yogthos

This is arguably the most insane sentence in your post. Estimates range from 600,000 to 3 million deaths during that famine. A state that cannot feed its people to the point where 5-10% of the population starves to death has not “successfully weathered” anything; it has failed its most basic function. Framing mass starvation as “resilience” against US imperialism is incredibly disrespectful to the victims of that regime’s mismanagement.

What part of the north having been dependent on the trade that the US cut them off from are you struggling with there? Most of the arable land land is in the south, and DPRK had to figure out how to produce food in the mountains. The fact that you call that mismanagement exposes that you're a just a troll.

Where is this data coming from?

From the fact that people are actually having children in DPRK unlike in the south

Since the early 1990s, the birth rate has been fairly stable, with an average of 2 children per woman, down from an average of 3 in the early 1980s.

Trying to use GDP to measure the quality of the economy is sheer idiocy and no serious economist would suggest doing that. In fact, GDP was never meant to do that.

Even with “growth” from selling artillery shells to Russia, the average North Korean lives on a fraction of the income of a South Korean.

People in DPRK have guaranteed housing, jobs, food, healthcare, and public transportation. None of these things are available to people in the south by default. Measuring income without accounting for the cost of living further illustrates just how utterly unequipped you are to discuss the subject you're attempting to debate here.

There is a reason 34,000 people have defected from North to South, and basically zero have gone the other way. People vote with their feet.

Meanwhile in the real world https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/18/asia/north-korea-defectors-return-intl-hnk-dst

You're an utter ignoramus and you have no business opining on the subject. Take the L and move on.

it's easy to miss stuff like that when rearranging the flow of the text, but feel free to engage with what I said though instead of nitpicking

imagine thinking that your drivel needs a sophisticated rebuttal

The situation in occupied Korea is a perfect case study of how late stage capitalism literally consumes its own future. The so-called economic miracle is built on a foundation that's cracking wide open.

Let's start with the economy. While everyone sees global brands like Samsung and Hyundai, the reality is a brutal, two-tiered system completely dominated by chaebol conglomerates. They suck up all the talent and capital, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps in a world of insecure, low-wage gig work. This is why you have a generation of the most educated young people in the country's history drowning in debt and unable to find stable jobs. They call it Hell Joseon for a reason. The system demands you run this insane rat race from birth, only to find there's no cheese at the end.

This leads directly to the collapsing birth rate which is a rational, collective strike against a system that makes having children an economic death sentence. With insane housing costs, crippling debt, and a viciously patriarchal corporate culture that ends women's careers if they have kids, people are simply opting out. It's the most damning vote of no confidence a society can possibly make.

And this is where the death spiral kicks in. A shrinking young population means fewer workers to pay taxes and support a rapidly aging society. The national pension system is a Ponzi scheme mathematically guaranteed to fail. We're looking at a future where the state can't pay pensions, fund healthcare, or even staff its own military. The very foundations of the social contract are dissolving.

All of this is supercharged by insane inequality. You have the golden spoon class with their inherited wealth and chaebol connections, and the dirt spoon majority struggling to get by. The result is intense intergenerational and gender conflict, pitting everyone against each other for a shrinking piece of the pie, which is exactly how the capitalist class maintains control.

It's not hard to see how it all connects. A predatory economic model creates hopelessness, which kills the demographic future, which then makes the economy completely unsustainable, leading to state collapse.

Now, contrast this with the North. Western media won't talk about this, but the DPRK successfully weathered the Arduous March in the 90s. The real trigger for that crisis was the collapse of the USSR, their main trading partner and economic lifeline. This sudden shock, combined with being cut off from global trade by the US, sent their economy into a tailspin. But they survived that total collapse of their established trade system. Now, with the US empire visibly fraying, the DPRK's key alliances are strengthening. As Russia and China renew economic ties and tourism picks up, the North is seeing real growth and an optimistic mood about a future less constrained by American sanctions. They are building a resilience that the South, for all its flashy tech, completely lacks.

From a socialist perspective, the internal failure of the Southern capitalist state could create the conditions for peaceful reunification. We're looking at a scenario where the South's economy is in shambles, its social fabric is torn, and its people are utterly disillusioned with the empty promises of consumer capitalism. Meanwhile, the North is emerging from the worst of its isolation with a growing economy and a stable population.

The chaos from a social collapse in the South could force a radical reevaluation, breaking the power of the chaebol and US imperial influence permanently. This power vacuum could be fertile ground for a genuine, pan-Korean movement. The two halves could finally meet on new terms. They could build a new, unified Korea from the ground up, one that rejects the brutal neoliberal inequality of the South. It would be a difficult, monumental task, but the only true liberation for the Korean people lies in a single, independent, and socialist Korea, finally free from the colonial division imposed upon them.

dronie go home

^ and here we a great example of a self referential comment

Liberalism is literally the problem here. It's an ideology that exists to justify capitalist relations that emerged as a counter to feudalism. It consists of two main parts. First is political liberalism which focuses on individual freedoms, democracy, and human rights. Second is economic liberalism which centers around free markets, private property, and wealth accumulation. These two aspects form a contradiction. Political liberalism purports to support everyone’s freedom, while economic liberalism enshrines private property rights as sacred in laws and constitutions, effectively removing them from political debate.

Liberalism justifies the use of state violence to safeguard property rights, over supporting ordinary people, which contradicts the promises of fairness and equality. Private property is seen as a key part of individual freedom under liberalism, and this provides the foundational justification for the rich to keep their wealth while ignoring the needs of everyone else. The talks of promoting freedom and democracy is just a fig leaf to provide cover for justifying capitalist relations.

This is an excellent primer on the subject https://orgrad.wordpress.com/articles/liberalism-the-two-faced-tyranny-of-wealth

literally ever socdem ever

🤣

when you definitely know what RAND is

nah, we know what the burger reich wants cause they published a literal policy paper explaining it https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR3000/RR3063/RAND_RR3063.pdf

let's be generous maybe he thinks Belarus is the mastermind here 🤣