Uncouth Reflections

Blowhard, Esq. writes:

Yet again, tensions are flaring between the North and South on the Korean peninsula. Following a nuclear test in North Korea in February, the West increased its sanctions and then the U.S. flew a couple stealth bombers over South Korea just to let the DPRK know who’s boss. Kim Jong Un has said the armistice that suspended hostilities with the South in 1953 is no longer valid and “war is probably just hours away.” Although I’m sure it’s no fun if you’re a resident of South Korea or Hawaii, this sort of saber-rattling from the North has become almost routine over the past few years.

Are any UR readers interested in North Korea? Me, I’m fascinated. I was born in the 70s, so the Cold War was my introduction to geopolitics. Whereas today’s young people fret over catastrophic climate change, my childhood was marked by anxiety over mutually assured destruction and nuclear fallout. My first globe, which I still have, says Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on it. (Hey, I just discovered you can watch The Day After in full on YouTube. That movie freaked me the fuck out.)

So given this background, anything having to do with communism, nuclear war, or Orwellian dystopias always exerts a pull on my imagination. Consequently, about a year and half ago, I burned through a number of books and other materials on North Korea so I thought I’d share a few impressions and throw together a little guide to some of the better resources on this most peculiar of countries.

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