North Korea is heaven on Earth, according to its leaders, and a total hell, according to the citizens of this country, who miraculously managed to leave it. The interest of the world community in this country was fueled by the scandalous film "Interview", the plot of which was based on a fictional story about an attempt on the life of the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un. We have collected facts in our review, on the basis of which it becomes clear what is happening behind the "North Korean Iron Curtain."
Labor concentration camps
In North Korea, there are currently about 16 huge labor camps, which can be compared to the GULAGs. They are usually located in mountainous areas. It is estimated that around 200,000 prisoners are being held behind the barbed wire of these camps, through which electricity is also passed.
Defectors, traitors and ex-politicians who did not come to the court of the DPRK government end up in the North Korean gulags.
Punishment by inheritance
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North Korean laws envisage punishment for "three generations": if someone commits a crime, not only he will pay off, but also his children and grandchildren. All of them will be punished accordingly. This usually leads to people spending their entire lives in camps.
One of the worst crimes that a North Korean citizen can commit is trying to leave the country. Disagreement with the government is considered treason. And the person who decided to ask how people live in other countries signs a death warrant for himself.
Insurance fraud
The North Korean economy is in decline. The country practically does not interact with foreign markets, so there is no export as such. Currently, the population of North Korea is about 25 million people, and the average GDP per capita is about $ 500 (for comparison, in the Russian Federation in 2013 it was about $ 15,000). The country is struggling to feed its citizens and in this endeavor even goes to economic crimes.
So, in 2009, the DPRK government was accused of global insurance fraud. The North Korean government obtained huge insurance policies for property and equipment, and then claimed that the property was destroyed. In 2005, several of the world's largest insurance companies, including Lloyd's in London, filed a lawsuit against North Korea over an alleged helicopter crash and paid $ 58 million under the insurance policy.
Arms trade
In addition to insurance fraud, the United Nations also accused North Korea of illegally selling weapons and nuclear technology to countries in Africa and the Middle East. So, in 2012, the UN detained a North Korean cargo bound for Syria - 450 cylinders of graphite intended for use in ballistic missiles. In 2009, supplies to Iran and the Republic of the Congo were intercepted: one contained 35 tons of missile components, and the other contained Soviet-era tanks.
The UN imposed sanctions, banning North Korea from supplying or selling missile technology, but the DPRK government said the sanctions were illegal and the country could do whatever it wanted. It is known that the bulk of the money goes to Kim Jong-un's wallet, but not for food for his people.
Electricity shortage
The capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, is a kind of utopia for the elite. The city's borders are patrolled by armed guards to keep the country's lower classes out of the city. Most Pyongyang residents live in luxury (at least in this country's terms).
However, even for three million upper class citizens, electricity is only switched on for an hour or two a day. Sometimes, especially in winter, electricity is completely cut off as millions of people struggle to cope with the cold. Most of the houses outside Pyongyang are not even connected to the electricity grid. This is clearly visible in night photographs from space: China and South Korea are flooded with lights, while North Korea is a solid dark spot.
Three caste system
In 1957, as Kim Il Sung struggled to maintain control of North Korea, he launched a global investigation into the country's "trustworthiness". The end result of this investigation was a completely altered social system, dividing the country's citizens into three classes: "enemies", "wavering" and "base."
Refugees from North Korea at the border.
This division was not based on the person's personality, but on his family history. Families loyal to the government were included in the "base" class and were given better opportunities for life. They are now, as a rule, politicians and people closely associated with the government.
People in the middle class are "hesitant" or neutral. The government does not support them in any way, but it does not oppress them either. With a happy coincidence, they can become the "base".
Children of the lower caste. North Korea.
The class "enemies" included those people, among whose ancestors were noticed in such terrible crimes against the state as Christianity and land ownership. According to Kim Il Sung, it is they who pose the main threat to the country. These people are deprived of the opportunity to receive education, they cannot even live next to Pyongyang and, as a rule, they are beggars.
Fertilizers from human feces
North Korea is a mountainous country with cold winters and short, monsoon summers. About 80% of the country's territory is located on the slopes of the mountains, so most of the land is infertile.
Fields fertilized with human feces.
North Korea has always relied on foreign aid to obtain fertilizers. Until the early 1990s, the DPRK helped the USSR with fertilizers, and until 2008, 500,000 tons of fertilizers per year came from South Korea. When the imported fertilizers were gone, North Korean farmers were forced to turn to a new source - human waste. Even a state program has been adopted, within the framework of which enterprises have been given a quota for the delivery of feces - about 2000 tons per year. Today there are even shops selling human feces as fertilizer.
South Korean citizenship
Many North Korean citizens flee to neighboring countries. It is China's official policy to deport them back across the border. In their homeland, such refugees are either killed or sent to forced labor camps for many decades.
Chinese border guards prevent Korean refugees from entering.
Unlike China, South Korea pursues a policy of near-absolute pardon: all North Korean defectors (who are not criminals) are immediately granted citizenship, vocational training, and psychological counseling for those in need. Refugees are offered an allowance of $ 800 a month, and employers who hire them can expect a bonus of $ 1800.
All the North Koreans need is to provide proof of citizenship. But even in their absence, the authorities, as a rule, turn a blind eye to this. After all, refugees from the camps do not have any documents in principle.
Refugees from North Korea at the border.
More than 24,500 North Korean defectors have been registered in South Korea since 1953. Since 2002, South Korea has received an average of 1,000 refugees annually. The Chinese government estimates that up to 200,000 North Koreans are illegally hiding in the mountains and countryside of the Middle Kingdom. Many people who flee North Korea to China die during the long journeys.
Cannibalism
Between 1994 and 1998, North Korea experienced extensive flooding and much of its agricultural land fell into disrepair. The growing debt to the USSR ruled out food imports. As a result, entire cities began to die out. During this time, about 3.5 million people died of hunger - more than 10% of the country's population. Any food supplies were confiscated by the military in accordance with the Songun (Army First) policy. North Koreans began to eat their pets, then crickets and tree bark, and finally children.
Hungry children.
It was at that time that the saying became popular: "Don't buy meat if you don't know where it comes from." According to the stories of defectors, in those years people were looking for street children at train stations, put them to sleep and butchered them at home. There is at least one official account of a man who practiced cannibalism.
Prisons and torture
Very few people escaped the DPRK forced labor camps, survived and were able to talk about what was happening there. Shin Dong-Hyuk is a man who escaped from the dreaded "Camp 14", which is considered the most brutal labor camp in the country, because it contains the worst political criminals. His story is told in the Escape from Camp 14 book.
Kwang-li-so (Prison Labor Camp) # 14 (Covert).
Shin was born in the camp because his uncle deserted from the army and fled to South Korea. When he was 14 years old, he tried to escape with his mother and brother. They were caught and taken to an underground prison, where they were brutally tortured. According to Shin Dong-Hyuk, he was hung from the ceiling by his legs to obtain evidence against his mother. When that didn't work, he was hung by his arms and legs downward with his back and slowly lowered over a vat filled with hot coals until the skin on his back was completely burned. In between interrogations, he was thrown into a tiny concrete punishment cell. Hundreds of people have been tortured in North Korean prisons.
And further…
In December 2011, after the end of mourning for Kim Jong Il, comradely trials began in the country over people who cried badly. As reported by the DPRK government media, the courts were conducted by labor collectives, and the guilty ones faced up to six months of labor camps.
Cried badly - to punish.