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By Kim Young-jin
U.S. President Barack Obama believes that North Korea will eventually collapse, and that the Internet will ultimately be more effective in changing the regime than military options or sanctions.
Obama made the remark in an interview on Youtube at the White House, Thursday, calling the North "the most isolated, the most sanctioned, the most cut-off nation on Earth. (Remarks begin around the 8:05 mark.)
"The kind of authoritarianism that exists there, you almost can't duplicate anywhere else," He said. "It's brutal and it's oppressive and as a consequence, the country can't really even feed its own people. Over time, you will see a regime like this collapse."
Because of the proximity of ally South Korea and the North's nuclear arsenal, "the answer is not going to be a military solution," Obama said.
"We will keep on ratcheting the pressure, but part of what's happening is that the environment that we're speaking in today, the Internet, over time is going to be penetrating this country," Obama said.
"And it is very hard to sustain that kind of brutal authoritarian regime in this modern world. Information ends up seeping in over time and bringing about change, and that's something that we are constantly looking for ways to accelerate," he added.
