As tensions escalate between North Korea and the United States of America, how much do we as Americans understand about the North Korean culture, its people and government, and vice versa?
I watch a ton of videos on YouTube and found the following video of great interest, What North Koreans Think of America [Full] | ASIAN BOSS. This video examines what a couple of young men experienced growing up in North Korea, followed by their defections to South Korea, and how that enlightened their views of the world, and of the current conflict with the United States.
North Korea is surely one of the most isolated countries in the world and one of the poorest, but the regime there has survived for decades despite the hardships they’ve encountered. What remains to be determined is how long they can stay on their current course in the face of global sanctions.
Troops need food
They may have millions of soldiers in their military, but as one of the defectors said, he feels sorry for them because they’re starving. To effectively defend against aggression, or to wage war on a mega-power like the United States, you not only need technology, but supply lines to back that up (and that includes food).
Air superiority
The initial flurry of rockets in any conflict needs to be followed closely by air superiority, because without that, remaining infrastructure becomes instantly vulnerable. The recent war with Iraq highlighted exactly that. It would be a shame if rockets did start raining down on South Korea though, as millions of North and South Koreans would lose their lives.
Most North Koreans have no clue what Americans are really like
What the western world, and I’m talking about civilians, doesn’t fully grasp is that the North Korean populate have essentially been institutionalized for decades, closed off the rest of the world. Most don’t even know what the American flag looks like, or that Titanic is an American film.
They’ve been told for generations that South Korea and the United States is pure evil. From the time that children start school, the hallways in their schools are filled with posters of American war atrocities. They don’t know anything else.
Fortunately, some information from the rest of the world does filter in, under the radar. The penalties are severe though for those who are caught with western propaganda. That could result in everything from community service to being executed in the public square. One of the defectors witnessed his first public execution when he was only twelve years old, and that left a lasting impression on him.
Cultural differences
When asked, one of those lads said what surprised him most about Americans was that they didn’t judge people by the clothes they wore, and that they were genuinely friendly. In Asia, people tend to cling to their privacy much more so than in America. In another video, a young lady mentioned that Americans tend to invade personal privacy space, implying that they stand too close when talking to each other, or others.
Do Americans really have big noses?
What really surprised me was their observation that Americans had big noses. I didn’t see that coming, and started to wonder just how big my nose was. Aside from that, they surmised that Americans are generally big, and sometimes used that to intimidate Asians, as they are generally of smaller stature. On that, I can see where they’re coming from.
Cuisine
And then we come to food. Does anyone reading this know what Kimchi is? Kimchi is a traditional Korean dish of fermented vegetables, the most common of which are napa cabbage and daikon radish. I don’t even like American cabbage, but that’s another story. Koreans quite often eat Kimchi with their pizza. Get this – they also love to eat pickles with pizza. Say what? I’d venture to bet that pizza and beer is the most popular combination in the United States.
Take your finger off of that trigger
The current state of conflict between the United States and North Korea needs to be resolved diplomatically, for the sake of humanity. Unfortunately, the United States cannot allow itself to fall prey to attacks, and Kim Jong Un has shown that he will pull the trigger, as he already has in launching rockets on a civilian island (resulting in four fatalities) and in sinking a South Korean naval vessel in 2010.
An opening for diplomacy
On the positive side, Kim Jong Un did blink by not ordering the attack on Guam on August 15th as speculated. I don’t think there’s any doubt that President Trump would have retaliated immediately. That’s not to say that the risk of conflict has diminished, but we’re all still here, and Seoul is not in ruins, and North Korea is still on the map.
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