James Spatafore

HWLC
3/30/16
Period 2
Oppression of North Koreans
North Koreans have been oppressed since the end of
World War II. Throughout the years, the people have
suffered through starvation and not having nearly as much
freedom as they did before the war when Korea was one
nation. Between the nation wanting complete control and
spending all their money on their military, the people struggle
to survive.
North Korea became a communist country in 1948
under the rule of Kim II Sung. Until this point, North and
South Korea were one kingdom. Although, after World War
II, the Korean peninsula was divided in half at the thirty
eighth parallel with the Soviet Union controlling the North
and America supporting the South. They became two

different counties and fought the Korean War for control of

the peninsula. Eventually they came to an argreement that
the two countries would be divided along the thirty eighth
parallel and fighting would stop. Today, the thirty eighth
parallel remains one of the most heavily fortified borders in
the world (North Korea). Kim II Sung created a philosophy
of national self-reliance which leaded to the near total
isolation for the country. Its borders were sealed and heavily
guarded so no outside interference or influence could come
in the country. Sung promised great wealth and prosperity for
the nation and ruled with a big militaristic approach and took
many freedoms from the people, setting fear and intimidation
into the minds of the North Korean people. He had also
created political labor camps for people who showed views
that went against the government. Although, people who
were also seen as politically unreliable, including Christians
were also sent to these camps. Conditions in this camp were
so bad that people often died while in custody. After Sung

had passed, they had made him the Eternal President of the
Republic and his son Kim Jong-il had taken over. Jong-il
had created the worlds largest standing army and developed
a nuclear weapons program which lead to the tensions the
North has with the world today. After his death in 2011, his
son Kim Jong-un had taken over, and is currently the ruler in
North Korea.
North Korea has one of the worlds most centrally
planned and closed economies and faces chronic economic
problems. The government puts a large share of gross
domestic product to military spending and economic growth.
Their desire for control of the world keeps the economy from
developing and forces the North Korean people to live in
poverty. They have also suffered through food shortages
ever since the 1990s.In the year 1990, North Korea had one
of their largest famines which killed some two million North
Koreans (Koreas Secret). Millions of malnourished children,
babies, pregnant women, and nursing mothers face the

shortages today. This has caused an entire generation of

North Koreans with stunted growth and a higher chance of
health problems. International food-aid deliveries have kept
the population from starving. The part that is terrible about all
of this is their people have no freedom of movement. It is
illegal for the North Korean people to leave the nation
without the governments permission and people are most of
the time rejected to leave. If caught trying to escape the
nation, the people can be sent to a prison camp, tortured, or
be publically executed as an example to the nation.
Another way the North Korean people live in such a
harsh way is their forced leadership adulation. The people
are robots, sporting lapel-pin pictures of their Dear Leader
and are forced to participate in the maintenance of
personality cults around the Kim leaders that have ruled the
country for over 60 years (How Crazy). The propaganda
starts in nursery school all the way to college. Students are
dedicated to memorizing the history of the Kim family.

Millions of labor-hours that could be used developing the

economy have to be spent idolizing the leaders instead
(The Peoples). The people have no idea what going on
outside of their own country. Knowing the threat that outside
information poses to their propaganda, the nation has
invested in many resources in trying to keep an information
blockade and give the people only their information (The
Peoples). It is illegal to own a tuneable radio in North Korea
and there is no access to the internet and phone calls are
limited within the country and are heavily censored (World
Report). North Korea ranked last on the list for media
freedom in the Freedom of the Press 2013 report from
Freedom House, an organization that advocates for
democracy and human rights worldwide. Countries get a
score from zero to one hundred with lower scores
representing free media. North Korea received a score of
ninety seven. Organized religion is also seen as a threat to
the nation so nothing apart from the churches built for

foreign visitors are allowed. People caught practicing or

spreading religion in secret are punished harshly by public
execution or being sent to a prison camp. There are five
political prison camps that hold an estimated 80,000 to
120,000 people (The Peoples). Some of these camps are
the size of cities and many times people in the camp have
not committed any crime at all. Those people are often times
related to someone that has been guilty in the past but are
considered guilty because of blood. North Korea is charged
with violations that include summary executions and the rape
and torture of political prisoners (U.N.). Forced labor, brutal
beatings, and death are common. The nation denies these
camps are real but from satellite images, survivor accounts,
and former guards, we know these camps exist.
All of these problems the North Korean people have to
face also comes with effects. With all the food shortages and
famines in North Korea, the nation claims it provides
universal health care to its people but the majority of the

public healthcare system collapsed in the 1990s and only

some hospitals in the city of Pyongyang are still up (The
Peoples). Medicine and health services are only available to
people who can afford it, causing most people in North
Korea to be affected by diseases such as tuberculosis and
cataracts, which are easily curable. North Korea has also
spent a massive amount of time and resources creating the
songbun system, a system that gives you a level of political
loyalty based on your family background. There are fifty one
levels and depending on your level, it can restrict your life
opportunities, including where you can live, educational
opportunities, Party membership, military service,
occupation, and treatment by the criminal justice system
(The Peoples). For any political problems may have, it could
result in your families songbun being demoted. Plus, if any
relative is caught doing something politically wrong, you and
three generations of your family could be punished for it.
Their goal is to remove the whole family from society to

prevent any future interactions. With all this lack of freedom

and economic hardship thousands of North Koreans still risk
their lives to escape (The Peoples). If caught, the person is
at risk of harsh punishments including brutal beatings, forced
labor, forced abortions, torture, and internment in a political
prison camp. Also, if the government thinks that person had
contact with South Koreans or Christians, that person
receives the most severe punishments. When North Koreans
reach China, they should be protected under the
international refugee law. Although China should do that,
they do not. The Chinese government wants their political
relationship with Pyongyang and does not recognize them as
refugees but label them as economic migrants and they are
sent back to North Korea.
For so many years, the North Koreans have been
oppressed and not much can be done to help them. With the
crazy lack of freedom and so much hardship, the people
need help. People need to stand up to North Korea to try

and save the innocent lives that are being oppressed.