Kim Jong Un's sister is stealing the show at the Winter Olympics

[pbmus]

(CNN) If "diplomatic dance" were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un's younger sister would be favored to win gold.

With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea's presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.

"I hope Pyongyang and Seoul get closer in our people's hearts and move forward the future of prosperous unification," she said in her guest book message, referring to the capitals of North and South Korea.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/10/asia/kim-sister-olympics/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

[spanone]

1. and pence came off like an asshole.

which he is.

[Cha]

40. Yeah, he had to make

sure everyone knew it.

[FSogol]

2. Unrec. The charming privileged face of a bloodthirsty regime.

Glad she's in s. Korea, but until their slave camps close, screw pretending she is something different.

[lindysalsagal]

6. Crocodile eyes are cute, too. Until you meet up with the owner.

Their B.S. makes no sense to me. The south wants the border open, but what does the north want?

Freebies? Trade? Sanctions lifted?

I wish we could get the whole family to a "summit" and replace them while they're not looking, lock up the military and start handing out food and phones......

[bathroommonkey76]

14. The meeting with the South Korean leaders

will make for good propaganda videos for NK.

[lindysalsagal]

17. You think so? I thought he only liked to wave the missles around.

[pbmus]

8. Pence is the face of a regime with largest prison population

In the world.... 2.2 million in 2014...

Yes, North Korea leader is brutal and cruel, and should definitely end these brutal labor camps/prisons.

However, People should not throw stones when living in glass houses....

[FSogol]

32. How many slaves do we have today?

[pbmus]

34. I will not go down this rabbit hole....but suffice to say...

Slavery Isn’t a Thing of the Past
Nicholas Kristof
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
November 6, 2013
The movie “12 Years a Slave” is receiving rapturous reviews for depicting the antebellum South less as a gauzy land of elegant plantations than as the raw backdrop of monstrous brutality.

It’s terrific that, in the 21st century, we can squarely face 19th-century slavery. But let’s also acknowledge the modern versions of slavery in the world around us — and, yes, right here at home.

The United States is home to about 60,000 people who can fairly be called modern versions of slaves, according to a new Global Slavery Index released last month by the Walk Free Foundation, which fights human trafficking. These modern slaves aren’t sold in chains in public auctions, so it’s not exactly the same as 19th-century slavery. Those counted today include illegal immigrants forced to work without pay under threat of violence and teenage girls coerced to sell sex and hand all the money to their pimps.

There are, of course, many more ambiguities today than in the 1850s about how to count slaves, but the slavery index finds almost 30 million people enduring modern slavery. More are in India than in any other country, and in some countries, such as Mauritania, children are still born into slavery.

[Nevernose]

39. What do you call prisoners?

Locked up for victimless crimes, or because they were too poor to afford bail, and then forced to work in horrific conditions for little to no remuneration? Slaves.

Our paramilitary government “protectors” regularly gun down people in the streets (in order to avoid damaging their precious vehicles), they lock people up for decades when they factually KNOW the person is innocent, they lock children in prison for life (first world countries don’t do this), they boil mentally ill prisoners alive and walk away with a promotion.

Parts of America are even worse than North Korean cities: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/un_poverty_official_touring_al.html

Not to mention the fact that we are directly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world every single year. This is how superior to North Korea we are:



That’s on us. We sold the Saudis the weapons, gave our blessing, even sent our marines to die there. But keep telling yourself that the real threat to peace is a place that hasn’t been to war in seventy years.

[onethatcares]

48. you'd have to ask

the for profit prison industry how many inmates work for them and do they receive a decent wage.

Sadly,I have no answer for you .

[Egnever]

3. The contrast with Pence is stark

And in my view a complete embarrassment for us.

One wonders how much of this our reputation can take.

[dewsgirl]

5. [phone]

[guillaumeb]

4. North Korean "royalty" from a country with millions who are malnourished and imprisoned,

[lindysalsagal]

7. and those are the lucky ones....

[Wednesdays]

11. And they would still be malnourished and imprisoned

if she acted vulgar and churlish.

[guillaumeb]

16. True, but she is putting a human face on slavery.

Scarlett O'Hara.

[Voltaire2]

23. Incarceration rates for North Korea and USA

are approximately the same. We just pretend that we are not an authoritarian regime, and we certainly aren’t starving, well most of us aren’t anyway. In terms of bloodshed, we have that annual award all to ourselves these days. At least North Korea generally keeps its murderous activities within its own borders.

But seriously, South and North Korea can sort out their own affairs their own way. It is pretty much none of our business. Engagement and normalization of relations seems like a much more sensible path than escalation toward nuclear confrontation, which appears to be current US policy.

[guillaumeb]

25. Agreed.

The US is generally number 1 in incarceration rates.

[underpants]

9. Saw her at the hockey game. Smiled but didn't touch any hands.

Look the whole thing is good even if it's just a show. That's how things work.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

19. Is hockey a big deal in DPRK?

One news article claimed that one problem with the team was that the coach's instructions had to be translated into Korean, and then into North Korean. Are they two languages?

Anyway, Combined Korea lost the first match to the Swiss team.

