True, just look at the status of Hyundai and Kia cars now. Twenty years ago, they were the butt of jokes, not much better than a Yugo in most people's eyes, although I've talked to some people who said even the early 1990's models held up very well. Mom bought a new Hyundai in 2004 because it was affordable, they are an alternative to people who cannot afford the new American or Japanese cars.

Chuck

I've had a Kia Sedona minivan for nearly five years now, without a single problem except for a loose gas door over the gas cap. (And the stereo -- the factory stereo on a Kia sucks big ones.) It has better pullout than my previous Ford Contour Sport, even though the engines are of the same horsepower and the Sedona is a thousand pounds heavier.

The Kia's transmission could be geared differently so that could be the reason for the better performance. Mom's Sonata is from 2004 and the only part needed replacement was a light bulb in a tailight so far along with tires. At work we have a Ford Ranger with a 2.3 Liter 4 cylinder, that thing is a pig, slow pickup and so on. Mom's Hyundai engine is bigger and more powerful. I drive the Chevy Colorado myself, an Isuzu I370 clone with a 5 cylinder engine. The Colorado has quick pickup, it had 242 hp vs the Ford's 141.

Chuck

Father-in-Law and his sister own Hyundai Santa Fe and they have no complaint about them...

Here's a little tidbit I got from a Jane's newsletter. (I don't have the money for an actual subscription, so all I get is scraps.)

"A so-called 'bubble jet' effect, rather than a direct hit, is likely to have been responsible for the sinking of South Korean warship Chon An in the Yellow Sea (West Sea) off the coast of North Korea on 26 March. The chairman of the South Korean team investigating, Yoon Duk-yong, said: "The possibility of an underwater non-contact explosion is bigger than that of an underwater contact explosion, considering the shape of the severed surfaces and conditions." "The chances of an internal explosion, fatigue fracture or collision with a reef is zero," added Yoon, raising further the suspicion of North Korean involvement."

Note that I am behind in reading these, and this is from 04 May.

this hasn't gotten much play in the media and it probably won't change much in the way of North Korea/PRC relations. But North Korean border guards recently shot and killed three Chinese civilians, smugglers actually.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...wsj_india_main

More Nork weirdness:

According to the broadcasters during today's DPRK vs. Brazil soccer match, the North Korean fans that you see during their games in SA aren't actually North Koreans at all but are paid Chinese actors. It makes sense since real NKs would probably jump at the opportunity to defect.

Also, the NK coach claims to receive in-game tactical instructions from the Dear Leader via and invisible communications device. His advice apparently wasn't so great today.

You've gotta love those wacky NKs!

I have also read this
 

It is a tragically funny story ,if it is true.
I thought NK played rather well though .

As for Dear Leaders instructions ( via NK satelite from PyongYang where he sits in his jumpsuit in a recliner swigging beer ,surrounded by pouting teenage entertainment brigade girls that massage him before the 140 inch big screen - now,what World Cup coach wouldnt benefit from that !)

I like the sobriquet that his potential successor has gotten - "Brilliant Comrade" . Makes you wonder what they call the one that drinks and whores around in Macau " Decadent comrade "? And the one that is supposedly deemed to feminine " Dodgy Comrade "?

Did anyone catch the tidbit today out of North Korea..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/...rea_ship_sinks

Funny how they warning the UN that something they initiated when they sunk the boat could lead to nuclear war. Talk like that sounds like they are just itching for a fight, but want the UN, US, and South Korea to appear to start the fighting. Maybe that is North knows they can't win and want China to help so maybe some of the food that China sent to feed it troop can be siphon off to feed it own population behind the front lines.

I think the North Koreans want the South Koreans to pretend nothing happened -- and thereby admit that they are powerless in the face of "powerful North Korean war machine."

thats pretty funny. my coworker and I were joking that the Dear Leader edited out the two Brazil goals from the world cup footage that would be broadcast to the DPRK so that they could declare DPRK beats Brazil 1-0!

I wouldn't be surprised.

Yeah they want the status quo kept. Much like that happen along in the inter-German Border.

