North Korea Human Rights

There are daily examples of discrimination and oppression throughout the world, but one of the most substantial examples is in North Korea. North Korea is an Asian country ruled by a totalitarian dictatorship, although it calls itself a socialist state. The Jong family has ruled North Korea for three generations since the Korean War. The country is said to be a cult as the country’s citizens are forced to worship the countries leaders, discouraged from holding religion and often punished from doing so, and are not allowed to leave the country. Additionally, in North Korea there are no human rights. People are killed or sent to labor camps for even the smallest infractions. North Korea remains one of the most repressive authority’s states on the world. A 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on human rights in North Korea stated that systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations committed by the government included murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, and other sexual violence, and constituted crimes against humanity (McCurry,2017). Under international pressure North Korea always denies these allegations, but through defectors and satellite images the evidence is clear. Time and time again North Korea has violated human rights. North Korea is a superior example of oppression and discrimination because of the countries laws and judicial system, and the treatment of North Korean citizens.

Political freedoms of the people are continuously violating them with unfair laws, which are just for show and discrimination according to class by the dictator Kim Jong-Un. In North Korea, the laws are for show, but the people experiencing the laws know the truth and that they have no rights. According to the “The Problems of Human Rights in North Korea,” “In North Korea, the laws are for show, and the people live outside the protection of the law. The Constitution of North Korea guarantees democratic freedoms such as the freedoms of speech,

The North Korean Government has listed 24 articles under the Fundamental Rights and Duties of Korean citizens (Articles 62-86). (Helpline Law.)

Life in North Korea’s high contrast with life in the United States is marked by nonexistent personal freedoms and harsh punishments. One example of restricted freedom in shown in their leader, Kim Jong-un. He, who they address as Dear Leader, is treated like

Most people live a life without freedom; it could be because of religion, government, family, or authoritative power. Unfortunately, some people live without freedom to an extent in which they have no true thoughts for themselves. Whether it's through the leading powers of their country or by the process of being brainwashed, certain people live their lives mainly for the superior ambitions of their leaders. In North Korea, the citizens, since birth, are meant to honour Kim Jong Un and all his ideals. Similarly, in George Orwell's 1984, Big Brother and the party are the destruction of souls. As analyzed in Mailto Href and Leela Jacintos “The Country Where Big Brother is watching”, North Korea is a replay of George Orwell's 1984 in many ways.

The government claims that citizens get the full amount of basic rights and claim that DPRK has the best rights in the world ( Federal Research Division, 172-175). Contrary to what they said, the DPRK is one of the most repressive governments on the face of the earth. Their constitution claims that they get freedom of religion, speech, press, and more ( 175-176). The North Korean government instead ignores every single word in their own constitution (United Nations Human Rights Council 3). The Supreme People’s Assembly meets only once a year ( Federal Research Division, 175-176). The current state of modern North Korea is based off the policy of aggression, fear, and governmental brainwashing. (Daily Mail Reporter). North Korean citizens can and will be placed in a labor camp if they do anything that goes against the regime (“North Korea”). Not only can North Korean citizens get placed in a labor camp for going against the regime, but foreigners can and will be placed in a labor camp for committing that crime, too (David Brunnstrom). In the North, the government boasts about many of their so-called achievements and superiority over the others. Their media constantly shows how plentiful and how powerful the country is (“Kim Jong Un's New Year Address”). Videos and images of industry, food, technology, and stocked stores picture the country as a perfect

Kim Jong Un’s iron fist extends to all domains of the North Korean life. In the digital realm, the restricted intranet serves as a propaganda echo chamber, where only a select few get access to the universal internet that we all use all use every day, however most of these individuals are merely part of a hacking elite look for expanding the military capabilities on North Korea via the digital battlefront. In the social world, a citizen's social class will determine their fate through their education and job opportunities, ensuring only the most loyal of citizens will be able to sustain a well providing job, but no matter what job is at stake, it all must serve the wishes of the Kim Regime. The power of the Kim Regime extends outwards into dozens of outside countries, where laborers are forced to work indefinitely in cruel conditions, however recent moves by the Trump administration may put change North Korea’s ability to exploit the labor. In addition to immense human rights violations of the state-sponsored labor, nothing quite compares to the Nazi-esque labor camps where any citizen will get sent to if they for even the most minor of criticisms of the government. Finally, North Korea continuously creates

Cultures are unparalleled with North Korea maintaining a communist government ran by the Kim Family for generations rather than a democracy like the United States. North Korea consists of a population conditioned from a very young age to accept the words and deeds of the elder and junior Kim’s to be the absolute truth. “The greatest meaning in life lies in bullets and bombs.” With a society referred into three categories as basic, chaotic and enemy, depending on the background and social origins. With a culture that operates as a communist Government raising human rights issues in addition to concerns over nuclear and chemical weapons. Human rights are nonexistent in the country. Officials above Deputy Prime Minister Level are provided vehicles at state expenses. Party operates at a level of discipline surpassing that of the military. For example, “public self-criticism is the punishment for being a minute late after lunch. Surveillance is much tighter to include listening devices at home and watching their every move.” Corruption is highest in the government trading and foreign exchange departments. Almost equally severe in departments responsible for housing and employment. Nuclear and chemical weapons have always been an interest between the two. A Stalemate, escalation, or an agreement.

