North Korea is a nation that to the rest of the world seems like a sick dystopian society. A place where economic freedom is restricted, 40% of households live in poverty, 84% of households do not get enough food, travel is not allowed and to which punishment ranges from concentration camps of high physical and psychological damage to execution (North Korean Challenges, n.d.). The government maintains a strict following on the citizens to ensure they all follow the countries guidelines, set by leader Kim Jong-un. Media is constricted to maintain a certain set of ideals, self expression is restricted through few options of hairstyles and clothing, travel is certainly not allowed, religion is not to be practiced, and basically all types of information outside the happenings of North Korea are unobtainable. The worst part of it all is that North Koreans are taught that this place is the best place in the world.
Hyeonseo Lee, a North Korean native, shares her experiences and stories about how she managed to escape the country at the age of 13. Lee felt like an outsider as a child as she was one of the lucky few to grow up in North Korea with money and food. When she discovered the ugly truths of the nation’s battle with starvation, she realized that the perfect place she grew up in was all a facade. In the depths of the 1995 North Korean famine, Lee decided to escape to her distant relatives in China, but this was only the start of her journey to freedom. Lee faces run ins with the government countless times and fears that her only source of identity, being North Korean, will cost her her life. Since the product of North Korean citizens are carefully crafted by the government, Lee only knew what she was taught and never imagined how different her life could be. With no home country and no place that would easily allow her in, Lee shares her story in hopes of spreading awareness for the injustices that North Koreans face.
North Korea is the definition of an oppressed nation. Human rights are stripped and civil liberties are discounted. North Korea is considered “the Other” as the citizens have no idea how restricted they are, and “the One” is represented through the freedom of knowledge and identity that the rest of the world experiences. Lee explains that she used to sing songs about her amazing country, particularly the song “Nothing to Envy”, and think to herself how lucky she is. Like most North Koreans, she was completely in the dark about how the rest of the world functions, which is why there has been no rebellion from the citizens. These people are being forced against their will to be molded into what Kim Jong-un wants them to become through lack of information, starvation, rape, and torture. Throughout her story I could only imagine her pain and the abandonment she felt as other countries did not welcome her with open arms, but rather attempted to catch her in the act of escaping, punishable by torture or even death in North Korea. My biggest question after watching Hyeonseo Lee’s story was: Why is the rest of the world not more proactive in helping free these innocent people? How has this been allowed for so long? And finally, how does one adjust from being in such an isolated environment to having freedom? How has her identity evolved?
References
“Help North Korean Refugees – Crossing Borders.” Crossing Borders – Helping North Korean Refugees and Orphans, www.crossingbordersnk.org/north-korean-refugees?gclid=CjwKCAiA8Jf-BRB-EiwAWDtEGjPiEIup6EEZCGU-8bjiCWXeUh8dlBzqHjwfd-10zexRuXf1tZXl6BoCr4gQAvD_BwE.
The North Korean People’s Challenges, www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/learn-nk-challenges?utm_medium=ad.