North Korea notes #2

Today during class, we reviewed the notes from yesterday. Carson was the teacher of the day. She went over the slides from yesterday.

Notes for test:
- Kim Il-Sung, ruled from 1912-1994
- He was Prime Minister from 48-94
- Died 1994
- establishment of "cult of personality"
- He destroyed over 2000 Buddhist and Christian churches

Passing the Torch
- Kim Jong-Il ruled from 1991-2011
- Ruled as Supreme leader

Kim Jong-Un
- Born 1983
- Came into rule on December 17th, 2011
- Youngest ruling leader, he is 32 years old

Notes we didn't go through yesterday:
- North Korea places 4th place for active military. Chine 1st, USA 2nd, India 3rd, North Korea 4th
- North Korea is considered a Nuclear-weapon state

North Korea leader notes

So who's in charge?
- Kim Il-Sung ( 1912-1994)
- ruled from 1948-1994
        - Prime Minister 1948-1994
        - President 1972 until death
- Great Leader. Eternal Leader. Supreme Leader, Eternal President of the Republic
- Under Kim Il-Sung
- Kim Il-Sung viewed as god
- establishment of "cult of personality"
- The people are required to show extreme denotation to him
- during early part of his rule, the state destroyed over 2000 Buddhist and Christian churches

Passing the torch
- Kim Jong-Il (1941-2011)
- Ruled from 1994-2011 as supreme leader

The present supreme leader
- Kim Jong-Un
- Born in 1983
- Became supreme leader
- December 17, 2011, after death of his father
- 32 years-old the worlds youngest leader

North Korea Documentary #2

Today during class, we finished the North Korea video from yesterday. We watched the part were we got to look into a  North Korean citizens home. What I noticed was that the only pictures in the house was the North Korean leaders. There were no family pictures. When it was time to unfold the bandages around the blind people, everyone sat in rows in front of a picture of North Koreas leader. One by one each persons bandages were unfolded and then when they could see, they immediately went to the picture of the Korean Leader and then gave thanks. When that person gave thanks, they made also made a promise to the leader saying something like I will work harder or I will love you forever or I am very grateful. Everyone sitting down in rows would also say cheer with the person standing in the front. We also got to see a North Korean soldier story about him escaping North Korea. I was surprised about what happened. He and his friend wanted to escape. The guy escaped successfully but his friend didn’t. His friend got electrocuted by the electric fences. I also learned that the North Koreans scare their people by using concentration camps. If the people do something wrong, they are to be sent to the concentration camps. I find this really scary because the people are being pressured into having to follow the harsh rules, and if they don’t, they go to concentration camps.

North Korea Documentary

Today during class, we watch a video document on what life is like in North Korea. The people recording the video, is a crew from Nepal. There is a doctor from Nepal that wants to go to Korea to perform a surgery for the people in North Korea. The surgery is for people who are blind. There are camera workers with him. The people with the cameras are taking shots of what life in North Korea is like. They get away with it because they said they are recording only what the doctor is doing. But they sneak in shots of the daily life of North Korea. The doctor could only stay in North Korea for only 10 days and he has to help about 1,000 people. There were people in the 30s that had to get this surgery done. What also surprised me in this video was the fact that everyone raised in Korea were taught to worship there leader since birth. Mothers taught their children’s songs about how bad America is.

North Korea Notes

What do you already know?
- oppressive government
- very secluded and isolated from the world
- currently headed by Kim Jong Un

Oppressive Government
- State-run socialist government that many consider to be a stalinist dictatorship
- Official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK )
- Notice that they say "Korea", not North Korea - they claim to be legitimate rulers of the entire peninsula
- isolated by the government
- also somewhat isolated on a peninsula
- Pyongyang is the capital
        - Located at 39 degrees north ( latitude )
        - Bel Air, Maryland is also located 39 degrees north ( latitude )