**The Enigmatic World of North Korea: An Exploration of its Military, Economy, and Everyday Life**

In today's globalized world, North Korea stands out as an odd man out. Unlike other countries, which are often compared to one another, North Korea plays mostly by itself, with a few select allies. This phenomenon is not entirely surprising, given the country's unique history and circumstances.

**A Nation of Soldiers**

One of the most striking aspects of North Korea is its military prowess. With 1.21 million troops, which account for approximately 4.7% of the country's total population, North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world. This is a significant difference from Western countries, where the proportion of the population serving in the military is much lower. For example, in the United States, only 0.727% of the population serves in the military.

**A Separate Timeline**

North Korea also has its own unique timeline, which starts with the year 1912. This means that the country's calendar begins two years before the Gregorian calendar used by most Western countries. This anomaly is a reflection of North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, who was born in 1912.

**Economic Growth and Challenges**

Despite global sanctions and international isolation, North Korea's economy has been growing steadily. In fact, data released by Trading Economics and the World Bank shows that the country's GDP was approximately $18 billion at the end of 2020. This growth is attributed to the country's strategic management of its resources and export industries.

However, despite these economic achievements, North Korea's GDP still lags behind South Korea's, which was estimated at $1.8 trillion in 2021. The country's main exports are coal, rare metals, and clothing. Coal alone brings over $370 million in illicit shipments every year. While China announced that it would end all coal imports to North Korea in 2017, the UN later reported that coal was still being delivered to China for re-export.

**Illicit Trade and Smuggling**

North Korea's economy is not without controversy. The country has a long history of engaging in illicit trade and smuggling activities. One notable example is Kim Guksung, who defected from North Korea and revealed the extent of the country's smuggling operations. He sold rare metals and coal for millions of dollars and even carried large amounts of cash back to North Korea on multiple occasions.

**The Car Industry: A Reflection of the Nation**

North Korea's car industry is also a fascinating aspect of the country's economy. Unlike private or public industries in other countries, the car industry in North Korea is a branch of the national economy. The production of vehicles is focused primarily towards military and industrial goals, rather than civilian use.

As a result, North Korean cars are not designed for mass market consumption. Instead, they are often imported from abroad and sold to high-ranking officials and foreigners. In the 1970s and 1980s, North Korea did experience a period of relative economic development, which led to an influx of foreign cars on its roads. Today, you can find American, Japanese, and German cars from those decades on North Korean roads.

**A Status Symbol: Car Ownership**

Car ownership in North Korea is considered a status symbol. With only around 300,000 private cars in the country, owning one is a rare privilege reserved for select individuals, such as employees of state-owned enterprises, government officials, scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the nation, athletes who have won international competitions, and diplomats.

Foreigners working in North Korea are also allowed to own private cars without restrictions. This allows them to enjoy some of the comforts of modern life in a country that is otherwise notorious for its economic hardship.

**Threats: Valid or Not?**

Finally, it's worth considering whether North Korea's threats are valid. While the country has made significant progress in recent years, including diplomatic efforts with South Korea and other nations, its military capabilities remain a concern. The fact that North Korea is willing to threaten nuclear war and engage in cyber attacks makes it difficult for the international community to assess the validity of its threats.

