Victims of North Korea

North Korea and South Korea at night

The tensions surrounding the countries at the heart of the North Korea problem couldn't be greater at the moment. An awful lot of the world's problems are caused by a lack of communication and by cutting off all communication with the South, North Korea are only exacerbating the situation.

Kim Jong-Il, who died in 2011, was portrayed as clownish by the Western world and his son is attracting the same level of mockery now. I'm tempted to feel sorry for Kim Jong-Un because he's been forced into adopting the Juche ideology of his father and grandfather. He must feel an enormous pressure to maintain the nation's stance towards its enemies while at the same time cultivate the kind of adoration from the people that is necessary in order to keep control. Being only 29 and despite having a large group of advisers, his alarmingly direct and aggressive rhetoric could surely be put down, in part, to naivety. The ruling class in North Korea may be mad, but they're surely not stupid enough to consider seriously the possibility of going to war with the United States.

While all the talk surrounds America's response, the role of China, and the inevitable debate about economic consequences of this or that (because heaven forbid that this conflict affects the markets), what is always neglected is the lives of ordinary people in North Korea. When a person in North Korea is declared a traitor, perhaps for listening to South Korean radio, or making fun of the Eternal President, he or she would likely be sent to a prison camp and tortured or executed. One of the many things which prevents any kind of revolution is the fact that if one man revolts, then his blood is 'tainted' therefore three generations of that man's family would be sent to a labour camp as well. It's one thing to risk your own life but it's another to risk the lives of your children too.

The chilling picture of North Korea at night is symbolic. North Koreans live in darkness, literally and metaphorically, and light needs to be shone and focus needs to be shifted onto them. Korean reunification will happen one day and it's hard to see how that can happen without significant bloodshed.

In any case, I think it's important to highlight more often the plight of the people in North Korea than the politics and warped ideology. As such, it's worth mentioning Liberty in North Korea, an American-based charity which sets out to rescue North Koreans, such as the one shown in the video below. In this, Hyeonseo Lee talks about how she escaped from a country with barely any food or electricity, no internet, and where children are taught everything through propaganda.

"Jesus wanted to build the Kingdom of God. Instead he got the Church"

I was genuinely excited by the drama that unfolded in Vatican City this week and the election of the new Pope.. aka Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles... etc etc... I didn't expect to be but there's nothing quite like it. There was more drama than on all manufactured reality shows put together. Few institutions maintain the aura and mystery of the Catholic Church after all.

I've read about some people who have expressed disappointment that Cardinal Bergoglio is doctrinally conservative, as if they thought the conclave would perhaps elect a pope who would fly a rainbow flag on the balcony while promoting the One Billion Rising movement and announcing a sponsorship deal with Durex. My sister pointed out the total lack of women involved in the whole process and it was indeed striking to see the absence of any female influence within Vatican City. The decline of the Catholic Church in Europe is hardly surprising when it's the least adaptable form of Christianity (although the CofE tries its best to be) and marginalises half of the people in society. Even the new pope's country, Argentina, is increasingly secular.

In my opinion, preventing their priests from getting married is one of the major defects of the Church and one reason often given, that the priest should be married to the Church, is disingenuous to say the least. Catholicism is the cult of the virgin and is obsessed with chastity and celibacy but not only is it an unnatural way to live, from personal experience a priest can only benefit in his ministry from having a family. It goes without saying that this situation must be one factor in explaining the endless sex scandals, in which case their stance does far more harm than good.

You could argue I suppose that if you don't like the Catholic Church, just don't be a Catholic. But if the pope is the direct successor to St Peter and is head of the 'one true faith' there surely has to be a greater sense of responsibility to adapt to changes in society. Evolution and 'survival of the fittest' isn't about fundamental change as such, it's about adapting to the changes in your environment and surroundings. If you don't adapt, you die.

Because of this, I think the appointment of Pope Francis is as progressive as anyone could hope for. The conclave recognise the need for change on the inside of the Vatican and it's hugely symbolic that he's named himself after Francis of Assisi who was said to be asked by God to re-build the Church from ruins. He takes the bus to work and told his friends to give their money to the poor rather than buy plane tickets to see him become Cardinal. Many of his views aren't in keeping with modern society precisely because they're Catholic views, but maybe he does, and hopefully will, ponder the question that too many Christians forget to ask themselves: What would Jesus do?

Lent. A good time for blog ressurection.

Well, this blog didn't turn out too well.

It's surprisingly hard to keep up a blog. Although I suppose it depends on one's motivation and inspiration which aren't things I've had in abundance recently.

In any case, when Lent began last Wednesday I decided actually to give up something for once. The temptation was to leave out the 'something' and just give up for Lent but in the event, I took the plunge and resolved to give up alcohol. I don't get drunk easily but I do drink most days, so I'm not enjoying this teetotalism at all. Not having a proper job and being reminded of it on a daily basis as well as living at home like I'm 17 again makes it even harder to resist the lure of the Glenmorangie in its sophisticated decanter.

I also went the extra mile by not just giving up Twitter for Lent but avoiding the internet entirely every Friday until Easter. I'm now expecting some major world event to happen during this time. Fortunately the Pope must have forseen this and decided to resign two days before Lent so hopefully that will deter the Queen from dying or North Korea from attempting reunification before Easter.

So far, so good. And while I felt really disconnected last Friday, I definitely felt more free to do other, more productive, things. The realisation at the end of the day that there wasn't that much I missed about being online made me wonder how I waste so much time. Just one of the latest triggers of my bidaily existential crises.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this flowchart: