...North Korea Hermit Kingdom 27 FEB 2016 Life In North Korea One of a series of drawings of public executions created by North Korean refugee child showing the stages and manner of public execution in North Korea. Factual accuracy was later confirmed by news reports and a video taken and smuggled from North Korea to Japan. Picture credit: North Korea Genocide Exhibit As one of the only remaining closed societies in the world, North Korea has garnered global attention to what is sealed off within its borders. Despite the ongoing food crisis that has lasted for two decades and the whimsical leadership under the 'Kim' family, life manages to go on in Hermit Kingdom. A man gathering grass as a source of food from a park. Picture credit: Eric Lafforgue North Koreans are constantly under the scrutiny of the state. Neighbourhood watch groups know as the Inminban are deployed in all villages. A female junior official usually heads the group and her main tasks are to look out for any suspicious activities within her jurisdiction and ensure there are no 'contraband' items like DVDs of South Korea and tuneable radio sets. Instilling fear and propaganda are the two main tools the North Korean government use to ensure obedience of its citizens. People are often required to attend public execution where political dissidents and transgressors are shot to death on the spot. Statues and figures of the Kim family are ubiquitous. The government is...
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...NORTH KOREA Nicholas Eastman There are a few different countries that, in my opinion, would be enjoyable to visit and study their culture. One country in particular seems to stick out to me. I have always been taught about democracy in school, as well as other government styles, but have never first hand experienced another style of government. For this reason I chose North Korea, based on their centralized communist ways. I opinionate this to be an interesting way of life and would like to learn more about how people live under a communist government. From what I know about North Korea, rules seem strict and the people do not have the same rights as we do in the United States, which leaves me wondering how my life would be different, living under the same conditions as North Koreans. The geography of North Korea represents a peninsula, attached to Manchuria, China, and a small portion of the USSR (Geography). This 600 mile long peninsula is just above the 38th parallel, with a size of just above 45,000 square miles (Geo). With this, it makes the country itself smaller than the state of Pennsylvania. The make-up of the land in North Korea consists of several mountain ranges, lined up north to south, with small valleys in between each (Geo). This does not allow for many rural areas, leading to large cities populated by millions of people. The Yalu River forms a portion of the northern border with Manchuria (Geo). The mountains in the country prevent large farms, which...
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...North Korea is similar to the novel in how the people were controlled by a certain force and had to live under the rules and laws. In North Korea, it is a leader named Kim Jong-il who was the government structure for the people who lived there. In the National Geographic documentary, Inside North Korea, views of the life the citizens experience in their everyday life without freedom. They praised the leader for every action bestowed upon them and they were always under a watchful eye by the military officers serving under Kim Jong-un. The citizens in North Korea could not leave the country and foreigners were not welcome into the country. In the novel, the government structure was a group of members rather than a leader due to the collectivist state. As Amy Rand stated on her website, “All expressions of individualism have been suppressed in the world of Anthem; personal possessions are nonexistent, individual preferences are condemned as sinful and romantic love is forbidden.” Both Anthem and North Korea are intertwined with the absence of individualism in their society, which is what the philosophy of egoism countered. Even though there was no sense of individualism in both Anthem and in North Korea, the amount of security was another difference between the government structures. In the documentary, every person in the society was...
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...North Korea in Japanese is written as 朝鮮民主主義人民共和国. Japanese people generally use this name all the time we call North Korea, but this name is really controversial because of the meaning of the Chinese characteristics “民主主義 (min-shu-shu-gi)”. “民主主義” means democracy in Japanese. Is North Korea a democratic country like North Korea is described with democracy in Japanese? To begin with, what does North Korea go in for? It is suspicious that North Korea applies to just one thing from many options such as socialism, democracy, capitalism, communism, or liberalism. Everyday Life in The North Korean Revolution, 1945-1950 by Suzy Kim, North Korea Markets and Military Rule by Hazel Smith, and other articles demonstrate if it is true or not. By looking...
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...North Korea: A Stand Down or a Stand Off? Christopher Caver Strayer University North Korea ENG 215 Research & Writing Professor J. Welch June 9, 2013 With North Korea´s recent threats on several occasions to launch a nuclear weapon at various countries to include South Korea, Guam, Japan, and even the United States, the United Nations and the United States cannot standby any longer. Additionally does North Korea’s recent withdraw from verbal threats to the United States and its allies indicate a stand down? Although nuclear talks and heated talks between the U.S. and North Korea are nothing new, it has become progressively more frequent and North Korea has been determined to be seen as a nuclear capable country. Although for now, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un has receded from his talks of going to war with South Korea and other United States´ allies, can the U.S. trust the North Koreans knowing how they continually say one thing while secretly doing the opposite. Additionally can the U.S. and the U.N. continue to allow North Korea to possess nuclear capabilities while continuing to ignore other major issues within the country? [pic] As you can see in the photograph above, North Korea has gone as far as to strategically place several missles which could be possibly armed with nuclear warheads in various positions in the launch position for the world to see. The...
