bjbj I want to talk about North Korea and an incredible, this is really a horrible,
shocking story. Mark Fitzpatrick, who... he's a local listener of the show, he turned me
on to the story, he sent me some links, we did some research. In North Korea, we have
a situation where obviously we have a horrible situation in North Korea, and there was speculation
that the recent shelling of North Korea... or rather of South Korea by North Korea was
actually a provocation attack, because North Korea is so desperately in need of food aid
that they wanted to cause a retaliation from South Korea big enough so that humanitarian
organizations would bring food to them. We talked about that a couple weeks ago. Louis:
Right. David: Now, this goes much further than many people would know. We know that
there are food shortages in North Korea due to drought, due to crop failures, there's
the inherent problems with the heavy restrictions on imports there, and this is actually having
an effect to the extent that very, very soon, some people even argue now, that what was
in 50, 60 years ago, when the division started in North and South Korea, was just an indicator
of... was just a political division. And now we actually are seeing two different races,
essentially, develop, and what I mean is this: The malnutrition that has been going on in
North Korea now for several decades is significantly changing the size of the people there. So
in other words, in 2005, the average height for those who were 20 to 39 in North Korea
was about 155 cm for women and about 166 cm for men. In South Korea, women and men, respectively,
are four to seven centimeters taller. Now, again, genetically, ethnically, there is no
difference. Now, the height disparity is stunning, because Koreans from the North and South,
which was just Korea previously, were more or less the same size. If anything, people
in the North were slightly taller until the abrupt partition of the country after World
War II. That's the initial evidence. What's your thought, Louis? Louis: Well, it makes
sense. I mean, that's what happens when food is plentiful, a species will get larger, and...
David: As we see here in the U.S. Louis: Right, exactly. David: But larger in a different
way, because we're not talking about being overweight or underweight, we're actually
talking about height here. Louis: Americans are taller, too, than most people in most
countries. David: But in many countries that's not the case. What we're seeing here is different.
And I've read that North Korea has actually had to decrease the height requirements for
the military due to this malnutrition. Now, foreigners who get the chance to visit North
Korea, which is arguably the most isolated country in the world, are often confused about
the age of children. Nine-year-olds are mistaken for kindergartners, and soldiers are mistaken
for Boy Scouts. Literally, the soldiers look like Boy Scouts. To the extent that they ever
get to meet South Koreans, the North Koreans also seem to be shocked. I mean, when two
small North Korean soldiers who are 19 and 23 drifted into South Korean waters on a boat,
one supposedly was overheard saying they'd never be able to marry South Korean women
because they were, quote, "too big for us". This is reported in the book "The Two Koreas"
by Don Oberdorfer. So in 20 years, we could literally be talking about two completely
different races. Now, the argument against this, as you know, Louis, no matter what argument
you make on a radio or TV show, they will point out reasons why it's flawed. The argument
could be made that since there's no immigration to North Korea but people can go to South
Korea, South Korea's height is increasing relative to North Korea's because there are
taller immigrants added to the gene pool. You follow what I'm saying? Louis: Mmhmm.
David: But the reality is that number one, that's false, South Koreans haven't been getting
taller, it's North Koreans who have been shrinking, and that would take much longer to work into
the average height for the whole country than malnutrition, which, as we can see, can be
reflected after just a couple of generations. Louis: Right. David: Humanitarian agencies
are actually arguing that more food aid is needed in North Korea to prevent the stunting
of more children. Seems obvious, but as we know, the nation's dogged pursuit of nuclear
weapons has made it pretty unpopular among donors, and hey, when they have the choices
of humanitarian crises in Iraq and Afghanistan or North Korea, where are they going to go?
Not North Korea. A friend from Cambodia who we grew up with told us the same thing, he's,
I think, 6'3" or something, he's pretty big. Louis: Yeah. David: And I remember him telling
us that when he goes back to visit, his entire family is tiny. Louis: Right. David: Now,
arguably, could we really see this genetically with him just moving here at the age of five
and then eating a Western diet versus a diet there? I... Louis: First-generation... David:
I don't know. Louis: Yeah. David: I don't know, but he certainly is aware that in general,
his family diaspora in the U.S., everybody is bigger from a number of different family
members, so this is not an uncommon thing. Now, about 500 North Korean children have
come to South Korea either alone or with their parents, and where we can really see that
this isn't just OK, they're smaller, there's no evidence this is really affecting them
negatively, they're actually known for having difficulty keeping up in school. This is actually
affecting the intelligence. So it really is a humanitarian crisis, and there are many
of these crises around the world, and I am not pointing a finger to this one and saying
this is exclusively what we should focus on, I am just saying that a malnutrition issue
as a result of the politics of the country is actually leading to intelligence deficiencies
and physical malnutrition. It is both that is going on here. Now, South Korea gives defectors
from North Korea priority in going to the best universities, it's a form of affirmative
action. 80% end up dropping out, and there's no coincidence there, Louis, absolutely no
coincidence. There is... it is... what else can we say about it? And I don't know that
there's any clear... Louis: Not much. It's shocking. David: It is shocking. I don't know
that there's any clear solution, but we at least need to have the discussion. Louis:
Other than a coup? David: Other than a coup, and we don't know how likely that is. Power
seems to be changing hands almost seamlessly there with the transfer of power from Kim
Jong-il to his third son. Louis: But tensions are growing, as well. David: That's for sure.
And the next year or 18 months I think will be interesting there. urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags
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