Nathan M.

Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
23 February 2016

The Dictatorial State of North Korea

Kim Jong Uns reign of terror continues; It is time for the U.S. to counter this forgotten
maniac is what Cory Gardner said on December 1, 2015, after North Korea launch tested
nuclear weapons on three separate occasions that year. Kim Jong Un threatens his neighbors and
oppresses his people and no one holds him accountable for his actions. Many countries believe
he is not fit to be ruling the country of North Korea and that he is unpredictable and dangerous
with the power that he has. The leadership in North Korea has been the same for decades and
what I have said below is how they have been able to keep this atrocious form of leadership alive
for the longest time. Kim Jong Un is able to keep his leadership through flawed tactics of
propaganda in the country, the cult worship of its leader. The North Korean form of government
and its leaders oppresses its people in inhumane ways and someone or something needs to put it
to an end.
The dictatorship in North Korea is corrupt in the way it is run and the large amount of
propaganda used in running the dictatorship puts harmful afflictions on the Korean people. The
propaganda in the country is to such an extremity that the leader is revered as a god. Alastair
Gale stated, The country arranges community meetings after major events such as nuclear tests
to spread the message that the success is directly due to their leader. The propaganda that
portrays the leader as powerful enough to make these things successful draws the attention of the
people. This causes the people to be more loyal to the leader and ultimately strengthen the power
of the dictatorship. International Human Rights League of Korea found, Since the death of Kim

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
23 February 2016
Il-sung, North Korea has spent $94 million to stage various political events, $530 million to erect
various monuments, and $270 million to operate various propaganda facilities ("North Korea's
Government Has Severely Oppressed Its People"). These facilities and various monuments cause
the people to revere their leader as a god. This reverent respect promotes nationalism and
strengthens loyalty to the dictator. The promotion of the leader will only cause him to become
self-righteous and further his addiction for power which he will then use to oppress the people of
North Korea even further. But Mr. Kim did not stop there.
Mr. Kims atrocious leadership skills oppresses the people of his country and causes the
people to fear him. Timothy L stated, Li Soon-ok, a woman who once had been an inmate in a
North Korean prison and defected to the Republic of Korea in December 1995, revealed that the
North launched the program to confine the handicapped in remote areas. All handicapped
persons, such as blind and deaf persons, hunchbacks, and mental patients were ordered by
Pyongyang authorities to move with their families to remote places outside the city. This deurbanization of people cleans the citys streets and makes North Korea look perfect. This is what
the leaders wanted because now they can make the elite class living in the cities believe that the
all-powerful leader has been able to cure the sick and handicapped. This strengthens the peoples
loyalty to their leader and secures his rule as dictator. But at what cost? Everyone has forgotten
of the slums in North Korea. All the handicapped and poor people of North Korea have nothing,
only to promote the strength of Mr. Kims dictatorship. As the last East German ambassador to
Pyongyang, Hans Meretzki stated, North Korean leadership has made all residents subject to a
collective slavery by depriving them of individuality, and forcing them to engage in hard labor.

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
23 February 2016
The working class of North Korea is forced into hard labor. This suppresses emotion and instills
fear into the people. The fear creates adherence and forces the people to submit to authority and
continue being oppressed by the regime. That is how the leaders of North Korea have been able
to maintain total control over its people.
Although no one is doing anything to end the doctorial state of North Korea, South Korea
makes efforts to aid the people of the North. In spite of all of North Koreas threatening actions
the South Korean government has aided the North by piecing together an aid package totaling at
least $60 million worth of food, medicine, and heavy equipment. South Korea's relations stated
bluntly, "The government has no expectations of anything in return. The government's
emergency relief support was strictly humanitarian". The South wants to aid the people of North
Korea because they want to improve the status of those who have been oppressed by the regime.
The North replies to the Souths generosity by treating it as a threat and fires missiles at them and
ordering military movement against the South. On February 11, 2016; North Korea ordered a
military takeover of a factory park in South Korea. They took several hundred South Koreans
across the border into the North. North Korea claimed to be responding to a factory shutdown,
but South Korean officials demanded the citizens back. This park was the last major symbol of
cooperation between the North and South. North Korea has turned a symbol of peace into a
hostile situation. This is now the kind of behavior that is expected from North Korea in these
matters. No other nations wish to involve themselves with North Korea because of the distrust
and deception they convey.

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
23 February 2016
North Korea seeks to strengthen the grasp of the regime on the nation. Two ways they
have accomplished this have been the suppression of working class and the deception of the elite
through propaganda. Labor camps and the harsh life of North Korean slums have dampened the
spirits of working class citizens to the point of no return. They cannot change their position in
life for fear of the leader and the oppressive socialistic society that he has created. The elite class
does not fear their leader but follows him because of the great things propaganda shows him to
be. Mr. Kim has been able to hide the oppressiveness of his regime from his people too long. He
seeks hostile relations with his neighbors and rejects any aid that might help his people so he can
continue his selfish rule as a dictator.

Nathan M. Pollock
Wilson Hour 4
23 February 2016
Works Cited
Alastair Gale. "North Korean Rocket Launch Called 'Provocation'." New York Times 7 Feb. 2016:
A6(L). Global Issues In Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.
"Frightening fizzle." New York Times 14 Apr. 2012: A18(L). Global Issues In Context. Web. 21
Feb. 2016.
"Hope for new talks with North Korea pinned to aid from South; After devastating floods last
month, North Korea took aid from the South who wants to thaw chilly
relations." Christian Science Monitor 14 Aug. 2006: 17. Global Issues In Context. Web.
21 Feb. 2016.
Jager, Sheila Miyoshi. "Domestic Politics, Pyongyang-Style." New York Times 14 Mar. 2013:
A35(L).Global Issues In Context. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
"Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (DPRK)." Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations. Ed.
Timothy L. Gall and Susan Bevan Gall. 13th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Global Issues In
Context. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
"North Korea's Government Has Severely Oppressed Its People." International Human Rights
League of Korea. The Real Picture of Human Rights in North Korea. International
Human Rights League of Korea, 1998. Rpt. in North and South Korea. Ed. William
Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.