Summary Of Nothing To Envy: Six Ordinary Lives In North Korea

1984 demonstrates a dystopian society in Oceania by presenting a relentless dictator, Big Brother, who uses his power to control the minds of his people and to ensure that his power never exhausts. Aspects of 1984 are evidently established in components of society in North Korea. With both of these society’s under a dictator’s rule, there are many similarities that are distinguished between the two. Orwell’s 1984 becomes parallel to the world of dystopia in North Korea by illustrating a nation that remains isolated under an almighty ruler.

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.

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

What if everything you knew was a fabrication of reality and the only escape for you or your loved ones was sacrifice? This is the basis for The Orphan Master’s Son, a book by Adam Johnson that details the lives and lies of North Korea. Focusing on a misidentified “orphan” by the name of Pak Jun Do, The Orphan Master’s Son chronicles the life of Pak Jun Do, as he maneuvers the strict rules of the North Korean government in order to live another day. Throughout the novel, Jun Do endures a tough life under a merciless tyrant and a suffering father, remains loyal to his oppressors despite their torment, learns to accept his position in society no matter where he is taken, and inevitably exposed to the truth of his reality. These four themes

Reading Escape from Camp 14, provided me with a lot of thought provoking insight into some of the most extreme struggles of those living under a dictatorship, who are being denied of basic human rights. This also illustrates how propaganda is used to dispel the seriousness of the situation against North Korea, and to keep the citizens predominantly complacent.

The dystopian novel, Anthem, and North Korea have similarities and differences that links them together as well as distinguish them from one another. North Korea is a country that is ¨protected¨ by their leader, Kim Jong-un, the North Koreans worship Kim Jong-un as a god. In the novel, Anthem, their government is solely based upon everyone living and working for the benefit of others, never themselves. Everyone in the society is equal, one is never better than the other. Both North Korea and Anthem are similar in ways in which they are to never question their leaders, they are all told what to do and believe. The country and the novel are alike and conflict each other, in this essay we will go in depth.

When Simmons first arrived in North Korea she stated that “things went North Korea immediately,” (139) giving the reader an improved understanding of Simmons views on the country. Simmons experiences from her trip proved these notions wrong, and this made Simmons aware that she needed to change her notions. Once she was aware of this, she showed personal growth, by how she was able to alter her notions to fit with these new experiences. Coming into North Korea she never gave the country a chance to change her views, until forced to. What she first saw didn’t help North Korea’s case, “children are assigned their activity or skill,” forced into an “extracurricular-activity jail,” (141) and have no power to change it.

Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick is a narrative non-fiction novel that shows the importance of propaganda in a totalitarian regime. As the story unfolds, the six defectors leave North Korea because of the famine. Because the country ran out of food and fuel, they left in order to survive; it was never out of disloyalty to their country. Up until their departure, several of the defectors were loyal believers that North Korea was the best country in the world. North Korea still stands today and is able to indoctrinate its people because of its effective use of propaganda.

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.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick provides insight into the lives of North Korean defectors while in North Korea. Their accounts give inside information about the North Korean regime which makes it possible to analyze to what extent society was an egalitarian utopia. The interview reveals that people were discriminated by social class as evident by those who were richer, and thus in a higher social strata, having more opportunities for success. There was also economic inequity which was apparent by people having different degrees of struggle. However, the problems North Koreans faced was similar, which showed there was some equality from their struggles. Overall, the interviewees give accounts which contradict the idea that the North Korean regime was promoting egalitarianism through their accounts which give counterexamples regarding social class and economic status, so their claim of egalitarianism is mostly false.

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

Back in Washington, President Clinton’s administration concluded that North Korea was reviving their nuclear missile program and demanded access to the suspected facilities being built. Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, granted access to multiple locations to U.S. officials for inspection of facilities in exchange for financial aid and food (Hathaway & Tama 724). North Korea’s negotiation for aid from the U.S. does not come as a surprise for the simple fact that citizens living under the supreme leadership of Kim Jong-un live in absolute poverty. Although the state-run government experiences hardship by trying to provide an adequate supply of food for citizens; the government spends a huge sum of money to maintain a large military force.

In the wake of the inquiry into North Korea’s Human Rights Abuses published in February 2014 by the United Nations Human Rights Council, there has been a large global focus on the abuses of human rights by the rogue state. The inquiry, which compares the North Korean regime to that of Nazi Germany (Kirby, Darusman, and Biserko, 2014), has generated widespread global discussion about the conditions within the totalitarian state, and for the international community it is difficult to dismiss the considerable injustices that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRKs) citizens are suffering under the current North Korean regime.

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

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.