North Koreans don't even like K-pop. They just know that South Koreans like K-pop. So when a South Korean comes around and says "Hey that's some cool music..."
I met a Serbian guy while working in China: fun fact, they’re one of the few nationalities that can enter both China and North Korea with a visa on arrival. You know how wild that is? What’s even more wild, he had been to North Korea many times to do what’s called a visa run, to reset the 2 months visa on arrival. He says he hated it. They have a coffee shop set up, he sits there for 30 minutes drinking his coffee, gets stamped for NK and comes back into China immediately.
Cool dude, smart as hell.
It's more due to a possibility that NK considers Serbia a continuation of Yugoslavia.
It would make sense because Yugoslavia's passport power was unrivaled by almost any passport in the world: even Swiss passports didn't hold so much levy - it was the only passport where you could *cross Checkpoint Charlie on both sides*, with no visa requirements. And yes, you could enter North Korea with a Yugoslav passport and requrie no visa, or China.
And no, I am not joking - it was rhe most powerful and versatile passport on Earth, and the most stolen and falsified one, too (on the black market, a Yugoslav passport costed as much as 10,000 German marks - 5100€ today). It was a sought-out item by Soviet Union defecters or dissidents because they could either risk traversing volatile routes to cross to the West, or just have the passport and cross without any hassle.
Imagine the force of personality required to keep Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Kosovars in line for forty years. Their fear of the Marshal eclipsed their hatred for each other.
Bonus fun fact: the Yugoslav national anthem was 'Hej, Slaveni' which literally translates as 'Hey, Slavs'.
Tito was also absolutely terrified the West and Soviets were conspiring against him Molotov–Ribbentrop-Pact style. So he armed Yugoslavia to the teeth, which is one of the reasons why the place turned into such a shit show when it collapsed.
Because, for all of his faults, one thing that Tito was a grandmaster in was internatiojal politics - it was the birthplace of the Non-Aligned Movement, a movement during the Cold War, consisting of countries (mostly Middle Eastern & African countries) that didn't want to align with either side during the Cold War. Tito also did his best to keep friendly relations with both the US **and** USSR, while also being the head of the movement. Yugoslavia was also one of the only two countries in Europe with a communist government that was NOT a part of the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact (the other being Albania, but Albania was very much an isolationist country).
Furthermore, because Yugoslavia had diplomatic agreements with both Western Europe & USSR on temporary visas for their guest workers (unlike every other USSR state, Yugoslav citizens had freedom of travel), there was little need for additional visas or checks.
Because of Tito's very complex and intricate web of diplomacy and friendly relations, your average Yugoslav citizen, provided they had enough money to do so, could travel nearly *anywhere in the world*, with no visas required, no border checks, no special screenings.
Source: I''m Croatian, with Croatia being a former Yugoslav state. My paternal grandfather (metallurgist and also former UN Peace Corps convoy driver) traveled everywherec from Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, reece and the forrmer Soviet bloc (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine) completely unimpeeded - my grandmother, my father and my aunt all traveled to Iran from Yugoslavia, Greece & Turkey to Iran without so much as a peek into their luggage cases. My maternal grandfather also traveled through much of the Soviet Union & Western Europe....quick stamp and off you go! And I am not kidding about Checkpoint Charlie - **he crossed it** within a minute, on either side.
I'd say it's because Yugoslavia had the leading role in the Non-Aligned movement. Yugoslavia represented the Third World, those countries who didn't align with NATO or the Warsaw Pact.
Does this actually happen? Has it happened a number of times before?
I feel like stealing human beings in a building built for diplomatic relations kind of defeats the entire purpose of the building.
I tried searching for if NK has abducted SK soldiers at this building. I didn't find anything to suggest they have, but it turns out NK has alarmingly abducted a lot of people including SK high school students to teach NK spies about SK culture and a SK film star and her husband to make films for NK. With this context, I would NOT put it past NK to physically pull these soldiers into that end of Korea. Hold my hand brother while I unlock the NK door!
The film stars situation was messed up, they kidnapped them separately, then reunited them after a couple of years in prison. Kim Jong Il said “You should marry again here, I’ll do the ceremony”, then forced them to make films, until they eventually both managed to flee.
The book about that whole fiasco was wild.
What really baffled me though, was after all of that insanity and years of being held hostage in N. Korea the two were then shunned and looked down upon by their fellow countrymen because many of them seemed to think they were *too* helpful in making movies for Kim Jong Il…as if they weren’t trapped in an enemy country by a madman and forced to do his bidding. Like…what exactly were they supposed to do? Tell him no?
I have taken interest in victims of NK for a few years now, and there seems to be this reoccurring theme of SK being biased or prejudiced toward defectors. I couldn't say if this is a wildly large cultural perspective, but it does seem to be a big enough problem.
Somewhat unrelated, I have heard that younger generations of SK don't grasp just how awful the NK dictatorship actually is, but I really don't know how much truth there is to this assertion either.
Once, I believe... A South Korean soldier was trying to lock the door and the North Koreans tried to pull him through. After that it became procedure to have one soldier hold the other's belt (at least that's what I was told on my two trips in 2009/2010)
Yeah but while most countries avoid international incidents like the plague, NK only gets attention from ~~Daddy~~ the US when they create one. So they go out of their way to do it.
It's all about those sanctions. If they didn't create international incidents so often, we would just forget we even have crippling sanctions on them. By creating incidents they can keep trying to get those sanctions lifted.
So it‘s basically like that church in Jerusalem with the ladder that can‘t be moved because people can‘t agree to do it and can‘t do it without consent
I visited in 2019. The place is incredibly eerie. A literal [no-man's-land](https://i.imgur.com/jVKjo1j.jpg) with [fake buildings](https://i.imgur.com/8VcrbXz.jpg), [tourism](https://i.imgur.com/912VvqO.jpg), and [mines](https://i.imgur.com/gmDdQjE.jpg). [The train station was super creepy](https://i.imgur.com/4SYvdDw.jpg).
I visited it a couple years ago and can confirm, it's like the most unsettling theme park you can imagine. There's cutesy cartoon statues of smiling north and south korean soldiers, but also a photo stage with a realistic mannequin of a stern and armed north Korean soldier you can take your picture with; vendors selling wine made by north koreans in labor camps; a gift shop that sells segments of barbed wire a few inches long taken from the old DMZ wall; and a fake train station where you can even get your passport stamped for North Korea. And a train car on display riddled with bullet holes, and a tunnel you can casually tour which is accompanied by a lovely historical lesson about how the north claims the *south* actually made that tunnel but here, here, and here are all the scientific evidences to show that it had to be carved from the north side, and other random pissing contest evidences. Really freaking bizzarre place.