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...Less than 5,000 people visit North Korea every year. The tourist money is some North Korean citizens only source of income. When someone visits, the entire look and feel of the country changes. People are moved off the streets, some are told to paint their houses, and everyone gets electricity back for the time being. All of this is because of Kim Jong-un, the country’s current leader. (The Ethics of Taking a Trip to North Korea as a Tourist) Kim Jong-un assumed power when his father, Kim Jong-il, passed away in 2011, and has been in power ever since. (Kim Jong-un Biography) Kim Jong-un has not yet been overthrown. The people of North Korea treat him like a god more than a leader. They worship and acknowledge him in every way. They give all...
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...That cruel reality of a country called North Korea and the one man who is the absolute leader. Declare by his son as a god with over 34,000 statues. Even after death his ideology lives on with unimaginable living conditions at the cost of unrealistic human life. That brings the unanswerable question why the entire world is sitting down and watching what's happening for the past 65 years generation after generation without even coming up for one solution or action. To answer the question we need to understand what North Korea is. It came into existence as an inhuman country with a cruel history and grim future. Korea was an independent united country for much of its history. In 1910, Japan occupied the Korean peninsula. Korea spends 35...
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...oppressed. The nation of North Korea is no exception, with “Bing-brother always watching.” The government in North Korea pervades all aspects of life. Hunger is a problem worldwide. However with a quarter of North Korea’s population (six million people) starving or malnourished, with nearly one million of those cases being children under the age of five years old, the situation is especially dire (Cullinane 3). Throughout history the term “famine” has referred to a shortage of food caused by uncontrollable circumstances. Modern famines are relatively nonexistent because international aid, globalization, and modern domestic responses are all able to provide a safety net for those in need of assistance. In reality, mass-starvations today are caused by government decisions and improper food distribution. The North Korean government controls food delivery through a Public Distribution System (PDS), on which 62 percent of the population is entirely reliant upon for monthly or biweekly rations (Haggard et al. 17). To put this dependency in perspective, by the end of the 1990’s the PDS could barely support six percent of the population (Haggard et al. 28). In the 1990’s those who lived in the Northeastern Hamgyong provinces, a region historically rebellious due to mountain ranges and proximity to China, were cut off from the PDS (Nastios 109). With regime control of food distribution, creating food shortages became an effective and horrifying way in which the North Korean regime consolidates...
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...know about North Korea’s political standpoint of how they claim to treat their people well, but has one ever questioned the honesty of North Korea? For several decades, satellites have detected prison/labor camps all over the Mountainous regions of North Korea. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people reside in these camps; Many of them born in the camp and are unaware of the outside world. At a young age many of the children born in the camp, are malnourished, abused and given a taste of what the camp life is like. A popular novel known as Escape from Camp 14 is the true tale of a young man’s life, in a labor camp known...
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...Ty Tran Mr. Waagen Honors English 10 24 March 2014 North Korean Starvation “Think about a population that’s totally dependent on rations from the government, and we know that these rations are going to run out,” said Nutrition Specialist Mandana Arabi, “There are really not a lot of resources they can tap into” (UNICEF). North Korea, for years on the edge of famine, have crossed the boundary, and dropped into the dark abyss. Food is rationed to one-fifth the necessary amount for survival, up to 5 million people could starve to death within the year, and 80,000 children are in "imminent peril" of starvation (UNICEF). North Korea, formally known as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” is susceptible to food crises because of political and economic isolation, extreme militarization, and climate change. Last year, widespread flooding in the country’s main rice producing region resulted in a poor harvest, plus an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, which affected the cattle used to harvest crops, also exacerbated shortages (Ahn). North Korea’s suffering has gotten out of hand, such that some of the DPRK’s citizens have resorted to cannibalism. The majority of North Korea’s population relies solely on food rations, like pennies on a dollar; the amount of people relying on rations far outweighs the total amount of food being distributed. The World Food Program (WFP) indicates that food rations in 2005 were at approximately 200-250 grams per person per day, approximately...
