Never Again..?

A special U.N. inquiry released a massive report this week detailing specific human rights violations committed by the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea), otherwise known as the North Korean Government. These accusations are being directed towards all levels of the government, including that of the “Supreme Leader”, Kim Jong-Un himself.

According to this report, these atrocities are being systematically aimed at the citizens of the country, all in an effort to “prop up the state and terrorize the population into submission”. The list of abuses being committed includes murder, torture slavery, sexual violence and mass starvation, as well as other outrages.

The nearly 400 page report is filled with numerous accounts from over 320 eye witnesses, gathered through public hearings and private interviews. Those interviewed were both victims of these abuses as well as former prison camp guards who defected from North Korea to the south.

The list of specific accounts of these crimes are too numerous to mention in this article. Suffice it to say that if you Google “North Korea” specifically focusing on the prison and labor camps of that country, you will find many firsthand accounts to read about. In addition, weather you go through “Youtube.com”, Netflix, or other media outlet you will also find many documentaries on the subject.

The magnitude of these crimes is so horrendous that the DPRK regime and its leader, Kim Jong-Un has been compared to Hitler and Nazi era Germany.

Michael Kirby, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea who authored the report and announced his findings to the press had this to say:

“…At the end of the Second World War, so many people had said: ‘if only we had known of the atrocities being committed in the countries of the hostile forces; if only we had known we could have done something about it sooner’. Well now (in the case of North Korea) we do know… and there will be no excusing a failure of action because we didn’t know. We do know…”

If Kim Jong-Un is trying to become the “Evil dictator of the modern age”, he is well on his way, especially if he is being compared to Hitler.

Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. At that time he began a great anti-Jewish campaign. His first concentration camp named ‘Dachau’ was opened on March 20^th, 1933 to house ‘political prisoners’. By May 1^st, 1935 the Hitler regime had initiated a “No Jews Allowed” law throughout Germany. This not only made it against the law to be a Jew; it condemned Jewish people to becoming a prisoner if caught in country or in their path of conquest. Nazi Germany did not simply want to remove them; they wanted to eliminate the Jews completely. By the end of the war on May 7^th, 1945, Hitler and his regime were responsible for more than six million deaths of Jewish and other ‘political prisoners’

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum:

 

In 1933, there were approximately 9 million Jews in Europe. By 1945, the Nazis had reduced that number to about 3 million. Roma (Gypsies) were also sent to the concentration camps, resulting in about 200,000 Gypsy deaths. Physically and / or mentally handicapped, homosexuals, and Polish intellectuals accounted for at least another 200,000. This totals about 6,400,000 victims of the concentration camps.

 

The Nazis also killed between 2 and 3 million Soviet prisoners in labor camps or executions. Add to this the non-Jewish Poles and Soviets sent to forced labor who died due to malnutrition, unsafe work conditions, disease and “experimentation.”

It’s important to note here that during the 1930 – 1940 era while Germany conducted their atrocities in Europe, most of the rest of the world would have had no idea what they were doing.

Television was available, but was primitive and not very common as of yet. People had radios in abundance by 1939 and many important events in World War Two were broadcast live using local reporters and radio personalities. But even with this ‘Modern marvel’ of its time, you only got to hear about what the reporter was exposed to and what censors felt was appropriate to be aired.

There were no satellites’ beaming high definition signals to military and news agencies halfway around the world. There was no live coverage via instant messaging, photo and video feeds from smart phones. There was no Internet feeding millions of pages of data to the masses about the war and what was happening. There was no Twitter, no YouTube –nothing.

If you wanted to kill a few million people in a camp in the middle of Germany it was probably fairly easy to pull off without the world in general knowing about it. The atrocities went on for twelve years and when the American troops found one of the concentration camps –by chance- they were shocked and overwhelmed by what they saw there.

Today however it is an entirely different story. Today, and for quite a few years, you can watch ambitious news reporters discuss live coverage of any event from any point on the globe. With smart phones and social media outlets, websites like YouTube, Twitter and the like become instant unedited distributers of news from around the world as it happens. Satellite surveillance systems beam live coverage of events from anywhere to anywhere as it happens without even the presence of a human being anywhere near the target area to do it.

Today, we are not surprised by what happens in North Korea because we know what is happening. Weather you wait for a news report on the subject, or ‘Google It’ to learn about it, or search “North Korea” on Netflix or YouTube: and yes, even if you read a UN report on the atrocities being committed by Kim Jong-Un and his government- you can’t help but know.

Since the Korean war ended in 1953, the people of North Korea have been living in poor conditions and suffering under a cruel dictatorship. As time has passed technology and the ability to watch and to know the truth about North Korea has only become better. If the collective governments and leaders of the world want to know just how bad things are and just how much the people are suffering all they need do is open their eyes and look.It was my hope that the world had learned enough from past atrocities to prevent them from being repeated ever again –but it would seem that I was wrong.

All this modern ability of being able to know the truth has not stopped the leadership of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from carrying on their campaign of cruelty, torture and abuse for over 60 years.

In World War Two, we honestly didn’t know.

What’s our excuse this time?