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If potentially being arrested and sentenced to years of hard labor wasn't a sufficient deterrent to visiting North Korea, now you have another reason not to go:
If an event is branded as annual but it only happens once, can it still be called annual? This is the case for Pyongyang's "annual" Taedonggang Beer Festival, the second of which was slated to take place during the month of August.
China-based tour company Koryo Tours, which is among the go-to tour groups organizing trips into North Korea, writes on its blog that it was "informed" North Korean organizers have canceled the event.
[...] According to Koryo, last year's event was a good opportunity to try some local brews and mingle with locals. A menu from the 2016 fest shows several types of draft beers, fried chicken and mutton on a stick available for purchase. North Korean alcohol is a curiosity for many connoisseurs around the globe, especially given its announcement last year that its scientists have invented "hangover-free booze."
North Korea has recently launched a ballistic missile thought by some to be capable of reaching Alaska, Hawaii, and possibly the west coast. Otto Warmbier, an American student who was arrested while on tour in North Korea, died on June 19th after being released on humanitarian grounds. The U.S. Congress will impose new sanctions on North Korea and the U.S. State Department has authorized a Geographical Travel Restriction will forbid Americans from visiting North Korea. The travel ban will go into effect in late August.
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff has said that the use of military force against North Korea is "not unimaginable" and hinted that it could happen within a few months.
Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency has released a guide on how to respond to a nuclear attack.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MrGuy on Tuesday July 25 2017, @06:15PM (5 children)
Being serious this time. TFA and the headline imply a linkage between two facts:
* There is very high tension between North Korea and the rest of the world right now, and
* North Korea just decided to cancel a beer festival.
The implication is the former is the reason for the latter.
I'd like to call [citation needed] on that implication.
From what I read elsewhere, a major contributor to the decision is not politics but weather. North Korea is currently in the middle a drought, and so celebrating using grain and water for a more "recreational" purpose sends the wrong message to the workers.
While there is a quote from a tour company, it's not obvious that this event was primarily targeted to/dependent on foreign tourism to succeed - my understanding this was a "by NK for NK" event.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 25 2017, @08:59PM (1 child)
It does not imply a linkage.
"As Tensions Brew, No More North Korean Beer Festival"
"As X is happening, Y is no longer happening" does not say X caused Y.
It is also convenient to roll in more than one story since it's all happening right now and it gives you more to discuss.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MrGuy on Tuesday July 25 2017, @09:44PM
I agree that the formulation doesn't directly state a linkage. I'd argue it heavily implies one.
Consider the following:
* Amid a growing obesity epidemic, soft drink makers experiment with alternative sweeteners
* Without their leader on the field, team rallies to win game
* As tax day looms, post offices around the country brace scramble for extra help
None of these formulations technically state that the action is directly caused by the conditional. But most readers would (in my opinion) reasonably expect that the author suggests a link between them. Or, at a minimum, a discussion of one should naturally involve a discussion of the other.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday July 25 2017, @09:32PM
One could argue that the lack of beer may be what's increasing tension *within* North Korea...except I kind of doubt any of the common folk are getting to consume the beer.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday July 26 2017, @02:35AM
Clearly, experimentation with hangover-free beer has mutated all their yeast into freedom-hating, botulism inducing WMDs.
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 26 2017, @04:35PM
So no drought beer?