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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Jodie deVries

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Jodie deVries

About Nothing To Envy | Nothing to Envy - 0 views

nothingtoenvy.com/about-nothing-to-envy

northkorea people nothingtoenvy

shared by Jodie deVries on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • In NOTHING TO ENVY, Demick follows the lives of six people: a couple of teenaged lovers courting in secret, an idealistic woman doctor,  a homeless boy, a model factory worker who loves Kim Il Sung more than her own family and her rebellious daughter.
  • six years painstakakingly reconstructing life in a city off-limits to outsiders through interviews with defectors, smuggled photographs and videos.
  • While many books focus on the North Korean nuclear threat, NOTHING TO ENVY is one of the few that dwells on what everyday life is like for ordinary citizens. 
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime in the world today.  She gives a portrait as vivid as walking oneself through the darkened streets of North Korea.
  • Jodie deVries on 14 Apr 11
     
    How does North Korea's communist government and nuclear technology influence the lives of its people? Summery: This book is about the lives of people living in North Korea. It is written by a woman who interviewed defectors  and looked at smuggled photos and videos. It is one of the few books written about the lives of people rather than the government or nuclear threat.  Response: This is simply an "about" for the book. I have a copy of it at home and I am reading it. I am about 40 pages in and have already learned so much about the horrors and hopes of the people living in North Korea. It is a book that so directly ties into our research question that I will read the entire book before world cultures night.  Questions: At this point many of the questions I would ask I hope will be answered by the book but I will put some of the questions I hope to have answered here. 1) What is the life of an average citizen? 2) How extreme is the control of the government on the average person? 3) Is there any hope for the North Korean People?
Jodie deVries

North Korea's 'Currency Reforms' Hurt Thousands : NPR - 1 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

northkorea casestudy people communism

shared by Jodie deVries on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • July 19, 2010
  • You might think it would be hard to make life more miserable for North Koreans, but their government did just that last fall when it tossed out its old currency and introduced a new one.
  • middle-class
  • ...23 more annotations...
  • means that she was not starving.
  • Her father was an iron miner
  • Her mother was selling socks.
  • eking by an existence
  • she considered herself extremely privileged because she would occasionally get an egg to eat.
  • these people, again, managed to raise themselves up. They were hit terribly hard by a currency devaluation that the government brought about last fall.
  • Overnight, basically, all their money was wiped out.
  • We're talking about people who had maybe $100, $200 in savings
  • But by a North Korean standard, that was what was going to give them a future.
  • even though education is nominally free in North Korea, you have to buy books, you have to give gifts of cash to your teachers who are themselves not paid.
  • the tragedy that all of the hard work that they had done to bring themselves up from that despair was lost overnight.
  • people having heart attacks and sort of nervous breakdowns when this happened because it was so sudden and, even by North Korean standards, so cruel.
  • People were told in most towns about noon on a Monday that
  • And they had usually till the end of the day to turn in their money. And they would get new money dispensed that would be worth a dollar or two. It wasn't really clear what the value was.
  • henceforth, all their money would be basically garbage, just paper.
  • They killed themselves. They swore against the regime. Things like this had never happened.
  • From the perspective of the North Korean government, they saw the very notion of money, currency, as sort of antithetical to the socialist way of doing things. This is a very undiluted brand of communism, and you're supposed to be handed your house, your clothing, your food. You're not supposed to buy things for yourself. And the government hated the fact that people were working privately on the markets, buying their own food and having that level of economic freedom. And that's what they wanted to wipe out.
  • by destroying the money supply, the government can print new money and use it for its own purposes.
  • the net effect was confiscating everybody's money.
  • think this is the sixth time they've done it. This is what a North Korean economist told me. But this time, they faltered.
  • being a totalitarian regime means never having to say you're sorry.
  • But in this case, it went so bad, they said they were sorry.
  • Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
  • Jodie deVries on 14 Apr 11
     
    North Korea's 'Currency Reforms' Hurt Thousands How does North Korea's communist government and nuclear technology influence the lives of its people?  Demick, Barbra. Interview by Renee Montagne. "North Korea's 'Currency Reforms' Hurt Th." Morning Edition. NPR, 19 July 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. . Summary: The Communist North Korean government decided to change the currency of their country abruptly which destroyed the savings of many of its people. The government felt that the people having money was anti communist. In the article there is a case study on a 17 year old girl who grew up in a middle class household which meant that she wasn't starving. The other reason it is believed that the government chose to change currency was to "confiscate" the money of the people to gain money to make a celebration for Kim Jong Ilk's birthday.  Responce: How terrible for a country to be able to so easily destroy the hopes and dreams of its people! This article is so directly an answer to our research question because in a democratic government this could have never happened. This is a good article to have read because the case study will be very advantageous for our presentation. Questions: 1) How can a government do that to it's people? 2) What are the continuing effects of this currency change? 3) What are some other case studies like the 17 year old girl? (i will be checking the book this is based off out of the library.)
Jodie deVries

