North Korea Communication

In the book Northing to Envy, Barbara Demick describes North Korea as an undeveloped country. “You can see the evidence of what once was and has been lost…” (4,Demick) The North Koreas aren’t up to the modern world and still haven’t learned that all humans need rights to be happy. Many aspects of human rights are broken in North Korean society that affect the people negatively, making them feel violated.

They aren’t told stuff about their own country, that they have the right to know. If that information gets out into the public, than that would put the leader’s command in threat. More than three quarters of the population doesn’t have enough to eat. North Korea believes that the Americans started the Korea War. There are many orphans in North Korea, but only a few escaped from the country. North Korea has many markets to shop at just like the United States. Even though the stores are stocked with many goods, many of the items aren’t for sale, they are only to show.

Cultures around the world are divide by their distinctive characteristic of people, and how people interact within their society. Most cultures are driven by the way their environment has been set for them. Many of cultures have to adapt to the way their environment are due to the conditions that are set for them and the amount of resources that they are provided. The biggest drive for culture are the historical custom. Most countries continue to carry their ancestor custom so that the tradition may stay with them throughout their years, in which making other countries distinctive from one another. One of the particular country that will be discuss in this report is North Korea. In this report, I will be discussing the North Korean culture, with describing their living condition in the country, common issues that they face with on a daily bases, and common threat that they pose on other countries.

The United States has a complex government that builds on democracy whereas North Korea has communism centered on totalitarian rule. Both had their conflicts during the past and still are struggling in the future. Even though their government has two different sides to tell about they too have some similarities. One country having majority rule and the other having "political authority [whom] exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life" (definition: totalitarianism at dictionary.com). Going through the growth of their economy, the citizens are opening their eyes each and every day to a government that has different branches with their checks and balances, exposure to several political parties, having their civil

In North Korea all aspects of life are ruled by the government, which essentially takes away human rights. North Koreans, rich or poor have this idea put into their head that their dictator is a supreme god. If someone had the idea of not worshiping the supreme leader in public, they would be sent to a labor camp. North Koreans who try to leave North Korea without permission may be shot on the spot or sent to a labor camp where they may never be released. In every house, no matter where you lived, there is a picture of the supreme leader that you pray to every day. When the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong II, died recently, on December 17th 2011, there was a parade held that had mourners when the casket passed by. As the Supreme Leader’s casket passed by , the mourners were observed to see if they were actually crying. If they didn’t seem like they were sad enough they were sent to prison camps along with other North Koreans that didn’t join the parade. At these Labor camps imprisoned North Koreans are taught how important is to worship the supreme leader and sometimes kept there with their families for as long as they live.

The government structure of North Korea has its existence in one man, Kim Jong Un. It existed in his father, Kim Jong Il, before him, and in his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, before him. North Korea has one of the few successful hereditary dictatorships based on a personalistic regime where the leaders are worshipped as almost a deity (after Kim Il-sung’s death he was made “eternal president”) creating a dynastic transfer of power (Aoki, 2012). In China the one party of the Chinese Communist Party will rule as an Authoritarian body over the nation, but in North Korea the sole power rest dangerously in the arms of one person. Some of the reason for this dissimilarity between the two government structures lies in the country’s differing political cultures.

This is used to teach their citizens about why America is bad and that they should be happy living in North Korea. This is used to show other countries as worse than North Korea, making its citizens believe that it is simply how life goes, and there are flaws no matter where you live. While this seems negative, something very similar is happening in America. Many North Koreans are lead to believe that Americans are bad and view them from a negative viewpoint, but the same is done from the other side leaving many Americans thinking the North Koreans are bad, and have negatives views of

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

Family traditions are passed on from generation to generation, however they are not always static rules. Tradition is like a living organism that adapts to change over time. In order to understand modern North Korea’s family customs, it is important to consider the tradition of the past. Before North Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945, North Korean families operated differently than they do today. Their ideology was founded on Confucius’s principles of family, including “only a country where family life was harmonious could be peaceful and prosperous” (Asia Society). The family is an integral part of society the same way a cell is important to a body (Suzy, 264). The government is even considered “one family” that everyone is a part of (Monday). Every individual in a family has a role and every family has a role in society. The ideal family is modeled from Kim Il Sung’s nuclear family (Suzy, 268). It is clear that family is a fundamental priority in North Korean society.

I believe that North Korea is similar to the society in the book Anthem. I believe this for the reason that they are both collectivism societies and their leaders go to extreme ends to protect their collectivism (71). Firstly, they are both collectivism societies which means that the citizens are taught to work for the greater good instead of just themselves. If they aren’t contributing or making the culture better, than the leaders would not approve of their action. For example, in North Korea the citizens have to work for the greater good and are not encouraged to be individualized. Another example, is that in the book Anthem they are not allowed to speak the word “I” because that hints towards individualism which the society is not about

In Korea, the people have been taught to love and adore the great leader, Kim Jong Il. In the documentary about Korea, the people thanked the great leader for giving them the gift of seeing but did not thank the people who actually operated and fixed their eye. They are taught that everything he does is right and he never does anything wrong. In Anthem, they were trained at birth to live for each other. They had to say “We exist through, by and for our brothers who are the State”(21), every night before sleeping as their prayer. They are also to NEVER doubt or question the council. The citizens in North Korea and in Anthem are taught that whatever the government says is always correct and there is no questioning with what they say. The citizens have no say in their lives. After time, the people will start believing nothing else than what they've been taught to believe. Then they start believing that if they disobey with what they are told to believe in, then they are an evil or bad

In order to brainwash the masses, the North Korean government publicizes nationalist mottos everywhere throughout the nation. Demick describes

The announcement of Kim-Il Sung’s death in 1994 put the whole country at grief. Everyone in the country gathered by the statues of Kim-Il Sung to pay their respects. It was this ceremony at which many citizens realized the faults of the leader and soon after began noticing the issues of the regime and leadership. As an act of rebellion, people would watch forbidden Korean shows and read Western novels. Soon, many experiences a shift in how they viewed the outside world and North Korea. However many believers grieved the death of Kim-Il Sung as much as the death of their relatives. Most North Koreans couldn’t believe that the invincible, God like leader has died. More extreme nationalists willingly starved to death becuase living without the leader was unthinkable.

Understanding how North Korea as a country defines itself in a changing world. Where do they derive their customs and practices, political standings and military power? Define North Korea’s history leading into the modern age and define its culture and characteristics and how they interact with the world today. Understanding a subject as broad as the term culture begins where the culture began with the birth of civilization and the people that influenced it. There are many factors that play a role in the shaping of a nation none so much as turmoil and conflict and the Korean peninsula saw its fair share for the better part of a millennia. A complete statistical breakdown of North Korea shows a struggling nation that strongly depends on

North Korea appears on the international stage as a country existing beyond the world we all know. It isolates its citizens from the rest of international community and does not obey any rules determined by international law, but requires respect and recognition. Moreover, North Korea is one of the countries that remains aggressive towards its neighbors and applies various terrorist techniques, i.e. illegal contraband, political terror and mass abductions of other countries’ citizens in its foreign policy. The reasons for which the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) behaves so unpredictably and irrationally are diversified. First of all, the DPRK as a country is managed very irrationally – regimes of Kim Il-sung and