Killing North Korean civilians 1950-1953
I hear we killed more North Korean civilians during the Korean War than we killed Japanese civilians during WW2. Is that true? I am not bringing this up to excuse the current NK leadership.
= new reply since forum marked as read
and "stopping" the advance of communism must never be criticized.
Collateral damage is such a lovely term!
that nearly slay me when I see any attempts to justify.
Destroy a nation's people to save it.
Mark Twain? 
For some, it can only be Big Bad 'Murica to blame. 
casualty count than, say, the firebombing of Tokyo.
Curtis LeMay claimed the bombing killed 20% of NK's population. Basically, the idea was to bomb everything - carpet bombing - in North Korea much bigger than a shack. LeMay's statement may have been exaggeration, but most estimates seem to put the # of civilian dead in NK at at least 1 Million. By comparison, Hiroshima killed between 100,000-150,000, and Nagasaki around 80,000.
http://www.newsweek.com/us-forget-korean-war-led-crisis-north-592630
https://www.quora.com/US-carpet-or-saturation-bombing-resulted-in-the-destruction-of-every-significant-population-center-in-N-Korea-resulting-in-several-million-deaths-Why-do-Americans-know-so-little-about-this
some grim shit, right here: 
http://necrometrics.com/20c1m.htm#Ko
None of this, of course, is to excuse the NK's regime's behavior, not from my perspective at least, but I do think understanding the psychology of the people is important when we talk about why the country is so isolated, paranoid, and fucked up.
He summed up their reaction to the South Korean snack in one word: "Ecstasy."
Much like what Twinkies are to Americans, South Korea's Choco Pies -- two disc-shaped, chocolate-covered cakes, sandwiching a rubbery layer of marshmallow cream -- are ubiquitous, cost less than 50 cents and are full of empty calories.
But on the other side of the Korean border, the snacks are viewed as exotic, highly prized treats, selling on North Korea's black markets for as much as $10, according to analysts. Their rising popularity in the north reveals an unexpected common ground between the two Koreas, despite their fractious relationship -- a shared sweet tooth.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/27/world/asia/choco-pie-koreas/index.html
It’s the battle of the Choco Pie.
Under normal conditions, the South Korea-produced Choco Pie is more or less available to North Koreans thanks to the Kaesong Industrial Complex, where South Korean businesses employ thousands of North Korean workers on the cheap. Since the complex opened in 2004, South Korean businessmen have parceled out untold thousands of Choco Pies as bonuses to the North Koreans. And the workers, in turn, have created a burgeoning Choco Pie black market.
It’s difficult, according to analysts, to overstate the Choco Pie’s cultural impact in North Korea. It’s not just two chocolate cakes hugging a marshmallow mixture — it’s capitalism, delicious capitalism.
Former North Korean defectors living in South Korea prepare balloons containing snacks called "Choco Pie" and anti-Pyongyang leaflets before releasing them towards the North near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Ganghwa, northwest of Seoul April 24, 2012. REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won (SOUTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY FOOD) - RTR31531 Former North Korean defectors living in South Korea prepare balloons containing snacks called “Choco Pie” and anti-Pyongyang leaflets before releasing them towards the North near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Ganghwa, northwest of Seoul on April 24, 2012. (Lee Jae-Won/Reuters)
By some estimates, as many as 2.5 million Choco Pies were traded monthly — though it’s unclear who exactly was so assiduously following Choco Pie markets.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/01/north-korea-has-reportedly-banned-choco-pies/?utm_term=.89f36d6c2363
