May 6, 2016 ▸ Places, War & Conflict

Episode 88: North Korea – Evil Incarnate?

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This episode focuses on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea.

This nation, branded as a terrorist state and part of the “Axis of Evil” by George W. Bush, has been under the thumb of a family of dictators since 1945 when it formed. The nation was split up between the Soviet Union and the United States at the end of World War II when it was liberated from Japanese occupation. Since then, the country has been ruled by three generations of tyrants, each one seemingly worse than the last: Kim Il-Sung, his son Kim Jong-Il, and the newest and youngest (and worstest) Kim Jong-un. (And I sincerely apologize in advance for an endless stream of insulting jokes about Korean names…).

This terrible trio of tyrany practices a policy called Juche, which means Self Reliance, and they also practice Songun, which is a policy that places the military first, above education, agriculture, or any other national institution. North Korea is widely known to be one of the worst nation’s on Earth in terms of human rights abuse, and frighteningly, they have the fourth largest standing army waiting at the border called the DMZ. We talk about all of this and the specific examples of their prison system, public executions (where they force families to watch and kill relatives if they cry), and even their practice of imprisoning three generations of a family if one of them speaks out. Also, tune in to hear about what Kim Jong-Il told his people about himself, including the “fact” that he’s an international fashion icon and the “fact” that he invented the hamburger and was born under a double rainbow on a magical mountain. I’m not making that up…