The State We’re In, 9 January 2010: The world has reason to be nervous about the rogue nation and its nuclear program. And people within the country also have reason to be scared - it has 154,000 political
prisoners in six camps across the country and its human rights record is atrocious. We speak to a former
prisoner and to a former prison guard about what they went through.
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Imprisoned in North Korea: a survivor’s tale
Jung Gwang Il spent three years in a North Korean labor camp. While the country is notoriously closed to outsiders, the camps themselves are barely known within the country. And not many people live to talk about their time in one. Jung Gwang Il tells Jonathan how he survived the camp and escaped to South Korea.
A prison guard’s escape
An Myeong Chul was a prison guard for eight years. While there, he saw prisoners starved, executed and he even beat them himself - believing that they were all enemies of the state. But when he learned that he could wind up in prison himself, he stole a truck and escaped to China. Now all he wants is for Korea to be united, and forgiveness for what he did.
Happy hermit
Solutide is a luxury very few of us can boast. But contributor Dany Mitzman found one Italian man - Emanuele Capra - who lives the solo life in a remote mountain village and loves it, even though his family thinks he’s a little crazy.
Dilemma!
The case of the counterfeit cash: when Leila (not her real name) got a wad of cash, she didn’t know it was counterfeit, and began spending. Then she found out, but what then - should she pass on the problem and spend it? Report it to the police and lose her money? She tells Jonathan what she did. We won’t give it away here, but will say that Leila can at least laugh about her dilemma now.
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Wow. The interviews with the North Korean men kept me in my car, in the parking lot at work, so I could hear the rest. Truly fascinating...and frightening. I found it interesting that both men accepted life in NK as "normal" and didn't question the evil under it all. Question?! They didn't even recognize it as evil. My stomach is still turning.
Natan Sharansky, in The Case for Democracy, talks about the deadening effect a totalitarian regime has on the human spirit. These interviews bear that out.
Dear oiuuoiuoiuy,
Thanks for the kind words. We don't have any more pictures of Emanuele, the Italian hermit. But I'm grateful that you found the program interesting.
All the best,
Greg Kelly
Editor, The State We're in
Why is the European general media more enlightened than our counterpart here in the US with respect to the North Korean crisis? It seems that there is an intentional marginalization of those who are truly trying to tell the truth...
The European general media is more enlightened with respect to EVERYTHING than the US media. The media here is sometimes called the MSM, mainstream media, but a better acronym would be CFP: corporate fascist press. Most Americans are almost as clueless as to what really is going on in their country as North Koreans are about the prison society they live in.
Not even the "public" media in Amerika can even come close to producing an absolutely fascinating and appaling story such as these two interviews of escapees from that horrid country. Too bad they didn't conclude by talking to a "human rights" person living in China. There must be one or two there who haven't yet been imprisoned for criticizing an "allied country", North Korea. There's no hope for North Korea until China keeps its nose out of North Korean affairs.
Hi there RNW, another great hour of radio, many many thanks!
Are there more pictures of the guy herding goats in the Italian mountains?
Thanks again and keep up the very very good work.
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