For seven years we have been sending out leaflets despite what the South Korean government says and despite threats from the Kim Jeong Il regime, and we continue to do this because there is a thick veil covering access to information and this is probably the most effective way we know. It is the way that the North Korean people learn and realize that the horrible conditions are a result of their leaders. They will realize who is to blame for these conditions only by giving them this kind of information. The leaflets are the method we use to criticize the dictatorship. The propaganda states that North Korea is paradise and that we should thank Kim Jeong Il for everything the North Korean people have. Information from the outside is the only way to defeat the leaders and the propaganda of North Korea.
The North Korean people will realize that their suffering is a result of the North Korean leader with Kim Jeong Il being the true culprit. We understand the North Korean mind and their frustrations and we say that in the leaflets. The North Korean government is reacting strongly that they even pinpointed our organization saying that we are human trash who ended up in South Korean dump. They use harsh words to offend us but it shows that these leaflets are effective and disrupting the society. In February of last year they cancelled tourism for South Korea and said they will not cooperate in the Kaeseong industrial complex and the Kyung Hee railroad plan as a result of these leaflets.
Technology has made sending information much easier than before and not only do we distribute leaflets but we also send transistor radios, we send DVDs, and we send mp3s. It is very easy for people to think that there are no personal computers in North Korea because of the lack of infrastructure and the IT in North Korea is very backwards. The North Korean people do not have or own personal computers. Only very few people have access to computers which are located at the universities and institutes. DVDs with video clips are effective but they need access to computers in order to be played.
The South Korean government or South Korean organizations broadcast very sophisticated messages to North Korea. We do not need sophisticated software because the North Korean people do not have access to hardware to access this information so instead we send them transistor radios with information. There are a lot of Chinese businessmen who travel a lot to North Korea. Also we provide cell phones to people who live close to the Chinese border so that they can call people in North Korea and provide information. The information that we get is of high quality from these people. Therefore in comparison to ten years ago the access to information has improved for North Korean society. In the North Korean society, the higher you get within in the government, the more access you have to information like the high officials of the working class party are better equipped with advanced devices and equipment that can receive information from far away. And for those who are in the lower level of the North Korean society have less access and even no access to information.
Park Sang Hak is the chairman of Fighters for a Free North Korea, which uses balloons to send leaflets, DVDs, transistor radios and USB flash drives from South Korea into North Korea. Because the North Korean government tightly controls information within the country, the materials deliver valuable information about the outside world and serve to undermine the propaganda the North Korean government uses to keep itself in power. Park is the son of a former North Korean spy who defected to South Korea with his family at his father’s urging. Following the family’s defection, an uncle in North Korea was beaten to death in retaliation. Park met with President Bush in September 2008.
North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is a country of 23 million people in northeast Asia, ruled by Communist dictator Kim Jong-Un. His deceased predecessors—father, Kim Jong-Il, and grandfather, Kim Il-Sung – respectively retain the titles of “Eternal President” and “The Great Leader.”
The Korean War began in 1950, when Kim Il-Sung, backed by the Soviet Union and China, attacked South Korea. The conflict ended in a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty, and the border between the two Koreas remains tense and heavily militarized.
Kim Il-Sung employed harsh tactics to consolidate his power and propagated an extreme personality cult that has been continued by his successors. A blend of communist doctrine, state terror, xenophobia and hyper-nationalism has given North Korea its unique ideology. Despite some recent openings, North Korea remains largely isolated from the rest of the world.
With the end of Soviet communism and withdrawal of economic support, North Korea’s economy collapsed in the 1990s. A massive famine, aggravated by the regime’s indifference, killed as many as 2 million people between 1994 and 1998. While conditions have improved, even today, North Korea faces problems of malnutrition and insufficient access to food.
Tensions between North and South Korea remain high. In 2010, North Korea sank a South Korean naval vessel, killing 46 sailors and attacked a South Korean island, killing four civilians. North Korea has developed and tested nuclear weapons in contravention of several international agreements. The country withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003 in order to test ballistic missiles and eventually a nuclear device. Multilateral negotiations have so far failed to constrain North Korea’s arms buildup and nuclear program.
North Korea is among the world’s most repressive states, engaging in widespread and systematic human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions, torture, forced abortion, arbitrary detention, and denial of the rights of expression, association, assembly, and religion. The government pervasively regulates all aspects of the lives of its citizens, each of whom is categorized as “core,” “wavering,” or “hostile,” according to the history of his or her family’s relationship with the regime. Access to housing, employment, education, and other social and economic goods depend heavily on these security classifications. The government determines where each citizen will live, and travel within the country is strictly limited.
Emigration is prohibited. Refugees who have escaped to China have frequently been forcibly returned to North Korea where they are imprisoned, subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, and sometimes executed. The government operates a network of forced labor camps for an estimated 120,000 political prisoners. While persons convicted of ordinary crimes serve fixed sentences, those convicted of political crimes are confined indefinitely. Punishment is extended to three generations – the offender’s parents, siblings, and children are also incarcerated, as a way to pressure North Koreans to conform. Political offenders are often denied food, clothing, and medical care, and many die in prison.
Freedom House’s Freedom in the World report classifies North Korea as “not free” and as one of nine nations whose lack of political rights and civil liberties are considered the “worst of the worst.”
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