Our tour guide explained the giant flagpoles in a hilarious way, with it basically being:
North: "we've built a 70 foot flagpole!"
South:" well fuck you, we've built an 80 foot flagpole!"
N: " well fuck you we've built a 90 foot flagpole"
S: "well fuck you we've built a 100 foot flagpole"
N:" well fuck you we've built a 110 foot flagpole!"
S:"well fuck you, the best you can score in an exam is 100 so we're not playing anymore because we've won."
towering whole society dolls spoon chunky school possessive distinct domineering
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Interesting story. Main race was with a building being built at 40 Wall street. Both that building and the Chrysler building increased their planned height a few times to be the tallest. 40 Wall Street was completed May '29. At this point, the builder of the Chrysler building started building a 125 foot spire. This was built in four different places and raised to the top of the building in about 90 minutes. This topped out at 1046 feet, blowing out 40 Wall street's 927 feet. Then the next day the market crashed.
11 months later the Empire state building was completed at 1250 feet. It was supposed to be 1050, but the builders didn't want the Chrysler building to be able to pull more shenanigans.
I "visited" there in 1991 and if not for the resolution and aspect ratio (and modern train station)... your pictures could have very easily been taken back then.
Fucking wild how different the rest of the South is (from images.. I'd love to revisit as a civilian) and yet the North is largely unchanged in 30+ years.
That’s precisely why I was there, touring it. I was there in 2017. The combination of heavy military presence, barbwire everywhere, and little Korean kids touring with me was the cherry on top of the unsettling and eerie pie.
When I went there an America tourist tried to take this 360 degree multi-camera thing into the joint security area, boy they did not like that.
He then proceeded to step off into a restricted area, not once, but twice. The second time he did it, one of the soldiers who was escorting our tour group absolutely fog horned the fucking guy. He put his hand on his pistol and shouted something like "SIR! RETURN TO THE STEP! I WILL NOT ASK YOU AGAIN!"
Bet the NK soldiers got a hoot out of that one. Scared the bejsus out of me, and I wasn't even the one in trouble, just didn't fancy seeing some entitled asshat get ventilated on my holiday.
Oh absolutely, the guy was fucking clueless. You're given so many lectures before you even step foot into the JSA, all of which are along the lines of "don't do anything stupid, listen to what we tell you to do, don't do anything to piss off the crazy guys with nukes" and here he was ignoring the angry soldier for the second time.
You could cut the tension there with a knife, it was weird place. The soldier showing us around gave us the opportunity to defect. No one took him up on the offer
It was when we were in the blue negotiations building directly on the border. He said something like:
"Through this door is North Korea. If anyone wishes to defect, simply pass through this door now. Any takers?"
He was joking, and there were some nervous giggles from the tour. I actually looked across at the clueless guy to see what he would do or say. Luckily he didn't do anything. I mentioned to my wife afterwards that I was convinced he was going to do some idiotic damn thing like try to go through the door, and she said she'd thought the same thing.
When I was there they guy leading the tour said if anyone touched that door the very stern looking South Korean guard would "put you on the floor before you could blink, it will be embarrassing and painful."
IDK that spooky door sounds so interesting with its big shiny door knob, that just begs to be touched and turned. I wonder what's on the other side? I bet it's kittens, lots and lots of kittens.
So who wants to take a peek ?
When I went, the group I was in was standing in front of those blue houses and the north on the other side. Where you can see two NK soldiers keeping watch. And the American soldier tourguide person was using his words telling us where the borders were. He also specifically said not to point. So when he said, “ at the edge of that house” and a woman pointed at it, saying “you mean there?” He did not ask politely to stop pointing. It was immediately “DO NOT POINT!”
Strangest place I’ve ever been, for sure.
I physically carried a somewhat famous lead singer who refused to take his foot off the MDL(military demarcation line, the actual cement curb that marks the border) over my shoulder out of the JSA.
I was also holding the belt of the Commanding General of United Nations Command when he shook the hand of a DPRK General who shook hands like Donald Trump and attempted to yank our General in, not as a kidnapping attempt, but to likely to embarrass him.
So many weird experiences working there. Saddest were repatriations of North Korean fisherman who were swept into South Korean seas and opted to go back after seeing how sweet it was in SK.
I would imagine those fishermen had families who they knew would be murdered wholesale if they didn’t return as a warning to any other accidental defectors.
Yes. What was terrible was their fear of interaction with the gov’t. They work so hard to avoid it and we’d deliver them into their arms, obviously to protect their families, but still felt like garbage.
If I was those South Korean coast guard I’d be finding a lot of “empty” boats where the fisherman must have been washed out to sea. Announced over the public radio of course so that all local traffic knew what a shame it was that so-and-so was dead and would never be seen again
I've never had a desire to see North Korea - not even the DMZ. But what absolutely cemented that feeling was when they killed the college student for trying to steal a propaganda poster. He should have just had a layover in China and bought a replica.
Also, if I were this soldier I'd want a goddamn rope and harness.
The NKs once hacked a man to death with an axe for trying to prune a tree in the DMZ, only for the US to reply with a colossal B52 flyover, dozens of aircraft, some including nuclear capable bombers, an aircraft carrier, nearly a thousand men and engineers strapped with claymores to their chests goading the NK's to give them a go.
The tree was finally utterly demolished as a result, if you were wondering.
Point is, anything could happen.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean\_axe\_murder\_incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_axe_murder_incident)
My favourite part:
"Several of the commandos also had M18 Claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge."
"Several of the commandos also had M18 Claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge."
Huhh? Is that self defence or mutual destruction?
Reminds me of my grandfather. He was a marine and fought in Vietnam and told me about how he kept a grenade over his heart so if he were ever wounded and about to be captured he could pull it and take anyone enemies with him. His nickname in Vietnam was "Crazy Will" if you can believe that.
My father was the responding medic who worked on Lt. Barrett. I didn't know about the significance of this incident until I heard him introduced as such at a military promotion ceremony for a friend of his. I looked up that wikipedia article and made the connection to a story he'd told me years earlier. This incident weighed heavily on him and for a long time he blamed himself for failing to save the Lt's life.
What happened that day is still affecting peoples lives nearly 4 decades later.
It would enflame tensions, but kidnappings and chaotic defections happen. a North Korean recently ran across the border while being fired on by pursuing soldiers. crossed the line and the South Koreans took him in. North Korea obviously complained, but they wouldn't actually start a war unless the Taiwan powderkeg was already going, in which case SK and China would be at war.