Primarily, it is evident that North Korea carries a Totalitarian Authoritarian regime that has been upheld by its first president, Kim Il-sung. The official Supreme Leader of North Korea is Kim Il-sung grandson, Kim Jong-un, who took over after his father passed away in 2011. North Korea is under Democratic People’s Republic of Korea political power, which was founded in September 9, 1948. Overall, North Korea can be described has a country that is led a political system that is called totalitarianism. In other words, this describes a state that has a leader that creates repression by using propaganda campaign, cult personality, and extreme regulations. For this regime the ultimate goal is to diminish individuality and to obtain the ultimate political control by having authority over the public and private life. Additionally, Worker’s Party of Korea is the only political party that is made up of members that hold similar ideology beliefs as the Supreme leader of North Korea.

North Korea’s regime has a tight grip on its citizens. The surveillance system is oppressive as well an invasion to the citizen’s human rights. But in North Korea the words “human rights” don’t exist, because the regime has such a harsh oppressive grip on them. There’s a stark contrast between the oppressive grip of North Korea and their bordering neighbor of South Korea because of their prison camps that are installed into their society. In comparison, North Korea is becoming eerily similar to the Soviet Union during Stalin’s reign.

North Korea has been a place of conflict both domestically and internationally since its establishment in 1948. Although most of the talk around the world is concerning how North Korea is a big threat to other countries, their internal troubles are far more catastrophic and costly. The main domestic problem that North Korea faces is the existence of concentration camps that are not for prisoners of war, but for their own people. These camps encourage the mistreatment of North Korean citizens, who are trapped in these societies defenselessly. The effects of these camps has, and will continue to be, detrimental to North Korean society. The establishment of political prison camps in North Korea has lead to constant dehumanization of their people,

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, better known as North Korea, is a country in east Asia. North Korea officially describes itself as a socialist state, but it is widely recognized as a dictatorship. Kim ll-sung is the first supreme leader of North Korea, and the grandfather of the current leader, Kim Jong Un. Under the regime of the Kims, North Korea isolated itself away from the rest of the world. It is a perfect archetype of a “closed society”. Since the beginning of the rule of the Kims, the condition in North Korea have worsened, where citizens have little to no civil rights.

A commision that was established in 2013 by the United Nations Human Rights Council in order to investigate human rights violations in North Korea stated about human rights violations in North Korea, “The gravity, scale, and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world” ("OHCHR | North Korea"). This sentiment is shared among many human rights organizations, including Amnesty International UK (“North Korea Country Profile”), Human Rights Watch (“North Korea: UN Inquiry Needed”), and many other international organizations. Prison camps in North Korea have been likened to those from the Holocaust (Anna Fifield) by some former holocaust survivors, comparing the current camps to those that they experienced in Auschwitz. Prison camps in North Korea are used for a wide swath of reasons beyond what one would normally consider a crime. You can be imprisoned for many reasons, including speaking against the government, being in contact with South Korea, crossing the border, officials who fail to implement a policy, being related to anyone who does any of these things, and more seemingly arbitrary reasons (“North Korea: Political Prison Camps”). What makes these punishments so much worse is the awful punishment and treatment that prisoners at these camps receive. It’s been reported that around 40% of prisoners die from malnutrition (“North Korea: Political Prison Camps”), and many more die from other reasons. Every person who survived one of these prison camps who has been interviewed said that they witnessed at least one public execution. Many of the camps that we know of provide no bedding or blankets to their inmates, which is made worse by the fact that the temperature in the regions of these camps are -20 to -30 degrees Celsius, which is -4 to -22 degrees Fahrenheit, on average (“North Korea: Political Prison Camps”). However,

Since their independence from Japan in 1945, there has been great strife between the communist Koreans and the democratic Koreans. After the two sides went to war, aided by Russia and the U.S.A respectively, they split the nation along the 38th parallel. Since the 1950’s the southern, democratic, state has flourished into one of the most highly developed nations in Asia. The communist, northern, Koreans have been under the microscope of the American people. Kim Il-Sung, the people’s popular leader of the communist party, allied himself with powerful communist nations: The USSR and China, primarily. The northern state has diminished into a militarized dictatorship. This militant nation has subjected

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