Articles detailing poverty in North Korea and human rights abuses.

Posts

, ,

Supporting North Korean Defectors: 5 South Korean Charities

Supporting North Korean Defectors: 5 South Korean CharitiesIn North Korea, under the rule of Kim Jong-Un, the country stands as one of the world’s most repressive nations, where the government prioritizes collective interests over individual freedoms. Basic rights and freedoms are severely restricted, with citizens lacking access to what many consider everyday freedoms, including the choice of hairstyles, access to Western television, computers, phones and the enjoyment of foreign music. However, South Korean charities play a crucial role in addressing these challenges, offering support to those who manage to escape this oppressive environment.

Unfortunately, North Koreans caught engaging in activities deemed illegal, face imprisonment or even execution in public. Since the death of Kim Il-Sung from 1994 to 1998, a period referred to as “The Arduous March,” many citizens have suffered from malnutrition and health issues.

The Journey of North Korean Defectors

Many North Koreans face a daunting choice to defect in pursuit of a better life, risking immediate death if caught using secret escape routes. Hence, some resort to bribing brokers for assistance in crossing the Yalu River, yet even with such help, evading capture along the border remains uncertain.

Furthermore, those who escape to South Korea and seek asylum consider themselves fortunate, yet they encounter challenges adjusting to an unfamiliar environment. Defectors gain the freedom to listen to music, watch movies and make life choices not dictated by their previous government. However, navigating these changes proves difficult and stressful, particularly for individuals who flee alone, without the support of family or friends.

Following are five South Korean charities that focus on aiding North Korean defectors in starting anew.

Hanawon

A prominent resettlement center for North Korean defectors, often compared to a mix between a halfway house and a trade school, opened its doors in 1999 with funding from Korea’s Ministry of Unification. At Hanawon, defectors undergo a 12-week program where they learn essential skills like using ATMs and navigating banks, grocery stores and public transport. Raised in an atheistic environment where religious materials were banned to ensure allegiance to their leader, North Korean defectors at Hanawon receive visits from volunteers across various faiths—Buddhist, Catholic, Christian—who introduce them to religious beliefs and practices, offering services for those interested in exploring newfound religious freedom.

Teach North Korean Refugees (TNKR)

Moreover, a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization specializes in teaching English to North Koreans. Teach North Korean Refugees commits to aiding refugees through one-on-one tutoring, speech competitions and mentoring for employment and educational opportunities. Consequently, it equips North Korean refugees with the skills to thrive in any setting where English is the primary language.

People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE)

A nonprofit, nongovernmental organization located in Seoul actively promotes human rights in North Korea. It offers English classes and tutoring programs for North Korean defectors, emphasizing its global mission to advocate for North Korean human rights. The organization states, “Our global mission revolves around advocacy for North Korean human rights, with a core focus on empowerment through education and tutoring programs.”

Liberty in North Korea

An international nongovernmental organization focuses on aiding North Korean refugees in adjusting to their new lives. Liberty in North Korea achieves success in its resettlement program by fostering self-efficacy. The organization pairs newly arrived North Korean refugees with resettled North Koreans as role models. These mentors offer advice and encouragement on managing stress and trauma, providing relatable support from someone who has faced similar challenges, thus facilitating growth and adaptation.

Saejowi

A nonreligious, nonprofit organization in South Korea specializes in refugee counseling licensing and documenting the medical needs of North Korean refugees. Reports indicate that “90% of North Korean refugees arrive with untreated physical illnesses and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” However, Saejowi supports North Korean refugees who wish to become counselors for their peers by offering classes to develop and practice counseling skills. Consequently, more than 220 counselors have received licenses, enabling them to provide counseling to fellow refugees.

Looking Ahead

These five South Korean charities are diligently working to help North Korean defectors adjust to their new lives, emphasizing self-care and the importance of recognizing their worth. These organizations assist defectors in discovering their passions and deciding on future pursuits. In addition, by offering safety and protection, South Korean charities support defectors through the process of change, acknowledging that while change can be exhilarating, it can also be daunting.

