Why North Korea Soon will Power Your Ipad/Iphone and Cell Phone...

North Korea has over 6 trillion dollars in mineral wealth. All of it is in rare earth elements. Its the stuff that powers all of our cell phones, batteries, and is in all the wonderful stuff Apple makes. Because China loves to shut off the source of this stuff when they fight with other nations, like Japan, over a whole bunch of Islands that have goats on them...North Korea is being looked at a savior for these type of elements. So the question is: Will you still by that shiny new Ipad know North Korean slave labor made it happen?

thediplomat.com...

reply to post by travis911

Will you still by that shiny new Ipad know North Korean slave labor made it happen?

Opposed to how its currently done with poorly paid African workers?

Out of sight out of mind, i am afraid to say. People will continue buying these products unless you put a face on it. Which some are trying to do.


North Korea is also joined at the hip with China...

North korea is going to sell these metals and earn 6 Trillion Dollars !!

Originally posted by MDDoxs
reply to post by travis911

 

North Korea is also joined at the hip with ChinaChina

The China/North Korea relationship isn't nearly as tight, or as cut and dry as it's made out to be. China supports North Korea mostly because they are about the only communist nations, and are neighbors. China however is getting fed up with the North Korean refugee situation on their border. A number of times in recent years China had backed the West in trying to get North Korea to back down on things.

reply to post by travis911


Yeah sorry but it would be no different from any other product we steal from other's lands.

Slave labor creates most of the crap we buy in the West. And you may not consider somebody getting paid 8 cents a day to be slave labor, but I would disagree.

Wether or not they get to home at night is irrelevant.

~Tenth

Rare earth elements are found across the globe. Traditional mining operations like those in India, Brazil and even California couldn't compete with how cheaply China's supplying operations were, which is why they closed - not for lack of minerals, but lack of competitive edge that China's heavily subsidized mining industry receives. China does not have more rare earth elements and ores, rather it's production is so cheap, that it dominates world supplies.

A USGS study has found that the United States itself has a lot of rare earth elements - and when Chinese sources dry up, we'll be sitting pretty.

USGS. Rare Earth Elements in U.S. Not So Rare: Significant Deposits Found in 14 States

reply to post by travis911

Will you still by that shiny new Ipad know North Korean slave labor made it happen?

Why not?

If people didn't stop buying this crap when it was found that the factory that makes Ipads had to put up a net around its building to stop all the suicides I don't think a little forced labor involved with the production of their toy is going to stop them from enjoying it.

I am sure you already know this, but most people just don't give a crap. I don't see that changing anytime soon or in the distant future.

reply to post by Zaphod58

China supports North Korea mostly because they are about the only communist nations

China and North Korea are not Communist nations. You almost got a star from me, the fact is that North Korean as a Satellite state of China is important to Chna's regional ambitions. It keeps South Korean in limbo and keeps US focus on the region (and the pressure up) as to permit gains in other areas like Taiwan and the recent conflict in South China Sea. It is also useful to use North Korea as a puppet in some interesting actions, from arms smuggling, drug traffic and counterfeiting of currency.

reply to post by Panic2k11


No, but it's just like the US. If you ask people here what kind of govt we have, 95% will tell you democracy. That and I had a brain fart and couldn't remember what their govts were called. Regardless, the point stands that they aren't as tight, or as unified as people assume they are.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Yes but international relations are a zero sum game, that means that even if they could be closer they are the closest to each others they have making your distinction a bit unimportant even dangerous if one takes that lack of more connectivity as significant...

Of course that we all understand that NK is a satellite of China and that the relation is not balanced China takes more from it than NK in fact the Western nations (and allies in the region) even act as a glue that keeps them strictly aliened, by interests and in the case of NK for survivability (much like Cuba was forced to go into the Soviet sphere and why Castro was forced to declare Cuba communist). This is like a chess game peaces are prevented to move freely and restricted on what they can do, even Superpowers like the Queen in Chess has to fallow some rules ...

reply to post by Panic2k11


Oh absolutely. The only reason I even brought it up is because everyone thinks that they are super tight and China will always back NK.

Originally posted by Panic2k11
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

China supports North Korea mostly because they are about the only communist nations

China and North Korea are not Communist nations. You almost got a star from me

Not sure why people get so precious over the term communist as some sort of "pure" term- nothing is pure in any form on earth, particularly governance, whether it is capitalist, democratic, fascist, communist whatever

Still reasonable to say that North Korea is communist in many aspects (as well as nationalist, as contradictory as that may sound)

I've noticed this quibbling over "communist" many times before on these forums, can only presume that some people are sold on communism in words and book form, but don't like some of the effects when tried out in reality

reply to post by blueorder


I'm picky on the use of the term because in general Americans use the terms in a very particular way, even the term socialism, in what I attribute to an effective program of propaganda and indoctrination. Americans in particular like to dilute and even twist some important terms and distinctions in regards to political discourse that prevents having any meaningful dialog, most of the time. Even the term "consensus" in my view has been so adulterated that one need to tell most English speaking person that consensus in most other languages means strict consensus (that no one has stated an objection or opposition), this type of "lost of significance" or exactitude is extremely bad when a significant dialog needs to take place...


Noam Chomsky on US Libertarian Party
Noam Chomsky discourse about how political dialog on the USA is nearly impossible by the corruption of terms. Focuses on libertarians in the USA, conservativism (he states to be one, but in the USA the term has a distinct meaning) and discusses superficially Adam Smith's free markets definition.

I dont care who makes it, as long as it works...

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Panic2k11

 

Oh absolutely. The only reason I even brought it up is because everyone thinks that they are super tight and China will always back NK.

China is NK's benefactor. That said, they would sacrifice the Koreans in a heartbeat if it ment Chinese stability was on the line.

Do you understand?

reply to post by yourmaker


I understand a lot better than most people. I actually pay attention and study the region when events are happening there.

The OP´s story is interesting. Not only from a North Korean perspective but also because a united Korea would represent a considerable factor on the international arena. A nation of 78 million people with the largest standing army in the world and rich on minerals as well.