Kim Jong Il, the North Korean DICtator, should die – or at the very least be overthrown.
Why do I say this? Because no one in North Korea is allowed to. Oh, and because I think that he, and the entire regime that props him up, is a fascist pig on the same scale as Hitler. Hell, there are 200,000 political prisoners, and you can be jailed just for saying “I’m not so sure I like our dear leader.”
Here is the evidence. The following video comprises a CNN report called “North Korea Undercover in the Secret State“. Warning: this is NOT for children, and proves what Frederick Douglass said 150 years ago:
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them.”
The video includes a number of hidden camera videos including actual public executions for helping people escape from North Korea, and depictions of the results of famine. Allowing Kim Jong Il and his criminal government to stay in power is the equivalent of allowing the mafia to own and control an entire country.
What bothers me so much is that people in every free country around the world, and especially the US, turn a blind eye to dictators like this. In the 1960s the CIA would have provided huge resources to resistance within North Korea. Where are they today? If my mother wasn’t reading this article, I’d call them a very nasty name…
Hello Mr. John,
I happened to stumble across your blog today and i just wanted to say thank you for actually voicing out your thoughts on the current government system of North Korea. And while I agree with most of your ideals, there is one that seemed to bother me. I don’t quite believe that “Blood must be shed”. You are right that the country needs to learn how to overthrow its regime, but is bloodshed really necessary? I mean, I saw you list down Revolutions that have helped countries for the better, and one of them is the People’s Power Revolution. Now i know that the our education system here in the Philippines probably isn’t as elaborate or as organized as those of other countries, but one thing they made a point of drilling into our heads was that The People Power Revolution was a bloodless Revolution. Our teachers taught us that violence isn’t always key. That collective experience that all Filipinos share; it reminds us that people should not be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of their people. Call me naive or idealistic, but there are just some things that a 13 year old boy has to hang on to. I had a friend who was from North Korea. Three months ago, she celebrated the death anniversary of her parents, who died refusing to submit to Kim Jong Il’s rule. They retaliated when they were hurt; they fought back. In the end, they were killed. Blood only begets blood; and hate only creates more hate.
Lately though, it’s come to my attention that even though Kim Jong Il has passed away and has been succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un, things haven’t changed that much. In fact, I’d like to think they’ve taken a turn for the worst. Public executions? Locking up his own politicians? It seems to me that North Korea is just about ready to implode. They can’t even feed their own people, which is something that the government is to blame for. Instead of allotting funds to create food and resources, they use it to fund their missile launching and parades; a parade for a man who took the lives of thousands for his own gain, I don’t think I’ll ever understand that. and to Mr. Tim, I think their little missile launch, the one they claimed to be a satellite launch, just goes to show that Nuclear warfare isn’t something they’d rely on to win, seeing as their latest launch turned out to be a glorified fireworks display. Yes, they are still a country worth fearing when it comes to use of Nuclear warheads, but those missiles aren’t going to do much if their problem lies within their own borders. I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t resort to shelling and bombing their own country. Which is what I think Mr. John is trying to say; besides, if you give a man a fish, he’ll live for a month at most, teach him how to fish, he’ll live a long life. Their government is going under, one way or another. I don’t see why the people have to go down with it.
With regard to Kim Jong Un, torture isn’t an option; that would make everyone else no better than him and his regime. Execution is also out of the picture, for the same reason. I don’t believe the man should be imprisoned, at least not in North Korea, because from what I’ve seen around me in my country, prison bars can cage a person, but not their ideals. He could still bring plenty of harm even if he’s behind bars. I think the only option is exile; take him away from the country that he almost brought to ruin, that way, his ideals die along with him in a place where he can’t harm North Koreans any longer. I don’t think North Korea is a bad country, I just think it’s badly run.
The answer about what for us to do? What can we do? QUIT COWERING FOR ONE. To know what is right and not to do it is the worst kind of cowardice. This touchy feely crap is what has turned the world into a sniveling whining immoral hunk of rock in space. Semantics aside though, do what we’ve done before. It’s called the FP-45 Liberator. These can be manufactured today for still around a buck and a half a pop. Toss in a box of 10 rounds of .45ACP with each one and an instruction sheet, and send them in. They may be junk heap little pistols but they are cheap and effective. Just ask all the nazi’s who got capped with these little buggers. You could probably make one with stuff you find at the local hardware store.
First off we don’t want to mess with this dude. 1 reason is because he has a ton of Nuclear weapons he is working on. We don’t know how far he is with completing them. 2nd it will start a war that would probably last at least 20 to 50 years. I agree that he should be stopped, but what can we do?
