The Quality of Life of North Korean

The Quality of Life of North Korean PDF Author: Korea Institute for National Unification (South Korea)
Publisher: 길잡이미디어
ISBN: 8984796670
Category : Korea (North)
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
North Korea’s economic difficulties during the mid-1990s were the decisive factor in fundamentally damaging the North Korean people’s quality of life. The standard of living has deteriorated to extreme levels of deprivation in which the right to food security, the right to health and other minimum needs for human survival are denied. Since its inauguration, the Lee Myung-bak administration has proposed policies that strive to improve the North Korean people’s “quality of life” by providing humanitarian aid to the North. Although concern regarding the “quality of life” has been discussed with a focus on aid provisions, the reality is that there is a lack of specific analyses on this subject. It is true that one can refute such analyses by stating that it would be pointless to discuss the quality of life when the North Korean economy is in a state of ruin. However, an academic approach is necessary in such discussions as a means to evaluate the propriety of applying international views onto the concept of the quality of life. With this perspective, the paper aims to review the possibility of applying international standards onto North Korea in order to systematically analyze the phenomenon that has disintegrated its quality of life. Should the international views be applicable, then this paper will explore the means by which they can be applied while also acknowledging North Korea’s special characteristics Ⅰ. Introduction Ⅱ. Theories on the Quality of Life and an Analytic Framework for its Application in North Korea 1. Current Trends in International Research on the “Quality of Life” 2. Applying the “Quality of Life” Theory to North Korea 3. The Official North Korean Discourse on Life Ⅲ. The Objective Situation of North Korea’s Quality of Life 1. The North Korean People’s Situation Regarding “Food, Clothing, and Housing” 2. The Illusion of “Free” Education and the Widening Inequality in the Quality of Education 3. The Illusion of “Free” Medical Care and the Widening Inequality in the Quality of Medical Services Ⅳ. Subjective Perceptions on Quality of Life 1. The North Korean Authority’s Official Goals for Life and Actual Perceptions 2. The Different Classes’ Quality of Life: From the “Core, Wavering and Hostility” to “Upper, Middle and Lower” 3. Generational Changes in Quality of Life: Transitional Period of the Distribution System, Food Shortages, and the Market Generations 4. Gender Differences in the Perceptions on Quality of Life Ⅴ. Conclusion: Improving the Quality of Life of the North Korean People

The Quality of Life of North Korean

The Quality of Life of North Korean PDF Author: Korea Institute for National Unification (South Korea)
Publisher: 길잡이미디어
ISBN: 8984796670
Category : Korea (North)
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
North Korea’s economic difficulties during the mid-1990s were the decisive factor in fundamentally damaging the North Korean people’s quality of life. The standard of living has deteriorated to extreme levels of deprivation in which the right to food security, the right to health and other minimum needs for human survival are denied. Since its inauguration, the Lee Myung-bak administration has proposed policies that strive to improve the North Korean people’s “quality of life” by providing humanitarian aid to the North. Although concern regarding the “quality of life” has been discussed with a focus on aid provisions, the reality is that there is a lack of specific analyses on this subject. It is true that one can refute such analyses by stating that it would be pointless to discuss the quality of life when the North Korean economy is in a state of ruin. However, an academic approach is necessary in such discussions as a means to evaluate the propriety of applying international views onto the concept of the quality of life. With this perspective, the paper aims to review the possibility of applying international standards onto North Korea in order to systematically analyze the phenomenon that has disintegrated its quality of life. Should the international views be applicable, then this paper will explore the means by which they can be applied while also acknowledging North Korea’s special characteristics Ⅰ. Introduction Ⅱ. Theories on the Quality of Life and an Analytic Framework for its Application in North Korea 1. Current Trends in International Research on the “Quality of Life” 2. Applying the “Quality of Life” Theory to North Korea 3. The Official North Korean Discourse on Life Ⅲ. The Objective Situation of North Korea’s Quality of Life 1. The North Korean People’s Situation Regarding “Food, Clothing, and Housing” 2. The Illusion of “Free” Education and the Widening Inequality in the Quality of Education 3. The Illusion of “Free” Medical Care and the Widening Inequality in the Quality of Medical Services Ⅳ. Subjective Perceptions on Quality of Life 1. The North Korean Authority’s Official Goals for Life and Actual Perceptions 2. The Different Classes’ Quality of Life: From the “Core, Wavering and Hostility” to “Upper, Middle and Lower” 3. Generational Changes in Quality of Life: Transitional Period of the Distribution System, Food Shortages, and the Market Generations 4. Gender Differences in the Perceptions on Quality of Life Ⅴ. Conclusion: Improving the Quality of Life of the North Korean People

The North Korean Conundrum

The North Korean Conundrum PDF Author: Robert R. King
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1931368686
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
North Korea is consistently identified as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. However, the issue of human rights in North Korea is a complex one, intertwined with issues like life in the North Korean police state, inter-Korean relations, denuclearization, access to information in the North, and international cooperation, to name a few. There are likewise multiple actors involved, including the two Korean governments, the United States, the United Nations, South Korea NGOs, and global human rights organizations. While North Korea’s nuclear weapons and the security threat it poses have occupied the center stage and eclipsed other issues in recent years, human rights remain important to U.S. policy. The contributors to The North Korean Conundrum explore how dealing with the issue of human rights is shaped and affected by the political issues with which it is so entwined. Sections discuss the role of the United Nations; how North Koreans’ limited access to information is part of the problem, and how this is changing; the relationship between human rights and denuclearization; and North Korean human rights in comparative perspective.

