News

Bush: No iPods for North Korea

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 9:05 AM - by

President Bush is attempting to impose targeted trade sanctions against North Korea to deprive Kim Jong Il of the luxury items he enjoys. One of the items on the list: Apple's iPod. According to Yahoo! News, the items on the sanction list are products that North Korea's leader personally covets, or gives as presents to the loyalist families that run his communist government.

Other products on the list include cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, plasma televisions, expensive cars, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and Jet Skis.

Former senior Commerce Department official under President Bill Clinton, William Reinsch, expects most governments will support the new sanctions. But preventing underground product shipments into North Korea will be very difficult. He said "The problem is there has always been and will always be this group of people who work at getting these goods illegally."

iPods and other small electronic devices are "untraceable and available all over the place," he added.

Regardless of the impact the sanctions have on North Korea, it looks like the iPod is now one of President Bush's new politcal weapons.

Thanks to TMO reader George Slusher for the heads up.

19 comments from the community.

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1745 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:44 am

I have an iPod and Kim Jong Il can't have one

neener-neeener-neener

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:49 am

That's about as stupid as it can get. Doesn't Bush realize that North Korea can get those items from other markets? Black market iPods, wtaches and tvs may cost a bit more, but what's a few extra dollars when you want the best? And I seriously doubt that denying North Korea iPods will sway them in any meaningful way.

It's not even an inconvenience. Why bother?

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jimothy said:

member since 04 Jun 2004 with 589 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:50 am

Stick 'em with a bunch of Zunes. That'll show those commie bastards.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:57 am

I second Jimothy's Zune idea!

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geoduck said:

member since 30 Dec 2003 with 1745 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:04 am

Or to take it a step further we should give the North Krean Govt a whole bunch of new Dells running WinXP. Then we would have no trouble keylogging them and we'd know what they're up to.

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Brutno said:

member since 28 Aug 2002 with 195 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:44 am

geoduck wrote:
Or to take it a step further we should give the North Krean Govt a whole bunch of new Dells running WinXP. Then we would have no trouble keylogging them and we'd know what they're up to.

LOL!

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 2944 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:42 pm

Without an iPod, Kim Jong Il will be so ronery.

And to the guest posting about how stupid this is, consider that it isn't just the iPod. The sanction is luxury goods. Specifically those things that Kim Jong Il and the country's leadership enjoy, including cognac (Kim is rumored to spend about $1M on Hennessy Paradis per year). The sanction is aimed directly at them, without hurting the populace.

Will it be impossible for them to get these items now? No. Will it be much more difficult? Certainly.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Nov 29, 2006 12:59 pm

So how would anyone enforce the sanctions? If any other Joe Kim can buy an iPod what's stopping him from buying them from his government? Again I say it makes no difference, Jong will buy what he wants elsewhere. The only way to block ANY items from getting into Jong's hand is to blockade to country, and I doubt anyone is talking about doing that.

This is little more than ineffectual political posturing. And it's stupid, which is inline with the current administration's policies.

I agree with sending them Dells tho. It could work.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:39 pm

Yet another smart move by Bush and the wise leaders of this country! Sanctions have worked so well against Cuba.

</sarcasm>

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Edison Carter said:

member since 10 Aug 2006 with 228 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:22 pm

We should pre-load the iPods with pro USA and anti Kim Jong Il music and video propaganda then hand them out to the North Koreans.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:59 pm

I think the point of "targeted" sanctions is that specific items are targeted, not specific people. So nobody in DPRK could buy the blacklisted items. But, since practically nobody outside of Kim Jong Il's tight circle could afford them anyway, it affects those at the top the most.

I for one congratulate the President for a moderately creative idea and hope he has not exhausted his supply.

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 2944 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:05 pm

Anonymous wrote:
Yet another smart move by Bush and the wise leaders of this country! Sanctions have worked so well against Cuba.

</sarcasm>

The Bush administration didn't impose the sanctions against Cuba. The Kennedy administration did. Can't blame that one on Bush.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:48 pm

Kim Jong Il will now change course and renounce nuclear weapons, as he really, really wants to get his hands on a 2G Nano, so he can listen to it while sipping cognac on his jet ski. Deprived of his luxury goods, he will have to go through the inconvenience of getting things through the black market, which will make his knees tremble. What if there's no warranty, he'll be thinking in abject terror. We have him now!!! Yeahhhh, right.

I guess Bush really is as stupid as everyone says. Dear God.

