1. Do some research and explain the origin of the north-korean communist regime.
Kim Il-sung was a kind of urban legend known for a daring assault in the town of Pochonbo in 1937 when, at the age of 24, he is said to have commanded a military unit that captured a population controlled by Japan on the Korean border. This was seen as an important military achievement, even though it only lasted a few hours.
The Soviets placed him at the center of a strange coalition that became the Workers' Party of North Korea. This included Chinese-Korean activists, members of the Korean diaspora of Russia, communists from South Korea who emigrated to the north and militiamen from Kim's guerrillas.
In the years after 1945, other people nominally held key positions in the communist structure of North Korea, but Kim Il-sung remained his main figure.
With Kim Il-sung firmly established in power in 1950, reunification with South Korea occupied a prominent place on the agenda of North Korea and then the Korean War took place. Kim began to consolidate his power by eliminating communists who had ties to South Korea, many of whom were accused of espionage. Then, those Russians and Sino-Koreans who had been part of the party's beginnings were taken out of the way through exiles, prison and disappearances. It is well known that party officials linked to Russia and China who organized a plot against Kim Il-sung were eliminated after a dramatic confrontation at a congress in 1956. Some of their descendants still live in political detention centers.
A political bloodbath took place between 1967 and 1971, when 17 senior officials were killed. The men were members of Kim Il-sung's original guerrilla. After the fifth Party Congress in 1970, it completed its transformation from a typical Marxist-Leninist political party to one that worshiped Kim Il-sung and that was responsible for fulfilling his will.
The next step was to ensure that his son would be in a position to inherit him. Kim Jong-il was elevated to leadership positions in the party in 1973 and 1974, most importantly his appointment as head of the Guidance Department. From these positions, Kim Jong-il was promoted to many of his supporters. He also punished those who dared to challenge him, such as his stepmother Kim So'ng-a'e who, who pushed for his son Kim Pyong-il's position as successor. Using his control over the North Korean media and his links to internal security agencies, Kim Jong-il effectively managed to push aside his stepmother and half-brothers. In the 1990s, Kim Jong-il purged dozens of senior officers, thus taking control of the military.
After the death of Kim Il-sung in 1994 and the broader social impact of the famine that North Korea suffered, known as The Shameful March, the party became somewhat moribund. Its Central Committee did not meet between 1993 and 2010 and vacant key positions were left unfilled. He still had administrative functions, but as a political entity he was diminished. In 2010, Kim Jong-il revived the party as a political institution to cope with the worsening of his health and boost the succession of his son Kim Jong-un.
Under Kim Jong-un, the party has prospered as a political institution.
The North Korean leader has been involved in the revival of the party since 2007 and, as supreme leader, like his grandfather, has used the party's Political Bureau to publicly dismiss unruly officials as he did with the former chief of staff, Ri Yong -ho, and even with his own uncle Jang Song-thaek.
Kim Jong-un is also building his power base through the Central Military Commission of the party. This holds the family legacy of staying within the party.
2. Find 3 recent news about North Korea from different digital newspapers and include the links to them.
1- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44335230?intlink_from_url=http://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cywd23g0gz5t/north-korea&link_location=live-reporting-story
2- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/01/kim-jong-un-complains-to-russia-over-us-hegemonism
3- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/world/asia/trump-north-korea-economic-aid.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FNorth%20Korea&action=click&contentCollection=world®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection
4- https://www.nytimes.com/topic/destination/north-korea
3. What are the names of the north-korean leaders mentioned in the documentary? Who is the current leader of the country?
Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. The current leader of the country is Kim Jong-un.
Kim Il-sung Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-un
4. What are the instruments used by these leaders to mantain this dictatorial regime?
They use weapons and threats to maintain other countries far away, like the athomic bomb, but they have also the power by controlling peoples mind.
All the communication methods are controlled by them, so they have the control to say the population the things they want, or inculcating ideas of adoration to the lider.
5. What's the meaning of the word Gulag? Where does it come from? Is there anything similar in North Korea?
A gulag is a term that originally refered to the organization that controlled the Soviet forced-labor camp system during Joseph Stalin's rule. However, as time has passed by the term derived so as to refer to the camp itself. In Korea there are forced-labor camps as well, where people who have commited a crime or disrespected the leader work. Most of these camps consist of cultivated lands that these prisioners have to take care of.
6. According to the video, what are the main characteristics of a dictatorship?
A dictatorship is a type of gobern where humans rights are altered, where the liders are not choose by the country habitants, it´s imposible to have a private property and the lider is a worshiped figure that all people has to worship.
7. Compare the life of a north-korean family with your own. In addition, try to describe the life of a north-korean teenager of your same age.
A family there don't have rights or private property, and the have acces to a monthly quantity of food. If I were a north-korean teenager my life would be very different, I wouldn't have the choices that I have now, like studing optatives or extraschools subjets. Also I would have a radicalizated mind due to the lies that those type of dictatorships teel to it's inhabitants.
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