U.S. bans luxury exports to North Korea

[struggle4progress]

Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:18pm ET161
By Carol Giacomo and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday banned exports of iPods and other luxury items to North Korea ... President George W. Bush -- his popularity plummeting and embattled by crises with Iraq, Iran and North Korea -- is desperate for a foreign-policy win, many U.S. officials and experts say ... A rule issued by the U.S. Commerce Department details the luxury goods Washington plans to block under U.N. trade sanctions mandated after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test on October 9. Banned items include cognac, jet skis, iPods, jewelry and fancy cars ...
It was unclear how much of these exports now flowed to North Korea ...

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2007-01-26T221828Z_01_N26381593_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH-USA.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C2-TopNews-newsOne-6

[Turbineguy]

1. He's gonna starve out

Li'l Kim!

[aquart]

2. Oh, wow. NK can't get iPods. That'll bring 'em to their starving knees.

[RL3AO]

3. Thats great!

Cause the people of North Korea are out there spending their riches on iPods and Mercades.

[struggle4progress]

4. Isn't it? No ipod-listening Korean terrorists will jet-ski across the Pacific to attack our freedoms

[cosmicone]

8. They won't be able to

get drunk on Louis XIII cognac and attack our internets either!

[ShockediSay]

11. This kind of action has weakened US badly over the * administration

"poll underscores conclusions drawn from several other surveys - that anti-Americanism is on the rise, and the more the US flexes its hard power - the more it deploys troops abroad or talks tough diplomatically - the more it seems to weaken its ability to influence the world."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6288933.stm

[cosmicone]

18. I see this too

I travel abroad frequently and I'm Indian-American. I see a lot of Americans in foreign countries say they are Canadians. It is sad to see what has happened to this great country because of the chimpenführer .. enough damage that people are ashamed to be called Americans which was once a proud badge of honor.

[countmyvote4real]

5. Is this from an SNL Weekend Update or The Onion?

If the North Koreans would spend half as much money on food as they do on luxury goods, then they might not starve so much.

Hey Kim, I'll raise your warhead with two 50G iPods. Shall we put the cards down?

[daleo]

6. North Korea will just get pirated Chinese iPods

I don't know how they will replace the jet skis though...

[Cobalt-60]

7. How will they get the night soil to the fields

without a nice Canyonero

[truthisfreedom]

9. Ouch! Wow, they're bound to knuckle-under now!

I can't wait for this new ploy to work! Wow, I thought bush would never think of anything that might work!

[Strelnikov_]

10. Um, do we even produce any of the items that are banned

I think the source for a good part of that list is just across the Yalu River.

[saigon68]

12. Its like banning cocaine in Miami

LOL

[ohio2007]

17. It's not like a 'N. Korea is 'real' emerging market these days !

LOL
It hurts the minority in power over there more than affects the U.S. labor market.

[ohio2007]

13. This is old news

many countries that live under the umbrella of idle threats from Kim have banned trade of certain items.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20070117TDY02010.htm

But then, it's not like Kim has anything of value to trade in return. I believe among his top few exports, besides counterfeiting and arms, is seaweed.

seaweed.

friggen seaweed !

Bet the Japanese eat that up. hmmmm.
Seaweed and spinich...that considered surf-n-turf ?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

14. This is aimed directly at Kim.

He uses these items to keep his inner circle and himself happy. How else do you punish a country that has nothing? The NK govt is a cult of personality; so you go after the personality at the head of it.

[ohio2007]

16. Yes, the inner circle .Don't need any loose cannons ( or knives)

in that poverty stricken regime, don't need any loose knives behind Cesar's back. Those hands need iPods,Japanese cars,american booze to keep them fat,drunk,stupid and loyally mean to the regimes peasants.

I could be wrong

[onehandle]

15. Yeah...That'll stop them from producing more nukes and missiles.

A Man would just invade. You aren't much of a man, are you smirk.

I dare you to invade a country that doesn't float on a sea of oil.