I STILL Don't Understand North Korea

The subject of North Korea has proved to be an even more complicated affair than I originally gave it credit for. When I began exploring the situation, I'd hoped that my research would uncover some answers as to what is going on in North Korea, as well as what the rest of the world is doing about it. As it turns it, however, I can honestly say that I am even more confused than when I started.

I assumed that life in North Korea was about as bad as life can get, and it very well could be. Whether it be thousands of blind people who need a routine surgery, as seen on Inside North Korea, or people risking life, limb, and family as seen on Kimjongilia, there are certainly several common themes throughout my research that could confirm this theory.   But on the other hand, as in the "Ask A North Korean" article, there is clearly evidence that despite the bad things, there are some good things about living in North Korea. My conclusion, however, is that regardless of the "good", in order to hear about any of the good things from a legitimate, first-hand source, they would have had to escape North Korea in the first place (risking public execution or repercussions to their families) in order to tell us, which leads me right back to where I started—thinking life was miserable in North Korea.

But maybe a shift is coming.

As seen in the article I read in The New York Times, at the very least, the new leader Kim Jong Un is advertising a focus on the people, and the economy, as opposed to the military. I'm hopeful that these promises come true for the North Korean people, but also very skeptical. There is a history of empty and broken promises in the nation, and unfortunately in order for me to have any real faith in change, I need to see something substantial take place.

When I began this blog, I wondered why the world seems to just stand by and watch North Korea self-destruct. Honestly, I don't have a solid answer to that question yet. I have learned however, that it is an extremely complicated and delicate subject, and must be handled with care. Originally, I thought that the world was just ignoring North Korea because we didn't feel like dealing with the problem, but as my research has progressed I have decided that it is more an issue of not knowing how to help. I kind of relate it to dealing with a stubborn child that doesn't know what's best for them—only this child has nuclear weapons.

I hope that in time I can have a better understanding of the ongoings in North Korea, especially what is going to happen in regards to feeding the people. The thought of more than 60% of an entire nation dealing with chronic hunger breaks my heart, especially when compared to what we have here, and I hope that someday soon they can start living like free people, instead of caged animals.

Potentially Scary Times

Previously, I had touched on the famine conditions that exist in North Korea, and I would like to do so again.  I recently read an article from The Telegraph that was written last year, before Kim Jong Il died.  The article interviews several North Koreans, helping to shed some light on the dire situation.  Whether it's people traveling to the mountains to simply collect weeds for soup, or eating manure in an attempt to fight starvation, the article only reinforces what I have learned up to this point--many North Koreans are hungry, desperate people. While reading this article, for some reason or another I kept coming back to the fact that it was written in 2011. Is it really still this bad today? Are these interviews enough to accurately represent the people in North Korea? As much as I wish it wasn't true, I can't help but think that it is.

An article I read recently from The New York Times, on the other hand, shows there might be some light at the end of the tunnel after-all.  Kim Jong Un was recently reported as saying “Developing the economy and improving livelihoods, so that the Korean people lead happy and civilized lives, is the goal the Workers’ Party is struggling toward,” in a meeting with the Chinese Communist Party's International Liaison Department.  While it's clear that trust and politics rarely go hand in hand, could this be the beginning of a change in regards to North Korea's “military first” mentality? Or this simply more propaganda being fed to the people by the socialist regime?

Something else to think about is North Korea's nuclear capabilities.  For as many years as North Korea has existed, they have disliked the United States.  While the reasons for these feelings are important, they are not strictly relevant right now, so I will leave those for another time.  What is important, is that even as recently as October of this year, the North Koreans have accused the U.S. of trying to spark a war, validating claims that the North Koreans still hold a severe distrust for Americans.

