Years ago before the collapse of the Soviet Union, I lived in Goettingen, Germany which was only about 20 km from the old East/West German border. On several occasions, I travelled east and had the opportunity to see the "Worker's Paradise" up close and personal. The people who lived in the western parts of East Germany were under no delusions about living in a giant concentration camp. They had family in West Germany and could pick up television broadcasts from West Germany (many of them were addicted to American sitcoms and the BBC). Most of the people in the Soviet block that I talked to were convinced that Communism would never collapse. The story that I heard more than once was Communism (Socialism) so corrupted the basic vitality of a culture that it became incapable of politcal reform. People who tried to change the system would inevitably be informed upon by their neighbors or relatives and then arrested or punished by the system. Of course we now know this story was untrue. The Soviet Empire imploded from the top down. Its leaders tried to repair the system because of some obvious flaw. However the system was so rotten that the act of attempted repair, broke something else thus making the problem worse which propagated a vicious circle to collapse.

I understand that North Korea is "different". However I suspect North Korea might suddenly implode just like the Soviet Union when its top leadership tries to do some sort of social repair (probably in the name of "national security"). I hope South Korea and the U.S. are broadcasting television and radio into North Korea. It's important the North Koreans know they're in the toilet.

Gary