North Korea and Planet Earth

Yash Ramchandani

22 February 2010

'North Korea and the planet Earth'

ENGL 101, Section N UTR 12:00pm

Mr. James Henry

I pledge that this is entirely my own work.

"He said that the U.S. has no plans to attack North Korea... he has something even more deadly in store for them, 'we're going to bring them democracy'" - Bill Maher. North Korea is a dictatorship and a communist state. It follows the ideology of self-reliance. North Korea has been cut-off from the world in many ways. Its name appears mostly in political news due to its unstable relations with other countries, especially with the U.S, and its exploitation of human rights. North Korea differs immensely from other countries. The North Korean life has always been a controversial topic as its citizens live a very strict and unjust life. The country differs in many ways from the rest of the planet.

In this world, everyone has the right to go practically anywhere they want to. There are no absolute restrictions. People around the world can travel to other countries for holiday purposes, educational purposes, business purposes, and many more. A person can travel around the globe to see the Niagara Falls, to explore the Arabian deserts, or to enjoy at the Australian beaches. However, that person cannot visit one place by his or her own will, North Korea. If a person is born in North Korea, he or she will almost certainly never see the rest of the world. Going on a vacation, going abroad to study, going out for business purposes, these kinds of things are a dream-come-true for North Korean citizens. According to the North Korean laws, a person born in North Korea stays in North Korea, and cannot leave the country for the rest of his or her life, be it for any purpose. Neither can anyone from outside effortlessly come to North Korea. Communications between citizens and outsiders are also banned. If someone ventures outside North Korea, he or she commits a huge crime. So big is the crime that its punishment is death. Either way, in North Korea, the punishment for any crime is death. However, whoever has been able to escape the isolation has surely tasted freedom.

In today's time, human rights are at its peak. Many countries have imposed laws to protect its citizens. Laws against discrimination have significantly improved citizen rights. Not only have citizen rights improved over the years, but so have media rights, disabled rights, and religion rights. However, in North Korea 'rights' is a hypocritical word. The land is referred to as the 'bad land' and one of the 'axes of evil' because of its exploitation of citizen rights. Although North Korean constitution guarantees