Will North Korea open up in the next decade?

[Stratego]

[Gnostic]

I don't know.

I just think that Rodhead ought to move and stay there.

[uebermann]

[Stratego]

[Precocity]

Merged topics.

[uebermann]

[Gnostic]

Kim jong il wasn't a lunatic. Rather he was a master of bluffing and negotiation. But you don't stay in power that long by being stupid or crazy.

Many thought that khaddafi was crazy, but all the same applied to him as well. He just didn't know when to quit.

This isn't an endorsement of that regime or the man, just saying.

[Precocity]

The only way I see that NK will become more open is when the people rise up against their dictator and demand it. As long as outside information is completely blocked, North Koreans there will be 100% ignorant to the concept of liberty. They will comply completely with whatever the state tells them to do as they have done for a very long time.

[Precocity]

[NAB]

While everyone always assumes that China is the biggest player keeping the Koreas from reuniting, I might posit that Japan is quite a large player on that front as well.

Pay attention to how Japan finds it's own ways to squash the opening of relations between North and South when they occur. They fear a united Korea pennisula. As do most countries in that region.