North Korea Isn 't Nazi Germany

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.

North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-un, made North Korea a harsh and brutal place to live. He has made many rules for North Korea, but if someone doesn’t follow they capture them, the government officials/ agents put a board behind you and make you sit down. If they pushed on you, you would collapse, and you would hear your kneecaps

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

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.

The country of North Korea compares rather closely to the world in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Both nations of people are very closed off from the community and the outside world. The citizens only know about what the government officials want them to know about. In North Korea everyone depends upon and worships their leader, Kim Jong Il, almost as though he is their god. They all only depend on what they classify as “we” and they rely only on that because they do not have access to anyone else or even know what it means to be an individual. In both the book and North Korea, the citizens are locked down and watched with a careful eye. Breaking the rules in Anthem would send you to the Uncharted Forest, which is very similar to what happens to those

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.

In 2001 journalist, Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Six Ordinary Lives in North Korea, moved to Seoul, South Korea as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, where she was to report over both North and South Korea. When she was in North Korea, Demick found it was immensely difficult to report anything as their trip was very closely monitored. They were assigned “minders” who would make sure that: no unauthorized conversations took place, that they visit specific monuments, and allowed no contact with ordinary citizens. While in South Korea, Demick began speaking with North Koreans who had defected and escaped to South Korea and China. As she spoke with the people who had defected, Demick uncovered what lied beneath the façade

Although most governments put positive spins on things, normally, they would at the very least give us a glimpse of the truth. North Korea doesn’t do that. Finally, Demick concludes that The citizens of North  Korea aren't treated the way they should

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

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.

In every world publication they sent out, they recall a country that is successful and coming together as one. Stating that the citizens never suffer from famine or poverty and that citizens would sacrifice themselves for their leader(10 most censored Countries (2006). However, everyone knows that this is false and that the country's people are in trouble. One of North Korea's recent lie from within the country is the reconciliation of the Munitions Train explosion. The government and police force reported that the citizens displayed “spirt of guarding the leader with their very lives.” Everyone in the proximity tried to save the leaders posters and reminders before they searched for their families or even saving household goods.(10 most censored Countries (2015) However, they completely skipped over the thousands of citizens injured, the 150 plus citizens killed and the amount of damage the town took. The government took a major event in the country and turned it into something about the leader, leaving people wondering about the damage and living situation citizens were left in.

“Let it begin,” The grim faced man declared as a bony male, covered in grimy rags, was dragged into view. The prisoner had cuts and bruises all over his face and body, showing evident signs that he was thoroughly tortured. The captive man stared blankly off into space, his mind and body both beaten to a pulp, then he started weeping knowing that his life would be coming to an end. He cried out to his family, but was returned with silence and expressionless faces. There were no tears shed for the poor, innocent man when he was shot repeatedly. If his family felt even a slight tinge of remorse for the “criminal” they too would be executed in the same fashion. This is what is happening in North Korean camps, the enslavement, the torture, and

“There is no independent media, functioning civil society, or religious freedom” (Human Rights Watch). Getting caught trying to run away resulted in many different ways “Public execution by hanging or firing squad, and prolonged detention in boxes so small that prisoners cannot lie down or stand up, causing loss of circulation or limb-atrophy that often leads to death within weeks” (North Korean Gulags). North Korea remains among the most harshly repressive countries in the world. United Nations inquiry found that North Korea’s human rights abuses include murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, and rape. Anyone could get sent to these secret camps for no reason just because their leader says so. One man talked about the places they slept at “Conditions were horrific with as many as 50 people crammed into one room, each one having just enough space to lie huddled together, person-to-person inside”. They crammed people in small rooms when the have a 31 mile camp. The UN reported on North Korea and included details of starvation, killings, and huge prison camps holding up to 120,000 people. “North Korea is in a category North Koreans sent to prison camps and detention centers are often subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of its own when it comes to human rights violations” said by Amnesty International (Godhill). No matter who you were you could have been sent to the horrendous concentration camp. “Crimes against humanity with strong resemblances to those committed by the Nazis, a United Nations inquiry has concluded” (Walker,

“Dictatorship is a form of government that restricts the right to political participation to a small group or even to a single individual.” North Korea is well known for having a dictatorship as their form of government. This country is cut off from the rest of the world, “the founder of North Korea, first president Kim II Sung , created the country's policy of juche or "self-reliance," which has essentially cut off North Korea economically and diplomatically from the rest of the world even in times of great need such as famines.” “Between 150,000 and 200,000 North Koreans live in prison camps surrounded by electrified fencing, according to South Korean government estimates and Human Rights Watch.” The article also states that about 40%

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.