A LIFE OF DARKNESS

           THE DARKEST PLACE IN THE WORLD



                       Life in North Korea 
   
 
  What if there’s no electricity in your house and no internet for 24 hours  ? Feels irritating, right?  Most of the cities in that country there  is  no electricity in their houses, and no internet access, watching an English movie is considered a crime  and if you try to leave the country ... you are shot dead !! We all live in the year 2020, but they live in the year 109.


The completely isolated and most secretive country of  the world . It is a totally different world over there. It is called the landlocked country, “NORTH KOREA” with a 2.5 crore population.
 They follow their own time zone which is officially named Pyongyang Time.

Personal choice -No. It’s government’s rule :

Hair cut is one’s personal choice, but it’s not the same in North Korea. In North Korea ,there are 15 approved haircuts for men and 16 approved hair styling for women by the government. If the North Koreans were found with any other hair styles than approved ones they would be behind the bars .

Blue Jeans are banned in North Korea, since they are manufactured in the USA.

Starvation:

In Early 1990s, North Korea suffered from famine and is still continuing. Out of hunger people started eating wild foods like grasses, tree barks, grasshoppers, dragon files, etc . Next day morning, they had infections and swelling all over their face and body. 60% of the population live in poverty, the money they earn would be sufficient  for only one meal per day. The residents literally had  to run away from the country with a hope that they can eat and survive instead of dying in their country. More than half of the country lives in starvation. People in the country suffer from severe Malnutrition, hunger  related diseases. Pregnant and nursing women face complications like anemia, vitamin deficiency diseases.


Most of the North Koreans prefer dog meat over chicken because the dog meat is considered more nutritious than chicken.

Banned food items and soft drinks in North Korea :
There are no Mcdonalds,no KFC, no coca cola nor any Apple products in North Korea because of the fact that the United States  sanctions on it .

Division of classes:

      We all would have heard about discrimination based on skin colour,religion, gender, language but the discrimination in North Korea is different from rest of the world.The discrimination is based on the individual's actions as well as their ancestral status and positions during the Japanese Colonial period between 1910-1945.North Korea is an atheist country and there is no religious freedom in the country. The division of classes followed in North Korea is "songbun" system, meaning ingredients, which has three groups

✔️core class
✔️wavering class
✔️hostile class


Upside -down scenario:

              After Japanese Colonial period,the Rich  North Koreans, businessmen, landowners, and wealthy people who supported Japan are now treated as slaves, low level workers. They are called Hostiles. These people are forced to work hard in mine, farm, and do physical work .

Ruling party supporters are now rich and wealthy people. They are called Core people. They are enjoying all the facilities given by the government. These peoples are employed as government officials.

The middle -class people come under Wavering class.

Common facilities:

TV:
There are only 4 television channels in North Korea. All these 4 channels are state owned.
❌ No advertisements- advertising is strictly prohibited.
❌All foreign  media are completely banned in the nation .
❌It is illegal to watch foreign shows and movies.



Radio:      

There are 5 radio stations which talk only about the government . All the stations are under strict control of the state. Whatever is being talked about in the radio stations are as per government instructions.

Internet access🚫 :

People living in the country do not even know what the internet is. There is no internet access to common people in the nation . Only few government authorities with state -approval have access to the internet.


Education and Military service :

Education system :

      In the schools , the children spend 171 hours learning about the history of Kim il-sung (the 1st supreme leader of the nation) and they spend another 171 hours learning about the history of Kim Jong-il (2nd supreme leader of the nation).The only thing taught about the outside world to the children is that America, Japan and South Korea are their enemies. The songs of their dear leader are sung as prayer songs . Kids who come from rich family backgrounds afford to get into higher education.

 🔴The children in North Korea are growing up with darkness, growing up fear , starvation.

🔴They have been growing up without being told how to think.

🔴They do not know the concept of freedom.

🔴They do not  know the concept of love , for them the word love means the love to their beloved leader of the nation !


Military service :

  ‘SONGUN’- means Military first .  The principle  followed by North Korea is to be ready for war anytime. North Korea is the fourth largest and strongest military force in the world with 1.2 million active soldiers of nearly 6% of the total population.


On completing 17 years, it’s mandatory for all men and women  to join the military.
Women should serve the nation for 5 years, and Men should serve the nation for 10 years .



Health care :

               In North Korea, the Free Health Care policy is only for the high class people. The low class people can't even imagine about it.The worst part is there is no proper electricity to the hospitals, and surgeries are done using battery-powered flashlights. The patients are asked to bring everything including cotton, anesthetic and antibiotics on their own . Because  of the financial challenges, the patients are ready to undergo surgeries without anesthetics. The Government’s investment on health care is less compared to any other country in the world.


                     Kim dynasty rule over 

                            North Korea🇰🇵

The Workers Party of Korea(WPK) has been ruling the nation since 1948 .

“They call it people’s democracy but follow dictatorship.

They conduct elections, but people are supposed to vote for only one party that is WPK.”

“One man’s party, One man’s rule”

North Korea is the only country which follows necrocracy (necro-death, cracy-rule)

The rules and regulations are followed by the government even after the dead former president .

There’s only one god to be worshiped in the country, that is their beloved supreme leader of the nation .

It  is believed that their supreme leader has a supernatural power of reading people’s minds . They do not have the right to think !

Every house in North Korea has a photo of their supreme leader who is considered as god and worshiped.
Following any other religion is considered as crime in North Korea


Punishment carries for 3 generations:

If a man commits a crime it is not only him who would be punished,  but it is  carried on to his son and his grandson!
Such strict law is followed by the government in the nation.

Be it a crime of watching a foreign movie or disrespecting the leader, punishment would be very severe. Prisoners are sent to concentration camps and labour camps where they are tortured and ill-treated. Prisoners who work slowly or refuse to obey the rules are tortured very badly.
The mortality rate is very high in North Korea, many of the prisoners die of starvation, work accidents, illness, torture.

Common criminals convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, drug smuggling, robbery are reported to be executed by firing squad.


If you leave the country - you are dead :

People do not have the liberty to even move as they wish. . North Koreans are not allowed to travel the world with their family. Even if they want to travel from one city to a different city in their own country, they need to seek approval from the government.

If they are spotted crossing the border, they are killed on spot by the firing squad .
Usually South Koreans and journalists are restricted from entering the country .
Since 1953, there are around 1,00,000 to 3,00,000 refugees who escaped from North Korea , most of them fled to China, South Korea, Russia to live a peaceful life .

People’s daily life challenges :

No right to speech, No right to freedom, No human rights, No freedom of religion,
They do not even have the right to think ‼️

North Korea is known as the darkest country in the world because of not only being a country with no electricity, but also North Koreans live in complete darkness without even knowing there is a world outside than that of their country‼️

Most of the countries, we often fight for the right to gender equality, Civil rights etc. but there are people in the world who are living in complete darkness struggling to survive‼️