The Real North Korea

The Real North Korea PDF Author: Andrei Lankov
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199390037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
In The Real North Korea, Lankov substitutes cold, clear analysis for the overheated rhetoric surrounding this opaque police state. Based on vast expertise, this book reveals how average North Koreans live, how their leaders rule, and how both survive

Ask A North Korean

Ask A North Korean PDF Author: Daniel Tudor
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462919863
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
"In his new book, Ask a North Korean, Daniel Tudor--a former Economist journalist and current Korean beer entrepreneur-- wants people to understand the true lives of everyday North Koreans. Using translated essays written by defectors, the book covers topics from politics to pornography." -- The Boston Globe Understanding North Korean Through the Eyes of Defectors. The weekly column Ask A North Korean, published by NK News, invites readers from around the world to pose questions to North Korean defectors. Adapted from the long-running column, these fascinating interviews provide authentic firsthand testimonies about life in North Korea and what is really happening inside the "Hermit Kingdom." North Korean contributors to this book include: "Seong" who went to South Korea after dropping out during his final year of university. He is now training to be an elementary school teacher. "Kang" who left North Korea in 2005. He now lives in London, England. "Cheol" who was from South Hamgyeong in North Korea and is now a second-year university student in Seoul. "Park" worked and studied in Pyongyang before defecting to the U.S. in 2011. He is now studying at a U.S. college. Ask A North Korean sheds critical light on all aspects of North Korean politics and society and shows that, even in the world's most authoritarian regime, life goes on in ways that are very different from what outsiders may think.

The Hidden People of North Korea

The Hidden People of North Korea PDF Author: Ralph Hassig
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442237198
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
This unique book, now fully updated, provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of life in North Korea today. Drawing on decades of experience, noted experts Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh explore a world few outsiders can imagine. In vivid detail, the authors describe how the secretive and authoritarian government of Kim Jong-un shapes every aspect of its citizens' lives, how the command socialist economy has utterly failed, and how ordinary individuals struggle to survive through small-scale capitalism. Weighing the very limited individual rights allowed, the authors illustrate how the political class system and the legal system serve solely as tools of the regime. The key to understanding how the North Korean people live, the authors argue, is to realize that their only allowed role is to support Kim Jong-un, whose grandfather founded the country in the late 1940s. Still a cypher, Kim Jong-un, as did his father before him, controls his people by keeping them isolated and banning most foreigners. North Koreans remain hungry and oppressed, yet the outside world is slowly filtering in, and the book concludes by urging the United States to flood North Korea with information so that its people can make decisions based on truth rather than their dictator's ubiquitous propaganda.

Women of North Korea

Women of North Korea PDF Author: Kim Won-hong
Publisher: 길잡이미디어
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
CHAPTER 1: North Korea ’s Policies towar d Women 1. How women are perceived in North Korea 6 2. Gender equality policy 12 CHAPTER 2: Family Life of North Korean Women 1. Family system 25 2. Marriage and divorce 27 3. Pregnancy and childbirth 31 CHAPTER 3: Economic Act ivities of North Korean Women 1. Economic participation 38 2. Social policies in support of women’'s economic activities 44 CHAPTER 4: Social Act ivities of North Korean Women 1. Education 50 2. Politics 54 3. Public organization activities 58 CHAPTER 5: Chan ges in North Korean Women ’'s Lives after the Economic Crisis 1. Changes in the way of life and survival 71 2. Changes in life and perceptions 86 3. Changes in role and status 92 CHAPTER 6: Conc lusion

The Cleanest Race

The Cleanest Race PDF Author: B.R. Myers
Publisher: Melville House
ISBN: 1935554972
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Understanding North Korea through its propaganda What do the North Koreans really believe? How do they see themselves and the world around them? Here B.R. Myers, a North Korea analyst and a contributing editor of The Atlantic, presents the first full-length study of the North Korean worldview. Drawing on extensive research into the regime’s domestic propaganda, including films, romance novels and other artifacts of the personality cult, Myers analyzes each of the country’s official myths in turn—from the notion of Koreans’ unique moral purity, to the myth of an America quaking in terror of “the Iron General.” In a concise but groundbreaking historical section, Myers also traces the origins of this official culture back to the Japanese fascist thought in which North Korea’s first ideologues were schooled. What emerges is a regime completely unlike the West’s perception of it. This is neither a bastion of Stalinism nor a Confucian patriarchy, but a paranoid nationalist, “military-first” state on the far right of the ideological spectrum. Since popular support for the North Korean regime now derives almost exclusively from pride in North Korean military might, Pyongyang can neither be cajoled nor bullied into giving up its nuclear program. The implications for US foreign policy—which has hitherto treated North Korea as the last outpost of the Cold War—are as obvious as they are troubling. With North Korea now calling for a “blood reckoning” with the “Yankee jackals,” Myers’s unprecedented analysis could not be more timely.

