Trump declares Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea a state sponsor of terrorism— More corny US propaganda

By សតិវ​ អតុ 

Just a few days ago President Donald Trump designated Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea as a state sponsors of terrorism,  just as Iran, Sudan and Syria. This sounds real menacing. I mean who are all these terrorists, or terrorist groups that North Korea is supporting? As it turns out, the whole "state sponsorship of terrorism" is a bit of a joke. There are no terrorist groups supported by North Korea. While terrorism is  real problem by real groups that actually commit acts of terrorism (such as the ISIS, or Islamic State) in which real people get killed or injured, many of these states don't actually support such terrorism.

It turns out that the label is just used to embarrass those countries. The US wants to punish these regimes for not going along with the wishes of the US Empire. These countries stand in the way of the US imperialist' agenda. So they get the label of supporting terrorist groups. Such labels have been around a long time. At times the US has had real reasons for designating countries as sponsors of terrorism. Some countries actually do that. But in the last 30 years that label has been used mostly just to try and embarrass countries the US just doesn't like. The "state sponsor of terrorism" is just a propaganda tool.

Most of us realize that North Korea is not the workers paradise it portrays itself as. But at the same time it is not the hell hole that the US portrays it as either. Just look at the vivid propagandistic blather that The Washington Post portrays that recent defector soldier from the North:

"The brazen escape of a North Korean soldier has provided another glimpse at life inside Kim Jong Un's despotic regime, under which people are cut off from the outside world."

The US mainstream news media can't muster up enough bad accusations to make life in North Korea look miserable. But the reality is that life goes on, as normal as can be expected in that country. The people there may not have the latest iphones or computers, but they do have the pride of coming from a country that is not under the thumb of US imperialism. South Korea is practically a colony of the US. Without US troops the South could never defend itself. The North has to pay for its own defense while the South can spend a lot of money on building up a massive peace time economy since the US pays for most of that country's defenses. There are a lot of bright lights and flashing electronic toys in the south, but the payoff is that the US almost runs that country. All its leaders realize that South Korea depends heavily on the US for its very existence and no leader would dare to offend the US Empire.  

 

Pix from News.com.au.