USG to KJI: No iPods for you

by Richardson ~ November 29th, 2006. Filed under: Economics, Humor, Kim Jong-il.

DPRKpodAs part of the continuing effort to hit the KFR where it hurts - right in their pampered lifestyles - USA Today reports that the US Government has placed an export ban on the Apple iPod and other items:

…the list of proposed luxury sanctions, obtained by The Associated Press, aims to make Kim’s swanky life harder: No more cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles or even personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis.

Manufacturers of the goods being banned stand firmly behind the action:

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the trade group for the liquor industry, said it supports the administration’s policies toward North Korea. The Washington-based Personal Watercraft Industry Association said it also supports the U.S. sanctions — although it bristled at the notion a Jet Ski was a luxury.

Given his taste in movies, one has to wonder what his playlist would look like…

Kim is reportedly under his physician’s orders to avoid hard liquor and prefers French wines. He also is said to own an extensive movie library of more than 10,000 titles and prefers films about James Bond and Godzilla, along with Clint Eastwood’s 1993 drama, In the Line of Fire, and Whitney Houston’s 1992 love story, The Bodyguard.

Hope is not entirely lost for Jong-il, however, as sources indicate he is being allowed all the Zunes that he can buy.

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10 Responses to USG to KJI: No iPods for you

  1. dudeinwales
    November 29th, 2006 at 12:17 pm

    This will accomplish precisely zilch. What’s there to stop KJI sending one of his goons to buy any of the stuff he wants in Shanghai or wherever? Absolutely nothing.

  2. Richardson
    November 29th, 2006 at 7:02 pm

    Don’t be to sure about that;

    From the Korea Times: “Adrian Hong, executive director of Liberty in North Korea, a human rights group in the United States, said in a recent e-mail interview that the communist leaders are already under heavy pressure from the U.N. resolution. Our informants in North Korea have told us that the new sanctions have almost surgically hit North Korea’s old guard ruling elites. . .’”

  3. kyochan
    November 29th, 2006 at 8:18 pm

    Heh, I thought of the same Seinfeld quote for the blog title.

    Let’s hope KJI does not make political prisoners install the Zune software as punishment.

  4. El Jefe Maximo
    November 29th, 2006 at 8:57 pm

    I tend to think that anything that puts the squeeze on the elite there cannot be a bad thing, especially to the extent that it is a privilege that can be turned off, or on, and thus open possibilities for “dealing” with whoever for specific items for good behavior. It’s positively better if it’s more of an inconvenience and unpleasantness as opposed to a direct life and death matter for the regime.

    Still, that goon better get to Shanghai quick or the Dear Leader will miss being able to carry around his favorite tunes from “Team America World Police” on I Pod.

  5. Mark
    November 30th, 2006 at 8:16 am

    Unless Viagara is on the list, it will have little effect on him personally.

    This list looks like it could have been directed just as easily against the South Korean social elite.

  6. Richardson
    November 30th, 2006 at 6:38 pm

    Those sanctions won’t stop the few cases of scotch, etc., from getting into Korea. But it will prevent “luxury” items from being imported a) as they were before, and b) in sufficient numbers to satisfy all the regime elites. It’s not going to topple the regime, but serves as a few more straws on the camels back.

  7. Effluent
    December 2nd, 2006 at 6:07 am

    I’m lining up with dudeinwales on this one. Call me a cynic, but I just don’t think it’s going to accomplish much.

  8. No Man's Blog
    December 2nd, 2006 at 6:08 am

    No iPods: Let’s Bore North Korea to Death…

    In an uncharacteristically bold display of executive resolve, the Bush administration this week moved to “put the screws” to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.  Specifically, the administration is banning the export of a variety of luxur…

  9. ongrua
    December 2nd, 2006 at 4:19 pm

    While the sanctions may not accomplish much, they are likely to have at least a marginally positive effect. The sanctions show the elite that the son of god (that is the DPRK characterization of KJI in a nut shell) cannot even get them the toys any ordinary kid in the ROK can have whenever he or she wants. Put another way, they know what kids in SK have and sanctions demonstrate to them their - almost cannot get any lower - status in the world. Better yet, the sanctions are essentially free to the rest of the world. No i-Pod or anything else will sit on a shelf unsold because an NKer was not able to buy it. Moreover, the sanctions make the rest of the world - most of it anyway - feel good because it is “doing something,” little as it is.

  10. Richardson
    December 7th, 2006 at 8:40 am

    An update on the (possible) effect of sanctions in North Korea:

    He suggested that the U.S.` financial sanctions against the North were already having an impact on the upper class. “I recently met a businessman selling medical devices to North Korea, who told me that the sales of blood pressure testers widely used by the North Korean upper class recently dropped dramatically. I believe this is because foreign currency inflows into North Korea are on the decline due to the financial sanctions against it,” he explained.

    However;

    With regard to what North Korean society as a whole is like after the nuclear test, he stated, “There are absolutely no signs of political changes. The North Korean regime`s control over the society is rock-solid, not being swayed at all.” He also indicated, however, “More recently, the North Korean authorities are strengthening their control over foreigners there.”

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