Visiting the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Korea left me with a lot of “whys.” I am not going need Bill to rescue me due to my pursuit of the answers of these whys. Instead I’ll google Kim Jong-Il from a safe distance.
We arrive at the USO base at 7 am and promptly find out that Jimmy’s shoewear would not work if he had to “lun.” Our tour guide was an older Korean man who pelvic thrusted/ lunged while he talked, was barely understandable, and took confusing sentence pauses. Eg:
“it would…………………. be dangerous if you lun.”
However, it is true that North Korea and South Korea could break their cease fire at anytime. The country that is starving (there’s more, but I don’t know much more) and the country that loves dominatrics-like boots, plastic surgery, freedom of religion and kim chee could be thrust back into full out war at anytime. The last skirmish, about 5 soldiers died, occurred a few decades ago and it could happen, then escalate. An underground tunnel from North Korea to about 30 miles outside of Seoul was discovered in 2003. So Kim hasn’t given it a rest yet.
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- North Korean males have to be in army for 8 years. South Koreans must enlist for 2 years
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- Jimmy had to change his birks in for plastic running shoes so he would be ready to “lun” if North Korea brought the heat
North Korea owns the world’s biggest flag: weighing in at 600lbs. Surrounding this high flyer just on the other side of the DMZ sits several two dimensional mansions, perhaps to lure South Koreans in, but I don’t think anyone believes it’s the life over in the North. The average citizen makes about $30 USD a month ( after taxation and redistribution). It is hard to say how far that would go in North Korea, but regardless it does not provide much. Hennessy reported that Kim Jong-Il was their biggest purchaser in 1993 and 1994. It is estimated that he buys $750,000 annually. So… Kim’s liquor budget equals the yearly income of 83 North Koreans.
One thing North and South Korea can come together on is cheap labor. A giant factory complex was built by South Koreans and run by South Korean bosses who are bussed in each day. 95% of the labor is provided by North Korea. The factory makes everything from shoes to pans. Most of the goods are bussed back into South Korea, where they are probably sold for the monthly salary of the person who made the garment or cooking utensil.
