Talk:North Korea/Archive 5

message: Cowardly redirects to this page. I don't know how to change it though...
:Taken care of.  Thanks for pointing that out. --Ionius Mundus 05:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  cowardly 

message: I just finished citing a boatload of sentences. Why don't the people who put these tags actually do some fact cheking themselves? It took me seconds to find the verify the facts on google (no, I didn't just find site that copy Wikipedia.) The only trouble I had was trying to link to the Ministry of Unification's statistics page. The url stays at the homepage for some reason. Click "facts and figures", and then "Statistics on North Korea", and the GDP will be on that page. There are links to downloading the PDF and DOC files, but I'm not Wiki-knowledgable enough to figure out how to post them instead. I think I'll remove those tags now.--Planetary 06:30, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Only 1 "Cite needed" left 

message: The economy section both provides specific figures and says that the north korean government doesn't release economic figures, where are these figures comming from.  How is it possible for instance to say that military spending is 25% of the north's GNP if the norths GNP, military spending, and government budget, are all unreleased?  NoJoyInMudville 04:25, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Article links to CIA world factbook, which doesn't seem to support the 25% figure.  According to the CIA summary, military spending ~ $5B, GDP ~ $40b, therefore more like 1/8 than 1/4.  As for the source of the estimates, I imagine they are based on satellite observations, reporting of imports / exports by other countries, the observed standard of living, the reports of North Korean emigrants, etc. --Reuben 00:19, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

text: Best would be to give a range of estimates with sources.  Ideally, all of this should first go into the separate article on the economy of North Korea, with a summary here. --Reuben 22:22, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Economy 

message: I believe this section, in attempting to be NPOV gives too much credance and reliability towards the government of the DPRK.  The section reads as though it aims to rubbish claims of the widespread human rights violations in North Korea by WP:NPOV#Undue_weight.  The only people denying the total absence of any form of basic human rights in the DPRK are the government themselves.  There appears to be plenty of evidence for North Korea being a tyranny charaterised by brutality and poverty, yet none for it being the workers' paradise it claims to be.  To trust the KCNA as a valid source is ridiculous anyway. Those who have risked their lives to smuggle out footage of life in the dprk deserve to be taken much more seriously than a brutal oligarchy.  Its akin to holocaust denial to deny the present situation in north korea Cxk271 14:10, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  As (acting) representative of the government of the DPRK here on Wikipedia, it seems that it is unneccessary to discuss the validity of the so-called "wave of defectors", the testimony delivered by so-called DPRK defectors, some anonymous, others identified (Hwang Jang Yop), some glitchy footage here, some (possibly) arranged and manipulated photography there. My point is simply that NPOV or "Undue Weight" are limitations of Wikipedia which should be taken into consideration. When noting the predominant western view of the DPRK, one should include that very little fact, and very much speculation has gone into forming the picture of the DPRK that exist today. It doesn't help the image of the country that there was a famine 1995-2002, but our government never denied that this happened. The KCNA is valid in the DPRK, just like Fox News is valid in the US. Think carefully about this. Then consider avoiding too much righteousness and politics in Wikipedia, how about writing truthful articles, respecting information for what it is, the objective information about a topic knows no judgement of information other than to carefully build that information on sources that are reliable, credible and verifyable. In this way, the official news agency of the country should not be ignored, or one doesn't create an article about the reality of the country, but another country's perception of that country. If you go live in the DPRK for 5 years, then ask yourself who is more realistic, the KCNA or CNN? --Bjornar 22:42, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Human Rights in North Korea 

message: north korea isn't a democracy yet its name democratic people' republic of korea is awkARD
I see what you're saying. Even if other political parties exist, they can't often compete with the workers party. Kim Jong-il and the workers party are praised in every media outlet there is. I seriously doubt the other parties get a fair share of 'air time'. We also don't know very much about the way they are allowed to campaign, if at all.
::DPR Korea is democratic within the party structures, they have a parliament (Supreme People's Assembly), which meets annually to approve bills and legislation (this may largely be rubber stamping). now3d 2006-10-05 15:52 GMT
:::True. It's a de jure democracy, while being a de facto dictatorship (naturally the DPRK's supporters would dispute this). Walton monarchist89 14:34, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  north korea a democracy