I am a 30-year-old woman who lives nearthe Chinese border with my husband and a new born child. The conditions inNorth Korea are very harsh due to chronic food shortages caused by famine, nofreedom of speech, or religion.
Throughout my life, I realized North Korea isnot a place to raise a family. North Korea is ruled by a dictatorship, Kim JongUn. Living in a dictatorship country means very little freedom. This results ina lack of isolation and communication from the internet and social media. Myfamily and I feel that we are isolated from the world around us because of theabsence of the internet.
I believe that the citizens of North Korea are limitedto the internet, due to the government holding secrets. There are many otherthings that happens in North Korea, where majority of the world does not knowabout. One of the major things are the prison camps, also known as theHeoeryong camp. It is said that the prison camps in North Korea is worst thanthe concentration camps held by the Nazis during WWII. The conditions are very harsh during the timesof the prison camps. For example, the temperatures can drop to – 40 degreesCelsius. Due to not having any blankets, people would die from hyperthermia.The rumors I have heard were inhumane and no one should ever live through thatfor a lifetime.
Each building can hold at least 200 people, there are a lack ofdoctors, nurses, and medical equipment including medicine in the camps. Thereare two types of camps, the Total Control Zone and Revolutionary Zone. TheTotal Control Zone is where people are sent to because of their committedserious crimes. No one is ever allowed to be released from the Total ControlZone. The Revolutionary Zone is where people are sent to because of theircommitted less serious crimes. They can be sentence from a few months to tenyears in the Revolutionary Zone. In these camps, they do hardcore labor, arebeing tortured, and executed for little things for the rest of their life.
Thecamps in North Korea are ruthless and I believe that it is unacceptable and inappropriateto treat any human being this way. Not only am I the only one who believes inthis, but many people in my neighborhood also believe that we should make achange. We believe that we should speak up and have an end to this. Myneighbors and my family have decided to create a resistance group called theFreedom Fighters and declare independence from the ruler of North Korea, KimJong Un. Notonly that we believe the prison camps should have an end, we also believe thatwe should have the freedom of speech and practice any religion. My neighbors andI have lived like this throughout our whole life. We do not want to raise afamily in this type of condition. Nikolai Berdyaev once said, “Freedom is myindependence and the defining of my self from the inside and freedom is mycreative force…” 1Thisquote states that freedom is our main goal for our resistance group because itenhances our quality of life.
It also pursues happiness for the future of ourcountry. InNorth Korea, people need a change and by doing so, we need to declareindependence from the government. There are many things we should declare. Thefirst thing is to have more freedom from the government. We should be able topractice any religion, trade with other countries, and have an independentmedia.
We should not be isolated from other countries. Instead, citizens ofNorth Korea should be able to communicate and travel the world without tightborders. We want to have more freedom to pursue our dreams. This could resultin what we want to be in our life and for the sake of our children’s future.
Wedo not want to be discriminated on political grounds based on the employment weare in. We, as a society, should have equal opportunities for each individual. Weshould be treated equally no matter what the circumstances are. For example,how wealthy we are or where our social status stands. We declare that prisoncamps, any kind of inhumane activity such as forced labor or torture should beeliminated. We as the communities that make upNorth Korea should be treated equally and should be granted more freedom. Weshould be able to practice any kind of religion and should be able to speakfreely. We as human beings are curious about the world and would like to traveloutside the country freely as we desire without any restrictions.
We alsoshould be able to communicate with the outside world and to be able to enjoythe internet and other social medias. Webelieve that as a country you should eliminate all inhumane activities thatoccurs in prison camps or other unknown places. We should not be forced to dohard labor and that we should be able to have a good education to pursue ourdream not only for the sake of our future but the sake of the country’s future.”Citizensmake the future of the country. Many things depend on us, citizens.”2Without the communities who makes up your country, you would be leadingnothing. We are human beings and we believe that we should not be treated thisway.
As our resistance group stand up forwhat we believe in, I advise you to accept this declaration because not only doesour group believe in this but we have no doubt the rest of your countrybelieves in this also. Kim Jong Un, we believe that you have the power to makea change in North Korea and to make it a better country. This declarationspeaks the love we have of our country and that we think it deserves a betterchance for the future.
Our aim is to have full respect for you and the rest ofthe government system but in order to accept that we would need something inreturn. This declaration would prove that you would want our respect and thatyou see the both of us as a country but not as slaves. We wrote to you today,not as a stranger but certainly not as a traitor, but as a group who cares forhuman rights and for the sake of our country. With the ideas we declared in thedeclaration, we have no doubt that it will make a more perfect union. We need astrong, energetic government that will protect our liberty and property. Thereshould be laws that would protect our freedom and to protect our human rights.Our beautiful lands should advise that we remain a united people because thenavigable rivers and streams encourages the transportation and trade. “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, analiment without which it instantly expires.
But it could not be less folly toabolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishesfaction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essentialto animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency” (10.4). 3Freedomcan be a good thing or a bad thing for the government but it also enables thegovernment to make good or poor decisions.
Overall, we as the people whodefines this country should deserve the freedom that we demand, to freelytravel all around the world without strict borders, and to end all inhumaneactivity to see this country as one. 1Philosopher of Freedom, DimitriLisin/ http://vis-www.cs.umass.
edu/~dima/mytexts/suff.html#freedom,19952The Importance of citizen’s participation,Natia Shakaia/ http://www.ladder-project.eu/?p=16008,October 25, 20163 The Federalist Papers, Jacob E. Cooke/ http://www.crf-usa.org/foundations-of-our-constitution/the-federalist-papers.html,1961
