| Submit your comments on this article | |
| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| N. Korean Military's Morale 'Weakening' | |
| 2011-07-06 | |
A Beijing-based source who visits the North often said Monday, "Several Army officers and soldiers have been caught watching South Korean movies or TV dramas since last year, and the military has been providing extensive indoctrination for all officers and soldiers with a view to preventing the cultural infiltration of imperialism." The North Korean military's discipline and morale are eroding under international sanctions, with one officer caught selling bootleg porn DVDs in the North Korea-China border region. The North Korean military is reportedly focusing on widespread South Korean broadcasts in the current indoctrination classes. An officer was arrested for letting soldiers watch South Korean films or soap operas that he had recorded at home, the source said. And a group of officers and soldiers at a frontline Army unit were caught watching South Korean TV and listening to South Korean radio, while an officer was arrested for listening to South Korean radio broadcasts and explaining Seoul's North Korea policy and democratic elections to his colleagues. Another officer was arrested for making a porn film himself. A North Korean source in China's northeast said, "Rumor has it that an officer in the border region was arrested for selling porn films that he had made himself on the Chinese side of the border with North Korean women in their 20s and 30s after watching Western porn movies." He was apparently executed. One high-ranking official said in a regime leadership meeting, "Even though we have waged a powerful struggle to thwart ideological and cultural infiltration, we've achieved no tangible results and even the Army is faltering," according to another source. The poor state of military discipline is due mainly to economic difficulties since the botched currency reform in late 2009. The food shortage is worsening in barracks, as it has become difficult to collect food from the public. A Beijing-based Chinese North Korea expert said, "It's likely that the North Korean military's power to distribute resources has weakened as the regime shifted its priority from the military to the party after the big party congress last year." | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 "the regime shifted its priority from the military to the party" That is the key phrase, and it's a humdinger. To shift resources from the military to the party is as dangerous a gambit as it gets in a totalitarian state. When Stalin died, the two candidates were queried by the military with one question: "guns or butter?" The other guy said "butter", but Khrushchev said "guns", so the military made him the boss. But Khrushchev double crossed the military and went for "butter". So when the opportunity presented itself, the military displaced him. And before they would permit Brezhnev to have the job, they got iron clad guarantees for "guns". But it enraged Brezhnev. So he spent all his time in office preparing for a major purge of the military. And only when he knew he was going to die, he launched it. It started out when much of the naval staff, the most radical branch, was (theoretically) wiped out in a plane crash at sea. Literally dozens of top ranked admirals wiped out all at once. Then their air defenses staff were next, but done individually. Car crashes, heart attacks, slip and falls, it was a bloodbath. About that time, I saw an Soviet command staff poster just covered with red "X's" from all the assassinations. And this sort of thing works both ways. In Nork, there could be a night of the long knives of party officials, conducted by the military. These are not nice people. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-07-06 16:46 |
| #3 "The food shortage is worsening in barracks, as it has become difficult to collect food from the public." Can't collect what's not there. Cause, meet effect. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2011-07-06 13:31 |
| #2 Kimmie doesn't want his boys to see girls who bathe and get enough to eat. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-07-06 12:11 |
| #1 Unlikely. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2011-07-06 02:21 |