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Brenna Sanborn
Mrs. Devito
Honors ELA 3-4
1 April 2016
North Koreas Government Control
By media control, the indoctrination of youth, and the harsh punishments to instill fear
within its citizens are the tactics that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, and previous
leaders, have used to assert their control over North Korea. This totalitarian regime has complete
control over every aspect of their citizens lives and possesses a brainwashed population.
The media control taking place in North Korea isolates these Koreans from getting any
other information other than that provided by the government. The Constitution of North Korea,
written for the juche ideology in 1972, states in Article 67, Citizens are guaranteed freedom
of speech, of the press, of assembly, demonstration, and association (Constitution of North
Korea). Legally, the North Koreans were allowed to speak freely and express themselves freely,
but that is not actually the case. A lot has changed since Kim Il-Sung was in power and the nation
continued becoming more totalitarian leading to the current ruler, Kim Jong-un. The current
North Korean government controls the shows and channels that its citizens can watch, which are
mostly programs that praise the North Korean leaders. Television and radios are programmed
with pretuned government stations, and every citizen must get their radio registered with the
police (North Koreas Tightly Controlled Media). Kim Jong-un wants his people to only hear
information given by the government, and the citizens will believe anything the government
says. This form of mind control gives them a huge power over their people and allows them to
get their people to believe in lies. Orwell states, Who controls the past controls the future; who
controls the present controls the past (Orwell, p. 248). Since the North Korean citizens will

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believe anything their leader says, the government has the ability to lie about events in the past
and control their peoples knowledge about what is going on in the world and in history.
The youth is the future, and if the North Korean government can corrupt and indoctrinate
the minds of the future to have adoration of the regime, the North Korean totalitarian government
can be carried out by the future leaders, and it prevents rebellion against the government. Young
people growing up under the totalitarian regime have little freedom of movement, means of
communication or economic independence. Foreign film and literature are banned and they are
taught a revised version of history in school, learning songs of worship that praise the ruling Kim
family (Reynolds). The Korean government instills love for the Kim family at a young age so
they are taught to be devoted citizens to the government, and they are only taught things in
history that the government wants them to know or wants them to believe. They are also
brainwashed to love their leaders so that they won't be likely to rebel against the government
when they grow up. A similar occurrence was in the made-up Oceania dystopia, in 1984, where
the children in Oceania were indoctrinated to tell on their parents who commit thought crime,
and they are taught to worship the Party and they had a strong loyalty to everything connected to
it (Orwell, p. 24). The children of North Korea are also taught to worship the Kim family and
have a loyalty to their government.This brainwashing of the youth begins in kindergarten. A
young Korean girl explains her experiences at school, where the milk would arrive and her and
all her peers would fill their cup. When her teacher would ask them where the milk came from,
and teach the students that it came from the Dear Leader who generously gave it (Fifield).
This is a good example of how the youth would be manipulated into a love for the government.
Another student shares about his experiences at school in gym class. Lee Hyun-Ji (19) says that
rather than throwing balls in, they would throw wooden grenades at targets of human figures

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depicted as Americans in physical education (Fifield). This exemplifies North Koreas attempts
to create a hatred for the United States in kids from an early age.
The North Korean government carries out harsh punishments and executions to instill fear
and assert control in their citizens. In 1984 by George Orwell, the Party carries out public
executions to instill fear in their citizens and to prevent them from rebelling (Orwell, P. 23). This
characteristic from the classic dystopia of, 1984, also characterizes North Korea. Fear is instilled
within North Koreans by violence such as the public executions for criminals. Everybody in
these communities, even children, are forced to watch these executions to ensure their
cooperation with the government (The Peoples Challenges). These public executions prevent
rebellion and resistance and exert fear of the government. Starvation, forced labor, executions,
torture, rape, forced abortions, and infanticide are all tools reported to used by the regime on
those considered to have committed a political crime (Life in North Korea: Executions,
Starvation, and Fear). The North Korean government is very harsh and cruel in their punishments
to prevent the populous from rising up against the government. North Korea invades peoples
personal lives by surveilling them with cameras purposed to catch those expressing against the
regime, such as anti-state or anti-socialist crimes. (Life in North Korea: Executions,
Starvation, and Fear). Not only does an individual get punished if he or she commits crime
against the party, their family can be killed too. In North Korea, if your relative is persecuted for
anti-state or anti-socialist crimes, then you and three generations of your family can be
punished for it (The Peoples Challenges). This creates even more fear because many people
would not disobey the government if it put their familys life at risk.
It is almost as if the leader of North Korea read the book 1984 by George Orwell and tried
to copy the Partys tactics and morals exactly. North Korea oppresses their citizens and control

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both their actions and belief through media control, the brainwashing of the youth, and harsh
punishments to instill fear in their citizens.