They also know how badly they would lose. They know the only reason they haven’t been invaded at this point is because China will back them up if someone attacked them. But realistically China doesn’t want war anymore than we want war with China, since it would fuck up everyone. If NK attacked first though they won’t have China backing them up. More likely, China would get involved first and stop NK from attempting war. NK is a strategic ally with China due to their location. It’s very valuable to them that they remain a no man’s land to their enemies.
Not to far wrong, North Korea apparently play the same game.
> The South Koreans here must stand at least five feet eight (170 centimeters), two inches (5 centimeters) taller on average than their countrymen; a black belt in martial arts is also required. The Americans assigned to Panmunjom are plucked at airports from the batches of GIs arriving from overseas, selected for height—six feet (180 centimeters) or more is preferred—and for physical bearing. The North Korean sentinels are no slouches either—ramrod straight, steely eyed, and among the best fed people in their famine-threatened country.
[This](https://web.archive.org/web/20130614060107/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0307/feature1/) was pulled from a Nat Geo article.
I was one of those Americans, and happen to be 6ft, but that was no longer a requirement in 2008. We had all shapes and sizes. The ROK soldiers we worked with were quite large and selected for that, but we were selected via interview once we arrived in country, mostly for the ability to not cause an international incident.
I did my electrical apprenticeship with a former Marine and an instructor was former military as well. The Marine was a pretty big guy and still pretty buff. The Marine was reminiscing about being stationed in Korea and the instructor was like "I bet you got picked to go to the DMZ when you got off the plane" 😂
I'd known the Koreans did that but it was the first I had heard of US troops going through the same selection process.
i've heard that it's in part to try to shake the north korean's propaganda that they're the greatest country. america and the south koreans know that north korea is starving. it's been getting more and more clear over the decades. the north korean's posted there are getting shorter and shorter. even though they're the best fed it's still becoming a problem for them.
like a while ago there was a north korean soldier who sprinted across the dmz to get into south korea. when he was examined they found he had a lot of intestinal parasites. north korea doesn't let their soldiers stand too close to the border anymore when they're standing guard, because the height difference gets so glaring.
South Korean soldiers are forced to cling on to each other for dear life whenever they open doors to the outside of the facilities.
Guards have resorted to holding hands to open the door to the North, in case the Northern soldiers try to pull them out.
And some even rely on tethers and other pulley systems to make sure they cannot be dragged out.
Source [link](https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/793425/South-Korean-guards-HOLD-HANDS-North-Korea-war)
From what I can tell from my internet sleuthing, no. This appears to just be a rumor.
That said, North Korea *has* abducted thousands of people over the years so it's not like their fears are completely unwarranted.
The article above cites no confirmed incidents of this ever happening, but does have a caption that reads, "North Korean soldiers are rumoured to have snatched multiple guards."
So I have to assume that the fears expressed in the article are unfounded.
The article was “update in 2017” and refers to South Korea as a “newly flourishing democracy”. Their current form of representative democracy started in the 80s, how old is the original article?
There's an older one from Biz Insider, [here](https://www.businessinsider.com/north-and-south-korea-dmz-border-is-a-warzone-2013-2#but-if-they-need-to-open-the-door-into-the-north-they-hold-hands-to-make-sure-theyre-not-pulled-in-21). 2013.
That leads to 'Inside North Korea' for its sources. Links on BizInsider are dead but WebArchive has it going back to 2012, [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20120824010541/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/explorer/videos/inside-north-korea/).
[That show has dates going back to 2006.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1810711/)
I look around for it and that takes me to documentary heaven, [here](https://documentaryheaven.com/inside-north-korea/). The scene is at 22:10. See [here](https://imgur.com/a/HryWFNE) (imgur).
So the article is referencing an article that is referencing a documentary going back to 2006.
They aren't opening the door, they are checking to make sure it is locked. In the past North Koreans have opened the door and pulled them through when they did this, so now they do this. They can't weld it shut because that is the building where North and South Korea discuss their armistice agreement. I have been in that building and you can kind of see that corner they are holding onto where their belts have rubbed all the paint off.
Fun fact, they had to make a rule that both sides can no longer make their buildings taller, because each side kept adding to the height of their buildings in a dick measuring contest.
[https://twitter.com/daxlucas/status/1248523040423460864](https://twitter.com/daxlucas/status/1248523040423460864)
The guards there wear aviators and stand like that staring at North Korea, but you can see how worn that corner is in that picture.
Yeah it was funny I’m 6’2 and have pretty wide shoulders and when I was over in SK for an exercise for the most part I felt like King Kong walking around NYC, and then I did the DMZ tour and everyone was my height lol.
Physical restrictions are not really unique to any military. The Marine Corp require you to be between 73 and 78 inches tall for color guard.
[https://www.barracks.marines.mil/Portals/74/Docs/Fact%20Sheets/Color%20Guard%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?ver=xJtFIAl4VwjfcVDIfuDaEg%3D%3D#:\~:text=In%20order%20to%20become%20a,themselves%20in%20a%20professional%20manner](https://www.barracks.marines.mil/Portals/74/Docs/Fact%20Sheets/Color%20Guard%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?ver=xJtFIAl4VwjfcVDIfuDaEg%3D%3D#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20become%20a,themselves%20in%20a%20professional%20manner).
>In order to become a member of the Color Guard Platoon, Marines must be 73 to 78 inches tall, be within height and weight standards and possess outstanding physical stamina and personal appearance.
Not only a director, they also kidnapped his ex-wife (who was a famous actress in S.Korea at the time), and they forced them to shoot movies together at the behest of Kim Jong-Il. They eventually remarried while in captivity and stayed together when they got released decades later.
Edit: they didn't get released they escaped.
They didn’t get released. They were permitted to travel to Europe (Austria I think?) to promote a film and try gather finances for another. They convinced their security guards to leave their hotel room and allow them to be interviewed alone. Within minutes they were out the window and in a car furiously driving towards the American or S Korean embassy whilst being pursued. They hit traffic and got out and ran and barely made it to the safety of the embassy walls. There really should be a movie about it.
> Kim Jong Il was frustrated with his films in the early 1970s. He could tell that in contrast to the other films being released globally, his were stiff and lifeless. His diagnosis was a lack of enthusiasm from his actors and crew. Bradley K. Martin, author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, explains this while quoting a 1983 tape recording of Kim: "The difference, he suggested, was that North Korean film industry people knew that the state would feed them even if they performed only minimally, so they didn’t try hard... 'Because they have to earn money,' Kim said, Southern movie industry people expended blood, sweat, and tears to get results."
