Korea, A Land Of Secrets And Silence

North Korea is a Totalitarian country that often uses many different fear tactics to control their citizens. “ Her brother who was arrested in China in 1994 for attempting to “defect” from the DPRK... As an example to others against committing similar “anti-state” offenses, he was tied to the back of a truck which took him to their hometown, Musan.”(North Korean control #3 doc A) Someone's brother was arrested in China for trying to defect from North Korea, and as an example, he was dragged around by a truck to show people not to try and escape. This shows that North Korea wanted to impose fear on their citizens, so they wouldn’t try to leave. “The woman she knew was lined up alongside eight other prisoners... her crime was having watched South

Also the lack of jobs has led to the majority of the people to be below the poverty line. And the ones with jobs do not get paid much or at all due to government corruption. For example, “Men are forced to work long hours for the government, often without pay, and those that don’t show up for work risk imprisonment”. Which has led to men working worthless jobs and women becoming the breadwinners of the families but still not having the same respect as men. The North Korean government is forcing these men to work for free while their families have no food to eat. Brainwashing and propaganda are also major aspects of the regime to keep the people scared of the world outside North Korea, namely the United States, Japan and South Korea. As shown, “Ak (evil) may be the single most commonly used word to describe Americans. The derogatory term nom, similar to calling someone a bastard, is inevitably attached to the end of any word referring to Americans”. Children from a young age are taught to refer to Americans in such manner to install fear in them to always distrust Americans and their aid. Americans are the worst of the worst type of people, according to the Kim regime, because they prevented the reunification of the two Koreas. Followed closely behind by the Japanese, since there is still resentment from the Japanese colonial rule. South Korea is not as

In North Korea, a totalitarian or dictatorial government prevails, where one “Supreme Leader” is revered and even worshipped. This government features a monolithic system, which plays “a crucial role in enabling the continuing monopoly of power by a sole leader” (Park 5-6). All components of life and society thus become fully oriented toward the goals of the head of state, Kim Jong-un, and the Kim dynasty. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the government-headed Korean Central News Agency heavily commands the “dissemination of information, and all papers are strictly censored” (Lee et al.). This control over the movement of ideas in the population not only fosters the spread of government ideology but also prompts citizens to remain ignorant regarding certain issues, such as government actions

North Koreas government uses its power to control information and restrict independent thought and freedom. The BBC News mentions, “North Koreas economic hardships or famines are not reported to the domestic audience” (North Korea’s Tightly Controlled Media). This shows how the government in North Korea uses their power to keep the inhabitants of the country blind to issues that would cause worry amongst them. The BBC News author later on mentions that rather than inform its citizens on real life issues occurring, they are informed of technological advances developed by their leaders’ revolutionary thinking. By doing this the North Korean government keeps the people blind and ignorant to complicated

Through this book Demick establishes her deep knowledge of North Korea all the while following the lives of six defectors as they fought to survive. Demick shows us the struggle that these North Koreans face as their country is consumed by an economic crisis and a famine that killed one fifth of their population, while it also gave us a glimpse at what we never think of when we hear about this country. The collapse of North Korea’s economy caused factories to close and other jobs to be terminated. This led the citizens of North Korea to lose their only source of income and forced to find other means to support their families. It caused them to make sacrifices in order support their families and essentially learn to become selfish, to turn a blind eye to the ones around who were also suffering in order for themselves to survive.

North Korea was born when Korea was split in half. The northern half being dominated by communism while the southern portion became western oriented. Although this may be true, North Korea named itself the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, despite it being a totalitarian communist government. For example, the elections held in North Korea are non-competitive since North Korea is a single-party communist state currently led by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, ruled with an iron fist— people who tries to leave North Korea without state permission gets criminalizes and gets forcibly returned. And those who get repatriated face interrogation, torture, and consignment to political prisoner or forced labor camps. Additionally,

The Secret State of North Korea offered a great look into what basic things North Koreans are lacking. Even within the realm of Communism. Lack of freedoms, lack of food, lack of community, lack of trust, lack of a social society, lack of programs for children, lack of equality, and a lack of information. When Kim Il-Sung created North Korea, the government was based on Marxism and Leninism, called “Juche.” Just as the Soviets, the North Koreans followed suite with massive inequality between the government officials and the common people. The documentary showed its viewers what the government is omnipresent in the everyday lives of its people, so much so that recordings of daily life are illegal, and “random” searches take place commonly.

The country of Korea has been in turmoil for centuries and was founded on its turmoil of being unified and separated. Several objects stand in the way of them being unified once more the DPRK prefers communism while the ROK prefers Democracy both sides want to be united but can’t due to different morals, beliefs, and political views. And the history of Korea hasn’t always been pleasant due to wars and the attempted colonization of Korea by the Japanese.

North Korea had experienced a terrible famine; people were stealing and selling crops for their own gain. Many North Koreans crossed or tried to cross into China to go to South Korea. Although the famine in North Korea is over, the country is still at risk of experiencing famine again. In chapters 16

The government controls what social media can say, write, and show. The citizens are not allowed to leave North Korea. Patrols are constantly monitoring the borders, so escape is nearly impossible. Hunger is a constant issue, since the nation’s leaders refuse to acknowledge this problem by requesting aid from other countries. Juche, a political belief that is responsible for most of North Korea’s decisions, posits that the dependence on any other nation must be avoided and is the lowest form of weakness (Lawrence).

Looking at an image of the Western hemisphere, you’ll see a black space to the East of China, inbetween Russia and South Korea. The absence of light is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly referred to as North Korea. The darkness is symbolic of the limited knowledge we have about the country. For the last seven decades, the DPRK has struggled in isolation; its allies can be counted on one hand. The regime The control of information and people is impeccable under the dynastic rule of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and now Kim Jong Un. The immense propaganda that is released in North Korea about the “wonderful leader” Kim Jong Un and fake broadcasts of American threats are all essential to the powerful grip the government has

People try to leave North Korea to go to democratic countries because they have no religious freedom, public executions, and collective punishments. Organized Religion in North Korea can be seen as a threat to the regime. Thousands of Christians and Buddhist people have been killed all through the history of North Korea. People who are caught studying or spreading the religion secretly are punished terribly. For example, they can be executed publicly or be

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.

The KWP is kept in power largely thanks to a combination of international concern for North Korean citizens and the patronage of the Chinese government, which exports large quantities of food to North Korea in return for KWP assistance in certain areas. Until the 1990's, North Korea also received significant quantities of

You may be thinking, “What about the two other problems that you talked about in your first paragraph?” Well, I have an answer to that. You might argue, North Korea is run by a Hitler-like dictator, who has inhuman punishments and strict rules and that is a truly terrible thing. But, unlike North Korea, poverty is inescapable, unfixable, and cannot be eliminated from our world. In the article Escape From North Korea, a young woman tells her story about her and her mother trying to escape North Korea, in her story she confirms that when people finally leave the country they are plagued by poverty and fear of being sent back to North Korea, poverty is now a big problem for them. You might also say, the Dust Bowl was a huge problem in the 1930’s that cost many people their lives and their jobs. Yes, that is terrible, but as more people died the more dust got worse and the more people out moved, costing them their jobs and their homes, they then had lost the job they had and their form of income, becoming poor. As you can see, all of the other problems lead to the one big problem, poverty. People who escape North Korea fall into poverty and people around during the dust bowl lost their jobs and money. Poverty is the real problem here.