Inside North Korea, A Fascinating Look

I recommend that after you go home today, you find a quiet corner of your home, and you sit down to watch one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking documentaries you are likely to watch: National Geographic's "An Inside Look at North Korea." [Video Below]

The documentary is not only a rare look into one of the most elusive countries, but a journey into the depth of the human mind and soul.

North Korea represents an intriguing phenomenon on many levels.

It is the world's most isolated nation-state. Virtually everything is state controlled, there is no internet, cell phones, and its borders which straddle mostly China in the North, the Soviet Union in the Northwest and South Korea in the South are sealed shut under heavy military monitoring. No one is allowed to leave or enter without special state permission. The country has very few foreigners and those who are allowed to enter, do so briefly and are escorted under the watchful eye of specially designated state agents at all times. During the last World Cup, North Korea opted to send Chinese actors posing as North Korean fans supporting the North Korean national soccer team, rather than risk exposing their citizens to the outside world, and so risk defection.

North Korean life is rooted in intense regiment and communal submission to the head of state who is something of a God-King. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as it is formally known, was founded by Kim Il Sung, who introduced the Juche ideology of self-reliance that continues to shape the nation's political and social outlook today. Known as the "eternal president," his son, Kim Jong Il, now carries the torch and enjoys a similar stranglehold over everyday life.

Korea enjoyed independent rule for most of its history until it was brutally colonized by Japan after the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. Following World War II, the North moved toward Soviet-sponsored communism, while the South aligned itself with the US to resist communist rule. The 1950 Korean war raged on for three years and saw heavy casualties but no clear outcome. The North and South today live in a tense and nervous coexistence that represents one of the most stark side-by-side contrasts in any single region in the world today. They two are separated by a heavily militarized zone along their entire shared border that offers many intriguing stories in its own right.

Given the traumatic experience with what the North Koreans saw as brutal foreign enemies in Japan and later the United States, Kim Il Sung's Juche ideology sought to restore pride, dignity, and power to the Korean people through complete self-reliance. But with that came an iron fist that Kim saw necessary in order to maintain total control. The results are more complex than mere fear and tyranny. The North Korean people who can be described as proud, disciplined and productive are likely driven by fear, but not fear alone. North Koreans have also been exposed to a sort of communal brain-washing, the result of long years of meticulously choreographed state propaganda that dominates the public media, the schooling system from a young age, and the workplace. As a result, it is difficult to tell whether the average North Korean simply fears the "dear leader" or is convinced that he is indeed his savior and sustainer. As the documentary posits in its conclusion, the truth is probably closer to a complex mix of both.

One thing is for certain, North Korea runs one of the most brutal systems of mass prisons in the world today that collectively house up to 1% of the total population. These prisons do not only punish those who question the "dear leader" and his regime, but their immediate and extended families as well. While North Korea possesses the world's largest military in the world - not to mention nuclear weapons - the civilian standard of living is very low. Citizens suffer from scarce food sources, poor health care, and very few luxuries that most other states in East Asia take for granted.

As you watch the video, think about the following:

What is going through the hearts and minds of North Koreans today? What motivates them? While the state is undeniably tyrannical and propagandist, do we understand the people's desire for pride, dignity, and self-reliance? While it is easy to demonize them as a people, is it possible to relate to them as human beings who have been put through an entirely different set of experiences and exposed to an entirely different set of ideas from us? Where would we be if we were in their place, living where they are living, and raised as they were raised? What does the North Korean experience say about mass psychology? What are the machinations of such large-scale brainwashing and psychological manipulation, why does it work, how can it be prevented, how can it be undone?



Main Photo Credit: Eric Lafforgue. Visit this amazing photo exhibit of everyday life in North Korea by Eric.