Friday, March 11, 2005
Hostage Nation: North Koreans Yearning to Breathe Free
The world’s lone remaining prominent Stalinist state is feeling the pressure of modern information technology, and Kim Jung Il is not happy.
In a juxtaposition where China is revealed as a relatively free and open country, North Korea finds itself being infiltrated by cell phone technology and the transfer of information to and from the North Korean people using Chinese cell phones. They’re clandestinely finding out about the liberties available to the “outside” world, and trying to get the word out about what they’re enduring as captives of the hermit nation.
UPI link: http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/03110002aaa05d83.upi&Sys=rmmiller&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Apparently the NK regime is attempting to crack down by executing citizens in public as a means of terrorizing the population into submission. As harsh as this may sound, I view this as a good development. As long as information about the outside world is seeping in, the North Korean population will see these executions for exactly what they are: intimidation from renegade thugs, not the actions of any kind of legitimate “authority.”
There’s a vast and important difference between thinking you are just one more sufferer in a world of slaves, and coming to the knowledge that you are one of the world’s few remaining victims of an oppressive criminal gang. It is this contrast that the NK “government” is trying desperately to hide from the North Korean people, lest that contrast be noticed, evaluated, and acted on.
Kim Jung Il had better be watching his back.
The world’s lone remaining prominent Stalinist state is feeling the pressure of modern information technology, and Kim Jung Il is not happy.
In a juxtaposition where China is revealed as a relatively free and open country, North Korea finds itself being infiltrated by cell phone technology and the transfer of information to and from the North Korean people using Chinese cell phones. They’re clandestinely finding out about the liberties available to the “outside” world, and trying to get the word out about what they’re enduring as captives of the hermit nation.
UPI link: http://interestalert.com/brand/siteia.shtml?Story=st/sn/03110002aaa05d83.upi&Sys=rmmiller&Fid=WORLDNEW&Type=News&Filter=World%20News
Apparently the NK regime is attempting to crack down by executing citizens in public as a means of terrorizing the population into submission. As harsh as this may sound, I view this as a good development. As long as information about the outside world is seeping in, the North Korean population will see these executions for exactly what they are: intimidation from renegade thugs, not the actions of any kind of legitimate “authority.”
There’s a vast and important difference between thinking you are just one more sufferer in a world of slaves, and coming to the knowledge that you are one of the world’s few remaining victims of an oppressive criminal gang. It is this contrast that the NK “government” is trying desperately to hide from the North Korean people, lest that contrast be noticed, evaluated, and acted on.
Kim Jung Il had better be watching his back.
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