North Korean political prisoner

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Gwang Il Jung was kept in prison for 3 years in political prison camp Yodok, North Korea. After his liberation he excaped to South Korea. Now he's leading an organisation in South Korea that fights against the existence of these camps. Because there are still 600.000 people kept in those camps.

The orginal part was in Dutch so I tried to translate it as best as I could
Source: wereldomroep YT

Comments

[jonghyunf.livejournal.com]

holy shit.

don't know how to respond so um...very lovely icon, op! <3

[honeyfunnybunny.livejournal.com]

they reported him because noticed that he earned a lot of money?

.. that's just.. idek if there's a word for it because it might be normal in North Korea to do such things?
It's so scary to think of how the "normal" people are suffering, then how much would the ones in the camps be suffering?
and the part about how some prisoners dissapear without a trace reminds of how denmark once made a documentary in north korea(where they disguised themselves and even tricked the interpreter into thinking they were tourists) and got in. and when the documentary aired, the guide/interpreter got arrested even though she didn't know anything about it and "dissapeared" without a trace.

[byronsbitch.livejournal.com]

I guess it would be a common thing to report people for because they are communists and communists don't believe in private enterprise, especially extreme communists like North Koreans.

[ryoflame.livejournal.com]

Ugh this topic hurts my heart every time I hear about it T__T I really need to get off my ass and try and do something to contribute to this cause.

Really OT, but yay for other Dutchies in the fandom :DD

[muffincrash.livejournal.com]

Really OT, but yay for other Dutchies in the fandom :DD

yay indeed =D I get happy everytime I see fellow dutchies hehe

[letsrelapse.livejournal.com]

jesus. I don't even know... The more I find out about North Korea, the more it baffles me. Imprisoned, tortured and never seeing your family again because you're making money.
I'm glad the man in the programme escaped NK, and I have mad respect for him publicising that things like this do go on and it needs to be spoken about, but it must be heartbreaking to go through all of that torture, then to finally be released and find your family are gone. Thanks for translating/posting.

[lyuna.livejournal.com]

My heart hurts every time I hear/read something like this... I can't even begin to imagine what life there is like, but it must be horrible :(

):

[kishikiari.livejournal.com]

auschwitz part2

Re: ):

[kishikiari.livejournal.com]

more brutal or not I wish for someone to do something to help them, like "they" did back then

Re: ):

[kishikiari.livejournal.com]

because they are afraid of nk's nuclear power... this pisses me off so much... i don't even...

Re: ):

[byronsbitch.livejournal.com]

no just no.

Auschwitz

[byronsbitch.livejournal.com]

It cannot be worse than this. People come out alive from Korean camps, they're not sent to gas chambers. I'm not saying they aren't horrible, disgusting places, because they are. But the comparison is unnecessary.

Re: Auschwitz

[cher-ex3.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the brain washing that all North Koreans go through, I doubt many interned Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and homosexuals were praising Hitler as they were being tortured to death.

Came in here to say this.

Re: Auschwitz

[kiwilovekiwi.livejournal.com]

True. It can't be as worse as Auschwitz cuz I remember hearing about the two women that was imprisoned and then released from N.K.

those images are way too sad and depressing for me though. TT

Re: Auschwitz

[ryoflame.livejournal.com]

Just because two women (not North Koreans, either) made it out doesn't change the fact that hundreds of thousands of others without international political backing haven't. How can you even say that.

Re: Auschwitz

[jenny-grey.livejournal.com]

but those women were internationally known and it was unlikely that they would have been subjected to the same treatment as north koreans - they were used as political bargaining chips. i doubt they were even in the truly "bad" prisons or camps. i'm sure the truth won't come out until long after the regime falls, whenever that happens.

Re: ):

[clicheterms.livejournal.com]

why are you even comparing?

<3 tiffo

Re: ):

[eclara-9.livejournal.com]

Than Auschwitz!? O___O;;

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

This is scary.

But it takes a lot of courage and clarity of mind to speak out about it.

[nene718.livejournal.com]

Thanks for translating.

This shit is depressing. I'm hoping that the pressure on NK right now will lead to some changes, but who knows when this stuff will finally end.

[shadow-kitty47.livejournal.com]

The situation in NK is just horrible.

For me, the saddest part about these types of stories is what happens to the family members of the people who get arrested. They all disappear are killed. Also the torture that goes on...being beaten until he confessed he was a spy just so it would stop....I feel sick just thinking about it.

