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Re:N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Atta... by cmdkeen on Monday January 19, 2015 @05:51AM (#8911310)
Given it spends around a third of its GDP on military activities, and is a thoroughly planned economy it seems a relatively straightforward inference to make.
Re:N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Atta... by 1stop on Monday January 19, 2015 @07:52AM (#8911661)
Lets quote % of GDP when talking about a country with negligible GDP... honest!

If what you say is true: DPRK spends $3 billion (approx) on military.

It's neighbours spend the following:

China: $150 billion (approx) South Korea: $33 billion (approx) Japan: $50 billion (approx)

Lets not forget that South Korea and Japan are satellites for the US, and a conflict would involve them: $640 billion (approx).

So their spending is at least 10x less than their cheapest neighbour.

Re:N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Atta... by cmdkeen on Monday January 19, 2015 @11:21AM (#8912525)
Yes but the discussion was about whether you could assume a DPRK computer science grad would go into military (or associated work). Using military spending as a % of GDP as a rough yardstick does suggest that the number of DPRK citizens involved in military activity is very high.

Especially as each comp sci grad probably has greater potential to contribute to GDP than say your average farm labourer.

Re:N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Atta... by 1stop on Tuesday January 20, 2015 @06:14AM (#8916403)
% of GDP spent to predict future jobs for comp sci graduates.

That makes the outright wrong assumption that the major cost of Military is personel...