I understand that the point of the sanctions is to make the lives of the elite miserable, but there have been more and more people sneaking photos and videos out of North Korea in recent years. Were those cameras smuggled in from China, or were they given to/stolen by proles by/from elites? Or perhaps there are some elites who actually have access to this sort of thing who want to get real images of their country out to the world. We have no idea, but I still think that these types of recording devices should be treated differently from say, a DVD player or cosmetics.

You would think that these are exactly the sorts of things that anti-DPRK governments would want to flood the country to damage the information control regime of Kim Jong Il’s government.

Assuming that’s not sarcastic, see my previous comment. If the US had the choice of providing DPRK citizens with a radio that could tune to ROK stations, the White House would probably jump at the chance. But as it happens, North Koreans can’t go to their local Wal-Mart and purchase a radio, so banning radios from the regular course of trade doesn’t affect them. If it affects anyone, it’s the military forces and the people in charge—and doing anything to make their miserable lives as unpleasant as possible sounds pretty damn good to me.

What I find odd about this list, in fact, are the bans on various communication and media production devices. You would think that these are exactly the sorts of things that anti-DPRK governments would want to flood the country to damage the information control regime of Kim Jong Il’s government.

Incidentally, I do not believe radios are “sold” at all in North Korea, but distributed.

As you read this list, consider which of them is so essential and valuable that you would not be willing to trade it for a nuclear bomb.

You miss the point entirely, sir. North Korea agreed not to develop nuclear weaponry in the 1994 framework in exchange for oil for heating and electricity and more good will than you could shake a stick at. North Korea received that, and much more in the form of food aid, and then when and did exactly as it pleases, concentrating its resources on its military. The idea that we could give the DPRK fountain pens in exchange for them not producing nuclear weapons is pretty flawed thinking.

J. Dresner: You rightly note that radio receivers sold in DPRK are set to one station; tuneable radios are smuggled in. These regulations can’t affect the black market, so don’t conclude that a ban on radio receivers is going to stifle anyone’s freedom of information.