At 40° N and 127° E there is a country apprehensively referred to as "the Hermit Kingdom". While the rest of the world noisily goes about its affairs, this country lurks quietly. The black sheep in a global network. By the hand of Kim Il-sung and his sons, North Korea has become an nation that struggles with a myriad of issues including the blatant abuse of human rights. However, nations never find themselves in the midst of these problems just out of chance. North Koreas political background has created an environment in which civilians have no idea that the nation they live in is a world apart from anywhere else.
Kim Il Sung's intentions and ideals serve as the foundation of North Korea's infamous government so it's important to understand where exactly he came from. Like many other totalitarian and facist leaders, Kim Il-sung was not merely born that way. Rather a series of events helped shape the man who would run rampant as Koreas "eternal president". It all begins in 1905, when Korea became a protectorate of Japan. Then, in 1910 Korea was annexed to Japan and fell to Japanese Imperial rule for the next thirty-five years. During this time Kim Il-sung (born Kim Song-ju) was being raised in a patriotic family who despised their Japanese rulers (Martin 15). Eventually his family sought refuge in Manchuria and Kim bounced around from school to school where he would take on communist views and become interested in fighting against his Japanese oppressors. In 1929 Kim was arrested for being a part of a student organization that intended to overthrow Japanese rule in Korea (Martin 27). After getting out of jail, Kim did not return to school. Instead, he joined a Chinese guerilla group that intended to fight that Japanese against t...
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...the state is placed into a camp without due process and then subjected to the tortures of the guards and security officials (UN report 12). In a world where it is assumed that widespread crimes against humanity no longer exist - this is a shocking revelation.
It is clear that North Korea faces many difficult dilemmas and has done little, if anything, to solve them. Foreign involvement is nearly impossible due to the nuclear weapons that North Korea possesses. It is important, for people to know that these people are suffering the loss of their basic human rights in a world where society is supposedly advancing. Just by looking at a satellite picture of North Korea at night, one can see that North Korea is a land lost in time. It is all one can do to wish for the end of the Kim Dynasty, and the realization of democracy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Blaine Harden, former national correspondent and writer for the New York Times, delivers an agonizing and heartbreaking story of one man’s extremely conflicted life in a labor camp and an endeavor of escaping this place he grew up in. This man’s name is Shin Dong-hyuk. Together, Blaine Harden and Shin Dong-hyuk tell us the story of this man’s imprisonment and escape into South Korea and eventually, the United States, from North Korea. This biography that takes place from 1982-2011, reports to its readers on what is really going on in “one of the world’s darkest nations” (back cover of the book), that is run under a communist state and totalitarian dictatorship that was lead by Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and currently lead by Kim-Jong un. In Escape from Camp 14, Shin shows us the adaptation of his life and how one man can truly evolve from an animal, into a real human being.
Il-Sung came back to Korea in 1945, and formed the Korean People’s Army. The Army consisted of a small group of guerillas and former soldiers, which he would later use in the Korean War. (Bio.) Just three years later Il-Sung was elected as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea) premier.
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.
Kim Jong Il's legacy is a heavy one to bare, not much is truly known about him in all honesty. His life began in secrecy and the rest of his life continued from there never to seemingly ever get better. An extreme dictator who commanded the obedience and love of all who lived in his kingdom may be seen as a vicious tyrant to all of those away from him, but in the eyes of the North Koreans, he will always be their Dear Leader and his sons and future grandsons will carry on the brutal regime that encompasses North Korea.
Little is known about North Korea except for news stories concerning international terrorism, nuclear arms threats, and prison camps. From space, North Korea is shrouded in darkness like the history that surrounds this country. This is due to the nation's strict closed-country policy: not many outsiders have visited there and not many North Koreans have traveled to the outside world. While little action can be taken to help the North Korean people, action taken by the United Nations is crucial. Recently, United Nations human rights investigators issued a horrific report documenting massive human rights violations in North Korea. The United Nations feels these crimes of humanity should be brought to the International Criminal Court. UN members work to "promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion” (Youth For Human Rights). North Korea unlike any other country in the world cannot be reported on fully because of regulations on people entering its boundaries.
Climate, conflict, isolation, and corruption culminated in millions of lives lost, surely with no small amount of pain and suffering endured. Though international intervention can only help to the degree that authorities in North Korea will allow it, we are not left entirely without recourse. It is too late now to undo the damage of the North Korean famine, and although power has since changed hands, the country remains famously isolated. If, however, we tell the story as best we can, and deny ourselves the comfort of closing our eyes when faced with such a colossal tragedy, then perhaps in the future we find a solution. Silent are the Koreans who perished, and silent still are the authorities that chose seclusion over security. If we wish to prevent this from happening again, we must not let their silence be our silence as well.