BBC News - Charities warn of food shortages in North Korea - 1 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-asia-pacific-12563670

northkorea starvation food bbc

shared by Jodie deVries on 10 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • they saw evidence of looming food shortages and alarming malnutrition, including people picking wild grasses to eat.
  • North Korea has suffered major food shortages in the past.
  • A famine in the 1990s saw hundreds of thousands of people - perhaps as many as two million - die of starvation.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • It is well documented that during food shortages in the North, people will forage for weeds, herbs and wild grasses to supplement their meagre diet.
  • The charity workers
  • spent a week in North Korea earlier this month, invited by the government
  • 50% and 80% of the wheat and barley planted for harvesting in the spring has been killed by the extreme cold of the past two months, as well as potato seedlings.
  • ncrease in malnutrition over the past six months
  • acute cases
  • last vegetable harvest was much poorer than expected.
  • North Korea's embassies have been asking foreign countries to provide aid.
  • One concern of America, which until 2009 was one of North Korea's biggest food donors, is whether food reaches those in need or is given to the military and political elite.
  • Aid from South Korea was stopped too - apart from one small shipment last year - in protest at the lack of progress on denuclearisation.
  • The current issue of possible humanitarian need is set against difficult political relations after a military confrontation last year in which the North shelled a South Korean island near their disputed sea border.
  • Jodie deVries on 10 Mar 11
     
    How does North Korea's communist government and nuclear technology influence the lives of its people? Ravenscroft, Nick. "Charities warn of food shortages in North Korea." BBC News. BBC, 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .Summery: Recently a group of Humanitarians went into North Korea as invited by the Government. They discovered that North Korea is in a desperate situation. They are quickly running out of food and their people are malnourished. The harvest of wheat and barley has been mostly killed by a severe cold and their veggie harvests have been low. Some people are resorting to eating wild grasses. In 1990 North Korea faced a similar situation and millions of their people died. Now North Korea is pleading for help but because of their past actions people are hesitant to give it. The US, South Korea and the UN are afraid that food they may give to North Korea will only go to serve the government elite and the military. They are also holding this over North Korea to change Nuclear policy. Reflection: I want to simply say North Korea brought this upon itself, which is somewhat true, but I can't because the people who are starving are not the people who have caused the problems. It is extremely unfair that the people who have done nothing wrong are being starved because of the actions of their government. I wish there was a simple solution but unfortunately there just isn't. Questions: 1) What options do the US, South Korea and the UN have to get people in North Korea food?2) If the North Korean government is pleading for help, will they be willing to compromise for it?3) How is the North Korean government going to deal with the issues they have created for themselves?
Jodie deVries

Escaping North Korea - National Geographic Magazine - 1 views

ngm.nationalgeographic.com/...1

northkorea escaping defector

shared by Jodie deVries on 09 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Jodie deVries on 09 Mar 11
     
    How does North Korea's communist government and nuclear technology influence the lives of its people? O'Neill, Tom. "Escaping North Korea." National Geographic Feb. 2009. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .Summery:This article talks about the lives of people who defect from North Korea. It is a reporter who follows 3 people as he meets them in China and follows them on their journey to South Korea. To escape the awfulness of North Korea is hard and dangerous. The people who escape face punishment by North Korea if they are caught (labor/prison camps). As well as being tricked by the people they hire to help them. Red and White were tricked into the sex trade. There are people, usually Christians and humanitarians in China who help these trapped Defectors get back into South Korea where they can live in safety. These people also face huge risks in the work they do. Once in South Korea the defectors face a hard time acclimatizing into society. They have almost no training or skills and have never faced such freedoms. Response:I am glad that there are people who are helping these Defectors. It reminds me of the people who come into the US escaping Mexico but these people are escaping a much worse situation. I am amazed by the efforts put forth by South Korea to help these people, they spend a lot of money assisting the North Korean Defectors. It is a bitter sweet situation. I think this article will be very very helpful in our presentation. 
Jodie deVries

Shift on North Korea - 1 views

find.galegroup.com/gtx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C11%29North+Korea%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C14%29Nuclear+Policy%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28AC%2CNone%2C8%29fulltext%