However, by understanding more about North Korea's unique history, economy, and everyday life, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the complexities of this enigmatic nation.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI said it before and I'll say it again the world is a mess recently North Korea launched some test missiles off the coast of South Korea to simulate strikes on South Korea and the U.S the exercise may have included a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM today we're looking at the reclusive country North Korea whether it's nuclear warheads can reach as far as the U.S and how much damage it would cause we'll also look into the Curious car industry in North Korea and whether it holds a chance against Kia and Hyundai a few weeks ago in November North Korea test-fired multiple missiles and artillery shells into the Sea of Japan also known as the East sea South Korea announced that it found parts of at least one of these North Korean missiles near its Coast that was actually the first time in history that a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean Shores but this wasn't the first report a North Korean missile testing this year nuclear armed North Korea has been testing missiles all year but that most recent Mass missile launch in November included the most test-fired missiles launched ever in a single day if you're wondering why North Korea launched these test misses evidently it was a simulation conducted in response to Vigilant storm Vigilant storm is an annual event basically it's a joint training between the U.S Air Force and some of its allies in the asia-pacific region it's a four-day training exercise involving hundreds of aircraft the thing is the North Korean military views operation Vigilant storm as an open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating tension it also views the war drill to be highly aggressive aggressive in line with persistent War hysteria that's why it responded by conducting simulations of attacks on air bases and aircraft diplomats in the U.S South Korea and Japan condemned North Korea's tests and called it as Reckless but here's where things start to get a little sticky the North Korean military said that on November 2nd 2022 it fired two strategic cruise missiles towards the Waters of ulsan usan is a Southeastern coastal city in South Korea that houses the nuclear power plant in large Factory parks North Korea even released photos of the said launch but South Korean officials claimed it had not tricked or found any missiles in the usan area it didn't trust the North Korean photos either in fact some analysts of the photos looked like they were recycled photos from earlier 2022 launches but it's not just that North Korea also said that it launched two tactical ballistic missiles that were loaded with dispersion warheads and a special functional test Warhead that it said would paralyze its enemy's operation command system North Korea also said it carried out large-scale all-out combat sorting operation involving 500 fighter jets the thing is releasing 500 fighter jets means almost every dedicated combat aircraft to North Korea's inventory yet many North Korea fighter jets are 40 to 80 years old and are far from serviceable North Korea is not known to have any new war plane since the early 2000s that's why many believe North Korea's 500 fighter jet figure is an exaggeration North Korea didn't stop there the general staff of North Korea's People's Army or kPa accused Washington DC and Seoul of eliciting more unstable confrontation in the region and said that if the U.S and South Korea continue to provoke North Korea with these drills the North Korea would counter these events with more practical measures so here's the question everyone is wondering are North Koreans threats valid here's what some experts say North Korea's recent test of the song 17 ICBM appear to indicate that North Korea is developing a missile with multiple nuclear warheads that can Target the U.S some even believe that this new monster missile is the largest Road Mobile IC band in the world the latest missile launch reached an altitude of 3 700 miles Lou for 69 minutes covering the distance of 620 miles before it landed 130 miles off Hokkaido in Northern Japan Bruce Bennett a senior advisor Analyst at the Rand Corporation believes there were two reasons why North Korea is developing its own new ICBM it allows North Korea to potentially reach any part of the U.S with a weapon that's estimated to weigh 1 000 102 pounds or more it also gives North Korea something to use as an intimidating threat if you're wondering how powerful the Wong Song 17 ICBM is let's put it in perspective the earlier long song 14 at a maximum range around 6 213 miles it can easily reach the U.S West Coast the last song 15 has a range of just up to eight thousand seven 27 miles this means it can reach any part of the U.S Mainland even the most eastern coast and the current wasong 17 reportedly has a maximum range of at least 9 320 miles Ankit Panda believes that the won song 17 could be a test bed for a post-boost vehicle that's used in any sophisticated multiple Warhead payload a post-boost vehicle is also known as a bus basically it's a ballistic missile payload that contains multiple independently targetable Warheads they can each be guided to strike its own specific different targets because of that intercepting this Warhead is an easy also because of its size some nuclear anals believe that the wasong 17 could potentially carry one or even several large Warheads but for now the won song 17 ICBM is still considered to be at an early stage of development true Watson 17 was reportedly test fired on November 2nd but according to Joint Chiefs and soul apparently it was a failure doing an engine ignition problem in the second stage after which point the missile fell in the Sea of Japan or the EC now I say apparently because in a statement released by North Korea after the test this failed ICBM test was not even mentioned so for now the last song 17 is far from operational due to reliability issues with its manufacturing components and quality control so here's the question if North Korea were to attack the U.S would it be able to stop John Kirby National Security council's strategic Communications coordinator says that the U.S has been concerned about North Korean provocations for a while because of that the US has added intelligent capabilities off the Korean Peninsula to better