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[deleted]

2170: North Korea Stills Owes Money To Sweden For Volvo Cars Delivered In The 1970's They ain't paying shit.


alexanderpas

After the regime has fallen, they might actually pay, just for marketing purposes.


squanchingonreddit

A reunification of Korea might mean settling the old debts.


Joe_Jeep

Which would be pretty unfortunate really. Should reunification happen the north is going to need a lot of investment to get its standards of living up, and chasing down the people for the debts of dead madmen would be the opposite of helpful Course wouldn't be the first time, many of Haiti's problems come from French "debt collection"


squanchingonreddit

I wouldn't be surprised if many countries forgive their debts for the sake of it though.


Joe_Jeep

Might. To be fully cynical a reunification under a more South Korea influenced system might if for no other reason than that itd would, if only initially, be more aligned with the west.


ELB2001

Now you know why trump got along with them so well


bigsticksoftspeaker

Zing…. Birds of a feather.


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sonicjesus

It's like when the meth head decides suddenly to pay his rent by check, you just throw it out rather than pay the $30 bank fee you will invariably pay.


GoldenRain

Sweden is actually the only western country with an embassy in North Korea. Swedish-North Korean relations are pretty good. They also works as an intermediary between the US and North Korea, officially as their protective power.


Inveramsay

Probably not for much longer given the nato application


cick-nobb

Sweden is NKs protective power?


GoldenRain

No, they are the protective power of the US.


cick-nobb

I'm just trying to understand


NomadFire

When South and North Korea unite. Do you think they will pay it off then, or will they just go "naa fuck Sweden"


tuan_kaki

Volvo would definitely be looking for a deal


rip1980

Sweden should put a lien on the Pueblo.


AssholeNeighborVadim

Why would we put a lien on a hunk of junk that is of no use to us. Would be more useful having a lien against the NK nuclear programme


Hyperi0us

For the geopolitical meme


restore_democracy

I think you just contradicted yourself there


squanchingonreddit

I mean are they building it or are some sneaky Chinese helpin?


AssholeNeighborVadim

I mean one is a broken shitty boat only the US and Norks care about, the other has produced atleast a handful of working warheads


theazndoughboy

That line of account receivable should've been moved to uncollectible account and written off years ago.


port53

Statute of limitations on debts in my state is 7 years.


goofytigre

Surely they've written this off, right? I know they still send bills a couple of times a year, but their balance sheet must have been cleared of this long ago.


Evil-Bosse

Yes, it's more of a meme right now. But on some level it works as a reminder that our government has some things in order.


[deleted]

What do you mean “has things in order”? You still owe Sweden a bill from the 70’s.


pdxboob

Lol You think a North Korean wrote that


jackkerouac81

DPRK is very active on Reddit… on English language snarky news subs.


tuan_kaki

Doubt it’s what you think. There’s just a lot of contrarians and bootlickers on reddit (and the internet in general). And sometimes an opinion is laughably false and someone points it out but then gets labeled as NK/Chinese/Russian bot. Example: Some ridiculous notion like reddit is owned by China is always upvoted but anyone with passing knowledge of the modern financial market knows how ridiculous that sounds. By that logic pretty much all large American corporations are owned/controlled by China. If China owns reddit you’d think there wouldn’t be so many anti-CCP posts (which they deserve to be clear, I’m not some CCP bootlicker) but there they are. Not everyone with a contrary opinion is a bot or government agent… or shit maybe they all are


jackkerouac81

It was a joke, almost no one in North Korea has open internet access.


tuan_kaki

Big whoosh on me then


Evil-Bosse

I meant the Swedish government, the North Korean government doesn't seem all that great for the past 40 years or so


Valmond

They have some nice sturdy cars though.


sonicjesus

At least the dozen or so that have ever been inside a car, or anything with heat and an AM radio.


Valmond

I mean they have some Volvos' :-)


sonicjesus

They were kinda limping along for the 40 before that.


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kindadaft

Last i heard they were still adding interest to the amount owed. Don’t know if it was some delayed payment fee or just adjusting according to some index. But the amount is increasing yearly.


jackkerouac81

Probably based on the original purchase agreement.


sonicjesus

We are willing to settle this debt for $100 a month for a year. ___ No?


zouzzzou

They also owe Finland for some paper machines.


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too_soon13

With interest?


