DPRK
By C. McCarthy
Staff Reporter
PYONGYANG -- On the fringes of the modern age, out of reach from the grip of globalization, exists one of the world’s greatest enigmas _ North Korea. Decades of isolation, acts of terrorism and a human rights record that is less than favorable has branded the Stalinist state an ``outpost of tyranny,’’ a member of the exclusive ``axis of evil.’’
Glimpses of life inside the hermit kingdom are rare and recent reports of starvation and the country’s unwillingness to follow through with its pledge to denuclearize following a six-nation agreement in Beijing has led the international community to question the true intentions of the Kim Jong-il regime.
The 65-year-old revered head of state, a.k.a the Dear Leader, whose political futility sees him better fit to direct films than to direct a nation of 27 million has many experts wondering how long the nearly bankrupt nation can last amidst rumors of a fracturing military. North Korea has the third largest military in the world.
Political dissent is rare in the country, where religious and political freedoms are outlawed, and those even showing the slightest opposition toward the Dear Leader or the hard-line military have been known to be sent to the Gulags.
Cut off from information and resources _ Pyongyang has one Internet cafe, while televisions and radios are dialed into only state approved channels _ North Koreans live an Orwellian existence centered around Juche, the national ideology of self-reliance articulated by the Dear Leader’s father, Kim Il-sung, one of the founders of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the ``eternal president’’ of the world’s last Stalinist regime.
Life in the country is subject to a 24-hour propaganda blitz. Everywhere one looks in the capital city Pyongyang, with its meticulously kept streets and modern buildings, an awesome showcase of billboards and monuments advertising only one product _ the Kim dynasty _ is on display.
News out of Pyongyang offers little to the outside world and is generally limited to occasional sightings of the Dear Leader and his ``on-the-spot’’ guidance tours.
In an effort to keep out what Pyongyang sees as ``impure elements,’’ western journalists have long been denied access to the country and the selected few who do travel there are usually only offered manufactured tours with little access beyond the Pyongyang curtain.
Though what seems as an attempt by the North Korean government to generate foreign currency, tours to the North are beginning to spring up, however, travel within the county remains highly restricted and tourists must be accompanied by two ``controllers’’ at all times. Those interested in experiencing first hand the time warp that is North Korea should contact nkkimm@gmail.com.