It's this distrust that worries me.   In my experience in life, distrust breeds more distrust. The United States may not be under a direct threat from North Korean nuclear ordinance, but how many nations throughout the world dislike the U.S.?  Theoretically speaking, what would happen if North Korea decided a good way to end the hunger issues would be to exchange either nuclear resources, or technology (or both), for the food to sustain a dying people?  What if one of these countries that agreed to those terms was say, Iran, for example?  What would happen then?

Until next time....

Eventually, I'll Have an Informed Opinion...

Since my last post I have been further exploring North Korea, and its possible impact on the rest of the world. I can honestly say that the more I look into this matter, the less willing I am to pass judgment on the situation. It seems like the more information that I turn up, the more confusing the situation really is, and I’m beginning to question whether or not this problem actually has a solution that doesn’t end in tragedy.

I recently watched a documentary released by National Geographic entitled “Inside North Korea.” Correspondent Lisa Ling goes into North Korea under the disguise of documenting medical procedures, in an attempt to give the world a rare look inside the country. Covering topics like famine, healthcare, daily life, and the military, Lisa Ling and the National Geographic crew risked imprisonment to gain access to information that is readily found in most nations of the world.

Interestingly, in 2009, in a seemingly unrelated incident, Lisa Ling’s sister Laura Ling was held captive in a North Korean prison for 5 months, for illegally entering the country. She was there trying to uncover details about human trafficking, yet another of the many atrocities that seem to take place in North Korea. Even though this documentary was released long before Laura Ling was captured, I think this fact really emphasizes why the National Geographic film crew went through so much trouble to disguise their true motives for filming while in North Korea. When a nation lives in such secrecy from the rest of the world, secrecy is the only means of obtaining information about them.

Another interesting documentary I found was called “Kimjongilia.” In this documentary many of the same subjects are discussed as in Inside North Korea, as well as containing candid interviews with North Korean refugees who have fled the dictatorship. These interviews provide us with a rare view on North Korea, from the people who have experienced it. Both of these documentaries can be seen via Netflix’s streaming service, for those who have it.

After watching these documentaries, several questions came to mind. First of all, in the National Geographic documentary, the doctor is performing cataract surgery on 1000 North Korean citizens. But what made this situation different enough to merit the government allowing "outsiders" in? Why is this allowed, but help with food, which could arguably prevent the disease in the first place, not allowed? Secondly, in both documentaries, all we are shown is misery, heartache, and death. Is there really nothing good about North Korea, or are these documentaries extremely biased to get a point across?

In my upcoming posts I plan on exploring more about the famine and malnutrition that has made the North Koreans an average of 3 inches shorter than their southern brethren, as well as the nuclear capabilities of the unstable nation. I feel that these two topics are closely related, because hunger can cause people to be both desperate and irrational. Combine that with the ability to completely wipe a large city (or even small country) off the map, and it makes for a volatile combination.

Questions Always Seem to Bring More Questions...

Since my last post, I have found myself neck deep in research trying to link the rationale pertaining to North Korea and the world. Needless to say, as with most things I research, I end up just having more questions then when I started, but I did come across some very interesting articles. In my first post, I queried about why the North Korean people seem to "praise" the Kim Dynasty, despite all of the hardships, and a segment of the website NKnews.org titled "Ask a North Korean" might contain part of the answer. A North Korean refugee that has escaped to South Korea was asked if there was "anything good" about living in North Korea, and surprisingly, she said yes!

While I couldn't stop thinking about the idea of living in a technologically-suppressed, censored society, she talks about things like families and neighbors being extremely close, and appreciating gathering around and singing and dancing with the community.  It just goes to show that what I find important (or what I think I find important) might be the furthest thing from reality, and the assumption that life in North Korea is as bad as it gets, is grounded more in what I know about life, and doesn't necessarily leave room for how they actually feel about it. However, while reading this article, I couldn't help but wonder how differently other North Koreans might have responded to the same questions. Does Jae Young Kim accurately represent the majority of North Koreans, or is this too small of a sample to really get a feel for life is in North Korea? Also, is it possible that maybe a compromise can be met, in order to integrate the things that are required for a sustainable food supply, reliable electricity, and reasonable accommodations, while maintaining the strong bonds throughout the country? Or is a complete lack of interference really the answer?