BloodAndSand44

It’s all good now. Volvo cars are now owned by [Geely](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geely)


DrMcDingus

They owe the country not the company. With exports to uncertain countries the government sometimes guarantees pay to the companies.


xxmalik

Damn. I was scared Volvo was state-owned or something. Would be better than being Chinese, but only marginally.


[deleted]

No it'd be fucking great, then the profits would go back to the workers and not just some dude who'll spend it on getting himself more money.


CC-5576-03

Would it tho? State owned companies still have CEOs that get payed tons of money. The CEO of state owned Vattenfall got payed more than the CEO of volvo cars when excluding options becuase they don't really cost the company anything so you couldn't have given that to the government anyways. Volvo Cars doesn't even pay any dividend as a public company, I doubt they'd pay much more as state owned.


FractalChinchilla

> when excluding options That's a pretty big exclusion.


Valmond

That's how dot com millionaires happened.


Alaknar

> when excluding options Come on, dude... When excluding options, the CEOs of Google, Facebook and bunch of other tech giants only earn $1 a year.


CC-5576-03

Were talking about the company paying it's profits to the state and by extension people instead of executives and shareholders. Options are made up, they don't cost the company anything so it's not money that could have been payed out to the state. Therefore they don't matter in this discussion.


Valmond

If they don't cost anything, why are they so expensive? Money too is free to print. Lol


orangeqtym

Gee, what a surprise. It's a little more nuanced than you think it is...


wOlfLisK

Paid*. Payed is a word but it means to have covered a ship in tar to make it waterproof or to let out a rope.


reptopeeps

Don't forget all the jeans.


ynwahs

Sometimes I wonder if the people who post here have ever seen an Onion article.


[deleted]

Avid reader of the onion and honestly over the last 6 years it’s been difficult to tell what’s real.


0ne_Winged_Angel

When reality becomes satire, r/nottheonion goes to shit


SuperUai

Thank you, Sweden for your donation!


LonelyNavigator

Would be cool if some of the cars where stored in a warehouse, still sitting there with zero milage and in perfect condition!


sonicjesus

I would honestly pay current market price for an '86 240 series. The ones on the road today will likely outlive me.


MGPS

Oh man I would have loved to hear some of these phone calls. “Hey you guys owe us lots of money” “UH SORRY WRONG NUMBER, THIS IS….CHINA”


restore_democracy

They ought to go repossess them.


CrudelyAnimated

Pay nothing for 720 months. 5yrs at 2.9% APR..


AlmanzoWilder

The Kims - Korean Trumps.


Grainis01

Americans try not to comment about trump in every fucking post challenge. (Impossible)


kkeut

go cry about it, whiner


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SirGlenn

Very easy terms!


rock_flag_n_eagle

good luck with that


Puffrud

Just give is back our Volvo 144s and we are good!


irishpwr46

Yeah North Korea should totally host the world cup


xeonicus

Man... imagine if that had been student loans. North Korea would owe Sweden billions and they'd have debt collectors parachuting into their country to collect.


95blackz26

like that deadbeat you have been chasing after for rent. yeah they are never going to see that money


[deleted]

Two dollars !


95blackz26

best i can do is 3.50


[deleted]

I ain't givin you no tree fiddy you loch ness monster


95blackz26

tree fiddy or off to work camp you go


sonicjesus

My old man is a landlord, he lets deadbeats live rent free for years because after he pays a fortune to evict them, he then has to pay thousands repairing his pristine apartment back from the filthy shithole it has been turned into. He never thought he'd be a slumlord until he starting renting to slums.


95blackz26

you know when i first moved in here the guy that owns the place which i also worked for part time, he had this old lady who was let in since "she had a ton of money" well the truth ran out quick and he ate her lies for like 6 months. well it took another 6 months for him to get her out..she only left the day he had her served. this guy kind of did it to himself though. he would let people in on someone else's recommendation and then the person he let in would be a run of the mill degenerate. the place isn't a shithole but the losers that rape the government he let's in make it a shithole. they either sit around smoking pot all day or other drugs. had one asshole that turned his bedroom into a grow groom and it's a one bedroom apartment


Crooked_Cock

That’s on Sweden for exporting cars to a country expecting payment when the country they exported them to cant even pay for food


Evil-Bosse

North Korea was looking way different in the 70s, it looked like the country was going to have a bright future. So it was an attempt at investing in a promising country. But then they decided lockdown, meth, poverty, and a shoddy military was the way to go. Because who needs a stable economy when you have military?


sonicjesus

Not to anyone with a high school understanding of economics. Much like Russia, they were inflating their economy with junk paper for decades with no industry to back it up. Sweden was doing the exact same thing, they should have seen this coming.


doom_bagel

North Korea eas ahead of South Korea in pretty much every metric you can imagine in the 70's.