[underpants]

44. Not sure but here's a good article on the coach Sarah Murray

http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-korea-hockey-20180208-story.html

The team members, like people in their respective countries, speak a generally common language, but bring different accents, dialects and hockey vocabulary onto the ice, making communication difficult.

---

The IOC instituted new rules about who can compete. There are requirements about a sport being a regular type event in a region or country but individuals can qualify with certain stipulations about their performance on a sport's regular circuit. This might explain how the Tongan flag bearer guy is there as a cross country skier. He must have hit the requirements. BTW he also competed in Rio in Tae Kwon Do.

These special requirements resulted from what were seen as jokes like the Jamaican bobsled team (who actually did fairly well), Eddie "the Eagle" the British ski jumper, and the Arab crown prince who decided he wanted to be in the Olympics so he chose swimming even though he didn't know how to swim.

[Sneederbunk]

10. Kim playing Dotard like a fiddle.

[pbmus]

13. This is true....and if it brings two Koreas together...

Let the band play on and on and on....

[bathroommonkey76]

15. This isn't going to bring SK & NK together

Do you honestly think Un is willing to give up power of NK? His hopes are to bring his oppressive regime over the border to South Korea - will never happen in a million years.

[lindysalsagal]

20. That's what confuses me: He knows he can't afford the south, and they'll never agree.

So, I think he wants trade or resources. Sanctions lifted. Dunno.

[guillaumeb]

26. Agreed. Kim wants currency and trade.

All else is theater.

[hexola]

43. Agree - and he can appear to have beaten the US

By Trumps domestic demise...even if he serves the full term!

Kim will still be there...Trump will be gone and Kim appears victorious!

[pbmus]

22. Way to linear ,... to answer your ?, in a word no

However, Any movement to thaw relations is a positive step forward....

[lunasun]

30. +1

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. I wonder how she views "prosperous unification"

I think it's a very Trumpian view of prosperity.

All for Kim, and Kim for Kim.

[oberliner]

18. What's with the N Korean apologist crap from CNN?

[guillaumeb]

28. Did you read the article?

From the article:

Seen by some as her brother's answer to American first daughter Ivanka Trump, Kim, 30, is not only a powerful member of Kim Jong Un's kitchen cabinet but also a foil to the perception of North Korea as antiquated and militaristic.
But as North Korea's brutal dictator, Kim's brother has ruled with an iron fist since coming to power, operating Nazi-style prison camps, repressing political opposition and even executing senior officers and his own family members in an effort to consolidate power.

Hardly apologist crap.

[oberliner]

29. Yep - it's N Korea apologist crap

Look at the first three paragraphs and title that are excerpted in the OP.

And they literally refer to her as "North Korea's Ivanka Trump".

That sentence you bolded is essentially the only negative thing in the whole piece which is replete with photos of her smiling face.

[guillaumeb]

31. The information is there to be read.

Will many only look at the pictures? Certainly.

[oberliner]

35. I just feel the presentation is a bit too kind to this awful person

Just my two cents.

[pbmus]

33. I do not believe the reporters are apologists ..

‘An apologist is a person who argues in favor of something unpopular. ... Apologists tend to be seen in a negative light, as defensive people who make excuses. The word apologist comes from the Greek word apologia, meaning "speaking in defense." Not all apologists are bad news; some just defend an unpopular idea.’

The reporters are reporting their reactions and the Korean people’s reactions to her...if South Korea wants to become more friendly with the north, then let it be so....

I do agree with another’s estimation that Kim could only want financial and fuel, food, due to our continued pressure on China and others sanctions.

My question, is it better for Koreans to decide their future....?

And yes, we are all concerned about crazy Kim and his rockets...

[oberliner]

36. Fair enough

I guess my take is that this piece appears to present a very bad person in a fairly positive light.

[pbmus]

37. Well, you are correct about being presented in a positive light...

I do not know much about Kim’s sister, so the label bad person is I assume for Kim...a very well deserved label.

Badness is all around us....we have a very bad one in the one many call a conman.

I think we have to try to tear the walls down, or else we

[oberliner]

38. She runs the Ministry of Propaganda for the N Korean regime

She is basically his chief of staff as well.

[lpbk2713]

21. I hope her big brother doesn't shoot her for being too friendly.

Like he did his uncle.

[lindysalsagal]

27. Not my turn to worry about the twerp.

[Demsrule86]

24. She will be dead soon...as her brother won't want anyone that popular around.

[oberliner]

41. No, she won't

She is doing exactly what he wants him to do. She is literally in charge of the ministry of propaganda.

[Demsrule86]

42. She is doing it too well. Her days are numbered. He is jealous and fearful.

[Blue_true]

46. He is said to be very close to her.

Would have to be a major issue for him to harm her. I don't think the press that she got would qualify.

[Demsrule86]

50. The guy has killed family members multiple times...if he views her as a threat, she is history.

That is just my opinion.

[Blue_true]

45. Pence could have stole her thunder if he was a little more intelligent and less rigid.

But, Pence chose to be an ass, allowing her to show him up for what he was. The right is enraged that the woman showed their boy up, they are calling us names, along with the regular charges of being traitors. But anyone who gladly sell their country to Russia should not throw stones.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

47. Fuck this apologetic garbage.

[former9thward]

49. A murderer "stealing the show"

How special...

[LexVegas]

51. Yay, North Korea!