The North Korean Conditions

Every morning, I have food to eat. Every morning, I have water to drink. Every morning, I have clothes to wear. In this world, I am expected to live until I'm eighty, ninety, or even to a hundred years old, yet the reality that there is an entire nation that live entirely opposite, short lives shocks me. It shocks the world, if they are compassionate enough to open their eyes. The North Korean people, the people who have been forcibly dragged and born into their poor country, these are the ones whose realities are those that are the conflicts and plots of Hollywood movies. We can watch these movies because a small part of ourselves know that the characters are fiction, and we know that the conditions displayed before our very eyes cannot be in the slightest true.

But why can I hear their cries of pain and sadness around me?

Hazel Smith, the author of the scholarly article CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY?, explains that we know "much less about the status of civil and political rights" (132), meaning that the world knows very little about the level, or degree, of rights that belong to the people of North Korea. Concerning health, food, and nutrition, however, Smith argues that, thanks to the United Nations agencies that work in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, there have been "over four-and-a-half thousand reports on aspects of DPRK society" (133). The world can finally have a look into the well-being of the North Korean people; however, this does not automatically assume that the people are all healthy and are eating nutritious meals. In fact, a report given by Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman to the UN Human Rights Council states the complete opposite. Smith quotes Darusman by saying that the "Annex to the report makes the factual claim that the health and nutrition status of the population is exceptionally poor" (134). Every morning, I have food to eat. Every morning, I have water to drink. But every morning, these people have nothing.

Within the confines of what the UN knows officially (documents, reports, analyses, etc.), there may not be many violations of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The regime keeps a very tight leash on that information; in fact, they lie to the world about the conditions within their borders. But, why? A boy only keeps the fact that he stole twenty dollars from his mother a secret because he fears two things: he knows something is wrong, and he knows if his mother finds out, he will be punished. In this case, the Kim Dynasty knows very well that they are doing something very, very wrong. The Kim Dynasty also knows very well that if the world knows officially that they have stripped their people of their rights, then their crimes will not go unpunished.

Refugees such as Joseph Kim, Hyeon-seo Lee, and Dong-hyuk Shin all have shared their stories concerning the conditions of North Korea, along with many others rescued by a non-profit, non-government organization, Liberty in North Korea, who seek to rescue those who have escaped North Korea into China's borders. Shin, author of the famous book Camp 14, writes about his time in North Korean concentration camp Camp 14. He explains that he had spent his entire life up to his escape in the camp being tortured and beaten. Catherine E. Shoichet and Madison Park, authors on CNN, co-wrote an article that focused on the refugee's inaccuracies about his time in North Korea. While I may find the argument that his testimony is invalid now, his admittances are still inhumane and cruel concerning the treatment he received from the North Koreans. In Camp 18, a concentration camp, Shin says that that's where "he witnessed authorities execute his mother and brother" (Shoichet and Park). Also, he explains that instead of his finger being chopped off by one of the prison guards, it was actually "mangled as a guard pulled out his fingernails as a punishment for escaping" (Shoichet and Park). The cruelty and monstrosity of the North Korean government remain as inhumane as his book states, as well as the testimonies of every other North Korean refugee.

The conditions of North Korea may be politically average or mediocre, but the people of the North Korean totalitarian state have voiced their stories. Although they may come from different backgrounds, such as a higher class, a lower class, in prison, or as a child born from sex trafficking, there remains one common pattern: North Korea is a country that has stripped the rights of its people, make them suffer, and have lied continuously to the world about their wrongdoings.

We must stand up.

We must fight.

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Works Cited:

1. Shoichet, Catherine E., and Madison Park. "North Korean Prison Camp Survivor
          Changes Story." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.