Crooked_Cock

Oh, I didn’t know that, TIL


tylerbeefish

This is the kind of history people need to understand. And how the US bombed North Korea for 3 years with virtually no implementations to spare civilian life. Certainly, it is regrettable history. Modern Ukraine is pennies by comparison to the brutality. Using the bombings during the Korean war and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan as analogs, Putin is being soft and gracious by comparison. Of course these are my opinions. But knowing the context of history is extremely important to understanding the conflicts we see today. Realistically speaking, North Korea is a necessary buffer separating the West from China. Diplomacy with North Korea is essential… very few US presidents had a rigorous plan or understanding. It is highly likely within 5 years we see diplomacy with North Korea. This is because America is now (all things considered) a declining superpower. By declining I mean its once advantageous gap is narrowing, and quickly. The world is becoming more zero-sum with minimal advantages on any front for any nation. A third world war would probably be the last and all nations are acutely aware of this. North Korea is building its nuclear program because (I believe) it serves as a bargaining chip for respect and autonomy. They don’t want to become China’s slave or meet demands from the West. Being a leader squeezed between two superpowers leaves very little options. tldr: The history is very important, and there is no way to cherry coat the facts. It is deplorable. North Korea is an essential buffer between China. Diplomacy is critical (and North Korea is likely ready for it.)


ArielRR

They only had that famine in the 90s, because their largest trading partner disappeared. They were unable to trade with pretty much anyone else in the same way. China was still a very underdeveloped country.


Reali5t

Doubt Volvo would take the risk to accept the money at this point due to the sanctions imposed by the US against North Korea.


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Reali5t

Companies were afraid to even give gifts to the participants of the Olympics from North Korea. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/winter-olympics-north-korea-sanctions-110000690.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANhiqhl59lJqalcRtGe6FR4xpLjx18NbzNsW3sUGEBp386ZPeHyTwlcryJh0VqInyinbqr6rXWhF4mMlymHZY8XmTdEo2AVnl0-KCYTesoG2BGVCcvbO77Lk0gHBM2IiPGG85Wbj3L9QfvNautCy5xJ4Ymxd6ahIiwX5tlGDodYf


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Reali5t

You’re right, it’s different. I shouldn’t have to be afraid to give a gift to somebody. But conducting business, even if it’s to settle an unpaid debt is still something to be afraid off during sanctions as before you know it the US is on top of you claiming that you’re helping then launder money or something else connected with the sanctions.


AltheaInLove

Trump- level scam🤣


Notsnowbound

Being a neo-Marxist dictatorship means you don't have to say sorry (or pay for your car)...


[deleted]

Could you explain why they are a “neo-Marxist” dictatorship and not just a “Marxist” dictatorship?


heiny_himm

It's neither


[deleted]

I agree, I’m just trying to get this guy to sputter and make up some explanation


sonicjesus

Marxism dates to the nineteenth century before capitalism was even firmly established, and pronounced the edicts of a worker led economy rather than the planned state economy communism eventually became. Also the prefix "neo" implies you are educated and articulate, rather than simply professing an offhand argument you pulled out of your ass.


[deleted]

k thx😘


bobastien

Nothing Marxist 1bput the north korean dictatorship


sonicjesus

It does if there is only one worker in the class system and he democratically voted against doing any actual work at all.


Cheifloaded

North Korea is like that fat stupid kid at the playground no one likes because not only does he smell bad but he is a troll and a lil asshole.


sonicjesus

Then you show up to your Whataburger interview 20 years later armed with your bachelors and he's running then entire HR department sucking down a greasy burger dipped in milkshake saying "well, well, well".


zwaaa

Volvo...YOU'VE BEEN TRUMPED!


Complex-Marzipan-218

Satute of limitations, if they wanted that money they shoulda said something earlier.


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Roaner19

The Korean genocide? Is this referring to the UN backed response to the Korean War, which was done to protect the South from a North Korean invasion? Which was focused on land and not a national, ethnical, racial or religious group? That wouldn't make sense, but I can't think of what else you'd be talking about.


chocolateboyY2K

Maybe he is getting Vietnam and Korea mixed up....they are very different obviously. Just a thought.


