38th parallel-

[duckkillerclyde]

Coming up on the anniversary for Korea. My grandfather (both actually) were marines. My maternal grandfather fought in the south pacific. My paternal grandfather went to Korea.

Any service men or women in here?

I know JIm was in the Army? Obviously Olly. Anyone else?

[assateague]

Being on the DMZ is a humbling experience. I went on patrols regularly inside the DMZ with our REMBASS teams who had to go change batteries regularly, and they were required to take at least one linguist to help avoid "incidents". Both sides run patrols, even though neither side is supposed to. More than a couple times we'd run into some Northies, and a couple times it escalated to pulling charging handles (both sides understood the ramifications of an AD) but never any real shots, thank goodness. The biggest pain about it was having to have everything dummy-corded to you with 550 cord. Everything. Canteens, canteen caps, compasses, first aid kit, smooth pouches, EVERYTHING. Felt like damn spiderman, and it took some getting used to to be able to move quietly.

[duckkillerclyde]

My grandfather brought back a few photos from Korea. I don't know if these are Chinese or Korean. Maybe you know Jim?

[duckkillerclyde]

I do not know who these men are but the are the only non-oriental men in all of my photos

[duckkillerclyde]

What does this sign read jim?


sorry if you can't see it well enough. Those are human heads in the boxes

[duckkillerclyde]

Thank you for protecting me and my freedom. I know a lot of people my age don't realize the cost.


"What form of government have you given us?"-

"A republic, madam, if you can keep it," Benjamin Franklin


"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants"- Thomas Jefferson

[assateague]

It's Korean, but the bottom half is missing. Probably just a continuation of the speed limit sign.

The first ones are mostly Chinese, except for the last one. The villagers are Korean. The NKPA wore "floppier" hats during the war, although some wore the smaller, stiffer Chinese lids. There's an entire museum in Pyongyang dedicated to American "atrocities", 99.9% of which are made up, but those people are so brainwashed they don't know the difference.

[FlintRiverFowler]

I watched a documentary about north korea, probably the best i've ever seen even though it was done by the very liberal VICE magazine. The journalist was fearless and really showed how screwed up that place is.
It was called the vice guide to north korea.

[assateague]

I was an interrogator/strategic debriefer, and talked to captured infiltrators, defectors, agents and the like. You would not believe the level of brainwashing they exhibit. At times, it's beyond comprehension.

[duckkillerclyde]

what did you do with the defectors?

[jehler]

what did you do with the defectors?

glass of wine, steak dinner maybe a cigar ad brandy afterwords I'm sure....

If a vet wants to offer up stories im all for it. Fishing for them is in bad taste

[assateague]

what did you do with the defectors?

There's a place in Seoul where everyone goes. I don't know if the name is still classified or not, so I'll leave it alone. Everyone is kept there for a specified amount of time, until their stories check out (in the case of defectors), or until they're deemed no longer a threat (in the case of agents or infiltrators). It's run by the ROKs, and we have access. If certain people are deemed to be "unreformable" or "incorrigible", other things happen, that I'm not going to go into here.

In all cases, they are all assigned a minder for life, and they are never without this person, just in case. (some defectors are free to live their lives without minders, but they have to check in from time to time) I've had many NKPA guys who refused to believe Seoul was real- they thought it was some sort of elaborate movie set, designed to get them to talk. A few had complete nervous breakdowns due to the sensory overload. It's hard enough understanding the North Korean dialect- it's even harder when they become a babbling idiot. They have been convinced that one meal a day is normal, and that TVs and radios only have one station, because "that's all there is and we know because we're the only ones who have them. Dear Leader invented them and have them to his people". I've talked to people who escaped from the reeducation camps as recently as 1996, and the stories sound like 1930, complete with ox carts, wooden farm tools, and rats and pine needle soup for dinner (although this is also a pretty standard diet for those NOT in reeducation camps). If you're at all interested, I'd highly recommend a book called The Fishbowls of Pyongyang. True story. Frightening story.

Jehler wasn't too far off. I used to take mine out to lunch quite often, and have "talks". They didn't want to "talk" about what I wanted to "talk" about, they could go back to their cell, and I'd take the afternoon off. No skin off my ass. I should note that this was on the strategic level, where we weren't really after time sensitive information, more the "big picture" stuff. Tactical
Interrogations were done in the field, down and dirty. No wining and dining there. Just more "expedient" measures.

I could talk about this stuff all day. It was a pretty fun period in my life, and eye-opening at times.

[assateague]

Sorry- NKPA=North Korean People's Army.

[duckkillerclyde]

How accurate is Nat Georaphic "inside North Korea" documentary?

[assateague]

It's very good, and very accurate. There's another one (might be part of the same one) where an Indian or Pakistani eye surgeon travelled to north Korea to teach them how to do cataract surgery. He snuck in journalists and cameras, and it's pretty good as well.

If you Google Earth Pyongyang, you can zoom in and see the huge deserted streets and boulevards, because there are no cars. I know it played a big part of my life for several years, but it's pretty fascinating when you look into a little bit. They take the concept of an Orwellian society to all new levels. Hell, they actually believe original Dear Leader was a tigers offspring "hatched" in a mountaintop lake. Yes, most of them actually believe that.