No one would ever think that a small country could create a controversy known the world over, but North Korea has achieved this goal. The North Korean genocide has claimed 2000 people a day and these killings are from starvation and beating. Many people think communism is better than democracy, but it has its faults. For example, North Korea is Communist and whatever the leader’s beliefs, the Communist citizen has to believe. What is happening and what happened is genocide.
Rogue states under dictatorial rule threaten the fragile peace, which exists in our modern world. Constantly as a society Americans have always fought against these said foes. However all too often we pass a blind eye to the humanity of the enemies’ civilian populations. For more often than not, those who live within these systems are chronically oppressed. The nation of North Korea is no exception, with “Bing-brother always watching.” The government in North Korea pervades all aspects of life.
Since the end of the Korean War, the United States has enacted policies to isolate and undermine the Kim Dynasty in North Korea. A key development took place in the past several decades where North Korea broke away from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop their own nuclear weapons and while lacking launch capabilities, they have been successful in their development. During this process, the United States took active policies to deter the North Koreans in pursuit of their goals. It is easy to assume that the United States took this stance in order to maintain a military edge in the region. But under closer examination, this neo-realist perspective does not explain why the United States pursued this policy. In reality, North Korea to this day does not pose a significant military threat, even with limited nuclear capabilities. A constructivist perspective is more able to explain US policy in this instance because it does not focus on sheer militaristic power. It takes into consideration the state's identities which drives their interests. The identities of the US and North Korea and the interactions between them drove both nations to the point of acquiring and deterring nuclear use.
During his rule there was decrease in trading because their main trading partner, the Soviet Union, had just collapsed. Not only that, but there were also numerous floods and droughts that occurred too. This left North Korea in famine, since there was only a certain amount of farming land, this left Kim Jong-Il to worry about his power. With the remaining amount of farming land, he instead decided to use those resources for the military instead of the citizens experiencing famine at the time. After this incident, in 2003, it was found out that North Korea was producing nuclear weapons, but Kim Jong-Il said it was only for security reasons.
Kim Jong-un became the supreme leader of North Korea in 2012 after his father, Kim Jong-il passed away. Kim Jong-un is very similar to his father and predecessor. All he wants to see is
Relations between the United States and North Korea have been unstable since the second world war and with each passing decade the relations have become more tense. The U.S has never have formal international relations with North Korea , however the conflict has caused much controversy in U.S foreign policy. North Korea has been the receiver of millions of dollars in U.S aid and the target of many U.S sanctions. This is due to the fact that North Korea is one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet, that uses unjust techniques such as murder, torture, and starvation to get their citizens to be obedient. They restrict contact from their citizens to the outside world, through censorship of technology and rarely allowing visitors to the country. The root of the US-North Korea conflict however ,has been on the basis of nuclear weapons and North Korea threatening to use those weapons against the U.S and neighboring South Korea. The U.S and other nations have been working for the last few decades to stop the regime from purchasing and utilizing destructive nuclear weapons.
Since its origin in 1948, North Korea has been isolated and heavily armed, with hostile relations with South Korea and Western countries. It has developed a capability to produce short- and medium-range missiles, chemical weapons, and possibly biological and nuclear weapons. In December 2002, Pyongyang lifted the freeze on its plutonium-based nuclear weapons program and expelled IAEA inspectors who had been monitoring the freeze under the Agreed Framework of October 1994. As the Bush administration was arguing its case at the United Nations for disarming Iraq, the world has been hit with alarming news of a more menacing threat: North Korea has an advanced nuclear weapons program that, U.S. officials believe, has already produced one or two nuclear bombs. As the most recent standoff with North Korea over nuclear missile-testing approaches the decompression point, the United States needs to own up to a central truth: The region of Northeast Asia will never be fully secure until the communist dictatorship of North Korea passes from the scene. After threatening to test a new, long-range missile, Pyongyang says it is willing to negotiate with "the hostile nations" opposing it. But whether the North will actually forgo its test launch is anyone's guess. North Korea first became embroiled with nuclear politics during the Korean War. Although nuclear weapons were never used in Korea, American political leaders and military commanders threatened to use nuclear weapons to end the Korean War on terms favorable to the United States. In 1958, the United States deployed nuclear weapons to South Korea for the first time, and the weapons remained there until President George Bush ordered their withdrawal in 1991. North Korean government stateme...
Recognition for our need for basic human rights is required to understand how North Korea deprives its people from the choices we as citizens of the USA take for granted. The United Nation’s office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights says that “human rights are rights inherent to all human beings”. These rights include the rights to life, liberty, property, movement, expression, and security. The United States has different rights engrained in its Bill of Rights, like the right to a speedy trial, freedom from harboring soldiers, and the freedom to a militia.
The negotiations talking on the nuclear threaten and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula has recently shaped the agenda of North Korean system of international relations, thus affecting the patterns of foreign policy of the DPRK. This issue has gained such a priority to lead to the establishment of the 6PT experiment, thus proving to stand at the core of the debate on the stability and safety debate in the Northeast Asia region.