How Did The Holocaust Restrict Freedom In North Korea

North Korea’s prison camps are extremely horrifying. A decade later after World War l, North Korea established its own system of prison camps (Szoldra). As same as concentration camps, prisoners were inhumanly punished. Since then, prison conditions in North Korea are horrendous and not tolerated by prisoners as well as their family members and society. North Korea’s prison systems not only frightened the prisoners, but the society as well. Because of the issues generated by North Korea’s horrifying prison conditions have not only been serious problems in history but also today, this issue is being resolve by the collaboration of society.

“I would tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices,” Elie Wiesel tells his former self (118). Wiesel has dedicated a majority of his future to fighting against the world’s silence with lessons such as these found in his memoir, Night. Even after undergoing the mass genocide called the Holocaust and hearing of the experiences from one of the victims himself, the world has fallen into a time of suffering yet again. Today, North Korea’s line of oppressive rulers practice their absolute control on Korean lives just as the Nazi’s oppressed the Jews. Following the second World War, the Korean War took place resulting in the country splitting in two: communist North Korea, or the Korean Worker’s Party, and democratic South Korea, or People’s Republic of Korea. This event began the brutal reign of the Kim family, consisting of Kim Ill-sung, Kim Jong-ill, and Kim Jong-un, on North Korea. For three generations, North Koreans were burdened with decades of torture, starvation, and manipulation. Now, the world is seemingly turning its eyes away from North Korea and labeling it a lost cause. There is little hope in store for these Koreans as Kim Jong-un expands his control globally with a new force of destruction: nuclear weapons. Similar to the concentration camps depicted in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the people of North Korea continue to face oppression

Imagine life on the brink of death and being completely isolated from the outside world. Your surroundings are filled with the scent of rotting corpse and the image of walking skeletons with deformities due to scarce supply of food and countless beatings, torture, and even executions. What I am describing here is the reality for the prisoners in the concentration camps of North Korea. This is a clear violation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights because these prisoners are subjugated under these harsh treatments by the government of North Korea. One living example of the brutal treatment endured in these camps is about a survivor of the camps whose name is Shin Dong-hyuk.

Our homes are often berated and subject to inspections to insure mandatory portraits of our leaders are in good condition. Homeowners with portraits found to be “improper” often face arrest, execution, and torture. We live amongst the most rights repressing government in the world and we will no longer support it. Political and civil rights are nonexistent. Those critical of the Kim’s are executed. We have fearfully followed the strict restraints set in place by the government for far too long. It is the government's duty to bestow the right of free will upon its people, yet it has failed. They rely on methods of intimidation to control the people's will. (“North Korea” ❡1; “World Report 2015: North Korea” ❡4; “North Korean Defectors Building an army to topple Kim Jong-Un”

The mistreatment of men, women, and children not only affect the citizens of North Korea, but also the countries around the world trying to fight for human rights. Numerous communities have been pushing for respectful treatment of all individuals. While many countries have progressed in allowing everyone more human rights, North Korea has backtracked. The government prevents their citizens the freedom of speech, the privacy of life, and the ability to nourish their bodies. Tom Head, a civil rights activist, describes how the North Korean government forces their citizens to remain loyal and obedient to the republic. Head expresses that “anyone who is overheard saying anything perceived as critical to the government is subject to...torture, execution, or imprisonment in one of North Korea's ten brutal concentration camps” (Head). Sadly, if citizens of North Korea demonstrate a disagreement toward the ideology of Kim Jong Un, they could be inhumanely murdered or imprisoned. According to Human Rights Watch, “the [North Korean] government [has the ability] to

North Korea has been hiding concentration camps from the entire world for years. Their restrictive laws keep the rest of the world from finding out, or that’s what the tiny country tries to achieve. This results in a major problem. Many people are being held against their will in camps that feed them barely any food and other necessary resources-- Some even resorted to desperate measures. “One witness said that young male inmates in North Korean prison camps became so desperate for food they would eat live worms or snakes caught in the field to feel something in their stomachs” (Park, CNN) This catastrophe affects “...up to 200,000 prisoners...” (Reist 5) and needs to be fixed. There are many stories about people who have been taken by the North Korean government and were put in concentration camps. For example, two foreign journalists were visiting North Korea and were put into a camp with no real reason specified from North Korea; it’s believed that these two girls are innocent. “[The ladies] were tried and convicted of grave crimes against North Korea, the nature of which was never specified” (NPR 6). They are

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea, has always had a history of imprisoning people that disagree with the governments policies, or for “disrespecting” the countries leaders, but these prisons are not just any prisons, they are prison camps, which function similarly to Nazi Concentration Camps.

