Category: Opinion & Analysis

One of the options for dealing with North Korea’s military provocations is a preemptive strike, on military targets and/or on Kim Jong Un himself. Given what could go wrong, this is a scary idea, especially for those of us living close by in South Korea.  It also appears somehow undemocratic or certainly unpeaceful for a democracy to even consider it. Furthermore, why advocate war in a situation where war has been avoided for 70 years?

As the generation of North Koreans who grew up familiar with the jangmadang market system enters adulthood, the state is cracking down harshly to prevent their “impure” attitudes and tastes – which include a preference for South Korean music and movies – from going mainstream. 

Back in June 2018, after watching news of the summit between Kim Jong Un and then-US President Donald J. Trump on TV, a friend in my hometown had a quirky suggestion.

Growing up in North Korea, I was not familiar with “human rights.” It wasn’t that I was just unaware of what it meant. I didn’t even know the concept existed. I hadn’t heard the phrase. This was not just ignorance on my part or among my friends and family members. I’ve found since escaping North Korea that, with the exception of a few elite defectors, none of us knew. We all lived without knowing what human rights were.

“We stay silent not because our life is good enough, but to survive.”  This was my response to a question from a member of the audience during my lecture on North Korea, who asked, “Aren’t the people of North Korea not protesting and staying silent because their life is good enough?”

To survive in North Korea, rules 1, 2, and 3 are “Watch your mouth.”

Recently, Kim Jong Un’s daughter, Kim Ju Ae, has received a lot of international media attention, and on January 4, 2024, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) determined that she is Kim Jong Un’s “most likely successor.”  

Speculation about the third succession within North Korea’s ruling family – fueled by hype and arbitrary interpretations – has been treated as if it were an established fact by both South Korean and international media.

However, North Koreans interviewed for this article are skeptical.

The denuclearization of North Korea still remains elusive decades after the DPRK conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, but the reason for its nuclear threats is becoming clearer and more dangerous as time passes.

The persistence of the Kim dynasty’s human rights abuses in North Korea for over 70 years is appalling, and the international community must continue to make efforts to end this multi-generational savagery. Tragically, Kim Jong-un continues to perpetuate these crimes with impunity.

“If you really want to tell people about the current human rights situation in North Korea, fly there and talk to North Koreans since that would be faster. Why would you give our president an extra burden?”

“I’m ashamed of my mom!” shouted an elementary school daughter to her mother, who was about to meet her homeroom teacher.