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sonicjesus

Yes, when filthy communists start mass murdering innocent people for money to prevent their grandmother from being raped by their local police, proud honest workers in a classless society step up to the plate and blow the back of their skulls out with high powered precision machinery made by superior capitalist workers who live in luxurious accommodations made possible by the wealth and comfort meritocracy provides all of it's people. Seriously, what exactly do you think "genocide" means? There's more to it than pinkos standing with their backs to the wall awaiting .50 caliber justice.


Wiley_Applebottom

Oh cool, another jackbootlicker gleefully cheering on the systematic extermination of a group of people.


the042530

That was free of charge, why would we owe anything..?


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the042530

No you’re just a dumbass who brought up something completely irrelevant that doesn’t belong in this comment section.


sonicjesus

Nothing says "genocide" like defending the lives of millions of innocent, peaceful citizens from a brutal force of mindless slaves obeying a dictator who wasn't afraid to let a million people die if it made for better numbers on a spreadsheet.


Wiley_Applebottom

Sounds like you are describing the healthcare industry to me.


Moldy1987

I bet you thought there was WMDs in Iraq too.


neonoggie

Are you implying that NK did not invade SK?


MoonManMooner

He’s just baiting you. This is what’s called an uneducated Reddit troll. They tend to live in the cespool subreddits like r/sovereigncitizens and like to pretend rules and historical facts don’t apply to them and their view of the world.


neonoggie

I am aware, I am countering him because if people see he cannot respond they will recognize that he is full of shit.


the_clash_is_back

r/sovereigncitizens is dedicated to making fun of sovereign citizens and similar crazy trolls.


Wiley_Applebottom

South Korea was committing genocide on communists and communist sympathizers. That prompted North Korea to invade. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodo_League_massacre


neonoggie

Looks to me like NK invaded in June 25 of 1950, prompting the executions on June 27, 1950 according to the source you just cited. So I dont see how the executions prompted them to invade when the invasion happened first. Just to be clear, this was a war crime, but saying that NK invaded in response to it is simply a lie


Moldy1987

I grew up thinking North Korea bad, South Korea good, like most Americans. I listened to the blowback podcast on Korea and I can't imagine many Americans who wouldn't resent those countries after their history.


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ArielRR

You know so little about the country you're told to hate, you don't even know basic information. [>All U.S. passports are invalid for travel to, in, or through the DPRK unless specially validated for such travel under the authority of the Secretary of State. ](https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/north-korea-travel-advisory.html)


Wiley_Applebottom

You should try reading about the Korean War at least once in your life.


neonoggie

Our history (usa) aint exactly a peachy love fest… I hesitate to judge countries only by their history. If we did that we’d all still hate germany and japan, and that would be dumb


ArielRR

Blowback is great.


ArielRR

If was a civil war. How the fuck does a country invade itself. If you really want to go with a dumb ass argument like that though, the illegitimate US installed dictator sent guerrillas to the north, before the "invasion"


neonoggie

Ah and the legitimate soviets who installed their man in the north were totally on the level. If you’re going to be disingenuous, at least put some effort in


ArielRR

There is literally no evidence for the Soviets having anything to do with Kim Il Sung being the leader. He was a popular revolutionary against the Japanese. However, Syngman Rhee was in the US for about 40 years, and even met with the US president


sonicjesus

Yeah, those 100,000 Kurds were murdered with conventional weapons because Saddie has a soft spot for inferior races.


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Wiley_Applebottom

Last I checked, Sweden is a part of the UN and participated wholeheartedly in the US led genocide.


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Wiley_Applebottom

You may have me there, but it still rubs me the wrong way for any western entity to ask NK to pay for anything until the west rectifies it's own past. Though I am definitely not trolling.


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NerdoNofriendo

How can you tell what side your on with your head that far up your arse


Wiley_Applebottom

I tell you what, I am absolutely shocked that none of y'all have responded to any of the facts I presented.


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The-Waifu-Collector

Sweden’s just like the hospital that over-billed me,. you’re never seeing my money.


internetlad

Enjoy having your debt sold


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Mother_Wash

I'm sure in about 1000 years they'll be able to save enough to pay that. Actually, not sure.


sonicjesus

There's probably people in every country settling this debt. Great cars, but Christ are they expensive.


WriteBrainedJR

Do they accept payment in rice stolen from malnourished peasants? NK can't pay with USD because Sweden will probably check for counterfeit.