Under a totalitarian leader, whatever they say is the law, is the law. In 1984, he wrote about totalitarianism as being everywhere and he referred to it as “Big Brother.” The main character of the book, Winston, wages a campaign against Big Brother. In that context, most freedom loving people can understand and relate to the opposition to such totalitarian governments. For anyone daring to rebel or speak out against the establishment, the North Korean government routinely carries out executions

Of the myriad human rights abuses that are presented by the North Korean regime, the American detainees present a special interest to the United States. North Korea has made a policy of detaining certain American journalists and tourists that enter the state. These detainees may be held for indeterminable amounts of time and face horrid conditions in labor camps (North Korea). The human rights violations involved with these detentions are what draw ire of the United States and many other countries around the globe. To fully understand this policy, North Korea’s history of abductions and the current prisoners’ situations should be examined. With that insight, one can determine that North Korea is detaining Americans for three specific reasons: to promote domestic security, restart international negations, and to gain additional economic capital.

According to senior editor Peter Weber of the political The Week magazine, “North Korea isn’t Nazi Germany--in some ways, it’s worse.” In this column Weber points out a 36 page report and its 373 page addendum report conducted by retired Australian judge Michael Kirby of the United Nations that revealed grisly details about the human rights abuses occurring in North Korea. The report was based on testimonies from witnesses and former inmates who had spent time in one of the encampments and who luckily made it out alive. Pyongyang 14 is one of the many camps that Kim Jong-un has in place to exterminate, murder, enslave, torture, and starve his people as the report notes. In addition, there are also forced abortions and other sexual violence that take place in this inhumane setting. North Korea forbids that their citizens know about life outside of the country, so if they attempt to do so there will be room for them in one of the prison camps since Jong-un is expanding their capacity. Something as little as watching a soap opera can land a North Korean in one of these camps, that is if they are not killed right away. For example, 10 people in the country were executed last year by firing squad when upper echelons in the North Korean hierarchy found out that they were watching “foreign” soap operas (Ryall). It is beyond belief that one’s life can be taken for something of such small magnitude. In Weber’s column he describes an interview Kirby had with a one-time prisoner at

It has been knows as a fact for a long time that north Korea was a bad place, but looking further into more statistics about their country, I have come to find that the living conditions in North Korea are

Hyeonseo Lee gave a presentation on TED Talk entitled, “My Escape from North Korea”, summarizing about her life in North Korea. She was born and raised there and sing patriotic songs. All the history books told her that North Korea was the best country in the world. As she got older, a famine struck North Korea in the mid-1990’s. Although, she never experienced starvation, she witnessed the events first hand. This was the pushing point for Hyeonseo, who decided to leave North Korea. Due to China and North Korea’s stringent border policies and the Chinese government immigration policy, the life of a North Korean refugee is challenging and extremely risky. They risk being deported back to the very country that they escaped from. There are reports and stories about the violation of human rights and labor camps in North Korea. She would live in China for ten years before moving to South Korea. Hyeonseo was forced to help her family escape from North Korea. The regime caught Hyeonseo for sending money to her family. Lee’s family to be relocated by the order of the North Korean government. She needed to smuggle them through China to a South Korean embassy in Laos. Unfortunately, Hyeonseo Lee’s story won’t be the last we hear about the abysmal conditions in North Korea. There are, potentially millions more, stories detailing the humanitarian disaster in the country and we must take steps to prepare for the eventual collapse of the country.

Thesis: This country is call North Korea and Today I will introduce you the this little known country and it ghastly Human rights abuse which has cross the line to bad that you will not believe it is still happening in the world.

According to North and South Korea by Greenhaven Press, North Korea’s leadership “focuses on regime, survival, reunification, and achieving status as a “great and powerful nation.” To accomplish this, the modern-day leader Kim Jong-un relies heavily upon military and security forces. Kim Jong-un abuses his power as the hereditary dictator to prevent the citizens from leaving, learning too much, and having free speech. These forces and Kim Jong-un’s abusive leadership disrupt the citizens and take their rights away. To illustrate, citizens in North Korea have limited rights because they don’t have freedom of speech. If a citizen of North Korea were to speak negatively about the government, they and their family would ‘disappear.’ Furthermore, they don’t have freedom of the press because news providers go through the government before the people. Because of these limits, North Korea has evolved from a peaceful country to a commanding and dreadful dictatorship. This conversion occurred out of a misuse of power by Kim Jong-Il and current leader Kim Jong-un. Their abusive power was not checked, as there was no way to check the government in North Korea. Since there are no checks on power in North Korea, the innocent citizens there are often victimized. The people follow the laws and do what they are supposed to, as they had always done, but they are still punished. Kim Jong-un rules

Did you know that in North Korea, the punishment for questioning the political system there is having three generations of your family killed? Or that if you watch a Hollywood movie there, you will be killed? These laws only show us the depth of the huge human crisis that is happening in this country. North Korea is a terrible country for living. Most of its population suffer tremendously, and they wish that they could be helped. They are right to wish for help, and we can clearly see this with two main points that seriously affect citizens’ lives; nonsense laws, and a severe military style punishment system. But, there is hope. We are the ones who are able to help North Koreans, with a strong awareness how to this could happen. Hi, I’m Alessandro and today I am going to show you why and how to help North Koreans