Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
It's often easy when thinking about North Korea to imagine it as a cartoon nation, with no real motivation other than to entertain us with its barbarism. The thing is, North Korea is poor. And hungry. Really fucking hungry. It suffers regular famine—one in the 90s lasted for four years. By last count, at least 20 million people out of a population of 24 million are malnourished. These are the same people who make up their army, the same army that lost 3.5 million members during the famine in the 90s, made up of troops who are reportedly underfed and far shorter than their Southern counterparts. In both 2004 and 2010, North Korea has successfully received food and economic aid after periods of aggressive foreign policy.By entering their nation onto the cusp of war mere days before two vital regime events, Pyongyang could explain to the population the reason for the current food shortages and lack of economic fortitude. Their upcoming calendar events are hugely important to the regime's charismatic control over the nation; a time to remind, according to Cathcart, "groups like the Democratic Women's League or the Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League, that they live under the dark cloud of war that can only be kept away by their supposedly brilliant leadership.""One could argue that both [the North and South] have gained," added Hoare. "The incident did not escalate, the North offered a token gesture over the landmine without quite admitting that it was their responsibility. But the loudspeakers have stopped and there may be further talks. It is not the way I would do business, but they have been doing it for 60 years."But both nations also must answer to higher powers—like China, who sometimes simply cannot afford to waste time on elongated disputes and lose face.While it may seem the DPRK dropped draws and got a thorough bottom spanking, they have managed to secure the potential for future peace talks (where more aid from the South is almost certainly top of the agenda), as well as an immediate short term break in US-Korea military exercises in the region. This will undoubtedly be used by Pyongyang as a show of might to its people. The glorious leadership has kept them safe, once again. Oh, and here's some food they just found.Follow David on Twitter.More on VICE: Why I Had to Watch the Videos of the Virginia Shootings