Preview

Crossing Heaven's Border

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1222 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Crossing Heaven's Border
Crossing Heaven’s Border
An international pariah or the “Hermit Kingdom”, these names have been used to describe North Korea (Jacob and Benzkofer 1). In North Korea, the leaders, and those that are considered to be upper class and loyal to the regime, dine on gourmet cuisine, expensive cigars, and other luxuries while 4 out of 5 children are suffering with malnutrition (Msnbc.com Staff 1). Their living conditions are unfathomable. The North Korea regime and its military make the decisions on when they eat, what they eat and how they live. Living in a dictatorship like North Korea, you are not allowed to have your own thoughts, or enjoy simple freedoms. If people dare to disobey they will be forced to live in prison camps or can even be put to death.
Crossing Heaven’s Border is a film about hope, courage and the risks that the North Korean people will take to gain freedom. To gain freedom, they must cross into China and then make over a 3,000 mile trek to South Korea. Over ten months, three reporters from South Korea's largest newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, tells us the stories about how people are escaping, leaving the country for a better life. The video shows us what the reporters had to do to make this video and travels with two girls, a little boy and a group as they escape through their process. These people are terrified that they will get caught but will risk everything to have a better life. If they get caught, they can be imprisoned, tortured or even executed. (“Crossing”)

Lee Young Haw, 19 years old dreams of becoming a singer and actress. Her mother escaped first so that she can support her children and her brother joined next. In order to support her children, and bring Lee Young Hwa to China her mother started doing web pornography. Once Lee Young Hwa arrives in China she must make her way to South Korea and freedom. During the bus ride from Shenyang to Beijing, Lee Young Hwa talks about how terrified she is about getting caught. She even

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Imagine living in a country where your life is control, and you do not have your will of freedom. A life where you are exposed to chemical radiation, nuclear missile programs,the majority of the population are living in poverty and you are led by a dictator. Former British ambassador to North Korea, John Everard, wrote in his CNN op Ed, “Why North Korea is Delighted with this US Election”, readers will see that John Everard using rhetorical devices like appeal to authority, cause and effect and paradox. By using these three rhetorical devices let the reader see that for a long time the United States has tried to halt North Korea progression of nuclear programs, but negotiation never resolution but led to North Korea increasing their involvement in the program. John Everard argues that North Korea…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Those are two things that North Korea does not have because the government is neglectful of its people. North Korea has not had a happy history. Before communism took over, they were under Japanese military rule (Sarah Pruitt).Most Koreans were peasants working on farms. Now, only North Korea is going to control North Korea. One family has been dominating the nation since its independence. The Kim dynasty has ruled for years and will continue to rule for as long as they possibly can. The Kim family has used their power to brainwash the Korean citizens into thinking they are the greatest leaders to ever live. This is manipulative and neglectful, it does not show trust between leader and citizen. If a citizen believed in the leader of their country, they would not need to be brainwashed to think that…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Following the fall of the U.S.S.R., North Korea has almost directly become the empire of repression that George Orwell illustrated in Nineteen Eighty Four. Although North Korea is lacking in a technological sense compared to “The Party”, they have some very similar tactics such as the invasion of privacy, the creation of class systems and the use of propaganda to hold their oppressive power in place.…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    North Korea’s government is a communist states and one man dictatorship, meaning that only the government and National rule the people and make and interpret laws among the people. Property rights are not guaranteed. Almost all property belongs to the state. Modern judicial system doesn’t exist, forcing Corruption in government, security, and military. The ruling Workers’ Party, the Korean People’s Army, and members of the cabinet run companies that compete to earn foreign exchange and trade.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    North Korea is ruled by leader Kim Jong-Un, this government is so harsh that they do not allow people to experience the outside world. Experts illustrate, “The North Korean government systematically denies basic freedoms in the country and uses detention in labor prison camps to ensure fear of opposing the government” ("North Korea: Kim Jong-Un"). Civilians in this country do not have access to simple rights like browsing the Internet and going to college. The government does not want people to know what is going on in the outside world. They want the people to think whatever is going on in their country is the correct thing. North Korea has change the way away living through its government, equivalently Bradbury constructs a horrid government in the book’s futuristic world. The government prevents everyday activities, "'Do you ever read any of the books you burn?' He laughed. 'That's against the law!'"(Bradbury 5). The government banned books so people would not have any knowledge about outside things and stuff about the past. People in the society are brainwashed by the government. Another example of isolation, "'But cars started rushing so quickly they had to stretch the advertising out so it would last'"(Bradbury 7). Many privileges in this futuristic setting are stolen from humans so they use little brain power and cannot think about what…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Korea lies in the eastern part of Asia. This peninsula is divided into two countries: North Korea and South Korea. Although there is a division of landscape, government, and culture, the bulk of people in Korea consider themselves a part of the Korean nation. Regardless of that, the countries do have their differences. The entire peninsula is cut off from Northeast China by rugged mountains and sizable rivers (Rowntree 365). The north suffers from heavy deforestation, however it has more natural resources. The south has made extensive reforestation efforts post WWII and so they have more greenery. In terms of culture, there are more intense differences. In the South, k-pop and Korean drams have gone global. The culture has appealed to people worldwide. Meanwhile, North Korea remains somewhat in isolation. What’s more, North Koreans attempt to flee into Northeast China, quite often. Yet no one flees South Korea. This shows that there are different cultures and levels of comfort in each…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    North Korea when compared to the dystopian society in Anthem has some similarities and differences. The society in Anthem like North Korea has shut itself off from the world which caused slow advances in technology. North Korea is run by one person, but there is a group of people called “The World Council” that run the society in Anthem. Even though North Korea has some correlations to the society in Anthem there is also some distinction between the two.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The war in Korea has affected North Korea’s economy today as well as the human rights of its citizens.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Aquariums of Pyongyang