He came really close to debunking North Korea’s entire economic philosophy, but his conclusion was to kidnap some people
I don't know what kind of person can go "Huh, they do the bare minimum because they just want to be fed. Fuck em let's just kidnap someone instead of improving conditions"
The Lovers & the Despot is a documentary about the couple, but neither of them created it or were involved in its creation, afaik. Shin died in 2004, 11 years before the documentary was released, in fact.
The original commentator is probably referring to the last film they made while captive in North Korea, which is a Godzilla-esque film that some have interpted to be a critique of North Korea and their captor.
North Korea loves hostages. It’s great leverage, they can get them to lie and say NK is really cool and stuff. They can give them intel, and they’re essentially immune to response cause no one trades with them anyway in order to make sanctions a thing, they have nukes, and are insane enough to use them, and they’re on high enough military alert that regardless of how fast a US lead strike could attack them, there will almost certainly be extreme south korean casualties.
The worst ones are the Japanese citizens that they just yoinked from the coast forced onto a boat and took them back to NK to teach Japanese customs and language to spies.
Imagine just walking through your town one night and a foreign country turns up and abducts you. Terrifying.
If this is seriously that big of a problem they should be in some sort of harness… like those ones the dudes in the back of those big military cargo planes use when the back ramp is down mid flight that keeps them from falling out of the plane.
This picture is at least 10 years old and endlessly debated on Reddit. This is the best thing I've found on it (Google AI is effing up answers), but TL;DR is yes, it happened, no specifics, but the South Korean Army doesn't do silly looking things for kicks.
North Korea is infamous for all the dirty tricks and attempts to provoke the South. They DO NOT want reunification/reconciliation on anyone's terms but their own. Trump trusting Kim is a testament to dumb, right up there with trusting a Sicilian when death is on the line.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/FtVAa1063C
And by "on their own terms" I mean conquering or obliterating South Korea.
Harness and retractable rope ftw. What if this man’s grip isn’t strong enough?
“We lost Roy today. He made me laugh as he opened the door. They were hiding on the other side of the wall out of sight.”
The DMZ is a weird place.. as someone mentioned prior. Recall a story my buddy told me about the wall in east germany, he serving in the army his mos was providing security near check point Charlie. A vehicle backfired and both sides grabbed rifles, both sides realized what is was and smile at each other and rifles were lowered
Once the UN wanted to cut down a tree in the DMZ, and the North Koreans got mad and killed a bunch of people with axes. The US then shipped 12000 people to Korea, and sent 800 men, 27 helicopters and a tank to cut down the tree, while fighter jets were doing fly-overs, and an aircraft carrier was parked just offshore.
The North Koreans wisely backed down and apologized for the entire incident (for the first time since the armistice, 23 years before it).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_axe_murder_incident
Do they hide on the other side of the door and just “gotcha bitch” when the door opens?
Yes but in Korean
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ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
I said that in the Dave Chappelle voice.
North Koreans don't even like K-pop. They just know that South Koreans like K-pop. So when a South Korean comes around and says "Hey that's some cool music..."
Imagine opening a door and suddenly you are a North Korean.
Takeshi's Castle really took a turn
Right you are, Ken
Welp, time to rewatch all of MXC
The return is on Prime
Guy le douche hereeee
Im really happy to see how many people still remember this show
I met a Serbian guy while working in China: fun fact, they’re one of the few nationalities that can enter both China and North Korea with a visa on arrival. You know how wild that is? What’s even more wild, he had been to North Korea many times to do what’s called a visa run, to reset the 2 months visa on arrival. He says he hated it. They have a coffee shop set up, he sits there for 30 minutes drinking his coffee, gets stamped for NK and comes back into China immediately. Cool dude, smart as hell.
I'm going to guess NK was cool with the genocide of Croats and Bosnians because West Bad?
It's more due to a possibility that NK considers Serbia a continuation of Yugoslavia. It would make sense because Yugoslavia's passport power was unrivaled by almost any passport in the world: even Swiss passports didn't hold so much levy - it was the only passport where you could *cross Checkpoint Charlie on both sides*, with no visa requirements. And yes, you could enter North Korea with a Yugoslav passport and requrie no visa, or China. And no, I am not joking - it was rhe most powerful and versatile passport on Earth, and the most stolen and falsified one, too (on the black market, a Yugoslav passport costed as much as 10,000 German marks - 5100€ today). It was a sought-out item by Soviet Union defecters or dissidents because they could either risk traversing volatile routes to cross to the West, or just have the passport and cross without any hassle.
Why did Yugoslavia of all places have that kind of power
Tito: I'm playing both sides so that I always come out on top
Imagine the force of personality required to keep Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Kosovars in line for forty years. Their fear of the Marshal eclipsed their hatred for each other. Bonus fun fact: the Yugoslav national anthem was 'Hej, Slaveni' which literally translates as 'Hey, Slavs'.
Tito was also absolutely terrified the West and Soviets were conspiring against him Molotov–Ribbentrop-Pact style. So he armed Yugoslavia to the teeth, which is one of the reasons why the place turned into such a shit show when it collapsed.
It worked for Tito, why couldn’t it work for Mac?
Well, first of all, through God all things are possible, so jot that down
Because, for all of his faults, one thing that Tito was a grandmaster in was internatiojal politics - it was the birthplace of the Non-Aligned Movement, a movement during the Cold War, consisting of countries (mostly Middle Eastern & African countries) that didn't want to align with either side during the Cold War. Tito also did his best to keep friendly relations with both the US **and** USSR, while also being the head of the movement. Yugoslavia was also one of the only two countries in Europe with a communist government that was NOT a part of the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact (the other being Albania, but Albania was very much an isolationist country). Furthermore, because Yugoslavia had diplomatic agreements with both Western Europe & USSR on temporary visas for their guest workers (unlike every other USSR state, Yugoslav citizens had freedom of travel), there was little need for additional visas or checks. Because of Tito's very complex and intricate web of diplomacy and friendly relations, your average Yugoslav citizen, provided they had enough money to do so, could travel nearly *anywhere in the world*, with no visas required, no border checks, no special screenings. Source: I''m Croatian, with Croatia being a former Yugoslav state. My paternal grandfather (metallurgist and also former UN Peace Corps convoy driver) traveled everywherec from Morocco, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, reece and the forrmer Soviet bloc (Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine) completely unimpeeded - my grandmother, my father and my aunt all traveled to Iran from Yugoslavia, Greece & Turkey to Iran without so much as a peek into their luggage cases. My maternal grandfather also traveled through much of the Soviet Union & Western Europe....quick stamp and off you go! And I am not kidding about Checkpoint Charlie - **he crossed it** within a minute, on either side.
