With
the 2014 Asian Games set to begin in Incheon in September,
the North Koreans initially proposed to send up to 150 cheerleaders
to the games. At the time, the total cost of hosting the
cheerleaders and the North Korean athletes were estimated to be
around ₩1.5
billion (US$1.45 million).
Since
then, however, the North Koreans have declared that they would send
up to 350
athletes and 350 cheerleaders. Of course, this does not count
the bodyguards and the political minders that the North Koreans will
most likely send to ensure that none of their athletes or
cheerleaders gets any ideas about defecting.
If
South Korea ends up paying for the North Korean delegation as it has
in the past during the days of the so-called Sunshine
Policy, then I have a feeling that it would cost more than the
aforementioned ₩1.5 billion.
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During
the negotiations about how many delegates the North Korean government
was planning to send (Does it strike anyone else that it is ludicrous
for the meeting to have taken place at all?), the South Korean
government, which seems to have grown something that resembles a
backbone, did not play the game that the North Koreans wanted. A
South Korean government official reportedly said:
At
past international sporting events, it was customary to provide all
accommodation free of charge for the North Koreans, but we decided to
adhere to international practice this time. And under Olympic Council
of Asia regulations, each country is responsible for the expenses
incurred by its athletes and cheering squads, although accommodation
subsidies are provided for underdeveloped countries that are sending
a small group of athletes.
On
top of that, South Korean government
officials told the North Koreans that their flags that they wanted to
bring were too
big and could become a safety issue.
When
the North Koreans were told that they were not going to get a free
lunch and that their flags were going to be the same size as everyone
else, as per their typical behavior, the North Koreans huffed and
they puffed and said something about how
South Korea displayed
an “improper attitude” to the talks.
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The
fact that the North Koreans even brought up these ridiculous demands
should not come as a surprise to anyone.
North
Korea is a nation of thugs
– a country that was founded on the principle of taking everything
from everyone and giving it to the Supreme Leader. What is money to
the North Koreans? To everyone else who lives in capitalist(ish)
economies, money is a tool of exchange – it is what people use to
trade with others.
And
we have to keep in mind that unless forced to do so, no one in the
world trades down. People always trade up. What that means is
before I decide to pay for a product, I will always make sure that
the product will be of higher value to me than the money that I would
give up in exchange for the product. When we accept money in
payment for our effort, we do so only on the conviction that we will
exchange it for the product of the effort of others. In other words,
people trade value for value. That is what money is used for.
And
where does our effort, the goods that we produce, come from? They
don't magically appear out of thin air. We have to use our minds to
create something that is worth selling. If we didn't use our minds,
we wouldn't be able to create a single thing.
In
sum, money is the tool that we use to exchange with each other the
efforts of our minds.
That
is why money is sacred. That is why we hate those who steal and
commit fraud. Thieves, through no merit of their own with the
exception of thuggery and skulduggery, take from the rest of us what
we have rightfully earned by the sweat of our brow. That is why in a
civilized society, thieves are shamed and punished (or at least ought to be).
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What
do North Korean officials know about money? They certainly know that
it is something that they need to buy
luxury cars, French cognac, Uzbek caviar, and Danish pork. But
what do they know about earning money? Why go through the trouble of
earning money when they can just get easy riches by printing
counterfeit money or producing
crystal meth or selling
women as sex slaves?
They
have no rational minds to speak of – only power lust and the desire
for unearned greatness. They wouldn't even know how to begin to
think of something as being sacred. They are unthinking brutes, and
the only good thing that they could ever possibly do for themselves
and the rest of the world is to commit mass suicide.
However,
now that I think about it, I think I may have been far too charitable
to people who live south of the DMZ when I said that everyone
who lives in capitalist(ish) economies knows that money is a tool of
exchange. There are clearly some people who not only lack that
knowledge, but also lack anything that resembles a brain altogether.
Case
in point,
The
Korea Times
published an editorial
about how Seoul should have been the
one to initiate this unbelievable fiasco by having
invited North Korea to participate in a regional sports festival in
South Korea and offering to pay the cost. The
editorial goes on to say that
Seoul needs to be more magnanimous and tolerant, no longer citing
“international standards” or “popular sentiment.”
Never
mind that the North Korean government is responsible
for numerous
crimes against humanity as well as against South Korean sailors,
marines,
soldiers,
civilians,
and diplomats.
As far as The
Korea Times'
editorial staff is concerned, Seoul ought to be more magnanimous and
tolerant toward these thugs who have threatened to attack us AND actually attacked us on numerous occasions.
When faced with such incredible stupidity, I suppose there really is only one thing that can be said.
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