U.S. Bans Sale of iPods (and many other luxury items) to North Korea

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
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It's funny how they are treating him like a spoiled child. :laugh:

U.S. Bans Sale of iPods to North Korea
AP
WASHINGTON (Nov. 29) - The Bush administration wants North Korea's attention, so like a scolding parent it's trying to make it tougher for that country's eccentric leader to buy iPods, plasma televisions and Segway electric scooters.

The U.S. government's first-ever effort to use trade sanctions to personally aggravate a foreign president expressly targets items believed to be favored by Kim Jong Il or presented by him as gifts to the roughly 600 loyalist families who run the communist government.

Kim, who engineered a secret nuclear weapons program, has other options for obtaining the high-end consumer electronics and other items he wants.

But 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.

The new ban would extend even to music and sports equipment. The 5-foot-3 Kim is an enthusiastic basketball fan; then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented him with a ball signed by Michael Jordan during a rare diplomatic trip in 2000.

Experts said the effort - being coordinated under the United Nations - would be the first ever to curtail a specific category of goods not associated with military buildups or weapons designs, especially one so tailored to annoy a foreign leader. U.S. officials acknowledge that enforcing the ban on black-market trading would be difficult.

The population in North Korea, one of the world's most isolated economies, is impoverished and routinely suffers widescale food shortages. The new trade ban would forbid U.S. shipments there of Rolexes, French cognac, plasma TVs, yachts and more - all items favored by Kim but unattainable by most of the country.

"It's a new concept; it's kind of creative," said William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official who oversaw trade restrictions with North Korea during Bill Clinton's presidency. Reinsch predicted governments will comply with the new sanctions, but agreed that efforts to block all underground shipments will be frustrated.

"The problem is there has always been and will always be this group of people who work at getting these goods illegally," Reinsch said. Small electronics, such as iPods or laptops, are "untraceable and available all over the place," he said. U.S. exports to North Korea are paltry, amounting to only $5.8 million last year.

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.

"The thousands of Americans and Canadians who build, ship and sell personal watercraft are patriots first," said Maureen Healey, head of the trade group. She said it endorsed the ban "because of the narrow nature of this ban and the genuine dangers that responsible world governments are trying to stave off."

Defectors to South Korea have described Kim giving expensive gifts of cars, liquor and Japanese-made appliances to his most faithful bureaucrats.

"If you take away one of the tools of his control, perhaps you weaken the cohesion of his leadership," said Robert J. Einhorn, a former senior State Department official who visited North Korea with Albright and dined extravagantly there. "It can't hurt, but whether it works, we don't know."

Responding to North Korea's nuclear test Oct. 9, the U.N. Security Council voted to ban military supplies and weapons shipments - sanctions already imposed by the United States. It also banned sales of luxury goods but so far has left each country to define such items. Japan included beef, caviar and fatty tuna, along with expensive cars, motorcycles, cameras and more. Many European nations are still working on their lists.

U.S. intelligence officials who helped produce the Bush administration's list said Kim prefers Mercedes, BMW and Cadillac cars; Japanese and Harley Davidson motorcycles; Hennessy XO cognac from France and Johnny Walker Scotch whisky; Sony cameras and Japanese air conditioners.

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."

Much of the U.S. information about Kim's preferences comes from defectors, including Kenji Fujimoto, the Japanese chef who fled in 2001 and wrote a book about his time with the North Korean leader.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,701
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Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
We all saw what Saddam did with his massive arsenal of PSOnes.

Obviously you're missing the point of this embargo.

Reading the article might actually help you.
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
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Originally posted by: chcarnage
Bahah... Sorry, but I immediately thought of this video.
LOL...that's great. I can't wait for that wakko to get replaced. Hopefully with someone reasonable for a change.
 