NorthKorea NuclearPolicy academic onefile

shared by Jodie deVries on 15 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • rospects for the resum
  • Prospects for the resumption of talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive remain clouded.
  • The United States is unlikely to soften its policy toward nuclear-armed North Korea
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive among the United States, Russia, China, the two Koreas and Japan have been frozen since December 2008.
  • Prospects for renewed negotiations have been clouded by South Korean and U.S. accusations that the North torpedoed one of Seoul's warships in March, a charge it denies.
  • "There's very little optimism within the administration that North Korea will now ever give up its nuclear weapons, and therefore there is little push for using the limited political capital the president has on what would be seen as sort of a lost cause,"
  • two preconditions for talks on North Korea's weapons program to resume.
  • The first, he said, would be for North Korea to fulfill commitments it has already made.
  • The second, Klingner said, would be the "satisfaction" of South Korea's concerns over the North's sinking of the South Korean warship the Cheonan earlier this year.
  • North Korea is unlikely to make progress on either of those two preconditions, and because both Washington and Seoul express no intention of lowering the bar on those preconditions, we're unlikely to see a return to the six-party talks,"
  • "The U.S. position, as affirmed in a pre-presidential trip briefing, is that it needs to see actions-not words-by North Korea."
  • "My understanding is that the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has expressed an interest in this issue and is likely to take a more active role in finding ways to criticize the DPRK [North Korea] for its failures."
  • outside experts who had euphoric expectations that the change in U.S. leadership from Bush to Obama would lead to a breakthrough with North Korea-with North Korea no longer feeling 'threatened' by Bush-
  • those outside analysts are now shifting over to the more skeptical, pessimistic view."
  • Jodie deVries on 15 Feb 11
     
    What is North Korea's Nuclear Policy and what effects does it have on the Korean People?  "NO SHIFT ON NORTH KOREA." States News Service 10 Nov. 2010. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=AONE&docId=CJ241804370&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 Summery: President Obama took another trip to North Korea in November of 2010 to try and persuade North Korea to re-enter the six-party talks. He also discussed the future of North Korea. Unfortunately the outlook is still bleak. The six-party talks, which were to discus the nuclear weapons drive between the United States, Russia, both Korea's and Japan, have been halted since December 2008. Prospects for a renewal of these bleak after accusations by South Korea and the US that North Korea torpedoed one of Seoul's warships. In order for the US and others to be willing to resume talks there would be two preconditions: the invitation of of an International Atomic Energy Agency inspector to look over North Korean dismantlement procedures and the resolution of the concerns held by South Korea over the sinking of the South Korean's warship. Unfortunately North Korea is unlikely to follow either of these preconditions so the likely hood of the six-party talks continuing is slim. 
Jodie deVries

North Korea blasts US nuclear policy, vows to bolster atomic arsenal - 2 views

find.galegroup.com/gtx/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C11%29North+Korea%3AAnd%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C14%29Nuclear+Policy%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28AC%2CNone%2C8%29fulltext%

NorthKorea NuclearPolicy academic onefile

shared by Jodie deVries on 15 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) - North Korea lashed out at the new US nuclear policy
  • SEOUL, April 9 (
  • North Korea lashed out at the new US nuclear policy
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap)
  • the administration of US President Barack Obama renounced the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states,
  • but it left open all options, including a nuclear attack, on countries such as North Korea or Iran that defy international nuclear nonproliferation obligations.
  • The statement came after Obama warned the North of isolation because of its nuclear defiance.
  • signal to countries that are not abiding by their Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations, that they will be isolated," Obama said
  • Pyongyang has claimed that Washington's "hostile policy" towards it forced the regime to develop atomic bombs, and that the country cannot give up nuclear weapons unless the US nuclear threat is removed.
  • "As long as the US nuclear threat persists, the DPRK will increase and update various type nuclear weapons as its deterrent in such a manner as it deems necessary in the days ahead."
  • North Korea has been under mounting pressure to return to the negotiating table, but the regime is demanding the removal of UN sanctions, which were imposed for its atomic bomb test last year, as well as the start of separate talks with Washington for a peace treaty.
  • Jodie deVries on 15 Feb 11
     
    What is North Korea's Nuclear Policy and what effects does it have on the Korean People?  "North Korea blasts US nuclear policy, vows to bolster atomic arsenal." BBC Monitoring International Reports 9 Apr. 2010. Academic OneFile. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=AONE&docId=A223588700&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 Summery: North Korea became angry and "lashed out" at the United States new nuclear policy which says that Barak Obama and his administration "renounced the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, but it left open all options, including a nuclear attack, on countries such as North Korea or Iran that defy international nuclear nonproliferation obligations." In other words the US says no nuclear activity against any non-nuclear country but they are willing to attack North Korea because it is unwilling to adhere to the nonproliferation obligations. Obana also warned North Korea that failure to comply could lead to an isolation of North Korea. However, Pyongayng says that this is a "hostile policy" and that North Korea will continue to make and develop atomic weapons until the United State are no longer a nuclear threat.
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