A look inside North Korea

Pyongyang view from the apartments of Kim Il Sung University. pic.twitter.com/c5nes2vmNj

— Vũ Nam Phương (@vunamphuong) May 30, 2018

If we all can dispel with our previous indoctrination about who and what North Korea actually is - then maybe the coming 'negotiations' (and race for the Nobel Peace Prize) will go much smoother.

Each of us should make it a goal to not allow ourselves to fall for the steady spew of demonization that comes from Washington and the western media whenever Mr. Big (and his minions) don't get their way in the world.

I recall going to Cuba for the first-time back in the early 1990's and came home in tears when I stepped out of the Miami, Florida airport into the hustle and bustle of capitalist life.  Cuba was human - people on bikes, hitching rides, working with Oxen on farms, playing baseball, taking wonderful care of mentally ill people (unlike anything I'd seen before, or since), dancing, singing, and dancing some more.

The 'un-American' way means there is more spice and variety in the world.  It's wonderful to be in a country that is not homogenized and doesn't have a street full of 7-11, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway and more of the usual rot.

North Korea's crime is that it wants to survive as an independent socialist state.  Much like Cuba it has been blocked, militarily encircled, threatened, undermined, and disrupted since July 27, 1953 when the Armistice (ceasefire) was signed.   After nearly two years of negotiations, diplomats from the US, North Korea, and China reached agreement on an armistice to end the 'UN peace action' in Korea without a formal peace treaty.

Today North Korea demands a full peace treaty with the US, recognition of their sovereignty and full trading rights like any other nation.  When that day comes there can be peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula.

Bruce