The Single Party State : A Revolutionary Worst Nightmare

As evident through the striking similarities between the totalitarian government of 1984 and the Communist regime of North Korea, it really is as if Kim Il Sung obtained an early copy of George Orwell’s 1984 and used it as a blueprint for his system (Hitchens n.p.). George Orwell had been exposed to various types of imperialism throughout his early life, leading to a realization of his resentment for authority. Orwell produced the novel with the intent of warning future societies of the dangers of totalitarian governments, yet North Korea epitomizes a flawless depiction of the very authority that Orwell yearned to avoid through providing a detailed illustration of the ramifications of submitting to a tyrannical government (Merriman n.p.).

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.

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.

North Korea is a country that is ruled by a dictator and has a communist government. A communist government rules all the land and gives the same amount of money and supplies to all the people in the country. “Daily Necessities were obtained from the Public Distribution System (PDS)” (95,Hassig). The PDS shut down in 1995 because foreign aid was cut off expect for Pyongyang, the capital city. In rural areas, a lot of the children were born as “no-count” meaning that when they were born they weren’t counted as part of the existing society and didn’t have supplies given to them. North Korea was once a unified country with South Korea until September 9, 1948 when it became a separate country. From 1910 to 1945 Japan had ruled

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.

During the nineteenth century, the United States was undergoing a series of changes that would greatly impact the way society viewed and dealt with politics. Two factors of this change involved the development of internal improvements such as the Erie Canal and the way influential politicians like Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay responded to them. Carol Sherriff explores the former factor in her book The Artificial River: The Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress, 1817-1862. She discusses how the Erie brought about conflicting changes in the economics, politics, and society of New York and the different reactions to these changes and looks at how the Erie affected the daily lives of the Americans living along it and how they envisioned progress. Harry Watson examines another part of the change by looking at the men describing their political ideas in Andrew Jackson vs. Henry Clay: Democracy and Development in Antebellum America by discussing their ideologies and how they thought democracy and development related to one another.

“I would tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices,” Elie Wiesel tells his former self (118). Wiesel has dedicated a majority of his future to fighting against the world’s silence with lessons such as these found in his memoir, Night. Even after undergoing the mass genocide called the Holocaust and hearing of the experiences from one of the victims himself, the world has fallen into a time of suffering yet again. Today, North Korea’s line of oppressive rulers practice their absolute control on Korean lives just as the Nazi’s oppressed the Jews. Following the second World War, the Korean War took place resulting in the country splitting in two: communist North Korea, or the Korean Worker’s Party, and democratic South Korea, or People’s Republic of Korea. This event began the brutal reign of the Kim family, consisting of Kim Ill-sung, Kim Jong-ill, and Kim Jong-un, on North Korea. For three generations, North Koreans were burdened with decades of torture, starvation, and manipulation. Now, the world is seemingly turning its eyes away from North Korea and labeling it a lost cause. There is little hope in store for these Koreans as Kim Jong-un expands his control globally with a new force of destruction: nuclear weapons. Similar to the concentration camps depicted in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the people of North Korea continue to face oppression

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.

Imagine living in a society where the government controls every single aspect of one’s life; furthermore, the future fate of a human. A society where everyone is alike and no one can make any further decisions for themselves, but the great leader(s). This isn’t only being experienced in dystopian stories, nevertheless, a real life country as well...North Korea. In the novel “Anthem,” by Ayn Rand, she portrays the remarkable, dystopian society where an individual can make a difference. Such happenings can take place if the government is capable of achieving full control, although it hasn’t occurred in most areas, the possibility is amongst the slightest. However, this is untrue for North Korea, which is a country with one belief, one structure,

Propaganda, historic inconsistencies, and fear are what keep the most of the people of North Korea believing anything their government says. No one dares to speak out against Kim Il-sung or any of his heirs, and when they do they receive punishment. No one has an option on where to live or where to work, it is all assigned by the government. If a North Korean’s family has tainted blood, they become part of the lowest work class and are not allowed into the top colleges in North Korea. Few continue their education after high school.

Since the year 1948, we, the people of North Korea have endured intolerable human rights abuses by the hand of our very own government. As individuals in this world, we are enervated with the governments unmindful treatment of its people. We demand an authentic democratic nation free from the reign of Kim Jong-Un. Must we rely on foreign nations to administer aid in times of famine while our “supreme leader” misspends funds formulating weapons of mass destruction? Must we live in a constant state of fear if we make one selves concerns heard? No, we must take the government into our own hands to better guide North Korea's political, civil, and monetary

Most people probably think 1984 is completely fiction, but there are many drastic similarities between 1984 and North Korean Society. These societies have forced labor camps, powerful dictators or government parties, and the use of propaganda. Both of these societies slowly gained power over many years and took full control of their country or territory. On the other hand, they differ when it comes to they way they designed their governments. Both 1984’s and North Korea's societies are similar in the ways they control, torture, and deprive their people, but differ when it comes to government organization.

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

With the creation of a popular democratic front, KIM IL SUNG will be a suitable candidate to head it” (Report on Communists in Korea). If it weren’t for the Soviets, there would be less separation and the North and South Korean governments would be completely different. The author refers to the mass separation between the two parties but doesn’t really pay any attention to it, “In South Korea, besides the Communist Party, the strongest party is the Democratic Party, which represents the interests of the big landowners and capitalists. The party numbers about 10,000 and is headed by Song Jin-u. The party openly engages in pro-imperialist and anti-Communist propaganda”(Report on Communists in Korea). The Cold War affected North Korea in ways other than politically, also.