North Korea - Unrecognized Hell

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2012/02/10/
kimjongun.02102012/large.jpg

On February 10, 2012, Twitter and Weibo were buzzing about the rumored assassination of Kim Jong-Un, the current North Korean leader. In a matter of hours, there was an article about the rumor posted on every major news site. Then, just as quickly as it began, the rumor was dismissed by U.S. officials who noted that the rumor was false based on close monitoring of the Korean Peninsula for abnormal economic and military activity. This was as "official" as confirmation would get and the rumor disappeared from all thought and mind. There was no way to accurately assess Kim Jong-Un's status or actually communicate with North Korea, and without Kim Jong-Un actually coming out publicly and declaring his state, there would be no way for the rest of the world to have any light into the country. And so, due to the general lack of information, the world once again dismissed North Korea and placed it out of mind.

60 years of hunger even in the capital
http://www.asianews.it/files/img/
NORTH_KOREA_-_POVERTY.jpg

IMPACT:
That would be fine if North Korea were a decent humane country simply seeking national sovereignty and privacy from other nations. But that is not the case. The situation in North Korea is not one that can be ignored simply because information is scarce. In fact, one of the main reasons why information is so tightly controlled in North Korea is because of how terrible the situation in North Korea is. (The other reason information is limited is so that North Koreans can't see how much better the rest of the world is). Even with the information control, however, we can still catch glimpses into the horrors of North Korea through the eyes of escaped refugees, and this is information that cannot be discarded. The purpose of this article is not to focus on Kim Jong-Un or to suggest anything about his status. Frankly, I have no idea, and neither does anyone else. What I want to emphasize though is how little everyone seems to actually know about North Korea. Just look around you. How much do you and your community actually know about North Korea?

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The lack of knowledge about North Korea even within highly educated communities is absolutely astounding. Most people simply see North Korea as a nuclear threat and a low-income developing nation, but that is where the knowledge usually stops. Based on occasional photo releases like the one at the right, they assume North Korea is just another highly militaristic country with living conditions comparable to other developing countries. They are wrong. North Korea is more comparable to Hitler dominated Germany in mentality with human rights violations rivaling the Holocaust exacerbated by regular country-wide famine and agricultural failure. Although what I write cannot even begin to do justice to North Korea's situation, here's a brief overview.

North Koreans mourning the death of Kim Jong-Il,
a testament to North Koreans' state of mind.
http://static.lifeislocal.com.au/multimedia/
images/full/1625096.jpg

Let's start with information control and North Korean mentality. For the 24 million in North Korea, there is no freedom of speech, press, assembly, or association. All information distributed to the citizens is centrally controlled and produced. Information that is given to the public is saturated in indoctrination praising the leaders of North Korea as literal gods who have blessed the country and made it prosper. All citizens are required to have a Kim pin and have a portrait of the leaders in their homes. People in North Korea actually believe they are living in the best modern living conditions due to the blessings of their leadership. They believe every other country is living in much harder times than them. A great documentary that shows this is "A State of Mind," which follows participants of the Mass Games in North Korea. Frankly, there is no way for citizens to know any better because anyone who possesses information, books, or media not approved by the government is considered a traitor to the Communist state and thrown into a concentration camp. Anyone who shows any dissent against the state are thrown into camps. All citizens are forbidden from leaving the country. Citizens cannot even travel within country without prior approval from their local jurisdiction. All entry into the country is forbidden unless it is pre-approved by the government and the visitors are guided throughout their entire stay. If a citizen attempts to flee the country, they are shot on site or sent to a camp.  And yet people still ask me if I'm from South or North Korea when I tell them I'm Korean...

A drawing by defector Hye Sook Kim showing one of
countless public execution she witnessed before escaping.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/
stories/large/2011/02/03/DSC_0089.jpg

Speaking of the camps, there are an estimated 200,000 "offenders" of the state forced into concentration camps separated from society because of their "traitorous actions and thoughts" against the government. Much of what we know about the camps is from first-hand testimony by the trickle of those who have managed to escape. I had the rare opportunity of speaking with such a refugee during an awareness talk at Stanford, and the conditions he spoke of really are comparable to the concentration camps during the Holocaust without exaggeration. People are starved, beaten, tortured, raped, and publicly executed on a regular basis. Prisoners must feed on rats and weeds to survive, and even getting caught in that act of feeding can be considered insubordination and a reason for execution. Punishments are often applied to related kin as well, and three generations of a family can be executed simultaneously for the "crime" of one. North Korea's government officially denies the existence of such camps, but the steady stream of refugees and horror stories from those who escape cannot be denied.

The body of a North Korean woman
who died crossing the Duman River
trying to escape into China
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/
img_dir/2008/12/11/2008121161003_0.jpg

Life is hardly better for those who manage to miraculously escape North Korea. An estimated 300,000 North Korean refugees are hiding underground in China where the official government stance is to return discovered refugees back to North Korea where they will undoubtedly be placed into camps or executed. Thus, under the threat of being returned, over 80% of refugees never make it out of China and become victims of human trafficking. A documentary called "The People's Crisis" follows the journey of a North Korean refugee from the moment they arrive in China and shows the perilous risks these individuals must take even after finally escaping from North Korea.

What I've mentioned really is just a glimpse into the hell of North Korea, revealed by those far and few between who have escaped the country and lived to tell their story. The information is scarce, but it is powerful and reliable and cannot be ignored. Educate yourself and share about North Korea to others. It's the least you can do for one of the most unrecognized horrors of our time.

Get Involved!
You can also be proactive and join or support activist groups such as LiNK, Liberty in North Korea or others. Check them out here.