I wish idols could help promote organizations like this, but their companies would never allow it imo...way too political of an issue and they wouldn't want to risk alienating any fans.

[taylorrenee-ily.livejournal.com]

Wow... I'm sort of surprised that there even are people in NK with semi normal lives. Tbh I thought he put the entire country in concentration camps with the way it sounds... but that doesn't make it any less horrific and shocking that 600,000 ordinary people are being treated worse than rapists and murderers at the hands of an insane tyrant.

It's terrible that this man lost his family, but in a way it's also a blessing to many other people because he has now been driven to escape and share his story. I just hope people will listen and something will be done. But sadly, right now it isn't looking great for those prisoners. No amount of sanctioning and international pressure is going to make KJI change his ways, and anything short of war or revolution won't be able to free those prisoners.

It's terrible.

[whynotplay.livejournal.com]

omg i read a tourist's account on what they saw during a trip and all i could think of was how 1984 everything sounded D:

[episkia.livejournal.com]

did you read this long account on the net?
and if you did, do you still have a link for it?

north korea chills me. it's even worse because most of the world is ignorant/doesn't know of what's happening there.

[chewmi.livejournal.com]

this is sad
i heard about some groups trying to stop this but i'm guessing it's too difficult for S.Korea to be involved especially during this time..
wish i could do something to help in the future..

[gayify.livejournal.com]

any article about north korea makes me sad







except for the justin bieber one

[kishikiari.livejournal.com]

sorry but AHAHAHAH jb and nk

[selkycircus.livejournal.com]

"I had two children and a wife. All three had disappeared."

:( I cannot even imagine how painful this must've been for him.

also, I'm wondering how are they able to film these camps or just NK in general. I thought they shut out every kind of possible western influence, so I'm a little confused.

[shadow-kitty47.livejournal.com]

From the bit of research I've done, there are North Koreans who film secretly, like with the camera in their pocket and then smuggle it out.

There are also people who smuggle in South Korean dramas for people there to watch.

[sparklop.livejournal.com]

I think the worst part is that the whole entire world knows that these camps exists, and the torture that go on within them and yet no one moves to do anything.

[kishikiari.livejournal.com]

because nk is a fully fledged nuclear power

[sparklop.livejournal.com]

They have nukes but I doubt they'd be able to launch it anywhere....they could barely launch a missile

[byronsbitch.livejournal.com]

no one knows that for sure.

[huile7.livejournal.com]

the repercussions for the world attacking n.k is far worse than just letting them be.

its not just about nuclear power but u have to take into account the geopolitical area and it involves china, japan, south Korea-- these countries contribute immensely to the world's economy so anything that will lead to investor fear and destabilization of their economies will wreak havoc on the world's already fragile economy.

At the end its about one's best interest and it in the best interest of the world not to destabilize that region. And there's no way china is going to let america do that on their door step and also if you take into account Russia is close by. so these super power countries need to stay far away from each militarily.

[episkia.livejournal.com]

if only it was that easy, huh.

[miyavi-type.livejournal.com]

In a case like this, the best strategy is to threaten to nuke if your enemies say they will try to nuke you first...in fact it was this that prevented nuclear war during the Cold War. No country involved in conflict with each other would want to be blown off the map, so it becomes a good deterrent against anybody wanting to throw the first nuke.

[whynotplay.livejournal.com]

Because there are still 600.000 people kept in those camps.

holy fucking shit ._.

i don't even know what to say about articles like this anymore; it seems like each new one i read is more depressing than the previous ones. ;__;

[bambayahh.livejournal.com]

mte ; A ;

[byronsbitch.livejournal.com]

So fucking sad.

Oh hey world, how about you do something about this. Remember how you "freed" the Iraqis?

Oh wait...there's no oil in North Korea.

[nausicaa17.livejournal.com]

When I read stuff like this, I remember that the North Korea advocacy group on campus keeps getting its funding cut by the Student Administration and get even more annoyed at the world.

[daifukuu.livejournal.com]

seriously poor man, my heart goes out to him
he was jailed for no reason and forced into a concentration camp for years
and when they finally free him
he goes home only to find both his house and family were missing

there should be more awareness raised
since other countries are more concerned about their nukes rather than nk's inhumane treatment of people

[jenny-grey.livejournal.com]

wow :( that story is terrible