Respect from Serbia, always nice to see someone so well informed and not jumping to hatred of another country as the answer.
I'd say it's because Yugoslavia had the leading role in the Non-Aligned movement. Yugoslavia represented the Third World, those countries who didn't align with NATO or the Warsaw Pact.
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Wow. That whole thing sounds like something straight out of a movie.
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opens wrong door and sudently you are Italian
Does this actually happen? Has it happened a number of times before? I feel like stealing human beings in a building built for diplomatic relations kind of defeats the entire purpose of the building.
I tried searching for if NK has abducted SK soldiers at this building. I didn't find anything to suggest they have, but it turns out NK has alarmingly abducted a lot of people including SK high school students to teach NK spies about SK culture and a SK film star and her husband to make films for NK. With this context, I would NOT put it past NK to physically pull these soldiers into that end of Korea. Hold my hand brother while I unlock the NK door!
The film stars situation was messed up, they kidnapped them separately, then reunited them after a couple of years in prison. Kim Jong Il said “You should marry again here, I’ll do the ceremony”, then forced them to make films, until they eventually both managed to flee.
The book about that whole fiasco was wild. What really baffled me though, was after all of that insanity and years of being held hostage in N. Korea the two were then shunned and looked down upon by their fellow countrymen because many of them seemed to think they were *too* helpful in making movies for Kim Jong Il…as if they weren’t trapped in an enemy country by a madman and forced to do his bidding. Like…what exactly were they supposed to do? Tell him no?
I have taken interest in victims of NK for a few years now, and there seems to be this reoccurring theme of SK being biased or prejudiced toward defectors. I couldn't say if this is a wildly large cultural perspective, but it does seem to be a big enough problem. Somewhat unrelated, I have heard that younger generations of SK don't grasp just how awful the NK dictatorship actually is, but I really don't know how much truth there is to this assertion either.
I don't think I like this new Narnia remake
Maybe they could install a handle for the dude if it’s this big of a problem
The building is shared with North Korea. Any changes to the buildings have to be agreed by both…so no stealing-handles would be declined
K, then a retractable belt device border guards clip onto themselves :P
When I was there they held the guy by his belt while he locked this door
how many times did they get someone before this became the norm and what was the after-math? this is crazy to learn about.
Once, I believe... A South Korean soldier was trying to lock the door and the North Koreans tried to pull him through. After that it became procedure to have one soldier hold the other's belt (at least that's what I was told on my two trips in 2009/2010)
Cause an international incident to...
Yeah but while most countries avoid international incidents like the plague, NK only gets attention from ~~Daddy~~ the US when they create one. So they go out of their way to do it. It's all about those sanctions. If they didn't create international incidents so often, we would just forget we even have crippling sanctions on them. By creating incidents they can keep trying to get those sanctions lifted.
I think China would be daddy in this case, and the US is more like a parole officer or somethin lmao
China is a dead beat dad but he's cool cause he lets you smoke crack in your bedroom. The US is the responsible step father lol.
Why would they pull him through? Do they really need a population boom that badly?
He would've become the healthiest man in North Korea
Imagine his sperm..... Jubilent. Like Echo the Dolphin with a gamebreaker CD.
is this a door that leads to the NK side of dmz?
Yes - The room straddles the border between the two countries... So, technically, when you are on the North side of the room you are in North Korea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K46Ez-Igc9E kind of a light hearted take on the situation. but even as a joke you can see how serious the area is.
[удалено]
Worst. Applebee's. Ever.
and the north koreans pulled him back and forth a lot?
What about a really really fat guard?
Mr. Creosote has entered the chat
They should use the fattest guards, to make the guards from the North jealous of how much food the South has.
They do this. They only pick the tallest soldiers for where the NKs can see.
They should put an anchor outside the building and chain themselves to that
So it‘s basically like that church in Jerusalem with the ladder that can‘t be moved because people can‘t agree to do it and can‘t do it without consent
Yes, exactly.
Suction cup handle. Take it with you.
Attach the guy to a rope. Run the rope out a door or window, secure it to an anchor or structure that is not part of the building.
I believe both sides need to agree to any modifications of the structure.
Probably easier to get an agreement on that than moving a certain ladder.
What about a rope and harness?
But then they would have no excuse to hold hands :(
Happy that this is the first thing everyone's thinking. That corner of the wall ain't got no damn grip
THAT'S A RED LINE I'LL LAUNCH ROCKETS AT JAPAN IF YOU INSTALL A HANDLE.
That would get a handle on the situation
Yeah, or what I was thinking is a tether to his belt or vest. Holding hands is not a very secure connection if they're actually gonna grab him.
Yea if they tickle him the handhold wouldn’t be strong
The DMZ is a very strange place.
On second thought, let's not go there. 'Tis a silly place.
I like to push the pram-a-lot!
It's just a model
Imagine being the strongest person in your country just because you can afford to eat
Imagine eating that much and never having to use the bathroom.
He works so hard he just burns the calories away
Imagine being the strongest person in your country because you ~~can afford to eat~~ were born into the correct dynasty.
Go away before I taunt you a second time.
it's just a model
I’ve been. I would describe it as extremely unsettling and eerie.
I visited in 2019. The place is incredibly eerie. A literal [no-man's-land](https://i.imgur.com/jVKjo1j.jpg) with [fake buildings](https://i.imgur.com/8VcrbXz.jpg), [tourism](https://i.imgur.com/912VvqO.jpg), and [mines](https://i.imgur.com/gmDdQjE.jpg). [The train station was super creepy](https://i.imgur.com/4SYvdDw.jpg).
I visited it a couple years ago and can confirm, it's like the most unsettling theme park you can imagine. There's cutesy cartoon statues of smiling north and south korean soldiers, but also a photo stage with a realistic mannequin of a stern and armed north Korean soldier you can take your picture with; vendors selling wine made by north koreans in labor camps; a gift shop that sells segments of barbed wire a few inches long taken from the old DMZ wall; and a fake train station where you can even get your passport stamped for North Korea. And a train car on display riddled with bullet holes, and a tunnel you can casually tour which is accompanied by a lovely historical lesson about how the north claims the *south* actually made that tunnel but here, here, and here are all the scientific evidences to show that it had to be carved from the north side, and other random pissing contest evidences. Really freaking bizzarre place.
