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« on: October 07, 2013, 09:58:11 pm »
Machinery is one of those difficult things though. You need a few things to build it.
1. Proper metallurgy, which comes from years of empirically tested materials translated into engineering handbooks.
2. A large amount of engineers who can apply known methods to the problem at hand
3. The facilities in which you can build solid pieces of machinery
4. A knowledgeable worker base that can use the tools to build that machinery
5. A long list of every conceivable thing that the Machinery can take and its limits, start up procedures and the like.
6. All the electronics that would run it.
I doubt North Korea has enough of 2,3,4 or 6.
I remember my dad talking to me about a planned conveyor belt that they had to put onto a side of a hill carrying ore from a mine. The amount of engineering hurdles they had to go through to get something as simple as that working was crazy. This was after they had bought all the machinery from a Swiss company that specialized in building ski lifts and stuff.
I'm fairly sure that's why the Koreans are angry about it. It could take them years until they have workable pieces and for the dear leader that just won't do.