Alexandre Fenelon wrote:
> The absurd doctrine o self suficiency in a 20 million inhabitants
> country and the massive military spendings ruined the North Korean economy.
And just why, I wonder, was all that military spending needed? And if you were surrounded by U.S., Russia, & China, self-sufficiency, whatever its difficulties, might be rather attractive. Moreover, when they did slip and take on too much foreign debt, they had the courage (which no other third-world nation has had) to simply repudiate that debt rather than become a fiefdom of the IMF. It was the policy of self-sufficiency that made that possible.
I know very little about North Korea -- just a bit more than do most of the people who seem to enjoy yelping about the supposed evils of that state. "Ancient Despotism" (whatever that means precisely) probably is in the 20th century far preferable for a small third world country than submission to the World Bank/IMF. And as usual, "Stalinist" is simply a cover for red-baiting that dare not name itself.
Carrol