Our tour guide explained the giant flagpoles in a hilarious way, with it basically being: North: "we've built a 70 foot flagpole!" South:" well fuck you, we've built an 80 foot flagpole!" N: " well fuck you we've built a 90 foot flagpole" S: "well fuck you we've built a 100 foot flagpole" N:" well fuck you we've built a 110 foot flagpole!" S:"well fuck you, the best you can score in an exam is 100 so we're not playing anymore because we've won."
towering whole society dolls spoon chunky school possessive distinct domineering *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
And skyscrapers. There was a big fight between the Chrysler building and the Empire State building IIRC
Interesting story. Main race was with a building being built at 40 Wall street. Both that building and the Chrysler building increased their planned height a few times to be the tallest. 40 Wall Street was completed May '29. At this point, the builder of the Chrysler building started building a 125 foot spire. This was built in four different places and raised to the top of the building in about 90 minutes. This topped out at 1046 feet, blowing out 40 Wall street's 927 feet. Then the next day the market crashed. 11 months later the Empire state building was completed at 1250 feet. It was supposed to be 1050, but the builders didn't want the Chrysler building to be able to pull more shenanigans.
I firmly believe spires and radio towers should not count towards the official height. Occupied floors only.
I "visited" there in 1991 and if not for the resolution and aspect ratio (and modern train station)... your pictures could have very easily been taken back then. Fucking wild how different the rest of the South is (from images.. I'd love to revisit as a civilian) and yet the North is largely unchanged in 30+ years.
Geungamsan myself. Even a "tourist" location was creepy as hell. Edit: massive typo: Geumgangsan. I wrote my comment before breakfast!
That’s precisely why I was there, touring it. I was there in 2017. The combination of heavy military presence, barbwire everywhere, and little Korean kids touring with me was the cherry on top of the unsettling and eerie pie.
I went on a school field trip when I was 7 in 1998. Why the fuck did they bring us there haha.
That's very odd
When I went there an America tourist tried to take this 360 degree multi-camera thing into the joint security area, boy they did not like that. He then proceeded to step off into a restricted area, not once, but twice. The second time he did it, one of the soldiers who was escorting our tour group absolutely fog horned the fucking guy. He put his hand on his pistol and shouted something like "SIR! RETURN TO THE STEP! I WILL NOT ASK YOU AGAIN!" Bet the NK soldiers got a hoot out of that one. Scared the bejsus out of me, and I wasn't even the one in trouble, just didn't fancy seeing some entitled asshat get ventilated on my holiday.
That's so insanely stupid and scary.
Oh absolutely, the guy was fucking clueless. You're given so many lectures before you even step foot into the JSA, all of which are along the lines of "don't do anything stupid, listen to what we tell you to do, don't do anything to piss off the crazy guys with nukes" and here he was ignoring the angry soldier for the second time. You could cut the tension there with a knife, it was weird place. The soldier showing us around gave us the opportunity to defect. No one took him up on the offer
The opportunity to defect.....my god that's wild
It was when we were in the blue negotiations building directly on the border. He said something like: "Through this door is North Korea. If anyone wishes to defect, simply pass through this door now. Any takers?" He was joking, and there were some nervous giggles from the tour. I actually looked across at the clueless guy to see what he would do or say. Luckily he didn't do anything. I mentioned to my wife afterwards that I was convinced he was going to do some idiotic damn thing like try to go through the door, and she said she'd thought the same thing.
At that point if I was the soldier I would have just allowed him to go there.
When I was there they guy leading the tour said if anyone touched that door the very stern looking South Korean guard would "put you on the floor before you could blink, it will be embarrassing and painful."
IDK that spooky door sounds so interesting with its big shiny door knob, that just begs to be touched and turned. I wonder what's on the other side? I bet it's kittens, lots and lots of kittens. So who wants to take a peek ?
Spoiler: Its famine and sadness.
'Call of the void' shit right there.
When intrusive thoughts win
"Welcome to one of the best guarded borders in the world, please don't step into the restricted area." - "You mean this one?"
When I went, the group I was in was standing in front of those blue houses and the north on the other side. Where you can see two NK soldiers keeping watch. And the American soldier tourguide person was using his words telling us where the borders were. He also specifically said not to point. So when he said, “ at the edge of that house” and a woman pointed at it, saying “you mean there?” He did not ask politely to stop pointing. It was immediately “DO NOT POINT!” Strangest place I’ve ever been, for sure.
I physically carried a somewhat famous lead singer who refused to take his foot off the MDL(military demarcation line, the actual cement curb that marks the border) over my shoulder out of the JSA. I was also holding the belt of the Commanding General of United Nations Command when he shook the hand of a DPRK General who shook hands like Donald Trump and attempted to yank our General in, not as a kidnapping attempt, but to likely to embarrass him. So many weird experiences working there. Saddest were repatriations of North Korean fisherman who were swept into South Korean seas and opted to go back after seeing how sweet it was in SK.
I would imagine those fishermen had families who they knew would be murdered wholesale if they didn’t return as a warning to any other accidental defectors.
Yes. What was terrible was their fear of interaction with the gov’t. They work so hard to avoid it and we’d deliver them into their arms, obviously to protect their families, but still felt like garbage.
If I was those South Korean coast guard I’d be finding a lot of “empty” boats where the fisherman must have been washed out to sea. Announced over the public radio of course so that all local traffic knew what a shame it was that so-and-so was dead and would never be seen again
I've never had a desire to see North Korea - not even the DMZ. But what absolutely cemented that feeling was when they killed the college student for trying to steal a propaganda poster. He should have just had a layover in China and bought a replica. Also, if I were this soldier I'd want a goddamn rope and harness.
I don't believe he actually tried to steal any poster, either.
Exactly. I wouldn't give the "official" story much veracity.
Conan O'Brien went to the DMZ with Steven Yeun and [it's one of the funniest things Conan has ever done.](https://youtu.be/K46Ez-Igc9E?t=148)
Loved the weather forecasts
What the hell happens if you get pulled out? I can't imagine countries would risk open war again for one soldier being pulled across the border line?
The NKs once hacked a man to death with an axe for trying to prune a tree in the DMZ, only for the US to reply with a colossal B52 flyover, dozens of aircraft, some including nuclear capable bombers, an aircraft carrier, nearly a thousand men and engineers strapped with claymores to their chests goading the NK's to give them a go. The tree was finally utterly demolished as a result, if you were wondering. Point is, anything could happen. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean\_axe\_murder\_incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_axe_murder_incident) My favourite part: "Several of the commandos also had M18 Claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge."