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A term has been coined to describe the regime in North Korea is ubuesque. The word means grotesque and bloody. If The Aquariums of Pyongyang is anything to go by, the word is well-coined. What is more grotesque and bloody than making concent-ration camp detainees,some as young as 15, watch and participate in frequent executions? Or young children being brutalized by “teachers” in what passes for “school” at the camp. Or children dying in accidental cave-ins as they’re forced to work without protective gear in underground mines. And when you realize that these children are sent to the camps with their parents and other family members, none of whom had committed any real crime, your outrage is extended. Most of these children do not survive because of malnutrition, brutality, and exposure to the extreme winters but, those who miraculously survive transform into savages, quick to steal any bit of food from the guards to supplement their near-starvation rations or trap a rat to add some protein to their diet. Chol-hwan Kang's memoir of his childhood in North Korea is riveting, heartbreaking, and one of those books that one must read in order to understand well the unknown prisons that continue to creep in the worlds society.…

    • 1545 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    dying to cross

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The book covers the immigrant tragedy of May, 2003, when a truck-trailer of at least 74 illegal immigrants due to how the truck was abandoned, the true number involved is unknown and will probably remain so was found near Victoria, Texas, bound for Houston 48 customers from Mexico, 16 from Honduras, 8 from El Salvador, 1 from Nicaragua, and at least 1 from the Dominican Republic. Nineteen people were dead. The story and images of the bodies piled one atop another was headline news for weeks, often described as a "human heap of desperation" which it surely was. Much of the attention was focused on the 5-year old boy found among the dead. Ramos retraces some of the border-crossings made, interviews some survivors & the Mexican consul who handled the affairs that followed, as well as covers the legal proceedings that lead to the guilty pleas of several coyotes, including Honduran Karla Chavez who, according to US. Authorities, was the ringleader of the operation, and the one ultimately responsible for the tragedy.…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Burdick, Eddie. Three Days in the Hermit Kingdom: An American Visits North Korea. North Carolina: McFarland & Co, 2010. PDF.…

    • 1278 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through Gates of Splendor

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages

    oting the book “Through Gates of Splendor” which tells the story of five missionaries who sacrificed their lives in the jungles of Ecuador, this documentary film “Beyond the Gates of Splendor” takes us through that original journey to the events that followed half a century after. A thoroughly informed and accurate story, it has some limitations, but is well worth the watch.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Actually, although their research did not achieve sufficient evidential support, agencies judged the food rationing system as based on occupation, gender, and age discrimination, claiming that political loyalty to the government is pivotal in designing such hierarchy (Smith 2014, 138). Notwithstanding Smith does not reject this view, however, she sates that “the exercise of food rights is as much linked to entrepreneurial skills as to position in a political hierarchy” (Smith 2014, 138). Accordingly, she questions to what extent North Korean social structure varies from those of any other country. Particularly, she contends that it is difficult to label DPRK as an abuser of the rights to food unless the government of India and Indonesia are charged with the same crime (Smith 2014, 139). Moreover, she deems an economic and food crisis of long duration to be the leading cause of children starvation in North Korea(Smith 2014,…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    1984 Essay

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “At the apex of the pyramid comes Big Brother. Big Brother is infallible and all-powerful. Every success, every achievement, every victory, every scientific discovery, all knowledge, all wisdom, all happiness, all virtue, are held to issue directly from his leadership and inspiration” (Orwell 264). In the novel 1984 government has complete control over society and every positive goal achieved throughout society happened because of the leadership of their great ruler. Most may think that since this novel is merely a work of fiction that it is completely blown out of proportion, since nothing to this level could ever occur in the modern world. However the current North Korea situation has many similarities to the bleak world Orwell created decades ago. The people may feel protected and cared for, yet if any outsider sees the world they lived in he would feel pity. The government has such control that people feel everything positive in…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Heaven's Gate

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages

    On March 26, 1997, in what has become known as one of the most noteworthy mass suicides in history, thirty-nine men and women affiliated with the Heavens Gate cult took their own lives by ingesting a combination of Phenobarbitals mixed with applesauce and alcohol. Each was dressed all in black, their faces covered by a purple shroud. Those who wore glasses had them neatly folded next to their body, and all had identification papers for the authorities to find. The house was immaculate, tidier even than before the victims had moved in. It was as if, in preparing for their death, they were heeding the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live." And while their abrupt end may seem rather strange, the way they lived is even more perplexing.…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays