Commodities Investor Jim Rogers Believes Kim Jong-un is the Next Deng Xiaoping
Kim Jong-un has another member to add to his fan club:
Yes! I’m very excited about North Korea. If I could put all of my money into North Korea, I would. Massive changes are taking place there. I would not have invested in Kim Jong Un’s father or grandfather by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s like saying that in 1980 you shouldn’t invest in China because of Mao Zedong.
Mao was dead and Deng Xiaoping was making huge changes. They are making huge changes in North Korea. The kid is making astonishing changes. [CNN Money]
I am sure that if Jim Rogers wants to put all his money in North Korea, the Kim regime would be more than happy to take it all from him.
Anyway here is another interesting thing that Rogers said that has a grain of truth to it:
When I go to New York I’m so happy that I live in Asia. New York is a third world city, with a third world airport and a third world tax.
Living in Singapore compared to living in New York? Living in Hong Kong compared to Chicago? No I don’t miss it. I’m still an American citizen, an American taxpayer, an American voter, but I’m glad I live here in Asia.
Doing business with the Kim regime in North Korea would be the modern-day equivalent of doing business with the Hitler regime in WWII Germany. Apparently, Mr. Rogers is ignorant of the findings of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on human rights in DPRK. To say that Kim Jong-un is any less of a criminal than either his father or grandfather, and to use that as justification for lifting monetary sanctions against North Korea to allow international investors to profit from the exploitation of the captive and oppressed population of North Korea is disgusting and indefensible. Kim and his cronies need to be unseated from power and put on trial for crimes against humanity — not wined and dined and feted by a bunch of investors. When the people of North Korea are finally free, I hope Mr. Rogers will still be as willing to invest in their country. I’m sure it would be a big help to an impoverished nation trying to get back on its feet.
Bruce, I think a better comparison would be to Apartheid South Africa. Would Mr. Rogers advocate investing all his money into them when the Apartheid government was no where near as brutal as the Kim regime.