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Posts Tagged ‘North Korea’

Kim Jong-un Directs Farmers To Stop Growing Tall Corn

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 135 Comments › )
Filed under Communism, Food and Drink, North Korea, Politics, World at June 25th, 2014 - 1:00 am

Kim Jong Un Corn Mandate

Even well-off families Can Only Add a Handful of Rice to Their Corn Meal Porridge
Corn (maize) long ago replaced rice as North Korea’s staple food. North Koreans call corn meal “corn rice”. The well-to-do eat steamed rice; for others, corn is their staple food. Depending on a family’s economic status, the rice-to-corn ratio varies. Well-off families don’t use more than 50% corn; as the household budget becomes more strained, corn’s share grows.

Mrs. Kang Un-hui (alias) of Pyongsung city in South Pyongan Province has not so far had to worry about food thanks to her husband, who is a police officer. However, now only her husband gets a food ration. It has been several months since the food ration ended for the three other family members. Even so, they are not starving, but the quality of their meals has fallen sharply. Long ago, they only ate steamed rice. Last year, their meals were half corn and half rice. This year they struggle to be able to mix a handful of rice into the corn meal.

Says Mrs. Kang: “These days, if you’re not pretty rich, the quality of your meals worsens. Now, a family that can afford corn meal is doing well. It’s gotten to the point that it’s hard to have corn meal with even one handful of rice. If our family is like this, other families will be even worse-off. Apart from North Koreans of Chinese origins, everybody is like this. Even so, that does not mean we should complain. My husband has steady work, and I’m just grateful that he can keep his position. I hope that the country’s food situation will improve quickly and we can receive our food rations in the usual way.”
[Source: http://goodfriendsusa.blogspot.com/2012/07/north-korea-today-no-462-july-4-2012.html ]

Okay, the image (Kimmy Crack Corn?) is an obvious photoshop intended for political snark, and I’m not going to post the source in order to protect their anonymity. The story dated 4 July 2012, quoted verbatim, is unaltered.

But there is something odd in that report, and it has to do with rice and corn.
Lookee here:

Grains Comparison[Source]

So why is corn (maize) disparaged as a staple in North Korea when it has three times as many calories and more nutrients? Is it because it’s a crop cultivated in the Americas? I dunno, Babs, but I do know this.
The U.S. don’t raise no rice-fed cattle.

North Korea’s sparse agricultural resources limit agricultural production. Climate, terrain, and soil conditions are not particularly favorable for farming, with a relatively short cropping season. Only about 17% of the total landmass, or approximately 20,000 km2, is arable, of which 14,000 km2 is well suited for cereal cultivation; the major portion of the country is rugged mountain terrain.[1] [Wiki]

That means North Korea has approximately 12% of its landmass good for growing grains, and it grows mostly rice. The government takes most of the rice away from the private subsistence farms.

So much for the Workers’ Paradise. Eat dirt, peons.

Kim Jong il Space Explorer

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 37 Comments › )
Filed under History, Humor, North Korea, OOT, Open thread at January 23rd, 2012 - 11:00 pm


[via]

Kim Jong Il takes a test drive of an amusement park combat plane ride in Taesong amusement park, in Pyongyang, North Korea on October 2, 1977. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP Images)

Kim Jong Il plugs in the ride to the wall socket, fires that puppy up and leaves the rest of NK in the dark. – Calo

Mocking the dead is usually considered bad form, but as with other dead rogue despots,  KJI is fair game on The Overnight Open Thread.

 

North Korea Observes Earth Hour

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 164 Comments › )
Filed under Asia, Communism, Environmentalism, North Korea, Open thread, Satire at March 31st, 2011 - 11:00 pm


[Image cropped from here.]
To be truthful, this is cheating a bit, as this satellite photo was not taken on 26 March. North Korea’s been observing Earth Hour for decades, every hour of every night of every day of every year, and they’re doing their part to preserve the environment and stave off Global Warming.

Just look at their selfish greedy capitalist neighbors to the south. Pathetic. If only everyone would follow in the AGW-enlightened footsteps of the land of, um, ah, [where’s my thesaurus?] well, you get the drift.

Speaking of drifts, the eastern U.S.  is set up for a spring snowstorm courtesy of the Global Cooling efforts of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, so let’s turn on all the lights in the Rec Room, crank the stereo and heat up some stuff on the electric range while we enjoy the power of freedom here on The Overnight Open Thread.

Samhung Stone

by coldwarrior ( 77 Comments › )
Filed under North Korea, Open thread, Science, Technology at January 14th, 2011 - 8:30 pm

I thought that this jewel of an article had been lost but it appears that the DPRK news has been re-archived and the old articles are back on line…a comedy gold mine!

“Samhung Stone”
Pyongyang, November 3 (KCNA) — Samhung Stone is highly efficacious for curing hypotension, hypertension, irregular pulsation and neuralgia. A group of technicians from an agricultural enterprise in south Hwanghae Province has recently developed a stone for medicine. Called “Samhung Stone”, it is 15 mm in diameter and 4.5 grams in weight. It is designed to make gasoline, diesel oil and kerosine quicken the process of burning. It is used for a cure of diseases. When a certain number of these stones are put into the oil tanks of car, truck, diesel engine, rice-transplanting machine and kerosine stove, they will save oil 10 per cent at minimum and 20 per cent at maximum. These stones are washed in water and dried in sunshine once every year before they are put into the tanks again. They are available for a few years. It also helps the engines operate smoothly and reduce the poisoning elements in exhaust fume. It has no bad effect to the engines. When the engine is heated, more oil is saved. With the research extended farther afield, the range of its use will increase.

When will this wonder of DPRK science be available, as seen on TV,  for $19.95?  I have my credit card ready! However, i kinda like irregular pulsations…maybe just use it in the truck for now.