In my series on North Korean strategy I wrote that I saw small-scale trade as one source of effective change. If trade comes from people in the country, as opposed to institutions or government, North Korean decision-makers will have a hard time stopping it. If it comes with information about the outside world, it can change ordinary North Koreans; perspective of it. The Wall Street Journal today reported on large[…] Keep reading →

North Korea fascinates us. Its leaders, their posturing and militarism, their economics, and more all fascinate us. Their belligerence puts them in the news often. Yet we know little about them. More than fascinating, they are globally important. They are a nuclear power with the world’s fourth largest military and most militarized border. Yet the media, mainstream and otherwise, mystifies them more. No one explains how or why anyone could[…] Keep reading →

The media continue with their “great man” model of leadership with regard to Kim Jong Un’s succession. They imply if things are happening, the person in the leadership position must be making them happen. I think a systems perspective more accurately describes the situation. For example, today’s New York Times describes him becoming “supreme commander” of the military, signaling that his succession is moving forward unimpeded. They imply some chance[…] Keep reading →

Following up my series on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth in the realm of food, let’s continue with environmental reasons since I listed it next on my list a few days ago. People who don’t eat meat often point out that eating meat pollutes the environment significantly more than not eating meat. As[…] Keep reading →

Following up yesterday’s post on liberating ourselves from moralists, meddlers, and others who want to impose their subjective values on us in the name of objective truth, let’s start with health since I listed it as the first non-issue two days ago. First, nobody chooses what they eat solely for health, so claiming to eat meat or not as a wholesale policy based on health is a red herring. Next,[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written at length on this page on how I think direct interactions between North Korean people and people from the rest of the world increase communication and understanding between the two groups. I mentioned in my post on the ethics on visiting North Korea that I expect increasing tourism will open the country. I think such interactions could change North Korea, mainly by bringing new information to the population.[…] Keep reading →

I have to be careful in this post. Parts of it will sound distasteful so some. But the basic idea is the same as witness protection programs for criminals. As a society we have decided that at times we will protect criminals for their cooperation to achieve more important outcomes. North Korea’s decision-makers are not criminals (everything they do is probably legal). I’m just using the analogy to explain. I[…] Keep reading →