Tuesday, December 12, 2006

And When the Deluge?

North Korea is in bad shape and getting worse.

So is the budding deluge I spoke of earlier gaining momentum? Via Captain's Quarters:

Many North Koreans are now aware of the poverty of their country and are voicing discontent after years of near-starvation, according to the fullest study yet conducted of refugees from the Stalinist dictatorship.

While the popular image of North Koreans is of a nation living in blissful ignorance of the outside world and unquestioning loyalty to the leadership of Kim Jong-il, refugees interviewed while in hiding in China reported that there were increasing signs of dissent.


With more people getting out and seeing the outside world, and able to communicate what they see to family back back home, North Koreans increasingly know they are not the envy of the world, and in fact live in a miserable outhouse of a country left far behind by the rest of the world. How much more can these people endure?

Given that the Pillsbury Nuke Boy spends a lot of effort to keep his people isolated from the world to keep them from knowing this reality, the fact that the effort is failing surely indicates that the regime is headed for trouble.