Satellite image of the Korean Peninsula posted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Dec. 31. (Image from X)
SEOUL, Jan. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, drew significant attention on the last day of 2023 by posting a satellite image of North and South Korea on X (formerly Twitter), demonstrating the striking contrast between the two Koreas at night.
The shared photo vividly contrasts the brightly lit South Korea with North Korea shrouded in darkness, highlighting the North’s severe electricity shortage due to economic hardships.
Additionally, the photo was captioned with a provocative thought: “Crazy idea: Let’s divide a country into half capitalist and half communist and check on it 70 years later.”
This appears to be a reference to the divergent paths taken by North and South Korea in the approximately 70 years since the Korean Peninsula was divided after World War II.
Musk did not specify the reason for posting the satellite images of the Korean Peninsula on X. However, American journalist Bryan Krasenstein commented on the post, reflecting on the future of communism. “Communists will not exist in 70 years,” he said, adding that “Technology will make the existence of communism impossible.”
Krasenstein also noted that capitalists would develop technology to eradicate communists, but expressed hope that capitalism would adapt to technology without widening the wealth gap and that solutions would be found to understand technology’s impact on our economy.
Earlier this month, Musk had shared an interview of Javier Milei, the 53-year-old President-elect of Argentina, on X, where Milei emphasized that prioritizing equality over freedom leads to failure.
In the shared post, Milei cited economists Milton Friedman and John Stuart Mill, asserting that overemphasis on equality leads to societal plunder and collapse, and that ‘social justice’ in the form of income redistribution essentially involves using the state’s oppressive mechanisms to arbitrarily redistribute wealth seized from successful individuals.
While Musk did not comment directly on this interview, it was interpreted as an indirect agreement with Milei’s philosophy.
Musk’s post on X coincides with recent statements by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. According to a report by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency, during the fifth day of the Workers’ Party meeting on December 30, Kim Jong-un criticized South Korea’s alignment with foreign powers.
Kim went on to add, “I believe that it is a mistake that we must no longer make to deal with the people who declare us as ‘the main enemy’ and seek only opportunities for ‘[our] regime collapse’ and ‘unification by absorption’ by collaborating for reconciliation and unification.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
