North Korea Labor Camp Video Response

Posted on by under Video Responses

Kim:

Much like the last video, this video on the lives of those in and those who have been in North Korean labor camps is amazing to me. I knew that Noth Korea was radical and that the people were heavily indoctrinated and conditioned to the will of the leade and the government. I knew there were camps and I knew that the conditions were very bad. However, I did not know, at all, how absolutely terrible the condtions were in those camps and how animalistic those humans lived. I absolutely could not, and honestly would not even like to image my family or friends and especially any of my children in such a horrible situation. I learned the fact that if you don’t address Kim Jong Il or Un you will be thrown into a labor camp is absolutely mine blowing. Here, in. America, people have slang fro our Presidents and even openly curse them and denounce them. When looking at this American liberty versus that offense is North Korea, O have trouble grasping how human beings, despite the diferences in our culture can dehuamnize, torture, and kill our fellow man for simply saying a leaders name wrong. I never imagined the extent of what they do to those people: how they rape the women and public aly execute childen. It boggles my mind even more to see the star of the film wish that, even after he had escaped the camp and ad all of those terrible experiences, be so heavily indoctrinated by the camps and the conditions that he would want to go back. I want to know why he would even want to consider going back. I also want to know why the North Koreans do this to people . It honestly so complelling that I would be willing to do research to find out these things: like interviews, or studies to find out the process of their indoctrination , in depth.

Yesenia:

This video, like the last one, gives us an inside experience of what its like to live in North Korea. The video focuses on a man’s escape to South Korea from a concentration camp. Now the conditions in North Korea, as seen in the last video and past history classes, was very isolated and strict amongst their people. I did know there were concentration camps in North Korea, however, I did not know of the terrible conditions and the events that occurred on a daily basis within these camps. The prisoner that was being interviewed in this video told the officers of his mother and brother’s plan to escape. The mentality that the nation becomes first family shows the brainwashing that goes on in these camps. What surprises me most is after all the trouble the prisoner being interviewed went through, he says he would like to go back and live in the camp where he had an “innocent heart”. I want to know why this would even cross his mind,after the torture and terrible conditions he went through. I guess we’ll never know as we are fortunate to not be in that situation but it still astonishes me the mentality these people can have after all they have been through.

 

North Korea Video Response

Posted on by under Video Responses

The North Korean video was eye-opening because I never thought about how devoted the citizens of North Korea are to their leader. What surprised me most was when the patients were allowed to take their bandages off and their first reaction was to give thanks to their “great leader”. The video showed perspectives of people who are truly loyal to their leader but i wonder how many people or how much of the population actually follows Kim Jong Il. What also surprised me was the man who was able to escape from North Korea and into South Korea directly. At this point, I do not believe it is in the United States best interest to interfere with North Korea because they have threatened the US with nuclear weapons before. The United States, in my opinion, cannot make an impact to North Korea without aggression therefore, North korea needs to just stay isolated. It’s not so much the US cannot control themselves but the fact that Kim Jong Un will not listen to what the United States has to say in a civilized matter. – Yesenia U.

The documentary on North Korea was extremely moving. I never thought that a group of people become could become holistically indoctrinated by not just one leader but several. It’s as if the leaders don’t treat them as people, but more so like a herd of cattle, or a pack of dogs. The government trains them to bark,or in their case talk, the way they want them to. They train them to them to believe what they want them to and they change them to view other countries the way they want them to. It’s like a kennel club. The people in the video seem completely dehumanized, they worship their leader as if he’s a God. They thank him for surgery that he didn’t even perform on them, and overlook the men who did it. It seems that if Kim Jong Un said “Jump!” the Korean people wouldn’t even have to say how high, they would already have it implanted in their brain. One thing I’d like to know, if ever possible, is if it everyone in North Korea think like the people in this video. If so, I’d like to know how and why the Korean government feels like it needs to do this to people. I completely understand crowd control, as big amounts of population are hard to control. But, there’s no need to make people less than people to achieve that goal. As for US involvement in North Korea, now I believe, is not the time. I think we need to see what they want and if threats continue we need to thwart them as diplomatically possible and swiftly alleviate the situation. Because despite the fact that we don’t agree with the way they do things with their people, they still have an atomic arsenal that could possibly level the United States. I personally think we don’t need to take that risk. Then again, we can’t just let the slander of the United States of America in North Korea to continue. The more people hate us, the more dangerous North Korea is. It’s very ambiguous and honestly I think it’s just a bad situation. And finally, this video makes me proud to be an American more so than ever before. -Kim T.