In Sam Webb’s article North Koreans caught with foreign films, books, and TV face 10 years in prison as tyrant regime ramps up censorship, Webb talks about the consequences of North Koreans that are in possession of media and literature that has not been approved by the tyrant North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It is very commonly known that North Korea is one of the least free and most censored nations in the world, and ramping up the punishments for possessing literature that their leader does not approve of does not come as a surprise to any. However, the group that suffers the most from this censorship are the adolescents and young adults who could learn from this literature.
We have discussed in this class how important it is for young adults to have access to literature that represents them, and portrays similar issues they face that can be related to. Kim Jong-un clearly wants these adolescents to think that the issues they face are much less harsh than the issues that plague the rest of the world. Censoring how other countries live and and the freedoms that they are granted shows how much control this tyrant wants over his people. Brainwashing starts in childhood, therefore, forbidding adolescents to access media and literature that show them how different life could be also makes them think that this is the best life could be, starving, under constant scrutiny, and worshipping a ruler as if he is a god. By forbidding adolescents to access other types of literature, Kim Jong-un is making sure that only ideas that he deems important and relevant are portrayed to the youth, resulting in these adolescents as all thinking the same, without any hope or aspiration for change. Until adolescents are able to access literature that shows them exactly how their life could be in a different country, resistance to the regime will be lacking and Kim Jong-un’s unchallenged rule will continue to go unchecked.
Works Cited
Webb, Sam. “North Koreans Caught with Foreign Films and Books Face 10 YEARS in Prison Camp.” The Sun, The Sun, 2 Apr. 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/news/3235552/north-koreans-caught-with-foreign-films-books-and-tv-face-10-years-in-prison-camp-as-tyrant-regime-ramps-up-censorship/.