deteriorate some societies to the point it’s irrecoverable for centuries (see China and opium)
Large imports of opium to China only started in 1822, and while the ‘century of humiliation’ would begin ~20 years later, society was in no way ‘irrecoverable’, it wasn’t centuries, and it wasn’t because of opium.
Opium was yet another weight around the neck of Qing, but it was only a serious issue because the dominant naval power on the globe forced them to accept opium at cannon point and killed them when they refused.
Unless US aircraft carriers start bombing Korea into accepting industrial quantities of heroin, the situation isn’t really comparable.
Large imports of opium to China only started in 1822, and while the ‘century of humiliation’ would begin ~20 years later, society was in no way ‘irrecoverable’, it wasn’t centuries, and it wasn’t because of opium.
Opium was yet another weight around the neck of Qing, but it was only a serious issue because the dominant naval power on the globe forced them to accept opium at cannon point and killed them when they refused.
Unless US aircraft carriers start bombing Korea into accepting industrial quantities of heroin, the situation isn’t really comparable.