North Korea bans money, and soccer

What a pleasant understated reaction.

 

WHO ARE YA?
WHO ARE YA?
WHO ARE YA?









happy?

 

thats awesome. kim jong is the biggest IRL troll of all time. epic win kim jong, epic win.

 

Meh, a little better.

I was looking into the allegation about the football, and it seems to have come from one source. Never the best indication something is true.
It might be that state TV only shows games with the North Korean football team involved.
For the amount of viewers, they probably can't afford to show the whole thing.

This seems unlikely:

"highlights of North Korea's victories."
"Games between other nations will be banned from the airwaves, while any highlights of North Korea's matches will be heavily edited to ensure that they look like the better team."

...and The Sun (a trashy UK tabloid) stating:
"All advertising in the stadiums will also be blurred out – along with opposition fans"

Perhaps the advertising...but the crowds unlikely too.

Seems to me It was a slow news day.

 

I don't think you're real familear with north korea.

 

I am!

What would you like to know young tadpole.

 

I was just saying, whoever reported it, north korea is known to be pretty oppressive for the hell of it.

 

North Korea is beyond repressive. East Germany was repressive. Saudi Arabia is repressive. North Korea is like something out of a dystopian novel, a level of insanity that can normally only be dreamed of, yet it's real and happening right this second.

 

It was just a thought.
I can't remember this occurring previously.
Blurring out the opposing crowd seems unlikely, though...you can't believe that.
We shall have to see.

 

it doesn't seem unlikely to me, for north korea... this is NOT a free country we're talking about, they are some of the most isolated people in the world.

 

I appreciate it isn't a free country and it certainly is fairly isolated..
That also means information is difficult to get out too.
To a degree it does feel like journalists have gone: "What are those guys going to do during the world cup...," and then come up with their own ideas about what may occur.
It doesn't all sound that preposterous (well, apart from blurring out the crowds) and there lies the problem.
We're almost expecting certain authoritarian restrictions to be applied.

It might help if the articles used to back these ideas up had some sort of source material.
I've looked around and not even fifa have made any press releases/comments anything relating to these stories (If they have I'd like to read it).
So, I'm keeping an open mind about this and if it turns out to be true I will say: "Ok, fair enough."...and others can say:"Told you so."

 

Fifa wouldn't get involved, this is politics. The North Korean team is allowed to play, Fifa has no authority on whether it gets seen or not. The problem with reporting North Korean news, aside from what can be observed by tourists and diplomats, and what is said from defectors. Aside from that any other news comes from informants within the country or foreign reporters working there illegally, either way both groups have their lives literally at risk, including their families. Names are never mentioned.

 

Also at a time when NK is facing food shortages, this currency "reform to fight inflation" has had the following results:


You can read the full Good Friends report here.
The Daily NK keeps a running graph of price and exchange rate information. See it here.

As with all hyperinflation economies, North Koreans are reportedly turning to barter. According to the AFP:
Seoul-based Internet newspaper DailyNK also reported last week that bartering has made a comeback.
“For now, state-designated prices are still not public, so people think that selling goods for cash now would mean making a loss,” it quoted a defector who talked to his family in the North as saying.
“Therefore, bartering has become the main method of trading for the people.”
The defector said the barter value of products is decided according to their value in old money, with trade carried out privately to avoid detection.
Before the redenomination, one fish was worth 1,500 won and a kilogram of corn was 900 won, so people barter one fish for a little less than two kilograms of corn, DailyNK said.
​

 

I do think fifa gets involved in politics.
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/federation/president/news/newsid=795916.html
I'm not suggesting they have any authority to say what another country does, but they can make comments on countries decisions.
They can also decide to exclude a country from playing: Yugoslavia was excluded from the 1994 USA World Cup for their role in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

I know.
So it makes sense that things can be true AND false.

Like I said: "I'm keeping an open mind about this and if it turns out to be true I will say: "Ok, fair enough."...and others can say:"Told you so." "