Distribution By Designation
By Isaac Vernon
What have you done for me? What about your parents? Or their parents? The 25th amendment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all people have the right to “a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services”. These rights are being disregarded in the secular state of North Korea, with access to the severely limited supplies based upon the amount of devotion to the oppressive regime. The designation of “core”, “wavering”, or “hostile” determines the availability of all resources. North Korea needs to change in order to provide basic necessities for life to its citizens.
In North Korea, the accessibility of resources in based on the standing with the regime. The standing is based upon what one’s ancestors were doing when the Japanese rule was abolished and North Korea was formed. The class also extends to entire family. Combine that system with the economic mismanagement and the major famine in 2011, it is estimated that slightly over 2.8 million people are vulnerable to undernourishment and a lack of necessary proteins and fats in their daily diet. Those people that are at risk to the perils of hunger are also the ones lacking the basic necessities of medical care and other social benefits. In the words of a North Korean defector,
“My father worked for the government, so for a while things were relatively OK for me compared with some others in North Korea. But my father was accused of doing something wrong and jailed for three years. He being guilty made me guilty too, so whatever future I had in North Korea completely disappeared. I could no longer go to university, and my family was forced to move out of Pyongyang to the countryside on the border close to China.”(Park, Yeonmi)
With the forced departure from the capital of Pyongyang came the loss of her special benefits that her father enjoyed with his job in the government. That, compounded with the fact that the amenities of Pyongyang are of higher quality than those through the rest of the country, stripped the family of anything resembling human rights; “It was very dirty and no one could eat anything.It was not the right conditions for human life.”(Park, Yeonmi) These issues can be minimized if we can take the appropriate steps to combat them. Through the United Nations, we can provide basic food aid, medical treatment, and other basic necessities for the people.
In North Korea, there is drastic disparity between the resources available to different classes of people in the country. This, on top of a fundamental lack of resources proves costly to those less favored by the regime. Their basic human rights are being disregarded. Work on this issue has already been instituted through the United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We need to support this commision and any relief efforts stemming from it in through donations to provide the backing that they require to provide relief to the countless sufferers of North Korea. You can also donate to organizations such as libertyinnorthkorea.org and northkoreanrefugees.com.
By Isaac Vernon
What have you done for me? What about your parents? Or their parents? The 25th amendment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all people have the right to “a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services”. These rights are being disregarded in the secular state of North Korea, with access to the severely limited supplies based upon the amount of devotion to the oppressive regime. The designation of “core”, “wavering”, or “hostile” determines the availability of all resources. North Korea needs to change in order to provide basic necessities for life to its citizens.
In North Korea, the accessibility of resources in based on the standing with the regime. The standing is based upon what one’s ancestors were doing when the Japanese rule was abolished and North Korea was formed. The class also extends to entire family. Combine that system with the economic mismanagement and the major famine in 2011, it is estimated that slightly over 2.8 million people are vulnerable to undernourishment and a lack of necessary proteins and fats in their daily diet. Those people that are at risk to the perils of hunger are also the ones lacking the basic necessities of medical care and other social benefits. In the words of a North Korean defector,
“My father worked for the government, so for a while things were relatively OK for me compared with some others in North Korea. But my father was accused of doing something wrong and jailed for three years. He being guilty made me guilty too, so whatever future I had in North Korea completely disappeared. I could no longer go to university, and my family was forced to move out of Pyongyang to the countryside on the border close to China.”(Park, Yeonmi)
With the forced departure from the capital of Pyongyang came the loss of her special benefits that her father enjoyed with his job in the government. That, compounded with the fact that the amenities of Pyongyang are of higher quality than those through the rest of the country, stripped the family of anything resembling human rights; “It was very dirty and no one could eat anything.It was not the right conditions for human life.”(Park, Yeonmi) These issues can be minimized if we can take the appropriate steps to combat them. Through the United Nations, we can provide basic food aid, medical treatment, and other basic necessities for the people.
In North Korea, there is drastic disparity between the resources available to different classes of people in the country. This, on top of a fundamental lack of resources proves costly to those less favored by the regime. Their basic human rights are being disregarded. Work on this issue has already been instituted through the United Nation’s Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. We need to support this commision and any relief efforts stemming from it in through donations to provide the backing that they require to provide relief to the countless sufferers of North Korea. You can also donate to organizations such as libertyinnorthkorea.org and northkoreanrefugees.com.