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Bosco said:

member since 03 Jun 2002 with 999 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 9:52 pm

Everybody knows that George Bush is a poopie head who stole several elections dating way back to bathroom hall monitor in 3rd grade because Timmy Jones was more loved by his classmates than Georgie. Not to mention stealing the Texas governor's race from Ann Richards. There were no Republicans in Texas and we all know that Ann Richards was the best governor ever and nobody was more loved by all of Texas than Ann Richards. Then he stole the Presidency in 2000 by having James Baker and wife Tammy Fae count dangling chads in a precinct that's actually part of Cuba, not Florida. Then, he stole it again in 2004 by painting his opponent as a flip-flopping, military hating, lying Massachusettes liberal with fake hair. So if George Bush thinks that having an iPod embargo against Great Adored Leader Kim Jong Il is a good idea, we know it's dumb and he's being a poopie head.

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CudaBoy said:

member since 19 Dec 2001 with 124 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:39 pm

What a joke. Why do "we" give a hoot if Kim has toys? The guy has NUKES, yet everybody is obsessed with depriving him of TOYS?? Kim will get ANY toy he wants you know, or else y'all are naive.

Why doesn't Dubya do something useful for a change like THINK, and let's see......maybe ship Kim a billion iPods in "good faith" and let the subliminal Apple psyche do it's thing on him and whomever else is lucky enough to get an iPod as well. What, you're gonna get mad at the country that gave you the iPod (or a billion of them) ?? But no, we'll take our ball and go home. You can't play with our toys?? Give me a break folks. I'd laugh but it's not funny. For the poster that made fun of the asian accent... what's up with that?? Kim might be a nut, but his accent has nothing to do with it. Rise up peeps. d

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CudaBoy said:

member since 19 Dec 2001 with 124 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:01 pm

Oh yes we can.. blame DubYuh for keeping the status below quo. Every President since Eisenhower (who imposed 1st arms embargo) can influence what happened before them, Every year the sanctions are reviewed by the U.N.'s General Assembly and Bush is right there alone as usual (except for the Israeli Puppets) keeping that cowboy b.s. alive. Plus, I think the previous poster was speaking of sanctions and the worthiness of same, not Bush per sé.

Intruder wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Yet another smart move by Bush and the wise leaders of this country! Sanctions have worked so well against Cuba.

</sarcasm>

The Bush administration didn't impose the sanctions against Cuba. The Kennedy administration did. Can't blame that one on Bush.

Quote this post ↓

Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 2944 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:40 pm

Ronery is a quote from the movie "Team America". Get a sense of humor.

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 2944 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:51 pm

CudaBoy wrote:
Oh yes we can.. blame DubYuh for keeping the status below quo. Every President since Eisenhower (who imposed 1st arms embargo) can influence what happened before them, Every year the sanctions are reviewed by the U.N.'s General Assembly and Bush is right there alone as usual (except for the Israeli Puppets) keeping that cowboy b.s. alive. Plus, I think the previous poster was speaking of sanctions and the worthiness of same, not Bush per sé.

Intruder wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Yet another smart move by Bush and the wise leaders of this country! Sanctions have worked so well against Cuba.

</sarcasm>

The Bush administration didn't impose the sanctions against Cuba. The Kennedy administration did. Can't blame that one on Bush.

Then also blame every administration since Kennedy: Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1 and Clinton. 3 dems and 4 republicans, none of whom changed the status quo. In fact, some where added in 1996 and 1998 (Clinton). Don't pick and choose your history.

Gee, the UN disagreeing with something the US does? Who could imagine that? The UN is the most useless, powerless bureaucratic institution in the world, accomplishing little to nothing in the past 30 years. They sat back and did nothing during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. 800,000 people died in that.

Anyway, enough of the politics. Sanctions will be imposed and Kim will be Kim.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:31 pm

Bosco wrote:
Everybody knows that George Bush is a poopie head who stole several elections dating way back to bathroom hall monitor in 3rd grade because Timmy Jones was more loved by his classmates than Georgie. Not to mention stealing the Texas governor's race from Ann Richards. There were no Republicans in Texas and we all know that Ann Richards was the best governor ever and nobody was more loved by all of Texas than Ann Richards.

Actually, Ann Richards was a very good and popular governor for Texas. But Dr. Evil (Karl Rove) did his usual polarizing & dirty tricks campaign on the part of the Clueless Jr. (Dubya), and thus he had his platform from which to run for and steal the Presidency in 2000.

Dubya can thank the following folks for promoting him far,far beyond his competency level-

- Daddy

- Karl Rove

- The Supreme Court

- Ralph Nader

- and yes, Al Gore (worst debate performances ever).

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good. Or smart. Or principled. Or competent. lol

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