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US Bans Sales of iPods To North Korea

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the kim-on-a-segway-would-be-cute dept.

gamer4Life writes "The United States has created their list of products banned from being exported to North Korea. This list includes iPods, plasma televisions and Segway electric scooters. U.S. intelligence officials who helped produce the Bush administration's list said Kim prefers Mercedes, BMW and Cadillac cars; Japanese and Harley Davidson motorcycles; Hennessy XO cognac from France and Johnny Walker Scotch whisky; Sony cameras and Japanese air conditioners."

7 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. North Korea is dark by Southpaw018 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The man drives BMWs and Caddies, rides a Harley, sips fine cognac and drinks good scotch, plays with cameras, and relaxes in air conditioning, and his country looks like this.

    I think if I could choose to stab anyone in the world in the face, he'd be a finalist for sure.

    --
    ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
    1. Re:North Korea is dark by E++99 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      as big a difference as you might think, since most ordinary North Koreans really buy into the communism thing just the same.

      No, people who are starving to death do NOT typically buy into the ideology of their government. And the propaganda only makes it worse, since the people making it are so clueless as to the lot of the common people. Such as telling about North Korean prisoners in South Korea going on hunger strikes. "Hunger strikes??? There's food in South Korean prisons?????"
  2. North Korea is missing something... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Of course, this is just for our benefit. Why do I say that, you ask? Look:

    http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/image s/dprk-dmsp-dark-old.jpg

    North Korea is DARK. Other than their dictatorial leadership, they have no electricity to power fancy toys.

  3. Re:The Good Kind of Sanctions by Thansal · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It would be a good idea if it actually worked. They were able to obtain material to make at least one atomic bomb, hardly the type of item you see at Best Buy.


    My thoughts exactly. If I was an enterprising scumbag (with the proper contacts), I would contact Kim and just have him draw up a list of what he wants, buy everything on the list, and resell them for 2-10x the cost. Does the USA check the mail to Johny Kim in N.Korea? if so then just find the country that does not and have someone send em from there.

    This does not hurt the dictator.
    --
    Do Or Do Not, There Is No Spoon, There Is Only Zuul. Everything in the above post is probably opinion.
  4. Re:The Good Kind of Sanctions by homer_ca · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Also, don't these idiots know that iPods are designed in California but built in China, and China has a land border with NK?

  5. Re:The Good Kind of Sanctions by nosfucious · · Score: 2, Interesting

    He is aware of this. I'm not sure if it was him, or his father, but North Korea has the "miliary-first" policy. The family might be in-bread and nuts, but they have a firm grip on what it takes to maintain power (Well, his dad did anyway).

    The masses might be starving, but what little oil, food, electricity, luxuries there are, all go to the military first. They are unlikely to rock the boat until the food actually starts running out, for them.

    If any civilisation is three square meals aware from anarchy, i'd North Korea is about as close as they come though. Not sure the iPod will mean much, but every little bit helps.

    --
    Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
  6. small nations on nukes by zogger · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The theory with having a few nukes and missiles to tote them is not to be able to take on superpowers and win, it is to have enough of a credible threat to avoid being invaded or bombed or regime changed. North korea could not hope to invade the US and take over, nukes or not, but if they had the ability to hit some west coast cities or hawaii-we would never attack them. As it is now, just with conventionals, they have enough destructive potential to avoid getting invaded. They could order "fire" and half an hour later most of south korea's largest cities would be poisonous rubble, just from old plain vanilla cannon fire and some cheap chemicals. You would have to pull a surprise neutron weapon saturation strike to avoid that happening, and even then they are dug in soo well a lot of them might be able to counterattack. They are well known as being heavy diggers.

    As to the consumer products ban, it is a big fat joke, that is just easily avoided by them, they will get whatever they want a few steps away from directly, that's all.