The world is a pretty depressing place these days. When you read about the kinds of stuff going on around you, it will look even more so. Things might happen far away from where you are. They might not even be related to the politics of your own country. They might happen to people you don’t know. In a different nation or in a different culture. You will probably never be there or meet those people. Still you cannot but feel for them.
And in this depressing world, there is one country that never fails to horrify me. It’s North Korea. I have always wondered how life is like for people in that country. And recently I found two documentaries on National Geographic that painted a very vivid picture of it. These documentaries would be eye openers to anyone who is not already familiar with the politics of North Korea. Personally, I found these to be the most pathetic, shocking and heart-breaking videos I have watched in a long time.
We know North Korea is a rogue nation secluded form the rest of the world. Ruled by a dictator and denied some of the most basic rights – life for its citizens can’t be more pathetic. From childhood these people are brainwashed into thinking the whole world is their enemy and they need to protect themselves from these foreign forces. Every moment of their lives is ruled by fear of the ruling dynasty. Access to internet and mobile phones are severely restricted. People suffer from medical emergencies but often cannot afford treatments. The citizens have no idea what the outside world is like.
The capital Pyongyang is out of bounds for common citizens of their own country. There are roadblocks around the city. Only the affluent and the dignitaries close to their leader are allowed to live there. Rampant execution of anyone deemed a threat to the ruling party is common. Some journalists say, the worst affected are the villages where sights of underfed kids aren’t uncommon. The country is a veritable nightmare for any right-thinking human being in any part of the world. Their closest ally is China. Not a surprise, right? A rogue nation supporting another.
There are a courageous few who try to flee the country. Their attempts are perilous with North Korean borders being one of the most heavily militarized zones in the world. Yet they take the plunge and some of them even make it. They are often granted asylums in other countries. And the horror stories that they relate are too grim for words. They paint the picture of a nation straight from an Orwellian nightmare.
Contrary to what most might think, North Korea isn’t out of bounds for all. There are a few countries that have its embassies there. And tourists and journalists are allowed to travel as well. But as expected only a handful few are authorized to do that. Intrepid tourists and international journalists who manage to travel that country have to follow strict guidelines as to where they can go and what they can capture on their cameras. They are constantly under surveillance with government guides watching their every move. Anything that depicts North Korea and their fat despotic leader in bad light cannot be photographed. Foreigners get to see what the authorities want them to see. Despite all the efforts to the contrary, these journalists and tourists do realize, this is a nation numb with fear. A nation that doesn’t know how to hope for a better tomorrow.
What is troubling is that, apart from North Korea, there are several other countries in the world that are in dire straits today. Syria would be the first name to come to our mind. Then there are some countries in Africa. In the Latin Americas, there is Venezuela – ruled by a dictator and with a shocking human rights record. We have Russia too, systematically killing democracy and China has already declared a one-man rule for life. Even in this darkness, North Korea undoubtedly stands out as one of the worst places to live on earth. A leader with no respect for any political process who shares only heavily censored news of his nation to the world and who keeps boasting about his military weaponry, this is the country that the world always watches out for. No one knows how many more years it is going to suffer this dictatorship. Maybe, sometime in the future the rogue ruler will be reined in. But in the meantime, the harrowing lives of the hapless citizens of North Korea will see no light of day.
[Image Source: Wikipedia] [Image in public Domain]