– Nevin Guler
Photo: Unsplash

, ,

How the Regime Affects Children in North Korea

Children in North KoreaNorth Korea, once known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, is a country in East Asia, bordered by Russia, China and South Korea. Formed in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II, North Korea has long been defined according to its authoritarian models of government. In the early ‘50s, North Korea’s first leader, Kim Il Sung, attempted to conquer South Korea, but an ensuing conflict with U.S. and U.N.-backed forces forced North Korea’s defeat. Since then, North Korea has typically eschewed Western influence, centralizing instead the concept of juche or self-reliance and structuring itself around a dynasty of autocratic leaders. North Korea’s current leader, Kim Jong-un, exercises supreme authority, bolstered by tight party control and the subjugation of the nation’s ranking elites.

However, economic mismanagement, inadequate food production and military overspending have hindered North Korea’s potential for growth. At the mercy of an authoritarian regime, its population of 26 million grapples with restrictions on travel, free expression and economic opportunity. According to some estimates, 60% of North Koreans live in poverty, ranking it among the poorest countries in Asia. Children in North Korea often suffer the worst, denied adequate resources and even subjected to forced labor.

Lack of Opportunity Hinders Children’s Potential

In the mid-’50s, Kim Il Sung, aiming to neutralize political opposition, implemented a country-wide class system, ranking citizens according to their perceived political loyalty. The Songbun system arrives at its determination by closely considering ancestral ties, patriotism during the Korean War and associations with South Korea or China. Those with better songbun–those more politically loyal–receive better education, health care and employment opportunities.

In the early ’90s, widespread famine and the fall of the Soviet Union necessitated that the Songbun system ease its ban on independently earned wealth. However, its emphasis on conformity still haunts North Korea’s children. Often judged according to their family history, North Korean children face a shortage of opportunities. The quality of their education and job potential suffers accordingly and many struggle to enjoy upward mobility.

Children in North Korea Are Subjected To Forced Labor

As a nominally communist country, the North Korean state tightly controls all facets of its economy, promoting state-run industries and funding military upgrades instead of resource production. To support this economic system, North Korean officials mobilize adults and school-age children to contribute to various sectors, including agriculture, mining and construction. Schools sometimes send children to complete short-term projects in fields or factories in exchange for a boost in funding. Similarly, children who are unable to join the military or whose families are too poor to bribe government officials are enrolled in military-like shock brigades, working long hours in hazardous conditions.

Vaccination Rates Have Plummeted

Hoping to counteract the spread of COVID-19, North Korean officials closed the country’s borders, stymying foreign trade. Without any influx of supplies, vaccines and other medical necessities have grown extremely limited. As the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported, North Korea’s childhood immunization coverage dropped from 97% in 2020 to 0% by 2022, risking the reemergence of diseases like measles, polio and whooping cough. Any outbreaks could strain the country’s health system, weakening its communities’ herd immunity. Without access to routine vaccination, children’s health can only suffer.

Children in North Korea Struggle Against Food Insecurity

In the ’90s, North Korea experienced a severe famine, exacerbated by the fall of the Soviet Union. Though technically recovered, the country still faces widespread food shortages, especially after closing its borders in the wake of COVID-19. Committed to a model of self-sufficiency, North Korea has turned to its agricultural resources to nourish its population despite recent drought and typhoon rains severely undercutting crop production. As a result, in 2020, UNICEF estimated that 10 million people were food insecure, with 140,000 children under 5 suffering from acute malnutrition. In some cases, families have even dropped off their children at local orphanages, hoping to ensure better care and a chance at proper nourishment.

Looking Ahead

In striving to protect children across the globe, UNICEF has maintained a presence in North Korea. In 1990, the nation signaled its support for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a UNICEF-sponsored international agreement that protects children’s rights and freedoms. However, in many ways, North Korea has failed to maintain its promise, compromising children’s well-being through mandated labor and oppressive class systems.

As a result, UNICEF has worked to restore children’s rights, developing a strategic program that would target food insecurity, social development, sustainability and data management. Also, as COVID-19 restrictions have eased across Asia, North Korea has gradually re-opened its borders, resuming conversations with neighboring Russia and China. Hopefully, renewed trade and foreign support can direct vital resources toward children in North Korea.

Finally, a committed humanitarian and international community remains focused on North Korea’s struggles, noting the oppression of its citizens and pushing for political reform. In advocating this, UNICEF and other organizations hope to restore children’s rights, freedoms and potential for self-determination.

– Sydney Verdi
Photo: Flickr

Poverty in North Korea: Everything You Need To Know About It

Poverty in North KoreaNorth Korea is a closed-off nation pretending to be its own island with the most militarized border in the world, even with the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. It can be easy to overlook North Korea as a threat due to its failed aspirations to become a nuclear power and its political bluster on the international stage. However, North Korea has significant internal problems, none as severe as its domestic poverty. This article will examine the complex issue of poverty in North Korea, including its causes, effects on the populace and current initiatives to deal with it. 

Current Picture

The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has not published economic information, so researchers must find creative ways to understand the nation. New technology allows estimations of GDP and poverty based on night light using satellite imagery. Estimates of poverty in North Korea average around 60%.

Various factors, primarily internal and some external, contribute to North Korea’s poverty. One of the leading causes is the Kim dynasty’s communist government, which prioritizes military spending over the good of its people. This emphasis on preserving power by cloaking North Korea and building military might have resulted in a severely underdeveloped economy dependent on Chinese support for electricity, water and other crucial resources.

Additionally, North Korea’s economy has been further weakened by international sanctions, with countries like the U.S., denying its people to trade with North Korea. However, this does not have a significant impact anyway, as there is little chance of trade entering the country. Everything must pass through the government’s bureaucracy before it is legally permitted to operate, which makes it difficult to provide humanitarian aid or goods and services to those most affected. Even when given the go-ahead to trade, spying will still occur with systems like Red-Star, which takes regular and random screenshots of text messages and recordings of phone calls.

However, this government is not the one that is most impacted by the policies it employs. Most of the challenging circumstances provided by the state affect North Korea’s population alone. There is a great deal of suffering due to widespread malnutrition, a lack of access to health care and inadequate (above-ground) infrastructure that is not used for military purposes. Chronic food shortages are a harsh reality for many North Koreans who struggle to provide for their families. According to the UN, a startling 40% of the world’s population is malnourished.

Being malnourished does not just mean they’re starving; it also means their immune system is failing, putting them at risk of death. Of course, the bourgeoisie may eat as much as they like, which gave birth to the insult ‘Kim Fatty III’, now banned in China — another communist regime but with a more liberal approach to the economy.

Furthermore, it is difficult for aid groups to function effectively in North Korea due to the regime’s secrecy and state mandates. The efforts to lessen its citizens’ suffering are hampered by this lack of transparency and micromanagement from the dictatorship: Everything you do must be approved by the state.

Organizations Making a Difference

Despite the difficulties, a few organizations are making a valiant effort to combat poverty in North Korea. The Eugene Bell Foundation is one such group that focuses on helping North Koreans in need of medical care and tuberculosis treatment. Due to the critically underdeveloped above-ground infrastructure, North Korea has one of the highest tuberculosis rates in the world. The Eugene Bell Foundation has significantly improved the nation’s health care outcomes. The Foundation has reduced the chances of dying from the disease by providing treatment to anywhere from 500–1,500 patients per year, a number that would be much higher if the North Korean Government would be honest about how serious the problem is. 

Another example is the World Food Program (WFP), which sees that 18% of all children in North Korea are stunned (cannot grow due to malnourishment). The WFP’s efforts are vital in alleviating hunger and malnutrition in the country, albeit under challenging circumstances. They have heroically provided monthly nutrition packages specialized for protein, vitamins and fats to around a million children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

The Future

Undoubtedly, the path ahead will be challenging, as political unrest and diplomatic challenges continue to impede humanitarian efforts in North Korea. These organizations continue to be dedicated to their goals and work to improve the lives of those affected by tyrannous government and poverty. All of this is in stark contrast to the open market representative democracy to its south: South Korea, which is richer, more advanced and the top destination for North Koreans seeking to escape. 

To conclude, North Korea’s poverty is a pervasive issue with multiple root causes. The suffering of the North Korean people is a result of the oppressive regime and a lack of transparency as well as international sanctions. However, organizations like the World Food Program and the Eugene Bell Foundation are working nonstop to deliver critical assistance to the most vulnerable. 