understand North Korea's Behavior Ian Williams deputy director of the missile defense project said that the recent test launches were the most significant exercise by North Korea so far but that's not all the White House even went so far to warn that Pyongyang could immediately conduct a seventh nuclear test if they wanted to but if that were to happen Lloyd Austin III the Secretary of Defense and Lee Yong South Korea's minister of National Defense affirmed that the U.S South Korea Alliance is iron collab yeah North Korea were to launch icbms against the state's military analysts believe that the U.S can not only retaliating as the tech but even intercept to stop the attack and minimize damage here in the states we have something known as ground-based mid-course defense system this is the lone U.S operational Homeland defense system against nuclear attacks the system includes 44 interceptors in States like Alaska and California but here's the thing the National Bureau of Asian research found last year despite ongoing U.S Investments factors like technical shortcomings limited oversight and a poor record of testing casted significant doubts on the user's ability to defend against nuclear missiles in North Korea 2017 General Mark milley chairman of the U.S joints Chiefs of Staff said that the U.S would utterly destroy North Korea if it attacked the U.S with nuclear weapons but later in 2022 General Malay said that North Korea posed a real threat with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs so you can see things have changed according to one report North Korea recently entered its most intense period of missile testing ever some analysts has to make that North Korea might have enough material for over 100 nukes and while military analysts today are confident the U.S can intercept a single North Korean missile on the other hand intercepting a hundred of them is a different story by the way did you know that former presidents like George W bush Barack Obama Donald Trump repeated attempts to bring North Korea to the table to discuss denuclearization but none of them were successful here's the thing in this Modern Age of globalization North Korea is really an odd man up if you imagined every country in this world as kids in a playground North Korea would be that super odd mysterious child that plays mostly by himself and just a few others in secret the truth is North Korea is an impoverished nation and while its own people suffer it pours out its money into the military Believe It or Not North Korea is the fourth largest army in the world North Korea has 1.21 million troops that's around 4.7 percent of the country's total population if you think 4.7 percent are small it's not compared to the US where 0.727 percent of our population serves in the military that's not the only conundrum not many people know this but North Korea has its own timeline they don't follow the same timeline as Western countries do North Korea's calendar starts with the year 1912. that's because North Korea's founder Kim il-sung was born that year even though we're going into 2023 North Korea is only going into the year 112. despite Global sanctions against North Korea its missile program and GDP are still growing now attacking North Korea doesn't make its economic information public but data released by trading economics in the World Bank showed the country's GDP of 18 billion by the end of 2020 and it showed that at least up to the same year the GDP had been growing each year even so North Korea's GDP pales in comparison to South Korea's the World Bank found that in 2021 South Korea's GDP was 1.8 trillion dollars so if you're wondering what North Korea's largest exports are its main export is coal According to some estimates coal brings over 370 million dollars a year in illegal shipments in 2017 and a bid to comply with U.N sanctions China announced it would end all coal Imports to North Korea that year but even so a confidential U.N report later reported that coal was still being delivered to China to be a ship to ship transfers back in 2021 BBC interviewed Kim guksung a man who had defected from North Korea before he defect that he sold rare metals and coal for North Korea for millions of dollars and he actually carried loads of cash back to North Korea in a suitcase North Korea also exports clothing actually there's a lot of controversy around this it's rumored that North Korean clothing gets relabeled as made in China before it gets exported from China to other parts of the world so think about the next time you buy clothing that's made in China but look I'm a mechanic at heart so let's talk about cars if you're wondering if North Korea makes its own cars well the car industry in North Korea isn't private or public it's actually a branch of the national economy but compared to South Korea it produces a lot less Vehicles that's because the North Korea vehicle production is focused towards military and Industrial goals but the North Korean car market is nowhere near able to compete against Asian counterparts like yondai or kia let alone Toyota on the Mazda or Nissan the 1970s 1980s was a period of relatively good Economic Development North Korea and so it imported many cars from abroad that's why you can find American Japanese and German cars from those decades on North Korean roads you can also find luxury car brands like BMW Lexus and Mercedes men's too in North Korea they also have wood burning Vehicles it's true because of strict International sanctions oil is not easy to import to North Korea and so they've improvised and they have some vehicles that are fueled by wood did you know that owning a car in North Korea is a status symbol there are only a little over 300 000 cars in North Korea that's not much when you consider this population it's almost 26 million given the average annual salary there it could take over 20 years to afford a private car and if you ever saved up enough money to buy a car in North Korea you'd still need to be eligible for the right to own one North Korean law stipulates that the owner of a private car must be an employee of a state-owned Enterprise or a government official scientists who made outstanding contributions to North Korea University professors are athletes who've won championships and major International competitions can also get private cars donated to them by the state diplomats and foreigners work in the North Korea can own private cars in North Korea without restrictions but now you tell me do you think