Response

[Len Krieger]

Angelique,

I enjoyed reading your post and wanted to add on to what you said about the KWP proverbially beefing up their military prowess and making that the main focus of that time. I think this is smart on many different levels, mainly because if it didn't scare the Super Powers you alluded to already, it at least put this area of the two Koreas back on the radar.

More often then not in history, when we see countries suffer from catastrophic events such as war, civil unrest, epidemics spreading, infrastructure destruction, and in this case famine; the last thing on a lot of countries minds is the strength of their military at that point and time. Most countries we have seen in History (Germany and France to name a few) during times similar to this are trying to lick their wounds, gather their bearings, and rebuild the entire country from the ground up and not just put all their eggs into the military basket. Military strength though is not only a good morale booster for the people of the country that needed one, but it also can ensure the hope of a new day where the situation they were in would not be allowed to happen again.