I went over there, you remember that? It was a very historic moment. Went over there and I said to Kim Jong-Un, you know being a real estate guy it’s just sort of natural, I said, “You have the most beautiful shoreline. Think of it, you’re between China, Russia, and South Korea. Look at the beautiful shore, you could have the most beautiful condos that you’ve ever seen and become rich as hell. You don’t have to live like you’re living.
…
But he’s a tough guy, he’s a smart guy, and he just loves collecting nuclear weapons. That’s what he does. He collects nuclear weapons and we got along incredibly well.
If anyone can explain what the fuck he’s talking about, they’re smarter than me. Or maybe stupider?
Kim had a thing for building massive tourism areas, actually. A bit before COVID, he had wild dreams of creating a booming tourism industry for North Korea.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masikryong_Ski_Resort
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/wonsan-kalma-beach-resort-north-korea/index.html
This summarizes everything in a more recent state: https://www.38north.org/2023/01/north-koreas-tourism-industry-a-grand-initiative-in-limbo/
NK doesn’t talk about this anymore: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel
Hm, coincidentally around the time the US made it illegal for their ‘free’ citizens to go to the DPRK.
Well, like every other industry in North Korea, tourist money would go straight into Kim’s pockets and exit as a ballistic missile.
What a coincidence that travel ban occurred right around the time Otto Warmbier was released
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-northkorea-detainee-idUSKBN196137
Damn, imagine some alternative universe where Covid didn’t happen, the tourist initiative went forward full force, and they opened up and became more soft on their foreign policy as a result.
I could be mistaken, but I believe their target was rich Chinese and Russian tourists.
Still though, it would be nice to see NK open up to the world. If they opened up and also allowed their population to become acclimated to the rest of the world, good things could happen. Even though their government has committed extreme crimes against humanity, it wouldn’t be talked about much if the country made a drastic shift.
Unfortunately, it’s in China’s best interest to also keep NK as a hermit kingdom to function as a land barrier between the Sea of Japan and also South Korea. Also, Kim and his evil Karen sister Yo-jong would probably not like losing absolute control.
(I think Yo-jong looks like a female Dr. Evil, btw. The hair must be fake. It has to be.)
Kim is responsible for thousands upon thousands of crimes against humanity. He’d be forced to face consequences for that if N. Korea ‘opened up’
So has Russia even before this war, so has Saudi Arabia, so has Qatar, so has Germany, so has the US, so has lots of countries. I thought we learned after Iraq that just because a leader is insane that doesn’t mean we should invade and war against them. There’s sanctions, but it’s obvious by now that those only ever really hurt the common people. The best way to change a populace is by having them integrate with the world, get educated and modernized.
You’d need to convince Kim to accept his punishment for the greater good.