Officially and originally referred to as, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea has had a dictatorship since 1948. (DPRK) On September 9, 1948 the United Nations elected South of Korea to be the Republic of Korea. They then elected North of Korea to be the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea electing Kim Il- Sung as the Prime Minster. This started the dictatorship in North Korea that still reigns on today.
Kim Il-Sung was born in 1912. Earlier in his life he was named Kim Söng-Ju, but he changed it in the 1930’s when he became a Korean Freedom Fighter and changed his name to Il-Sung. (Biography.) Eventually Il-Sung went to the Soviet Union, there he joined the Communist Party. (Biography.) Later on he went to have a family and had a son Kim Jong- Il, who became dictator after he died.
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.
The communist countries only recognized North Korea as Korea and decided just to forget about the south. The reason for this is because of the split, the South of Korea had become allies with the United States. Some part of Il Sung and the people who agreed with his ostensible ways still wanted South Korea to come forth in the communist era. (Lywellyn.) Not mainly because they regretted the split, part of the reason, but Il Sung wanted more people to be in control over. He thought that the U.S was just controlling South Korea, and he couldn’t get them back. So this led to his reasoning in wanting to invade South Korea and bring...
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...Report 2013: North Korea." Human Rights Watch. Human Rights Watch, 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 2 May 2014. .
"North Korea: Human rights concerns." Amnesty Australia. Amnesty International, 28 Nov. 2006. Web. 2 May 2014. .
National Geographic classics. Secret access . Washington, DC : National Geographic, 2014. DVD.
Pratt, Keith. Everlasting Flower: A History of Korea. : Reaktion Books, 2007. Print.
Dudley, William. North and South Korea: opposing viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Print.
Salter, Christopher L., and Charles F. Gritzner. "Introducing North Korea,." North Korea. 2nd ed. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. . Print.
Delisle, Guy, and Helge Dascher. Pyongyang: a journey in North Korea. Montréal, Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly ;, 2007. Print.
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.
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.
(migrationinformation, 2008). Citizens of North Korea do not attain the freedom to leave and experience other states. North Korea’s lack of freedom not only affects their citizens but also individuals from other countries in a negative sense, cutting off social bonds as a result. Not having mobility rights is an infringement on their negative liberty on account of the option of immigrating or emigrating not being available to them due to the laws placed by the government. In actuality, citizens “caught emigrating or helping others cross the border illegally are detained” (migrationinformation, 2008).
Database Center for North Korean Human Rights. "Prisoners in North Korea Today." Detention Facilities in North Korea Today (2011): 173+. NKDB. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
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.
North Korea is notorious as the “Hermit Kingdom”. Defensive and secretive to the point of paranoia, its history as well as its present conditions remains shrouded in mystery. What little we do know can be murky at best. The central govern...
"Genocide in North Korea | World Policy Institute." Genocide in North Korea | World Policy Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.
方玥雯[Fang Yue Wen] (2009). 北韓核武研發與東北亞安全：2002-2007. [The North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and the Security in Northeast Asia: 2002-2007] in台灣[Taiwan]: 國立政治大學[National Cheungchi University] Retrieved 18 July, 2013 from http://nccuir.lib.nccu.edu.tw/handle/140.119/37029
Korea had been united as one country for many years. Japan took control of Korea and made it part of its empire. After World War II, Japan was defeated and its empire fell. Korea was left without a leader or a system of government. This provoked the United States troops to occupy the southern half and Soviet troops to occupy the northern half. The United States and its allies favored democratic government, while the Soviet Union and China favored a communist system of government.
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
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...
North and South Korea were not very different politically or culturally from one another before mid 1940’s (White, Bradshaw, Dymond, Chacko, Scheidt, 2014, p. 125). However, North Korea started the Korean War when they invaded South Korea in 1950. These two countries, which were once the same, are vastly different in the areas of politics and culture The Koreas’ continue to disagree and not be at peace with each other since the Korean War despite small steps toward progress over the
Throughout the global media North Korea’s isolation and Harsh rule has become increasingly secretive, although some facts have been detected (“North Korea Profile”, 1). According to data collected from The Guardian, eighty-one out of one-hundred people in South Korea have access to the internet, yet in North Korea around .1 out of one-hundred people have access to the internet . Not only is the greater population of North Korea disconnected from outside sources, yet leaders in North Korea are also isolated from outside sources; putting themselves at a disadvantage. North Korea may launch a war, but they are unaware as to what they are up against because of its secrecy . Around one million are serving in the North Korean Army, but when South Korea’s army; combined with the U.S’s army (their ally), the ratio of the North Korean Army is signi...
Korea gained independence from Japanese colonial rule in August of 1945 and also the division of Korea into the republic south and communist north in the 38th parallel. South Korea then was under the United States occupation from l945-48. Before the United States occupation South Korea had already organized a central People’s committees and established the Korean People of Republic (Memorial Foundation). Nevertheless, United States did not recognize any of the provisional or republic government. The United States refused to do so until there had been an agreement among the western allies. In 1954, there was a Mutual Security Agreement signed between the United States and South Korea, which states that they agreed to defend each other in the event of outside aggression (Memorial Foundation). South Korea has been under military authoritarian regime from 1961-1979 under President Park Chung Hee and from 1980-1992 under President Chun Doo Hwan. The Kwangju uprising occurred in May of 1980 after the collapse of the first milit...