:kim: :xi-clap:

  • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Some of the only good criticism of dprk that I've seen was from Chinese folks on r/sino, it was an interesting perspective. They felt a bit insulted that DPRK doesn't trust China to protect it in the event of US invasion despite them being under a joint defense agreement. They were saying that yes, DPRK is unfairly isolated but shouldn't spend as much as they do on military and nukes because China is there to prevent western encroachment. To them, Kim building nukes is like Lithuania building them, kind of irrelevant since they're under NATO's protection. I still see why DPRK has nukes though, China was very friendly with the US and I would question China's willingness to destroy relations with the west over a small country like DPRK.

    • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
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      4 years ago

      not really a great criticism though. i mean, even if you assume china would destroy relations at the drop of a hat to protect dprk... that still leaves dprk as a proxy war with no way to leverage their own weight. which isnt a great place to be as a country

      edit: just imagine if japan had leveled lithuania immediately after ww2, and then kept threatening to do it again today. would lithuania be building nukes?

      • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
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        4 years ago

        Maybe good isn't the best word lol. I guess it's one of the only criticisms I've seen not rooted in western chauvinism or anticommunism. If China really wanted to moderate DPRK to some extent they should make an effort to bring ties closer both economic and military.

        • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
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          4 years ago

          thats fair. its at least a reasonable sort of argument for the dprk curtailing military spending to some extent now that their missile program has succeeded, since they both have nukes and can rely on china (presumably)

          dunno that the dprk military folks would agree, but uh..

          • Bread_In_Baltimore [he/him]
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            4 years ago

            Sino-American tensions are good for DPRK because it has laid bare that China needs to take the west as a more serious immediate threat, and thus incentivizes China to strengthen ties with DPRK.

          • Amorphous [any]
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            4 years ago

            I definitely agree with that, they shouldn't really need much of a conventional military at this point since the only scenario where they'll be able to defend themselves is by saying "Go away or I'll drop the nukes" anyway, so what does the rest of the military really matter?

            • crispyhexagon [none/use name]
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              4 years ago

              tbf thats kind of true of most every military that either has nukes or military allies with nukes, which at this point is... everyone?.. and yet...

              so idk, not holding my breath on that

    • kristina [she/her]
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      4 years ago

      tbh i think this is fair. china invaded vietnam once, its only fair for north korea to be paranoid. like, the only country china has offensively invaded was a socialist one