, he has to fear for his life if he tries.

I think a repeat of the downfall of the Ceauşescu regime in Romania is what we pretty much have to look forward to one of these days.

I could be wrong; I’d like to be wrong about this. But I wouldn’t bet against my prediction.

@CyanoticWasp I agree he was probably raised in a bubble. However, my hope is that this means he can be pressured.

In any event, I don’t think this will necessarily happen, but its the only hope I see.

Bluntly stated, no. Whether the next successor is Kim Jong-un or Jang Song-taek, North Korea will remain as a tight dictatorship. I think that under this period of time, DPRK is even more desperate, given their deteriorating economy. The recent attacks on Yeonpyeong island in the South proves this.