Real Lives in North Korea

I've just finished a thoroughly enjoyable (and rathe speedy!) read of Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea. The book follows the treacherous lives of 6 North Koreans who you know from the start manage to flee as refugees to South Korea. Personal tales of family histories, varying degrees of favourability from the regime, and individual trauma are interspersed with insightful details about life under the regime in general, especially during the famine of the 1990s which caused an estimated 2 million people died of starvation. The food shortage continues today and has lead to a deal with the US in which North Korea will suspend its nuclear enrichment programme in exchange for aid.

What was most interesting about the book was that, as I read on my anticipation at the escapes of the lead characters grew alongside their despair of the despotic regime of Kim Jong-il. At first, then, I was disappointed to read that, for many North Korean defectors, South Korea is not the haven of freedom and choice I had imagined. Many wish to return North to a simpler, easier life with more traditional values. What this made me realise was that while escaping political oppression in its most extreme and terrifying hunger and deprivation in North Korea, defectors are not entering an ideal world in South Korea or indeed anywhere else. Capitalism is not the perfect antidote to their oppression and neither is it the ideal situation for any of us on this planet.

It is time we got together and stood up for a better, reformed world. One that values freedom, health and happiness for all over profits, objects and money. Only then will we truly be able to offer a perfect alternative to the disastrous and oppressive regimes on this earth.

A step in the right direction

First Burma, now North Korea: are the world's pariah states moving towards greater global cooperation? As Burma loosened its grip on domestic freedoms, last year saw the US Secretary of State visit the nation for the first time in decades signifying a thawing in international relations. In a move that many have seen as an attempt to weaken reliance upon China, Burma seems to be changing for the better. Is North Korea now making the same step (and, perhaps, for the same reason)? Today it was announced that, in exchange for US food supplies, North Korea would suspend its nuclear programme.

We can only hope that all nations will take a leaf out off these countries' books in moving toward cooperation and negotiation for the greater good. For while both the isolationism and the oppression of human rights of North Korea and Burma are on the extreme end of the scale, every country could benefit from some self-reflection, greater co-operation and democratic changes on the path to greater good for all.