North Korea Research Paper
Distraction & Media
Final Paper
12/22/10
The Future of media in North Korea
The North Korea’s brutal regime began on June 25th 1950, when the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) launched a surprising military attack and crossed the 38th parallel border. The Korean War often referred to as the “forgotten war,” caused the United States to suffer 142,000 casualties including 33,000 deaths. In total, the entire war killed around three million people. On July 27, 1953, the war was finally cease-fired and both South and North Koreas are under armistice ever since. Supported by the United States, the southern part of the peninsula went through numerous reformations to adopt democracy. On the other hand, since North Korea was initially aided …show more content…
As more and more information seep through the sporadic holes that the Kim regime contains, people are becoming more aware of the fact that the Juche ideology has its limits. Perhaps the constant economic difficulty that they face is the most important factor in realizing that the socialistic ideals do not always correspond to the reality. Since the 1960s, North Korea’s economy has been rapidly declining and it is now one of the poorest countries in the world. This socialist government strongly relies on foreign aid to feed its own citizens but even such aid started to diminish as North Korea displayed behaviors that are extremely violent and inhumane in nature. For example, the recent torpedo attack of the South Korean warship, Chonan-ham, and bomb shelling the island of Yeonpyung were decisions made by Pyongyang to threaten the peace of the peninsula. Also, the sole fact that the South Korean government started to send food aids in the mid 1990s, made North Korean citizens to doubt their own government’s information because the party constantly told its citizens that South Korea’s situation is even worse than their own. In a 2002 survey, defectors from North Korea told South Korean government officials that 40 percent of defectors thought “North Korea’s choice of …show more content…
This belief, however, was only true before the 1990s. Relating to this idea, the situation then becomes more complex because we understand that even the country’s own citizens are aware of the manipulations of their government, but the daily trials and hardships the citizens face are too burdensome, leading the North Koreans to not actively seek their rights. This vicious cycle continues to work today as people are dying from starvation, there is simply no time to talk about their freedom of speech or dwell upon the liberty of the press in their country; all these concerns are just a luxury to the lives of ordinary North
Final Paper
12/22/10
The Future of media in North Korea
The North Korea’s brutal regime began on June 25th 1950, when the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) launched a surprising military attack and crossed the 38th parallel border. The Korean War often referred to as the “forgotten war,” caused the United States to suffer 142,000 casualties including 33,000 deaths. In total, the entire war killed around three million people. On July 27, 1953, the war was finally cease-fired and both South and North Koreas are under armistice ever since. Supported by the United States, the southern part of the peninsula went through numerous reformations to adopt democracy. On the other hand, since North Korea was initially aided …show more content…
As more and more information seep through the sporadic holes that the Kim regime contains, people are becoming more aware of the fact that the Juche ideology has its limits. Perhaps the constant economic difficulty that they face is the most important factor in realizing that the socialistic ideals do not always correspond to the reality. Since the 1960s, North Korea’s economy has been rapidly declining and it is now one of the poorest countries in the world. This socialist government strongly relies on foreign aid to feed its own citizens but even such aid started to diminish as North Korea displayed behaviors that are extremely violent and inhumane in nature. For example, the recent torpedo attack of the South Korean warship, Chonan-ham, and bomb shelling the island of Yeonpyung were decisions made by Pyongyang to threaten the peace of the peninsula. Also, the sole fact that the South Korean government started to send food aids in the mid 1990s, made North Korean citizens to doubt their own government’s information because the party constantly told its citizens that South Korea’s situation is even worse than their own. In a 2002 survey, defectors from North Korea told South Korean government officials that 40 percent of defectors thought “North Korea’s choice of …show more content…
This belief, however, was only true before the 1990s. Relating to this idea, the situation then becomes more complex because we understand that even the country’s own citizens are aware of the manipulations of their government, but the daily trials and hardships the citizens face are too burdensome, leading the North Koreans to not actively seek their rights. This vicious cycle continues to work today as people are dying from starvation, there is simply no time to talk about their freedom of speech or dwell upon the liberty of the press in their country; all these concerns are just a luxury to the lives of ordinary North