It is important to remember the millions of North Koreans who continue to live in poverty and squalor on the Korean Peninsula. The issue of North Korea’s poverty goes beyond geopolitics and touches on fundamental human rights and dignity. The international community must continue to be dedicated to identifying solutions and helping those in need. 

– Sean Boehm
Photo: Unsplash

3 Important Books About Poverty in North Korea

Books About Poverty in North KoreaThere are countless statistics and facts about global poverty on the internet. While this is very helpful in providing readers with a sense of what is happening around the world, it can be overwhelming. Unfortunately, statistics and facts do not adequately reflect the reality of impoverished nations.  Thus, many people rely on novels to understand the human experiences within impoverished nations. Poverty in North Korea is unknown to most people, and books are a good way to educate readers.

Storytelling relays information and allows people to collect official data. It allows readers to grasp the reality and emotions of others. According to the BBC, personal experiences are paramount in effectively bringing attention to the significant problems around them. The emotional response readers have serves as a catalyst for aid.

North Korea and Poverty

North Korea is a mysterious and unknown country to many people. Since 1948, its population has reached 25 million. As a result of its economic structure and lack of participation within the world economy, poverty in North Korea is prevalent. Approximately 60% of North Korea’s population lives in poverty.

North Korea has a command economy, which is commonplace among communist countries. The government has control over all monetary exchanges, causing the economy to remain relatively stagnant due to a lack of competition between businesses. Additionally, North Korea’s trade restrictions and sanctions have deeply hurt the country’s economy. As a result, the lack of participation has effectively barred the country from growing within the international market. Its economy is vulnerable to collapse and rates of poverty in North Korea continue to soar. Fortunately, these books below strengthen the fight against global poverty by illustrating the suffering that occurs there and showing why action is needed.

The Girl with Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

This novel was published in 2015 and has been universally praised for its ability to convey such deep human emotion in harrowing situations. The Girl With the Seven Names is a biography of the author’s experiences in North Korea. It reflects Lee’s struggle to escape poverty with her family. In this book, Lee describes the horrid treatments and deplorable conditions that she faced living under the current North Korean regime.

Furthermore, she explains how such experiences have emotionally affected her and those around her. This work provides an inside look into the realities of poverty in North Korea. Additionally, readers are able to better understand the living conditions faced by this country’s populace.

The Accusation by Bandi

The Accusation is a series of short stories published between 1989 and 1995. This work is unique being it is not a traditional memoir, rather, it contains small chapters reflecting the everyday lives of those living in poverty in North Korea. The country’s secretive nature has made it difficult to acquire information. As such, Bandi’s work has become one of the very few sources within the country. Bandi has chosen to live within North Korea in order to continue reporting. The Accusation has been given tremendous praise for its honest writing and its importance as a primary source.

Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea by Jang Jin-Sung

Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea is critically acclaimed as an exposé on the way high-ranking officers of North Korea live. Author Jang Jin-Sung was previously the poet laureate to Kim Jong-il. Thus, he obtained access to extremely censored information. In this work, the author and protagonist lend a forbidden magazine to a friend and are forced to flee the country as fugitives. His writing gives an insightful account of how the upper-class lives and how the hierarchical power structure operates.

Additionally, Jin-Sung’s novel discloses the political pressure of working close with Kim Jong-il and the harsh consequences of spreading information. Jin-Sung is able to provide an astonishing amount of valuable information for readers to understand the social injustice in North Korea.

How These Books Help

These are only several books that shed light on people’s experiences and poverty in North Korea. Fortunately, many NGOs and countries continue to sent food and monetary aid to help those living in poverty. The most prevalent of North Korea’s donors are China and South Korea, with China having specifically sent an astonishing 240,074 tons of food to North Korea in 2012. Additionally, the United Nations has received pledges from Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Norway, France, Germany, Denmark, Finland and Ireland to aid in alleviating poverty in North Korea.

Although North Korea appears to be mysterious and secretive, researching the living conditions within this nation is not impossible. Through the primary sources and biographies reflecting life in North Korea, readers are able to understand human struggles which have occurred in this area for over half a century. Acknowledging poverty and understanding the means to provide aid has motivated many to take action today.

-Stella Vallon
Photo: Flickr

,

An Impoverished Kingdom: Poverty in North Korea

Policies of Poverty in North Korea
Few places in the world have aroused as much curiosity and suspicion as North Korea. Known as the “hermit kingdom,” the multiple facets of daily life are secret from the rest of the world, but what is little known about the country paints a very poor economic picture. North Korea’s enigmatic persona on the world stage makes any attempt to uncover its true economic standing rather difficult. This could be due to the fact that the nation has not released any statistics to the global community since the 1960s. Also, while the exact numbers regarding North Korea’s economy and poverty in North Korea are a mystery, there is still quite a bit the world knows about its economic progress (or lack thereof) and how it is affecting the quality of life of its citizens.

Poverty in North Korea

Firstly, many know that along with North Korea’s cult of personality style of governance with Kim Jong-un as its poster boy, it keeps a tight grip on all of the business affairs of the country, resulting in a command economy. As a result, the free market is essentially non-existent with the state determining not only which goods people should produce, but also how and at what price to fix them at. According to the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), “the standard of living has deteriorated to extreme levels….” Even citizens, not fortunate enough to be part of the political or social elite, do not receive the basic necessities of health care and food security.

The KINU has even estimated that poverty in North Korea extends to about half of North Korea’s population of 24 million.

North Korea’s ironclad grip on its economic and political structures, coupled with its military-centric ideology, makes for a chaotic mix resulting in a struggling population. Even with modest attempts to modernize—including special economic zones, price liberalization and limited transactions with its South Korean neighbor—North Korea still finds itself focused on military and foreign policy. By doing so, it is absorbing much-needed market capital. Also, while North Korea fears that economic liberalization will lead to political and social liberalization, it is unprepared to take the economic risks that its neighbor and ally China has taken to marry its communist politics with a partially free-market economic approach.

Global Scrutiny and Aid

North Korea has faced increased global scrutiny due to its nuclear weapons ambitions, and this has resulted in not only immense political pressure but also crippling economic sanctions. Even with the post-Soviet push for rapid industrialization, North Korea has shown little economic resilience in the face of global disconnection. This has only exacerbated the ripple effect which inevitably leads to its suffering citizens.

Additionally, while the internal systems of the hermit kingdom were not enough to overcome, North Korea finds itself repeatedly on the receiving end of climate change and natural disasters. With alternating and equally devastating periods of both droughts and floods, paired with a government unable to respond, this only aggregates North Korea’s agricultural problems.

It is even suffering its worst drought in four decades, according to its state-run media. With a majority of North Koreans relying on crops and livestock for survival, and with the intensity of irregular weather on the horizon, the country could soon find itself in dire straits that it will be unable to shield from the global community.

Even with the multitude of economic, social and political problems North Korea has in front of it, there are still signs that the global community is willing to help eliminate poverty in North Korea. With China and South Korea right along its borders, North Korea has seen help in the form of aid. South Korea has pledged $8 million for aid. China has been even more generous. In 2012, China gave 240,074 tons of rice, more than 80 times what Europe gave North Korea that same year. These pledges signal that some are offering help to lessen the burden of poverty and struggle for the citizens of North Korea, but there is still more than others can and should do.

– Connor Dobson
Photo: Flickr

, ,

Sanctioning Hunger in North Korea Worsens Quality of Life

hunger in North Korea

The amount of people suffering from hunger in North Korea has been on a steady incline since the 1990s. North Korea is home to about 25 million people and 10.5 million of these people are undernourished. While 70 percent of the population relies on food aid, the country’s military ambitions have invited harsh sanctions that severely hamper its people.

Roughly a quarter of North Korea’s GDP is funneled into helping Kim Jong-Un present a façade of power via nuclear weapons development. The continued missile launches have caused a lessening of support from charities and world leaders, making it even harder for North Koreans to find food.

Because of this, the vulnerable citizens of North Korea are desperately in need of aid. According to a United Nations report, “More predictable funding is urgently required to ensure the immediate needs of the most vulnerable are addressed.”

In November 2017, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile. The heightened tensions that resulted instigated the United Nations to respond with new sanctions on the regime’s energy supplies.

But while sanctions grip the country in an attempt to incentivize halting nuclear weapons development, the sanctions have also impacted hunger in North Korea. About 60,000 children are at risk of dying due to a lack of food, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. On Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, UNICEF launched a $16.5 million emergency relief for North Korea.

President Donald Trump announced new sanctions against North Korea on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018, and called them “the strongest sanctions on Korea that we have ever put on a country.” The move puts pressure on North Korea’s shipping and trade.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in January that the international sanctions are “really starting to hurt” North Korea and was confident it would lead the regime to negotiate. The sanctions, combined with drought, corruption and a decline in crop production, add to hunger in North Korea more than they prevent weapon development.

The poor farmers of North Korea have, in some instances, resorted to using human waste as fertilizer for their crops, according to the BBC. This practice leads to the contamination of food grown in the soil. Furthermore, in January, a soldier was shot as he defected from North Korea and attempted to run across the demilitarized zone. An autopsy revealed his severe undernourishment, as well as the presence of many parasites in his stomach.

Kim Jong-Un has leveraged the threat of nuclear weapons and military to attain the opportunity to sit down with the President of the United States. All the while, the North Korean people suffer starvation in exchange. Hunger in North Korea will only continue to worsen if other charitable organizations, such as UNICEF, are unable to provide assistance to the nation.

– Sam Bramlett

Photo: Flickr

,

Living Conditions in North Korea: A Story of Extremes

Living Conditions in North Korea
Refugees and journalists consistently cite dire living conditions in North Korea, one of the most repressive authoritarian nations in the world. Leaking information from the secretive police state, they report firsthand knowledge to outsiders. According to these sources, the North Korean government commits severe human rights abuses against its citizens, and the government can barely feed its own people.

A 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry report cited numerous human rights abuses in North Korea, including murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, forced abortions and sexual violence. The government extracts unquestioning obedience through public executions, arbitrary detention, forced labor, tight travel restrictions and religious persecution. Citizens have no basic freedoms such as the right to expression, assembly, political opposition or independent media. A sociopolitical stratification system divides North Koreans into three classes: “loyal,” “wavering” and “hostile.”

The specter of prison is one means of keeping the population in line. North Korea’s draconian three generations rule punishes the entire immediate family if one member is convicted of a serious crime. The next two generations born in the camp are then detained there for life. Existence in the camps is extreme. Clothing and food are so scarce that prisoners survive on rats and anything else they can catch. Inmates are frequently left stunted and deformed from long hours of hard labor. Twelve-hour days, seven days a week is the normal work schedule.

Life outside of the prison camps has its own grave challenges. Living conditions in North Korea are characterized by deprivation. The elite ruling class enjoys basic benefits of modern life such as indoor plumbing, cars, meat, coffee and a few luxury items. The middle class receives sufficient food and occasional new clothes. Most people, however, struggle to survive. Half of the nation’s 24 million people live in extreme poverty. North Korea’s annual GDP per capita is $1,800, making it 197th in the world and only 2 percent of South Korea’s.

One-third of North Korean children are stunted from malnutrition. For most people, meat is an unaffordable luxury. They subsist on fermented cabbage known as kimchi, rice, corn and porridge. Most homes are heated by open fireplaces, and many have no flush toilets. Electricity, for those fortunate enough to have it, is unreliable and sporadic. Power might be available for only a few hours each day. Frequently, cell phones are used as flashlights during outages.

Theoretically, education and healthcare are free in North Korea. However, school children must provide financially for desks, chairs, building materials and heat. Patients must provide their own medications, pay for heat and cook their own meals at home.

Still, living conditions in North Korea are showing some improvement, particularly for the elite who are privileged enough to reside in the capital of Pyongyang. According to the South Korea Central Bank, the North Korean economy grew by almost 4 percent in 2016. Despite spotty service and no internet, there are now 1.5 million mobile phone users. Even in smaller cities outside of Pyongyang, electric bikes from China and Japan can be seen mingling with the country’s ubiquitous bicycles.

In Pyongyang, people are buying smartphones, tablets, hi-fi speakers and HDTVs. With the exception of accessing the internet, North Korean smartphones have similar capacities to those in other nations. In place of the internet, citizens use a state-controlled intranet. There are North Korean versions of Google, Facebook, chat rooms and online dating. Food courts in Pyongyang malls offer American-style fast food restaurants serving milkshakes and French fries. Skating rinks opened in 2013, ushering in a rollerblading craze for those wealthy enough to afford skates.