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...The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is a country on the Korean peninsula in Asia. More colloquially known as North Korea, it is infamous for its numerous human rights violations and oppressive government. Harsh conditions, severe famine, a communist dictatorship and many other factors contribute to the reasons why many North Korean citizens would want to defect. Defection is a long, arduous event with many obstacles, which can make or break someone’s life, and is a taboo topic in North Korea. Not only is defection risking your life, but it is risking the lives of your family as well. North Korea feeds constant communist propaganda to their citizens, and controls all aspects of international media. This is common knowledge,...
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...novel Anthem and the article “Life inside the surreal, cruel, and sheltered North Korea,” have very similar lifestyles. Due to the strict rules, Anthem and North Korean citizens live an extremely cloistered life. These rules dictate, what society is taught, as the right way to live which has the citizens living in fear. There are strict rules is each society that cause people to be cloistered. Citizens are not aware of the world around them. One reason is they are not allowed to interact outside of their social class. In Anthem, there are strict rules about where a person may go and who they may talk to. Also, they do not make time for any advancements such as technology and transportation. This causes people living in these societies to seem isolated from other places in the world. There are similar rules in North Korea. Most people cannot leave North Korea because it is extremely difficult to or is prohibited completely. Few people have cell phones and still, there is no access to the Internet. In Anthem’s society they do not have time for and frown upon new advancements and discoveries. A standard day in Anthem’s society and in North Korea is very routine and does not account for any free time....
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...not as great as it sounded. British writer George Orwell wrote the novel 1984 published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. in 1949. 1984 is a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government. In 1949, the Cold War had not yet escalated, and many Americans supported communism as possible political systems for the west. Therefore, Orwell wrote his novel in order to expose the cruelty and oppression of communist countries. In his dystopian nation, Orwell gave a sneak peak of what a country could become if the people gave all the power to the government. In 1984, Orwell portrays the perfect totalitarian society in which the government monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that having a disloyal thought is against the law. They do so with the use of technology such as tele screens and microphones across the city which allowed the government to monitor all the citizens almost all of the times. In order to keep the citizens of London loyal and obedient to the government, they use psychological manipulation designed to overwhelm the minds capacity for independent thought. Every citizen has a giant tele screen which not only monitors their behavior, but also feed citizens with positive propaganda of the government which makes them believe their government is successful in every way. "WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,...
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...Korean Peninsula.The Korean peninsula consists of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the northern part of the peninsula and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on the south, dividing on the 38th parallel. The peninsula split up in the 1950s during the Korean War, which involved the Communist North against Democratic South Korea. As the Korean War broke out on the peninsula in 1950, the United Nations Security Council recognised North Korea’s act as an invasion. Due to the fact that North Korea ignored the United Nations’ call for a ceasefire, the United States, United Kingdom and many other nations sent forces towards the peninsula in order to defend South Korea. Although a cease fire agreement have been signed in July 1953, North and South Korea are technically still at war to this very day. Since the Korean War divided one nation, whom share the same culture, values and language, they were separated because of two enormous political ideology differences, that the leaders believed in. We can safely say the Korean War was an “Ideology War”. The North being more towards socialism / communism (left wing) and the South being a firm believer in a semi-western, democratic (right wing) ideology. There isn’t only different ideologies within the politics, but also economically and educationally are being influenced by this ideology. Often we ask ourselves whether we can see Korea as one again in the future? Is unification in the peninsula a sustainable option? Or...
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...is element in your life that allows you to be from the reality and gives meaning of life to many people. Having your own religious belief is form of self- expression and give guidance and way of living in many lives. However in North Korea people are not allowed to worship or have their own religion due to lack of freedom in their country. In the article “North Korean Refugees and the politics of evangelical Mission in the Sino- Korean Border Area” written by Jin- Heon Jung, the author emphasizes his evangelical missionary work and humanitarian aids for North Korean refuges in the Sino Korean border area. In our modern day religion is considered as a very important component in our life, however imagine someone forced you to worship someone, a human being as a God figure. According to Jung’s article North Korean are often brainwashed by the North Korean government and forced to accept Kim ill sung as a religious figure (like Jesus) and worship Kim Ill Sung and his family. “…he described the refugee’s body and mentality as “completely contaminated by Kimilsungnism.” In the article Jung describes after the introducing of biblical teaching to the North Korean refugees, people were described as almost being reborn. Although having a freedom of expression is common in United States and Korea, in North Korea, with such structural condition, people are forced to live their lives as it’s told them to or forced to follow a set of instruction. In their whole life those people have been...
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