North Korea's threats are valid please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your supportI said it before and I'll say it again the world is a mess recently North Korea launched some test missiles off the coast of South Korea to simulate strikes on South Korea and the U.S the exercise may have included a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM today we're looking at the reclusive country North Korea whether it's nuclear warheads can reach as far as the U.S and how much damage it would cause we'll also look into the Curious car industry in North Korea and whether it holds a chance against Kia and Hyundai a few weeks ago in November North Korea test-fired multiple missiles and artillery shells into the Sea of Japan also known as the East sea South Korea announced that it found parts of at least one of these North Korean missiles near its Coast that was actually the first time in history that a North Korean ballistic missile had landed near South Korean Shores but this wasn't the first report a North Korean missile testing this year nuclear armed North Korea has been testing missiles all year but that most recent Mass missile launch in November included the most test-fired missiles launched ever in a single day if you're wondering why North Korea launched these test misses evidently it was a simulation conducted in response to Vigilant storm Vigilant storm is an annual event basically it's a joint training between the U.S Air Force and some of its allies in the asia-pacific region it's a four-day training exercise involving hundreds of aircraft the thing is the North Korean military views operation Vigilant storm as an open provocation aimed at intentionally escalating tension it also views the war drill to be highly aggressive aggressive in line with persistent War hysteria that's why it responded by conducting simulations of attacks on air bases and aircraft diplomats in the U.S South Korea and Japan condemned North Korea's tests and called it as Reckless but here's where things start to get a little sticky the North Korean military said that on November 2nd 2022 it fired two strategic cruise missiles towards the Waters of ulsan usan is a Southeastern coastal city in South Korea that houses the nuclear power plant in large Factory parks North Korea even released photos of the said launch but South Korean officials claimed it had not tricked or found any missiles in the usan area it didn't trust the North Korean photos either in fact some analysts of the photos looked like they were recycled photos from earlier 2022 launches but it's not just that North Korea also said that it launched two tactical ballistic missiles that were loaded with dispersion warheads and a special functional test Warhead that it said would paralyze its enemy's operation command system North Korea also said it carried out large-scale all-out combat sorting operation involving 500 fighter jets the thing is releasing 500 fighter jets means almost every dedicated combat aircraft to North Korea's inventory yet many North Korea fighter jets are 40 to 80 years old and are far from serviceable North Korea is not known to have any new war plane since the early 2000s that's why many believe North Korea's 500 fighter jet figure is an exaggeration North Korea didn't stop there the general staff of North Korea's People's Army or kPa accused Washington DC and Seoul of eliciting more unstable confrontation in the region and said that if the U.S and South Korea continue to provoke North Korea with these drills the North Korea would counter these events with more practical measures so here's the question everyone is wondering are North Koreans threats valid here's what some experts say North Korea's recent test of the song 17 ICBM appear to indicate that North Korea is developing a missile with multiple nuclear warheads that can Target the U.S some even believe that this new monster missile is the largest Road Mobile IC band in the world the latest missile launch reached an altitude of 3 700 miles Lou for 69 minutes covering the distance of 620 miles before it landed 130 miles off Hokkaido in Northern Japan Bruce Bennett a senior advisor Analyst at the Rand Corporation believes there were two reasons why North Korea is developing its own new ICBM it allows North Korea to potentially reach any part of the U.S with a weapon that's estimated to weigh 1 000 102 pounds or more it also gives North Korea something to use as an intimidating threat if you're wondering how powerful the Wong Song 17 ICBM is let's put it in perspective the earlier long song 14 at a maximum range around 6 213 miles it can easily reach the U.S West Coast the last song 15 has a range of just up to eight thousand seven 27 miles this means it can reach any part of the U.S Mainland even the most eastern coast and the current wasong 17 reportedly has a maximum range of at least 9 320 miles Ankit Panda believes that the won song 17 could be a test bed for a post-boost vehicle that's used in any sophisticated multiple Warhead payload a post-boost vehicle is also known as a bus basically it's a ballistic missile payload that contains multiple independently targetable Warheads they can each be guided to strike its own specific different targets because of that intercepting this Warhead is an easy also because of its size some nuclear anals believe that the wasong 17 could potentially carry one or even several large Warheads but for now the won song 17 ICBM is still considered to be at an early stage of development true Watson 17 was reportedly test fired on November 2nd but according to Joint Chiefs and soul apparently it was a failure doing an engine ignition problem in the second stage after which point the missile fell in the Sea of Japan or the EC now I say apparently because in a statement released by North Korea after the test this failed ICBM test was not even mentioned so for now the last song 17 is far from operational due to reliability issues with its manufacturing components and quality control so here's the question if North Korea were to attack the U.S would it be able to stop John Kirby National Security council's strategic Communications coordinator says that the U.S has been concerned about North Korean provocations for a while because of that the US has added intelligent capabilities off the Korean Peninsula to better understand North Korea's Behavior Ian Williams deputy director of the missile defense project said that the recent test launches were the most significant