Despite difficult living conditions in North Korea, its people make the best of their circumstances. In some ways, their lives are not so different from those in democratic countries. North Koreans play video games and beach volleyball. They enjoy picnics complete with food, beer and karaoke. And of course, their teenagers take lots of selfies. Hope remains that the situation can improve so that all of its people can enjoy the living conditions that its wealthiest citizens currently do.

– Anna Parker

Photo: Flickr

10 Facts About Poverty in North Korea

Facts about Poverty in North Korea
North Korea is constantly in the news due to its nuclear tests programs. The majority of state funds are spent on its nuclear program while social institutions are overlooked. Millions suffer from extreme poverty in North Korea as a result.

 

10 Leading Facts on Poverty in North Korea

 

  1. The poverty line. Forty percent of the population, about 24 million people, live below the poverty line. Most workers earn $2 to $3 per month. The standard of living has deteriorated to extreme levels of deprivation while the average life expectancy has fallen by five years since early the 1980s.
  2. Food shortages. With the prevalent poverty in North Korea, food shortages are widespread. A famine that started in the 1990s had a lasting effect, forcing the country to become reliant on international aid to feed its people. However, since 2009 food assistance has declined significantly. A study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found that 84% of households have “borderline or poor food consumption.” The food crises had resulted in thousands of deaths. According to the World Food Programme, one-third of children are stunted due to malnutrition and the infant mortality rate is 33%. Due to the government’s “two meals a day campaign” food riots are a common occurrence.
  3. The giant rabbit feeding program. In order to solve the widespread food shortages, Kim Jun-il began to breed giant overweight rabbits in 2007. He got this idea after seeing Karl Szmolinsky, a German rabbit breeder, breed the world’s largest rabbit. Szmolinsky sent overweight rabbits to North Korea but the experiment turned out to be a failure when it was suspected Kim was eating the rabbits himself.
  4. Human feces government program. Farming fertilizers used to be imported from South Korea. However, South Korea stopped sending them in 2008. The government, therefore, created a program where farmers had to use their own feces as fertilizers. Factory workers have to meet a quota of two tons of human feces.
  5. Right to health is denied. Although the country declares that healthcare is free, residents are denied medical treatment unless they can pay the high prices for medicine.
  6. Military programs use most of the funds. North Korea spends a lot of its funds on the military. In 2001, the country spent more than $5 billion on military spending alone, which is more than 30% of the country’s GDP. North Korea is believed to have around half a dozen nuclear weapons.
  7. Despite high poverty rates, the leader is worth $5 billion. According to the 2011 corruption index from Transparency International, North Korea is officially the world’s most corrupt country. It is estimated that Kim inherited $4 billion from his father. According to a South Korean news organization, he is worth as much $5 billion. The money is held in secret accounts in European banks and comes from counterfeiting, the sales of narcotics and other illegal endeavors. Kim also spends vast amounts of money on luxury goods. It is reported he spent $645.8 million in 2012.
  8. Refugees who are caught are sent to prison labor camps. Leaving the country without official permission is a crime. The government uses the threat of detention and forced labor as repercussions for disobedience. Many families flee to China to seek refuge overseas. However, those that are caught are sent to political prisoner camps. The camps carry out systemic abuse. Death rates at these camps are reportedly very high. U.S. and South Korean officials estimate that between 80,000 to 120,000 people are imprisoned in these camps.
  9. Crystal meth epidemic. North Korea suffers a widespread meth epidemic. To negate the horrid economy with little to no government help, the production of drugs is used as an economic stimulus. In 2000, North Korean factories began to produce methamphetamine. This caused an increase in the domestic use of meth. The drug is now very occurrence and is seen as something of a luxury. As a result, many North Koreans have become addicted to the drug. It is estimated that 80% of residents have used the drug while 40% are addicted.
  10. The satire film “The Interview” gets a lot right. According to an expert, the film gets a lot right, specifically the psychology of North Korea. Visitors to Pyongyang in the famine years used to describe supermarkets that displayed plastic produce, just as is portrayed in the film.

Kim Jong Un’s rise to power is seen as a threat to western political leaders. However, the international community has begun to focus on North Korea’s human rights violations and poverty in the country.

– Marcelo Guadiana

Photo: Flickr