https://www.newsweek.com/kim-geum-chol-north-korea-russia-drowned-dead-moscow-1925641
As a heat wave swept Russia, Kim Geum Chol, 64, reportedly went to the Bolshoy Gorodskoy Pond in Moscow for a swim to cool off, and "disappeared."
The funny thing is that this probably was actually an accident, but is Kim Jong Un going to believe that?
I don't know that I buy 'just an accident'.
I'm not stupid enough to think that it was necessarily Russia, though. But seriously, how many people die randomly swimming. Particularly when they probably have some security standing on their every move?
Ask yourself how many North Koreans learn to swim well. This might be something he didn't get a lot of experience with before leaving his homeland.
Ask yourself how many North Koreans learn to swim well.
The ones who don’t live there anymore?
Swimming is often a recreational activity, North Koreans aren’t well known for their luxuries such as recreation.
I suspect in school they learnt how to worship eternal ruler and his family instead of swimming lessons as well.
So not too many opportunities for a nork to swim.
I imagine somebody well connected enough to be an envoy doesn't share in the living conditions of the average citizen
I don't know much about North Korea geography (rivers, lakes) but where I am originally from, swimming was something boys learned when playing as children. It didn't cost anything, you were just using local lake. So this assertion is bullshit, unless this is a cultural thing about North Korea.
This is North Korea you’re talking about.
Your anecdotal evidence is irrelevant when talking about NK.
Do you know anything about North Korea? Stop trying to find racism in every comment.
I'm getting married to a person born in China and have been enveloped in Asian culture a lot more than most people in Western culture ever will. Trying to paint things with such a broad stroke shows your ignorance about regional issues and the utter smothering existence living under the North Korean regime is.
A group of people oppressed to such a degree does not leave much time for simple pleasures like learning to fucking swim and enjoying life.
But yeah sure, let's be ignorant as fuck... all Asians... yeah that's clearly what I meant.
I may have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. If I took your comment out of context and you were not implying racism, but were simply confused, then I do humbly apologize for this rant.
No, I was not implying racism. Yes, you overreacted big time. Ability to swim is not necessarily related to the wealth of the population. In multiple countries it is lakes and rivers used for swimming so no, I genuinely had no idea what you meant 🙄
Lol okay, sorry about that. It feels like people are always to trap everyone else into a racism corner on the internet these days.
Historically, yes. Very few cultures are known for having a large populations of swimmers in the past, even the average Japanese civillian before the 20th century probably never learned to swim despite living on a chain of islands.
It's quite possible that he had taken the opportunity of being in a country with easier access to alcohol and drugs to go on a bender and ended up drowned. Remember Yeltsin standing outside the white house in his underwear pissed out of his gourd trying to hail a taxi to get pizza?
Standing outside in your underwear drunk while hailing a taxi to get pizza sounds like a super American thing to do. He was really going for the true American experience!
He was just trying to show that the Americans and Soviets had a lot in common
Shit like this makes me even sadder that Glasnost failed. A modern, accountable, and democratic communist state worming its way into being buddies with the USA would’ve been hilarious
I remember a few years ago, Russia had an unseasonably warm summer and a rash of drownings because they got drunk and couldn't swim.
Found it: https://abcnews.go.com/International/russia-heat-wave-vodka-deadly-mix-drowning/story?id=11170454
Pretty sure that was before my time.
I don’t suppose you have a video? Asking for a friend…
Though, again, their security detail is total shit if they let a drunken slob get that pissed and drown.
Delegations going abroad don't get to go without an escort. especially from countries where the risk of defection is insanely high.
It happened in the late 90's, but wasn't revealed until about 2008 or 2009 (a year or two after Boris Yeltsin died). No, there is no video, at least none any of us would have access to.
He was the President at the time.
I never heard this. But I’m surprised his security didn’t stop this. And just send someone out to get a pizza for him.
Agents stopped him, but I'd remind that this was not that long after the USSR was dissolved, and he was apparently fairly skilled (even drunk) at evading his own security detail.
It happened multiple times during the same trip iirc, and agents did get him pizza.
A lot of people die randomly swimming. Just last week someone drowned in the river near me, and a few months back, there was a drowning in a lake. Both involved alcohol.
I just don't see why drown the NK envoy.
My present speculation, if it wasn’t an accident, was that he was trying to defect/escape NK.
Russia isn’t the only place to use political executions.
Alternatively, it could have been a western state- Ukraine features high (if they have the capability?) specifically to impose some strain on relations.
We’ll prolly never know what really happened.
