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.