AđŸ”»atar of đŸ”»engeanceNorth Korea Just Overtook the U.S. in Destroyer Construction Rates as Plans For Far Seas Navy Begin to Materialise
NiberiusSay what you will about the NK government, but it’s genuinely impressive how - despite pretty much all the odds being against them - they managed to develop nukes and ICBMs, effectively safeguarding them against all foreign military intervention, and are now able to reorganize production into, yes, other military spending, but also seemingly finally increasing the quality of life for their citizens.
Like, sure, MAYBE all those new housing units in Pyongyang are empty shells to make the city look better to foreign eyes. But even if that were true, that’s still a foundation to build upon, and thanks to them having nukes and delivery systems, no one will risk nuclear war to fuck with them.
You would be shocked how easy it is to put people into empty houses. It’s even easier than putting them into occupied ones. The technology exists, if western asset-holders would consider it.
On a serious note, the transition from Soviet-style autarky to the present is almost impossible. DPRK shows resilience and flexibility under sanctions that contradicts notions of a rigid top-down political system. IMHO they could get away with opening up more to foreign investment considering their iron grip on industrial management, which is the key, but that comes with downsides they may be unwilling to deal with. It’s their choice in the face of the completion of an attempted aerial genocide by the States. Their stalling tactics brought them into a present where what they consider safe and developed trade partners exist.
I wish that people would go on Rednote and see tourist videos from the DPRK. Just see for yourself rather than listening to journalists who don’t even speak Korean, or live in political systems that cage people en masse and tolerate open fascism, WWII history revisionism absolving Japan, you name it. Hopefully this article is a wake-up call to some people but I doubt it.