I mean yes random people drown a lot, but it's also how the CIA (allegedly) assassinated the PM of Australia during the 60s, after he was insufficiently supportive of the Vietnam War.
Not the first time a politician was found in a pond in Moscow. ofc yeltsin was just drunk and fell into a lake, again. Not that he didn't hold it against the soviet for pointing this out.
And these are the people republicans think are “not so bad”
Remember that when it’s your family randomly dying by “some freak accident “
Putin stated he preferred Biden.
Netanyahu stated he prefers Trump.
Flip it around and find the truth.
Remind me which country was it that was running election interference for trump?
Of those two it's not the country that has a lobby which spent far more on lobbying for Biden than for Trump.
Every word uttered by a conservative is deception or manipulation. Every word.
Every statement made by a conservative should be disregarded as a statement made in bad faith.
Why would you even say that? You honestly believe that or are you a dnc bot? People like you are why politics is so toxic.
Putin stated he preferred Biden.
US intelligence assessments found Russia tried to influence campaigns to help Trump win in 2016, and again in failed 2020 race against Joe Biden.
you better believe we have plenty of proof it's also happening right fucking now, oh but that doesn't matter cuz pOoTiN sAiD hE wAnTeD bIdEn!!!! Yes he prefers the man that wants nothing to do with him instead of the man that wants everything to do with him to the point of destroying NATO and handing over ukraine. He's been spending resources on helping Trump for years now but definitely wants Biden to win, yep.
Fucking unbelievable how foolish people are. It's a wonder you manage to even draw breath.
You clearly did not even try to understand my comment.
It is a reference to which foreign Fascist supports which party and how their statements are the opposite of what they say out loud.
US election 2024: Putin says he prefers Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the White House
Democrats appear are fully convinced that Netanyahu favors Trump over Biden. But they ignore the fact that israel supported Bidens campaign far more than Trumps campaign.
If we just believe the opposite of the delusions you post constantly we'd all be pretty close to the truth.
Ok, but can something be done about the rule 6 (misinformation) violations that user commits on the regular? Was that comment not misinformation?
Could I say something is a conspiracy theory and tell a person I don't think they are not behaving honestly or in good faith? I can chill on the phrasing but the idea of someone reading stuff like that and taking it seriously is frustrating.
I probably don't have to worry about people on Lemmy, I guess. Reddit and 4chan are more the engines of radicalization. IDK I am frustrated with the massive misinformation pushed on society in general. I wish I could do something about it but I probably cannot. So it feels a bit hopeless.
It gets tricky because someone can just be misinformed and not realize what they're spreading is misinformation vs actively and maliciously spreading propaganda.
I tend to lean on assuming someone is just wrong and correctable vs. malicious unless proven otherwise, but maybe that's my flaw as a mod. :) I WANT to believe people are engaging honestly.
See my replies here:
Putin is double crossing the North Koreans? lmfao with friends like that who needs enemies?
Reminds me of that scene in Barry where the Chechens bring in this super assasin. They pine over him and his prowess then he just shoots himself. They bring in a Norrh Korean Military expert to deepen ties and he accidently drowns...
Totally has nothing to do with NK supplied ammunition exploding before it leaves the tube.
Once the Russians started using the ammunition sent by North Korea, they encountered unforeseen problems. The North Korean-made ammunition was of a poor standard and, as military experts projected, resulted in a significant rise in incidents of tanks and howitzers being destroyed or damaged due to premature shell explosions. Photos of the damaged vehicles began circulating on social media platforms.
Once the Russians started using the ammunition sent by North Korea, they encountered unforeseen problems.
Oh no I'm fatally sure that pretty much everyone foresaw these problems.
WW3 between... Russia and North Korea, with... uhh... allies? It's weird because both China and USA would want to get involved, but neither would know on which side. Imagine USA allying with China to help North Korea fight Russia by mistake. That would be embarrassing.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The head of an elite North Korean military delegation that was deployed to Russia last week has been found dead in Moscow, according to local reports.
Newsweek couldn't independently verify the reports and has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.
Kim and his delegation departed from Pyongyang on July 8, the news agency Yonhap said, on the first public visit by North Korean officials to Russia since Pyongyang and Moscow signed a new strategic partnership agreement in June.
According to SHOT, as a heat wave swept Russia, Kim, 64, went to the Bolshoy Gorodskoy Pond in Moscow for a swim to cool off, and "disappeared."
North Korea and Russia have deepened their ties since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said in June that Article 4 of the new agreement reached between Russia and North Korea during Putin's historic visit requires either party to deploy "all means at its disposal without delay" to provide "military and other assistance" should one nation be attacked.
The original article contains 427 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!