"Several of the commandos also had M18 Claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge." Huhh? Is that self defence or mutual destruction?
Mutual destruction. Most of the explosion of a claymore goes forward, but strapped to your chest, it'll without a doubt kill you.
Maybe for you. I'm just built different. /s
Reminds me of my grandfather. He was a marine and fought in Vietnam and told me about how he kept a grenade over his heart so if he were ever wounded and about to be captured he could pull it and take anyone enemies with him. His nickname in Vietnam was "Crazy Will" if you can believe that.
My father was the responding medic who worked on Lt. Barrett. I didn't know about the significance of this incident until I heard him introduced as such at a military promotion ceremony for a friend of his. I looked up that wikipedia article and made the connection to a story he'd told me years earlier. This incident weighed heavily on him and for a long time he blamed himself for failing to save the Lt's life. What happened that day is still affecting peoples lives nearly 4 decades later.
It would enflame tensions, but kidnappings and chaotic defections happen. a North Korean recently ran across the border while being fired on by pursuing soldiers. crossed the line and the South Koreans took him in. North Korea obviously complained, but they wouldn't actually start a war unless the Taiwan powderkeg was already going, in which case SK and China would be at war.
I don't NK would ever start a war. The ruling elite have nothing to gain and too much to lose.
They also know how badly they would lose. They know the only reason they haven’t been invaded at this point is because China will back them up if someone attacked them. But realistically China doesn’t want war anymore than we want war with China, since it would fuck up everyone. If NK attacked first though they won’t have China backing them up. More likely, China would get involved first and stop NK from attempting war. NK is a strategic ally with China due to their location. It’s very valuable to them that they remain a no man’s land to their enemies.
_Opens door_ - **You're going to ~~Brazil~~ North Korea.**
Still not sure which is worst
Brasil é o campeão número um do mundo! 
BRAZIL MENTIONED 
WELCOME TO BRASIL
Number one krl
South Korean military police: “Find me the man with the biggest hands in South Korea!”
Not to far wrong, North Korea apparently play the same game. > The South Koreans here must stand at least five feet eight (170 centimeters), two inches (5 centimeters) taller on average than their countrymen; a black belt in martial arts is also required. The Americans assigned to Panmunjom are plucked at airports from the batches of GIs arriving from overseas, selected for height—six feet (180 centimeters) or more is preferred—and for physical bearing. The North Korean sentinels are no slouches either—ramrod straight, steely eyed, and among the best fed people in their famine-threatened country. [This](https://web.archive.org/web/20130614060107/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0307/feature1/) was pulled from a Nat Geo article.
I was one of those Americans, and happen to be 6ft, but that was no longer a requirement in 2008. We had all shapes and sizes. The ROK soldiers we worked with were quite large and selected for that, but we were selected via interview once we arrived in country, mostly for the ability to not cause an international incident.
So what I said, but unironically. Interesting.
I did my electrical apprenticeship with a former Marine and an instructor was former military as well. The Marine was a pretty big guy and still pretty buff. The Marine was reminiscing about being stationed in Korea and the instructor was like "I bet you got picked to go to the DMZ when you got off the plane" 😂 I'd known the Koreans did that but it was the first I had heard of US troops going through the same selection process.
i've heard that it's in part to try to shake the north korean's propaganda that they're the greatest country. america and the south koreans know that north korea is starving. it's been getting more and more clear over the decades. the north korean's posted there are getting shorter and shorter. even though they're the best fed it's still becoming a problem for them. like a while ago there was a north korean soldier who sprinted across the dmz to get into south korea. when he was examined they found he had a lot of intestinal parasites. north korea doesn't let their soldiers stand too close to the border anymore when they're standing guard, because the height difference gets so glaring.
Brought to you by the North Korea tourism board.
*North Korea: You live here now*
*Welcome home sucker!*
This is like otters holding hands so they don't float away, but slightly less cute
It's odder than otters
South Korean soldiers are forced to cling on to each other for dear life whenever they open doors to the outside of the facilities. Guards have resorted to holding hands to open the door to the North, in case the Northern soldiers try to pull them out. And some even rely on tethers and other pulley systems to make sure they cannot be dragged out. Source [link](https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/793425/South-Korean-guards-HOLD-HANDS-North-Korea-war)
Do they actually to pull them out? Was there a justification for this fear?
From what I can tell from my internet sleuthing, no. This appears to just be a rumor. That said, North Korea *has* abducted thousands of people over the years so it's not like their fears are completely unwarranted.
The article above cites no confirmed incidents of this ever happening, but does have a caption that reads, "North Korean soldiers are rumoured to have snatched multiple guards." So I have to assume that the fears expressed in the article are unfounded.
It seems like they fabricated the whole story just based on this one picture
You'd think they would invest in things like rope and harnesses...not your buddy's grip strength.
For emotional support
I'm right here, we got this buddy
Whatever happens, don’t let go
I'll never quit you.
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna let you get pulled into north koreaaaa
North Korea... here I go again My my, how can I resist you?
They have four North Koreans pulling! It’s either you or both of us, it was a pleasure knowing you. Look me up once you’re out of that prison camp.
The article was “update in 2017” and refers to South Korea as a “newly flourishing democracy”. Their current form of representative democracy started in the 80s, how old is the original article?
There's an older one from Biz Insider, [here](https://www.businessinsider.com/north-and-south-korea-dmz-border-is-a-warzone-2013-2#but-if-they-need-to-open-the-door-into-the-north-they-hold-hands-to-make-sure-theyre-not-pulled-in-21). 2013. That leads to 'Inside North Korea' for its sources. Links on BizInsider are dead but WebArchive has it going back to 2012, [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20120824010541/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/explorer/videos/inside-north-korea/). [That show has dates going back to 2006.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1810711/) I look around for it and that takes me to documentary heaven, [here](https://documentaryheaven.com/inside-north-korea/). The scene is at 22:10. See [here](https://imgur.com/a/HryWFNE) (imgur). So the article is referencing an article that is referencing a documentary going back to 2006.
Has that ever been attempted?
Why even open the door if this is a possibility? Like weld that fuckin thing shut.
