Gordon Chang on Defector: It Shows N. Korea Is Weaker than We Think

EXCERPT:

CUOMO: “All right. Now, it’s Thanksgiving. I don’t know if I should bring this up but it’s pretty compelling. So, one of the things they find with this soldier when they start looking at him is this incredibly disgusting presence of parasitic worms. One of them was literally like ridiculously long. If you want to see it, it’s on the screen right now. But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is something we try to scare our kids about. Like if you swallow gum, what happens. But what does that indicate to you what they found inside this guy?”
CHANG: “Yes, one of those tapeworms was 11 inches long. The thing here is that the drought in North Korea is probably worse than we think, because here you have a soldier who should be well-fed because he is in the joint security area. But he’s malnourished. He’s got these parasites, dozens of parasites in his intestines. This indicates that the military is probably not as strong as we think and the drought is much worse than people have estimated. And it shows essentially that a North Korea weaker than we think. Also, the other thing about this video is why did we release it the first time that this has been released, of the video of a defection? I think it’s because for the first time we have a White House now that wants to undermine North Korea, because it shows, first of all, the violations. But it also shows the North Koreans in a really unimpressive display of military action."