exercise by North Korea so far but that's not all the White House even went so far to warn that Pyongyang could immediately conduct a seventh nuclear test if they wanted to but if that were to happen Lloyd Austin III the Secretary of Defense and Lee Yong South Korea's minister of National Defense affirmed that the U.S South Korea Alliance is iron collab yeah North Korea were to launch icbms against the state's military analysts believe that the U.S can not only retaliating as the tech but even intercept to stop the attack and minimize damage here in the states we have something known as ground-based mid-course defense system this is the lone U.S operational Homeland defense system against nuclear attacks the system includes 44 interceptors in States like Alaska and California but here's the thing the National Bureau of Asian research found last year despite ongoing U.S Investments factors like technical shortcomings limited oversight and a poor record of testing casted significant doubts on the user's ability to defend against nuclear missiles in North Korea 2017 General Mark milley chairman of the U.S joints Chiefs of Staff said that the U.S would utterly destroy North Korea if it attacked the U.S with nuclear weapons but later in 2022 General Malay said that North Korea posed a real threat with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs so you can see things have changed according to one report North Korea recently entered its most intense period of missile testing ever some analysts has to make that North Korea might have enough material for over 100 nukes and while military analysts today are confident the U.S can intercept a single North Korean missile on the other hand intercepting a hundred of them is a different story by the way did you know that former presidents like George W bush Barack Obama Donald Trump repeated attempts to bring North Korea to the table to discuss denuclearization but none of them were successful here's the thing in this Modern Age of globalization North Korea is really an odd man up if you imagined every country in this world as kids in a playground North Korea would be that super odd mysterious child that plays mostly by himself and just a few others in secret the truth is North Korea is an impoverished nation and while its own people suffer it pours out its money into the military Believe It or Not North Korea is the fourth largest army in the world North Korea has 1.21 million troops that's around 4.7 percent of the country's total population if you think 4.7 percent are small it's not compared to the US where 0.727 percent of our population serves in the military that's not the only conundrum not many people know this but North Korea has its own timeline they don't follow the same timeline as Western countries do North Korea's calendar starts with the year 1912. that's because North Korea's founder Kim il-sung was born that year even though we're going into 2023 North Korea is only going into the year 112. despite Global sanctions against North Korea its missile program and GDP are still growing now attacking North Korea doesn't make its economic information public but data released by trading economics in the World Bank showed the country's GDP of 18 billion by the end of 2020 and it showed that at least up to the same year the GDP had been growing each year even so North Korea's GDP pales in comparison to South Korea's the World Bank found that in 2021 South Korea's GDP was 1.8 trillion dollars so if you're wondering what North Korea's largest exports are its main export is coal According to some estimates coal brings over 370 million dollars a year in illegal shipments in 2017 and a bid to comply with U.N sanctions China announced it would end all coal Imports to North Korea that year but even so a confidential U.N report later reported that coal was still being delivered to China to be a ship to ship transfers back in 2021 BBC interviewed Kim guksung a man who had defected from North Korea before he defect that he sold rare metals and coal for North Korea for millions of dollars and he actually carried loads of cash back to North Korea in a suitcase North Korea also exports clothing actually there's a lot of controversy around this it's rumored that North Korean clothing gets relabeled as made in China before it gets exported from China to other parts of the world so think about the next time you buy clothing that's made in China but look I'm a mechanic at heart so let's talk about cars if you're wondering if North Korea makes its own cars well the car industry in North Korea isn't private or public it's actually a branch of the national economy but compared to South Korea it produces a lot less Vehicles that's because the North Korea vehicle production is focused towards military and Industrial goals but the North Korean car market is nowhere near able to compete against Asian counterparts like yondai or kia let alone Toyota on the Mazda or Nissan the 1970s 1980s was a period of relatively good Economic Development North Korea and so it imported many cars from abroad that's why you can find American Japanese and German cars from those decades on North Korean roads you can also find luxury car brands like BMW Lexus and Mercedes men's too in North Korea they also have wood burning Vehicles it's true because of strict International sanctions oil is not easy to import to North Korea and so they've improvised and they have some vehicles that are fueled by wood did you know that owning a car in North Korea is a status symbol there are only a little over 300 000 cars in North Korea that's not much when you consider this population it's almost 26 million given the average annual salary there it could take over 20 years to afford a private car and if you ever saved up enough money to buy a car in North Korea you'd still need to be eligible for the right to own one North Korean law stipulates that the owner of a private car must be an employee of a state-owned Enterprise or a government official scientists who made outstanding contributions to North Korea University professors are athletes who've won championships and major International competitions can also get private cars donated to them by the state diplomats and foreigners work in the North Korea can own private cars in North Korea without restrictions but now you tell me do you think North Korea's threats are valid please share by commenting below if you like this video please like share and subscribe thanks for your support\n"