Something that should have occurred to me before I started digging deeper into the North Korea situation was how difficult “reliable” information can be to come by. For as long as anyone can remember it seems as though most of the information that you receive about North Korea consists of either half-truths, misleading tales of grandeur, or full-fledged lies. I think an article that I found while reading the Huffington Post indirectly helps to demonstrate how these discrepancies have come about. The article is reportedly written from Kaesong, North Korea, which immediately had me wondering, “Where is Kaesong?” A quick Google Maps search revealed something interesting...

THE ONLY THING ON THE MAP IS THE CAPITAL, PYONGYANG.

Maybe this doesn't seem strange to some, or maybe it seems obvious to others, but if you look for any other place you can think of, if there are roads, cities, towns, rivers, or anything that's ever remotely notable, Google has data on it; yet nothing but the capital for North Korea. Now with the advent of technology, unfortunately for North Korea, it is still possible to view the area via satellite image, but I will talk more on that later.

Tim Sullivan continues writing for the Huffington Post, illustrating the discrepancies between the capital, Pyongyang, a strictly enforced “closed city” that's practically a shrine to socialism, it's neighboring cities, which only have electricity for a few hours a night, and the rest of the famine stricken country. After reading this source, I wondered how Sullivan was in North Korea in the first place. I was and am under the impression that foreigners are not allowed except for special circumstances, so how/why is he there?  

Original photo here

The skyline of Pyongyang

  

The reality is, Sullivan's article and the shining lights of Pyongyang's skyline are most likely more half-truths about what is really going on in North Korea.  Satellite imagery taken at night further helps to explain what I am talking about.

Courtesy of GlobalSecurity.org

Notice a complete lack of light compared to South Korea?

And what about the famine!? I will discuss this more in my next post...

Courtesy of PositiveActivism.org

  

However, when we see North Korea, normally all we see, is what they want us to see; Pyongyang, a so called “thriving” dedication to the socialist regime. Does this explain why it seems like everyone in North Korea worships the Kim Dynasty like they are gods? Is it purely because it's what they want us to see? I don't have enough information to make a definitive “yes” or “no” call yet, but I definitely think that there might be something there.  In my upcoming posts I will dig further into these issues, and others, so stay tuned!

I Don't Understand North Korea

Let me start off with saying that I'm not very well-versed in many of the international problems that the world faces today.  However, recently I have been very curious about the situation in North Korea. With Kim Jong Il's death, and his son Kim Jong Un taking total control of what was already a failed dictator state, how will it effect the rest of the world?

You hear lots of talk in the news about the climate changing, bringing our troops home, the next president, or maybe even what's happening on the Jersey Shore. My question, however, remains unanswered. What is going to happen with North Korea? Does the world really think that the problem is just going to disappear? The regime of Kim Jong Il was clearly one of the most unstable, unpredictable, and most dangerous powers this world has ever known, and whether we choose to admit it or not, still proves to be a threat to global stability.

I don't understand why things like famine, concentration camps, and hypocrisy-riddled totalitarian dictatorship, are not discussed on a regular basis in American news. Compared to most of the “civilized” world, the people of North Korea lead horribly difficult, poverty stricken lives of starvation, so why are they so loyal to the Kim Dynasty? And better yet, how does the rest of the world stand by and watch an entire nation of people seemingly be ruled by fear, and fear alone? According to propaganda released by the North Korean government over the last 60 years, you would think that all North Koreans truly believe, on their own free will, that the Kim Dynasty are in fact gods on Earth, but why have 300,000 plus North Koreans risked public execution over the last 15 years in order to escape?

As far as I can tell in my research so far, the idea that the oppressive rule of the Kim Dynasty is still in power in North Korea is absolutely stunning, and I hope that my research helps to better explain why.