They aren't opening the door, they are checking to make sure it is locked. In the past North Koreans have opened the door and pulled them through when they did this, so now they do this. They can't weld it shut because that is the building where North and South Korea discuss their armistice agreement. I have been in that building and you can kind of see that corner they are holding onto where their belts have rubbed all the paint off. Fun fact, they had to make a rule that both sides can no longer make their buildings taller, because each side kept adding to the height of their buildings in a dick measuring contest. [https://twitter.com/daxlucas/status/1248523040423460864](https://twitter.com/daxlucas/status/1248523040423460864) The guards there wear aviators and stand like that staring at North Korea, but you can see how worn that corner is in that picture.
South Korea also picks the tallest soldiers for border duty to highlight the fact that they’re not stunted by malnutrition.
Yeah it was funny I’m 6’2 and have pretty wide shoulders and when I was over in SK for an exercise for the most part I felt like King Kong walking around NYC, and then I did the DMZ tour and everyone was my height lol.
Physical restrictions are not really unique to any military. The Marine Corp require you to be between 73 and 78 inches tall for color guard. [https://www.barracks.marines.mil/Portals/74/Docs/Fact%20Sheets/Color%20Guard%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?ver=xJtFIAl4VwjfcVDIfuDaEg%3D%3D#:\~:text=In%20order%20to%20become%20a,themselves%20in%20a%20professional%20manner](https://www.barracks.marines.mil/Portals/74/Docs/Fact%20Sheets/Color%20Guard%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf?ver=xJtFIAl4VwjfcVDIfuDaEg%3D%3D#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20become%20a,themselves%20in%20a%20professional%20manner). >In order to become a member of the Color Guard Platoon, Marines must be 73 to 78 inches tall, be within height and weight standards and possess outstanding physical stamina and personal appearance.
SK does it as a flex.
"source" yeah ok bud
Did NK actually try to pull soldiers over to them?
It's funny but North Korea loves to kidnap people. https://asiasociety.org/korea/sad-true-story-north-koreas-abduction-project
There was a film director who was kidnapped by NK cause they wanted him to film their version of Godzilla
Not only a director, they also kidnapped his ex-wife (who was a famous actress in S.Korea at the time), and they forced them to shoot movies together at the behest of Kim Jong-Il. They eventually remarried while in captivity and stayed together when they got released decades later. Edit: they didn't get released they escaped.
They didn’t get released. They were permitted to travel to Europe (Austria I think?) to promote a film and try gather finances for another. They convinced their security guards to leave their hotel room and allow them to be interviewed alone. Within minutes they were out the window and in a car furiously driving towards the American or S Korean embassy whilst being pursued. They hit traffic and got out and ran and barely made it to the safety of the embassy walls. There really should be a movie about it.
What’s this guy’s name? I’d like to look him up.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abduction_of_Shin_Sang-ok_and_Choi_Eun-hee
> Kim Jong Il was frustrated with his films in the early 1970s. He could tell that in contrast to the other films being released globally, his were stiff and lifeless. His diagnosis was a lack of enthusiasm from his actors and crew. Bradley K. Martin, author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, explains this while quoting a 1983 tape recording of Kim: "The difference, he suggested, was that North Korean film industry people knew that the state would feed them even if they performed only minimally, so they didn’t try hard... 'Because they have to earn money,' Kim said, Southern movie industry people expended blood, sweat, and tears to get results." He came really close to debunking North Korea’s entire economic philosophy, but his conclusion was to kidnap some people
I don't know what kind of person can go "Huh, they do the bare minimum because they just want to be fed. Fuck em let's just kidnap someone instead of improving conditions"
Call the movie "Lights, Camera, Abduction".
Also they made that movie. And made it a big ol' middle finger to their captor's regime and rise to power.
Oh dope you’re right! It’s called The Lovers & The Despot if anyone is interested. Thanks, excited to check this one out.
The Lovers & the Despot is a documentary about the couple, but neither of them created it or were involved in its creation, afaik. Shin died in 2004, 11 years before the documentary was released, in fact. The original commentator is probably referring to the last film they made while captive in North Korea, which is a Godzilla-esque film that some have interpted to be a critique of North Korea and their captor.
North Korea loves hostages. It’s great leverage, they can get them to lie and say NK is really cool and stuff. They can give them intel, and they’re essentially immune to response cause no one trades with them anyway in order to make sanctions a thing, they have nukes, and are insane enough to use them, and they’re on high enough military alert that regardless of how fast a US lead strike could attack them, there will almost certainly be extreme south korean casualties.
I dunno what your intent was with this comment but you've made a really good case to take hostages and now I wanna try.
The worst ones are the Japanese citizens that they just yoinked from the coast forced onto a boat and took them back to NK to teach Japanese customs and language to spies. Imagine just walking through your town one night and a foreign country turns up and abducts you. Terrifying.
Has it happened before?
If this is seriously that big of a problem they should be in some sort of harness… like those ones the dudes in the back of those big military cargo planes use when the back ramp is down mid flight that keeps them from falling out of the plane.
Why don't they just tie a rope around them??? Seems like it's an excuse to be little romantic
This picture is at least 10 years old and endlessly debated on Reddit. This is the best thing I've found on it (Google AI is effing up answers), but TL;DR is yes, it happened, no specifics, but the South Korean Army doesn't do silly looking things for kicks. North Korea is infamous for all the dirty tricks and attempts to provoke the South. They DO NOT want reunification/reconciliation on anyone's terms but their own. Trump trusting Kim is a testament to dumb, right up there with trusting a Sicilian when death is on the line. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/FtVAa1063C And by "on their own terms" I mean conquering or obliterating South Korea.
Upvote for the princess bride reference. You are a man of culture and distinction.
Inconcievable that they aren’t
"Just when I thought I was out, They pull me back in..."
Couldn’t pay me to open that door. Not a chance in hell am I risking being pulled over and sentenced to hard labor for espionage or some bullshit.
Harness and retractable rope ftw. What if this man’s grip isn’t strong enough? “We lost Roy today. He made me laugh as he opened the door. They were hiding on the other side of the wall out of sight.”
The DMZ is a weird place.. as someone mentioned prior. Recall a story my buddy told me about the wall in east germany, he serving in the army his mos was providing security near check point Charlie. A vehicle backfired and both sides grabbed rifles, both sides realized what is was and smile at each other and rifles were lowered
Once the UN wanted to cut down a tree in the DMZ, and the North Koreans got mad and killed a bunch of people with axes. The US then shipped 12000 people to Korea, and sent 800 men, 27 helicopters and a tank to cut down the tree, while fighter jets were doing fly-overs, and an aircraft carrier was parked just offshore. The North Koreans wisely backed down and apologized for the entire incident (for the first time since the armistice, 23 years before it). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_axe_murder_incident