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N Korea's Kim says lifting living standards top priority

13 Comments
By FOSTER KLUG and SAM KIM

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For a change, he makes a lot of sense, for a NK politician. Saying that "we need to lift people's living standards" equals to saying "the current living standard is nowhere near what our propaganda shows it to be". If they manage to make it at least similar with the one shown in propaganda, it is a huge progress.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

1st Good News of the year 2013 !

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Good speech, and all the power to him and the nation if he can make it happen, but it'll be hard to do with so much money invested in rockets.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Kimmy's more fond of words than his dad it seems. For his people's sake I hope he's also more fond of them too.

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I can't understand these people? Why would anyone want to be a Communist? I don't want the North Korean leadership to get off "scott-free" once it finally falls from power, because of what they have done to their people and to the World. Its unacceptable. They are fanatically crazy, and have loss their minds over this hatred of the West. What have we done to them except beat them silly in the Korean War, which by the way, they started. Their ideology is brutal, and makes no sence except to the priviledged fanatical few that rule their people with a cruel hand.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Kim Jong Un's public profile is quite a change from his predecessors - Kim Jong Il hardly ever spoke in public and as far as I know Kim Il Sung never did. What this signals, I'm not sure. I really, really wish I could be optimistic about a North Korean leader's desire to see living standards raised for the people, but other members of the Kim family have given plenty of false hope in the past.

There's really no incentive for the North Korean government to raise the living standards of the people, if it means loosening their grip on power. They've weathered collapse of their largest benefactors (the Soviet Union mainly), famine, and international ostracism. There's not much reason to believe that a few more years of privation will have an impact on their control.

The government has, however, done a remarkable job of elevating the living standard of the various members of the Kim family - Kim Jong Il did an impressive job of maintaining his cognac budget during the worst of the international sanctions. They've done a similarly good job of elevating the living standards of the most loyal party members who comprise the inner circles of the government and especially the military. But for everyone else, well, give them a taste of what life for their Southern neighbors is actually like, and they're going to have a hard time holding on.

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I think big brother CHINA is afraid of having the DPRK, aka NORTH KOREA implode and send millions of hungry refugees to China, South Korea, Japan etc...because in the end, those who are really in power in NK is not Pyongyang, but Beijing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

lil' kim is right, i believe in general food will raise their living standards

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Launching more rockets will still have top priority.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

N Korea's Kim says lifting living standards top priority

People need to understand -He is talking about his own personal living standards. Somehow the Christmas Russian caviar (fish from Hokkaido etc) and/or vodka was not of the best quality this year and he wasn't able to get his Ferrari or Bugatti that he demanded in the proper colors/interior desired. Obviously this is upsetting and changes are to be made. -And NK people that do not cry (our Supreme Leader is suffering!) enough over this will be jailed/tortured.

USA is moving to the NK model and supreme dictator (Mr Executive Order) Obama would absolutely love it if everyone was as dependent as NK people are. We should all be bow-ing down to the Supreme Dictator since they are the ones to give US life and breath and cause the Earth to rotate around the Sun.

-Korean War never officially ended. (armistice) http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/korea/kwarmagr072753.html

0 ( +1 / -1 )

A real pity that such an article gets so many comments with so much pessimism.

I hope that his speech was serious, and just like Burma / Myanmar, another militarized poorhouse would open up and become a part of the world community. Supporting this path from the outside would be the only right and good way. Open up the economy first, the political system will sooner or later have to follow!

In this sense, a hopeful: Happy New Year, North Korea!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Lifting the living standards of this country is only going to work if the sanctions are lifted against them. So does that mean that NK is willing to do what it takes to get those sanctions lifted?

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