I would go sign up for military service right now if I was guaranteed that my assignment would be to overthrow kim jong and kill all those involved in torturing innocent human beings. Disgusting things are done at the hands of the North Korean regime. I vote for torturing Kim Jong Il in the worst imaginable way. Let him feel the full force of what he has inflicted on others. The human rights atrocities I hear about in North Korea sadden and sicken me. If anyone knows any way to help free those in North Korea, let me know. We need a way in this country to get things done without having to subscribe to the political/economical agendas of a few decision makers. Private military would be great. I would sign up in a minute but noone would willingly fund it because we are too comfortable in this country. Why the hell don’t we go in there and squash this regime.
John: If we go to war and capture and torture even the worst type of dictator, doesn’t that make us as bad as them? I understand the outrage. Hell, I want the bastard dead too. Nonetheless, there are certain standards that are to be upheld. If we let one of them go, it’s a quick and slippery slope down to letting all of them go. A struggle we have to deal with is when does “helping out” cross the line and become “enslaving”? I don’t understand how the torture of this despot would help anything. I agree that he should be overthrown, however, if we do torture him, we give his supporters a martyr, a cause to rally to, and really, the torture would debase us. In my oppinion he should be overthrown, then left to die quietly. That way there’s no martyrdom, no cause for the supporters to rally to.
I get it, I really do, but there are some lines that should not be crossed.
yours,
Abby
1986 – People Power Revolution
1989 – Velvet Revolution
1989 – Tiananmen Square
1989 – Romanian Revolution
1994 – First Chechen War
I guarantee I could name at least 50 more revolutions that made things better for the people. History is sprinkled with the victory’s of freedom as well as the evils of war. Never, never confuse short term suffering with long term benefit.
America is the world’s foremost shining example of what can happen when people refuse to submit to imperialism. And the price we paid for freedom 200+ years ago was absolutely no less than the price demanded of others today, or tomorrow.
John
I’m not talking aid, we all know how little that helps (Africa as the example). I’m talking investment: factories, hotels, etc that can employ people.
Your point about “overthrow their own dictatorial regime” is a little ironic considering that’s how the father/son team got into power in the first place.
can you name one revolution in the last century which made things better for people?
I completely disagree with you.
I would not give a dime to that country because ultimately it won’t make it’s way to the people in need. It would go straight to Kim Jong Il. I would however spend a fortune attempting to undermine the government in every way possible, and equip the people with every tool necessary to overthrow that psycho.
On top of that, it’s the people’s responsibility to overthrow their own dictatorial regime. Blood will be shed. As has been many, many times before. This is the price the masses must pay for allowing a man like this to come to power. Had they acted to stop it long ago, they would not be in this situation. But when you quietly submit, you volunteer for slavery.
Give me freedom, or give me death.
John P.
is killing Kim Jong Il worth having Seoul destroyed? that’s what would happen if there was any foreign military force directed towards N. Korea. the best thing would to promote investment in the country, just like in Burma and Cuba. at least the people would have a better life. the worst thing we do is try to punish regimes by pulling investment when the only people that suffer are the innocent.
They worked just now, I just spent the last hour watching them…
Kim:)
This is an eye opener for sure, just spent the last hour watching the 5 videos and agree that the bastard should die…
There are a bunch of other North Korea videos on Youtube as well…
Kim:)
Look, you can’t blame the poor guy. Blame it on his 10,000-bottle wine cellar. Or on his porn video collection. These things corrept even Great Leaders.
Rodney,
Although there is a well documented OMB curse on videos (YouTube seems to be watching the ones I post and often removes them within days), I am currently able to see all of these. So it might just have been a temporary outage. Give em one more try! ;-)
John P.
Seems like the videos got removed from youtube. I’m getting “this video is no longer available” when I try to watch them.
I just keep looking out my kitchen window, seeing the sun shining pretty and thinking of my ‘easy’, FREE life, and my stomach lurches to think of such a horrible way of living happening on this planet right now, in 2008. Thank you for posting these videos, John, and educating me on what it is really like over there.
Horrible, just horrible. It’s two totally different realities – a car just drove by out my front window…down my street, going wherever they are going, living their life as they wish…hell, stopping at 7-11 for a slurpee, maybe going home to post on their blog that they hate George Bush – you know? It’s just nuts.
Oh, you know the Freeway Blogger? And that guy in North Korea puts up ONE small-ish poster…
That’s right.
I need to find out if you just need to pay a certain amount for it or go to jail.
Of course, I am right with you on the freedom of speed basis, although my grandfather died because of the nazi government (he helped jews to flee) and I just “don’t get it” when someone disputes the cruelties of the nazi regime.
What would you think of, if someone would say (hopefully soon when North Corea is history and there is just one Corea left) that no one was killed in North Corea for saying out loud what he believes in or for having contact to foreigners?