Life in North Korea: Psychological Insights Into the Regime and Those Who Escape

Life in North Korea: Psychological Insights Into the Regime and Those Who Escape PDF Author: Benjamin Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781521522950
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
A rogue state that has endured since 1948....what keeps it going?***From writer and PsychCentral contributor Benjamin E Taylor***North Korea remains one of the most reclusive nations in the world. It is governed by a dictatorial regime that has been accused of horrific human rights violations in recent years. The country endures in spite of widespread concerns regarding the regimes nuclear weapons program, and numerous reports of a complex system of Soviet-style prison camps scattered throughout the country.A Psychology of Fear and ControlThe North Korean regime controls every aspect of its citizens' lives, including employment, education, political and religious affiliations, food supply, and accommodation. Dissent is severely punished, and unquestionable loyalty to Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un is required of all citizens. North Korean children are taught that their leader has magical powers, and that their country is the richest in the world. No EscapeDeparting from North Korea is treason. Such an act can be punished by execution or confinement to 're-education' camps. Travel within North Korea itself may be extremely difficult, as permits are often required; meaning that reaching the border can be troublesome. Crossing the border into South Korea is impossible. The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is the most heavily fortified place on the planet - so refugees must cross into China and risk being sent back by the Chinese police - or shot. Re-learning how to LiveNorth Korean refugees who arrive in South Korea undergo extensive rehabilitation so that they can learn how to adapt and function in life outside their alien home country. Adaptation may be difficult however. South Korea is a highly progressive, industrialized and capitalist country - completely unlike what North Koreans are told by the regime. Understandably, North Korean defectors also frequently suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues. The Current BookThe current book sheds light on the North Korea of today - tracing its history back to before the Korean War, and describing Kim Il Sung's machinations that enabled him to achieve ultimate power and establish himself as a living god within the North Korean psyche. A focus also falls on the experiences of North Korean defectors, and how they may have difficulties adjusting to life outside their home country. The following questions are answered in this book:* What is the Juche idea?* Why is the military a huge part of life in North Korea?* Why do North Koreans escape their country?* What is the escape journey like?* How do North Koreans thrive in their new lives?

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader PDF Author: Bradley K. Martin
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9781429906999
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 880

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Book Description
Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader offers in-depth portraits of North Korea's two ruthless and bizarrely Orwellian leaders, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. Lifting North Korea's curtain of self-imposed isolation, this book will take readers inside a society, that to a Westerner, will appear to be from another planet. Subsisting on a diet short on food grains and long on lies, North Koreans have been indoctrinated from birth to follow unquestioningly a father-son team of megalomaniacs. To North Koreans, the Kims are more than just leaders. Kim Il-Sung is the country's leading novelist, philosopher, historian, educator, designer, literary critic, architect, general, farmer, and ping-pong trainer. Radios are made so they can only be tuned to the official state frequency. "Newspapers" are filled with endless columns of Kim speeches and propaganda. And instead of Christmas, North Koreans celebrate Kim's birthday--and he presents each child a present, just like Santa. The regime that the Kim Dynasty has built remains technically at war with the United States nearly a half century after the armistice that halted actual fighting in the Korean War. This fascinating and complete history takes full advantage of a great deal of source material that has only recently become available (some from archives in Moscow and Beijing), and brings the reader up to the tensions of the current day. For as this book will explain, North Korea appears more and more to be the greatest threat among the Axis of Evil countries--with some defector testimony warning that Kim Jong-Il has enough chemical weapons to wipe out the entire population of South Korea.

In Order to Live

In Order to Live PDF Author: Yeonmi Park
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698409361
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
“I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.” - Yeonmi Park "One of the most harrowing stories I have ever heard - and one of the most inspiring." - The Bookseller “Park's remarkable and inspiring story shines a light on a country whose inhabitants live in misery beyond comprehension. Park's important memoir showcases the strength of the human spirit and one young woman's incredible determination to never be hungry again.” —Publishers Weekly In In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park shines a light not just into the darkest corners of life in North Korea, describing the deprivation and deception she endured and which millions of North Korean people continue to endure to this day, but also onto her own most painful and difficult memories. She tells with bravery and dignity for the first time the story of how she and her mother were betrayed and sold into sexual slavery in China and forced to suffer terrible psychological and physical hardship before they finally made their way to Seoul, South Korea—and to freedom. Park confronts her past with a startling resilience. In spite of everything, she has never stopped being proud of where she is from, and never stopped striving for a better life. Indeed, today she is a human rights activist working determinedly to bring attention to the oppression taking place in her home country. Park’s testimony is heartbreaking and unimaginable, but never without hope. This is the human spirit at its most indomitable.