Pacemaker

Golden Member
Jul 13, 2001
1,184
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Ipods can be used to build WMDs!!!! We must keep them from those who would use Ipods in their guidance systems. After all if they can find a David Bowie track they can find Washington!!
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
20,551
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Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Originally posted by: chcarnage
Bahah... Sorry, but I immediately thought of this video.
LOL...that's great. I can't wait for that wakko to get replaced. Hopefully with someone reasonable for a change.

Sadly, it'll probably his son. Whom I've heard is worse.

But hey, he had a unanimous victory in the election, right?

Note that you can't get a unanimous voting outcome if the vote was between using carbonated water or arsnic as an ingrediant in pepsi without rigging the vote.
 

TXHokie

Platinum Member
Nov 16, 1999
2,557
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Block North Korea from accessing pr0rn sites, little Kim will cry uncle in no time :)
 

40Hands

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2004
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71
Originally posted by: TXHokie
Block North Korea from accessing pr0rn sites, little Kim will cry uncle in no time :)

Yeah I'm sure he never gets laid...
 

tomywishbone

Golden Member
Oct 24, 2006
1,401
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The embargo idea is great. Look how Cuba is almost beaten after a 40 year embargo. And those jet skis are dangerous in the wrong hands... you can disturb a lakeside picnic :(
 

DayLaPaul

Platinum Member
Apr 6, 2001
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Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
We all saw what Saddam did with his massive arsenal of PSOnes.

Obviously you're missing the point of this embargo.

Reading the article might actually help you.

So somewhere in the article it explains how this isn't nonsense?
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,701
17,173
146
Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: DayLaPaul
We all saw what Saddam did with his massive arsenal of PSOnes.

Obviously you're missing the point of this embargo.

Reading the article might actually help you.

So somewhere in the article it explains how this isn't nonsense?

The article says this is to pinch his style, not that the goods will be used for weapon systems. The reasoning for the past video game restrictions have nothing to do with this.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,701
17,173
146
Originally posted by: Pacemaker
Ipods can be used to build WMDs!!!! We must keep them from those who would use Ipods in their guidance systems. After all if they can find a David Bowie track they can find Washington!!

Oh look! Another person who can't comprehend a simple news article.
 

BillGates

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2001
7,388
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I'm sure he can get any of this crap from other places besides direct from the U.S. I really doubt he was buying his iPods on Amazon or some other U.S. site.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
56,701
17,173
146
Originally posted by: BillGates
I'm sure he can get any of this crap from other places besides direct from the U.S. I really doubt he was buying his iPods on Amazon or some other U.S. site.

It's a UN effort and they admit it will be hard to stop black market trading.

Man, I wish people would read the article before discussing it.
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
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Originally posted by: Pacemaker
Ipods can be used to build WMDs!!!! We must keep them from those who would use Ipods in their guidance systems. After all if they can find a David Bowie track they can find Washington!!

Someone else who completely missed the point.
 

DayLaPaul

Platinum Member
Apr 6, 2001
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OK I admit it, I did read the article yet still decided to post a nonsense reply. Why? Because the whole article was nonsense. Let's discect.

A dictator of one of the last true communist regimes in the world, has recently proven he has the ability to detonate a nuclear device. So to combat that, we are trying to "frustrate" him by banning Ipods and Cognac? If this man was able to get his hands on enough nuclear material to make the whole world nervous, I highly doubt he'll have problems hooking his homies up with black market Ipods or getting his beotches drunk with bootleg bottles of XO.

So by comparing this to Saddam and his whole Playstation fiasco, I am only reminding you that these are both equally pointless and hardly newsworthy endeavors. Get it now?
 

BillGates

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2001
7,388
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81
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: BillGates
I'm sure he can get any of this crap from other places besides direct from the U.S. I really doubt he was buying his iPods on Amazon or some other U.S. site.

It's a UN effort and they admit it will be hard to stop black market trading.

Man, I wish people would read the article before discussing it.

I did read the article, and saw the Headline News spot on the issue, before posting. It still seems futile and a waste of time/money/effort/resources to me, hence my reason for posting.