You know back in the 80s Aircraft would regular go down both in and around German and Korea and nothing was much done, even when an aircraft would crash in the US. The military would just shrug it off. Then until about 2003 any time an aircraft went down there would be so called safety stand-downs to allow everyone to go over procedures and make sure everyone was doing the right thing. Since we are back to the same. Which is always amaze me to a point that air crews seem more expendable than others.

hehe
 

maybe so .
It is known that NK leadership used footage from the 2000 celebrations and big international sporting events or some such as stock footage when making " news broadcasts " about the leaders "succesful" visit to Europe or the worlds reactions to PyongYangs antics.

I see the following imagery - footage of huge crowds say in London or Paris ,waving flags and cheering ( maybe a few criers as well )

Que in blaring news reel type music with upbeat tempo/commentary read in enthusiastic and agrressive tempo :

"All over the world the people of all nations are celebrating the Dear Leader as he comes to visit them.The visit offers them hope to escape the capitalist cages they are trapped in by their feudal minded overlords.Material assistance was given by the Peoples commite for overseas aid and political education was initiated by Dear Leader personally ,enligthening and inspiring millions throughout the blighted nations of the capitalist west .
The visit was a great success and a triumph for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea thanks to our communal efforts and the brilliant guidance of our Dear Leader.
Long live the Dear Leader !"

The BBC showed a spoof film of exactly that scenario after the South Africa - Uruguay match last night...

NK jokes
 

Just thought I would add a few laughables to the mix :

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2010/...ean-jokes.html

I'm not sure air crews are more expendable--just at greater risk.

Webstral

It is rumored that there were frequent border shootouts and even dogfights in the air above the inter-German border. The former is believable to me -- it would be harder to hide a dogfight from the public.

I remember reading about this when I was a kid, not quite the inter-German border.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/21/wo...ch-border.html

There were always incidents which the media/general public were never aware of. While the Cobra was not hit, is probably intentional. Sides always tested each other.

cira December 1970, ROK about 60km north of Kunsan on the Yellow Sea, and more than 200km south of the DMZ. Christmas eve to be exact as I just arrived in my unit on my second tour to the Far East. People are standing looking out at the sea. When I asked what was going on I too looked out across the rice paddies and sea. In the distance I saw green tracers rising from the sea and orange rocket trails coming from the darkened sky. The ROK air force was in the process of sinking a NK gunboat about six miles out. Out of the fryingpan into the fire I found I was headed. The incident was never reported in the news that I saw. Neither was the fire fight my section was in the following August. In 1971, there were over 370 'incidents' from the DMZ south with only a few making it to the media.

Yeah, that one thing I remember the Drill Sergeants drilling into us during basic and AIT, without coming out saying it. Just from my Basic/AIT company out of us who were Regular Army, many went strait from Fort Benning to Korea directly. Several more were heading to Germany, at the time. Both the inter-border and DMZ have been home of several incidents that largely get unreported.

There are two reasons:

1. Each side is testing the other.

2. No one really wants a shooting war.

Many of these incidents are written up as nerves. As for the dogfights...It not so much of a dogfight, but pilots being order to fly into the others territory to test their reaction. Many of the times, they were only suppose to get close enough to scare the shit out of the offending pilot, but when you sent up aircraft loaded for bear shit happens.

Not saying that none of the unreported incidents were unintentional, but the thing is if you are being the one shot down or taking fire, you aren't going to ask if it was or wasn't, in your mind it was. It was a game that was played for years, and in some of the unfriendly borders of the world, it is still played on the daily basis...

How DARE you say that Web!!!
Dem's fightin' words!

:peace:

Don't know about the latter, but as to the former, the answer is Yes, there was a few shots fired in each direction. Never anything too serious, but boys with guns will be boys. By and large, the Czech border was actually pretty laid back in contrast.

Didn't LeMay order RB-36 and RB-47 flights to do everything just shy of provoke a full-scale war? E.g., try to engage Soviet fighters and force them to shoot in defense, etc.?

From what I have heard about him, it wouldn't shock me.