The UmBlog

There are two worlds in North Korea: One is the world of senior military officers, Communist Party members, and the country's ruling elite. They enjoy a lavish lifestyle, fancy restaurants, diplomatic shops with European foods, nightclubs, even a casino. The world for ordinary people in North Korea is completely different. In their world, one can see young children, undersized, undernourished, mute, with sunken eyes and skin stretched tight across their faces, wearing uniform blue-and-white-striped pajamas. Anyone who's seen pictures of Dachau or Auschwitz would find the scene distressingly familiar. Most of the patients in the hospitals suffer from psychosomatic illnesses. They're worn out by compulsory drills, innumerable parades, mandatory assemblies beginning at the crack of dawn, and constant, droning propaganda. Clinical depression is rampant. Alcoholism is common. Young adults have no hope, no future. Everywhere you look, people are beset by anxiety. Everyday worke...

This link will download an hour long documentary filmed by some Dutch cinematographers not too many years ago. It makes sense in a twisted way, and most ways are twisted in North Korea, that they ignited, or may have ignited, their atomic weapon right before a 50th anniversary celebration on October 10. Watching the movie reminded me of Russia under Stalin and China under Mao. Somehow, the experiment in human oppression and mandatory leader cult crumbles at some time and freedom starts to slip in. Lord Jesus, save these people . Link courtesy of the Acton Powerblog .

Just a Thought on Iran and Thorium - Acton Institute PowerBlog : "As Tim Dean highlights the possibility in the Cosmos article: “Imagine the West offering thorium-fuelled ADS reactors to countries such as Iran or North Korea: this would satisfy their demands for cheap nuclear power, but entirely avert the risk of the civil nuclear program leading to the development of nuclear weapons.” "

the isolated nation of North Korea came top for the fourth year in a row, but the charity found that overall ‘slightly more openness’ was being observed in other communist countries in the top 10 – Vietnam (7), Laos (9) and China (10). Saudi Arabia came second in the list of countries most dangerous to the health of Christians, followed by other Islam-dominated countries such as Iran at three, Somalia at four, the Maldives at five and Yemen at eight. Bhutan represented the only Buddhist nation in the top 10 at six.