Author: nokeakuahawaiiedu

After briefly reading the book and the article about Syria I found the war between all these different groups interesting. I say this because non of these people show any remorse for taking other peoples lives, there are so many groups at war with each other it’s insane for example the Syrian Civil War, ISIS, Al-qaeda and a bunch of others. This cause about 4.5 million people to leave their homes for their lives and if not then they risk dying from anyone of these groups. There is no mercy when it comes to this war they torture, kill, rape and starve people to make an example out of them. I want to understand their reasoning for this war and what they believe they will achieve if they continue on this road to destruction.

    For many years the North Korean Government has brainwashed their citizens with either fear or with promises of rewards for example clothes, food or televisions. The Government has done this in order to restrict their citizens knowledge of the outside world and to reassure that the people stay loyal to the leader. While reading the book “Nothing to Envy” it was obvious there is a limit to how much people can endure, once they are at their limit they finally think for themselves and realize everything that is going on around them instead of just obeying the Government.

    Dr. Kim a character is a in the book who ended up defecting because she couldn’t take the suffering and pain that the North Korean Government inflicted anymore. She has seen so many people die throughout her short career as a doctor even her own daughter died along with many other children. Majority of the deaths were due to starvation or diseases, she said “I remember all of them”. That’s not all she also said “they would look at me with accusing eyes. Even four year olds knew they were dying and that I wasn’t doing anything to help them”. Even though she went through this over and over again it never got easy she says “all she was capable of doing was to cry with their mothers over their dead bodies afterwards”. She had already came to the realization about North Korea but what finally gave her the push she needed was her father telling her to go to China where she had family. Not to long after hearing it she finally built up the courage and defected.

    Another character with independent thinking is Mrs. Song she was a firm believer in the teaching of the Great leader and knew everything by heart. She despised those who would break the law by selling things at the black market or do anything to go against what she was told by the Government. She was indeed the ideal citizen of North Korea. Everything was great for her and her family until she reached her breaking point and this was due to a combination of events such as starvation and the loss of her mother in law, husband and her daughter. She started not to care about anyone or anything her survival instincts kicked in and she ended up becoming the person she despised. She knew she couldn’t rely on the Government that she so strongly believed in before so she took matters into her own hands. She would sell books, own animals, sell rice(which is highly illegal), basically everything she had. She wanted to die because she lost everything that meant anything to her but for some odd reason she couldn’t.

    One of the most recent characters I read about was very interesting to me his name is Kim Hyuck he started his independent thinking at a very young age not because he wanted to but because he had to. He had to learn how to survive by himself this began shortly after his mother passed away. He got into an argument with his step mother because she would feed her daughter more than him or his brother this led them to stealing in order to survive. When he was ten years old he stole from a stranger for the first time he ended up being caught by police and his father picked him up and told him “no boy of mine will be a thief”. It’s easy to see where the father is coming from but his child who is starving to death is just trying to survive by any means necessary. He kept on stealing food or items in order to trade for food until he gathered up the courage to cross the border and steal from there and sell the things he stole in North Korea or vise versa, he even joined a gang at a young age in order to survive.

   This is just a bit of what people are going through in North Korea and it shows you the pain and suffering they had to endure in order to live another day because they could die at any moment. You don’t have to be poor to be an independent thinker but all of these people who have had experiences that pushed them over the edge so that they question not only their beliefs but their Government as well. It goes to show you when faced with a life or death situation people are willing to do what it takes to survive and that is what creates an independent thinker. It is those who are willing to do things and exceed their limits in order to survive.   

Nokeakua Nakachi-Isaacs

English 100

3/4/19

    North Korea has a tight hold on their citizens scaring them into doing exactly what they want. Unfortunately not everyone can just sit back and lay down as commanded. People have been pushed passed the breaking point to where they are finally thinking for themselves this is due to many reasons. For example starving to death, watching others die in front of their eyes, losing your loved ones the possibilities are endless. After encountering these experiences they place doubts on the Government and decide to break laws in order to survive because they know they can’t trust anyone but themselves.

Jun Sang is a child of a very prominent family who has a good standing in the north Korean Government and is able to get anything he wants because he is pretty wealthy compared to other North Koreans citizens. Hyuk on the other hand was abandoned by his father at a very early age and left to fend for himself by stealing and taking risks in order to survive thus gaining a bunch of knowledge and survival techniques.

This article relates to the book “Nothing to Envy” because it shows how controlling the government is and how far they are willing to go to limit the amount of information the citizens can receive. It also talks about how the KCBS talks mostly about the Kim family and how great they are just like what we read in the book.

I think Demick was drawn to this article because it had a lot of information about peoples personal experiences. It wasn’t just one person who was interviewed but the author of “The Arts and the Media” also wrote about his experience as well. I also think he was drawn to it because he might not have been able to gain this information if it hadn’t for this other author. Being able to read about someones first hand experience about something he wasn’t aware of thats why I think he was drawn to it.

I do feel like this is a very high value article. I say this because it came from people who had to live through this. Luckily one of the people who was interviewed escaped from a prison camp and lived to tell how cruel and strict the government was. Not to mention the author who had a different experience and also was able to tell us about it. Not being there but able to hear it from people who lived it that to me gave this article value.

After reading “Nothing to Envy” I think the most threatened person in the book by North Korean leaders is Dr. Kim. I say this because her family is of high ranking in North Korea and she’s highly respected. Even though she seems well off she has seen so many people die like her father, child and other children due to starvation and illnesses. She is now faced with the toughest decision of her life leaving everything she worked so hard for behind and escaping North Korea or staying and continuously feeling helpless and scared for the rest of her life.

After reading chapter seven I was so impressed by Dr. Kim because she is motivating, passionate, dedicated and over all amazing. This is just the tip of the iceberg for what type of person she is. She continuously sets new goals to accomplish, she works hard in order to get better and even when the odds are against her she keeps pushing to do better. Even though she is a high rank among other North Koreans she is still being watched and harmed by the regime. Her income vanished so she is working without pay, she is seeing all these people die around her and she cant do anything about it and now shes also starving. Even though she was well off now shes not and after going through everything she finally got the strength she needed to get out of that country and defect.

In the article “Hardly Known” it gave me a deeper insight in what these POW’s and to endure for many of years. All their pain and suffering for years on end were very disturbing to read. Mostly because hearing their story and the suffering they had to go through in order to survive was so intense. It was a real shock when I was reading and the man said 70,000 people were captured in the war and only 20 of them remain because of the torture and brutal environments they had to fight through. This was very disturbing and disgusting to read but I am happy I got to read it because it gave me a better understanding of what North Korea is doing and how they treat not only the POW’s but their citizens too. I feel like this article was amazing because it came from a person who had first hand experience. He fought his hardest and made it out to tell everyone his story and I’m glad someone helped him publish his story because everyone should know whats happening and what all these people have to go through.

After reading a couple chapters of “Nothing To Envy” I noticed a bunch of interesting things that go on in North Korea. One that really caught my eye was the restrictions that their government put on the public. I thought this was the most interesting to me because they limit the amount information the public gets and blame it mostly on the U.S. They blame everyone for their food shortage and the way they live. Another thing I noticed was how they have different ranking in their society. The ranking is based on who you are and how close you are to Kim Jong-il. This ranking system is brutal because people can keep dropping and be treated different but there is no way to get out of the hole you dug. It doesn’t just affect you but your family and future generations to me this is brutal and a way to control people easier.