This is definitely a topic to discuss about for hours, I guess.
Bye, Ingo
Ahhh. Now I understand! Thanks for the clarification.
I was not aware that it was illegal to dispute the holocaust in Germany. That does seem wrong to me from a freedom of speech basis.
John
Hello, everybody!
Before I go ahead and watch the videos above I would like to command on theOddTrader’s post:
I am german, born and raised in former West Germany, and find it curious to hear that we have more political prisoners today in Germany than East Germany (DDR in german or GDR in english) had back then. Sure, we got left wing terrorists (like the RAF) who are imprisoned and some right wing (neo nazi), too.
Please tell me your source of information. Thanks.
Sorry for this OT comment, but I couldn’t just let it stay like this in comparison to North Corea.
Bye, Ingo
Wow, was my english that bad? :) What i meant was that you said that Kimg Jong Il must die, and the reason you said so is because it’s illegal to say it in North Korea.
In Germany it is illegal to say that you don’t believe Hitler killed six million jews in the concentration camps. Therefore i asked you if you in your next blog post will say that you don’t believe in the holocaust – just because it is illegal to say so in Germany.
I hope i made myself more clear now.
I’m also for freedom of speech. For everyone. Even the craziest people with the weirdest opinions. Freedom of speech is one of the most – if not the most – important things in a working democracy.
But we (as we in the western democratic world) very easily “attack” countries far away for being undemocratic, when we in Europa has a lot of laws that goes totally against freedom of speech. For example, read about Vlaams Blok. They were the biggest, or the second biggest (facts seem to differ), party in Belgium – and they got forbidden! That’s a shame for a country calling themselves a democracy.
Take care.
A very thought provoking post and an excellent quote from a great American, Frederick Douglass who also said “The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.”
It is my opinion that the elected, “representative” government of our United States is systematically destroying our ability to act with any collective morality. This destruction now erodes the ability to preserve our own security, or to establish the security of any other peoples. We as individuals are certainly able to retain and espouse the core principles of honesty, truth, and virtue. At the same time, our government seems to, on our behalf, ignore these fundamental tennants of “security”. I believe this goes to answer your legitimate question of “where are they today?”
As my son (Daniel) prepares for his second tour of duty in Iraq, I grow increasingly weary of an unlawful invasion and occupation, entered into under the righteous banner of “the war on terror”, and now sustained under a banner which should read “the war for natural resources”. I am confident that if North Korea possessed the abundance of resources that are found in the Middle East, his next deployment would be to the 38th parallel.
I don’t even understand that comment. Of course I won’t be denying that Hitler slaughtered millions of people. What the hell gave you that idea?
I have been a very outspoken critic of communist and dictatorial regimes for a long time. Heck, this blog is banned in China, and I wouldn’t dare step foot in that country after the things I’ve written here.
Any time there is a situation where people lack the freedom to say what is on their mind you can expect to see me rebuke the leadership of that country. Freedom of speech is the most powerful of all, and the freedom most worth protecting.
John P.
Sam,
I’ve heard a little about the situation in Pakistan, but not much. I’m sorry if you are currently living under any sort of regime that was not elected as a result of a fair and representative vote. But unlike the North Koreans at least you have access to the Internet and a phone! :-)
All governments have their problems, but a democratically elected form of government is still superior to any other form – by far.
john
First, I want the CIA to undermine his regime like the old CIA of the 1950’s would have done.
Next, I want to have a president like Regan or Kennedy who has the balls to stand in front of a world stage and call Kim Jong Il out for his crimes against humanity.
Americans are often so comfortable in our freedom that we forget the suffering of others. I’m not saying that we should be the world’s policeman, but we have an obligation to continue to espouse the benefits of freedom as long as we live as free people.
John
What do you want to do?
Disgusting and psychotic. More than a hat tip for this article John. And OddsTrader  this post is about cruelty. Exposure of this has relevance to any similar regimes.
But Germany is a bad example — they don’t execute people. Let alone publicly.
In many countries it’s illegal to “deny” the holocoust. Will you be denying the holocoust in your next post?
What i want to say is that it’s not only in North Korea they have a “limitied freedom of speach”, it’s almost everywhere. For example, Germany of today has more political prisoners than DDR had in eighties, still we think of DDR as a non-free communist regime, but of todays Germany as a free democratic state.
Sorry if my english isn’t perfect.
John i agree with this post but there are several others who are not as far from him.For example our President Pervez Musharaf.Who got himself elected when he was military chief.And he has done a lot in the past year.I hope u know about him too.People in Pakistan want him to go but he isn’t.Although his powers are reduced now but he is still around.
What do you want the U.S. to do? Invade? Last time we invaded a country that was a threat to us people freaked out.