Dylan Ciesielczyk

IS 182
Jinhyun Kim
12/7/15
Extra Credit Video
I chose to write my analytic response to the video titled Yodok, North
Korea-Write for Rights 2011 by Amnesty International USA. Basically the
video gives a brief summary of North Korea and one of its prison camps
Yodok. The video interviews an Asian man who used to be a prisoner at
Yodok and he described the various punishments and cruelty that the camp
has made him do.
One of the things that I was shocked about was some of the torture
methods and things that happened to the prisoners. The guy being
interviewed said that he had all of his teeth broken and that he was hung in a
so called pigeon position which he says you are forced to put your arms
behind your back and you are hung from the ceiling. Another thing that
shocked me was the amount of work that they were forced to endure and
what would happen to them if they didnt finish their work. They were
required to rake out fields that were many square meters large. I found it
shocking when the guy said that he and a group of others were happy when
they had to bury prisoners who died because they were given more food.
I found this video very interesting while watching it because of the
prisoners that the United States potentially have at Guantanamo Bay. People
hear about all the cruel and inhumane things that are done, whether it was
back in the 1930s and 40s at the German prison camps or today at the
various torture camps around the world. Even with all the news on these
other camps, the one thing that most news stations or reports dont talk
about is what happens inside of Guantanamo. Most people have a general
idea of what happens inside there so when I look at Guantanamos actions to
various prisoners compared to the prisoners of other countries I wonder why
Amnesty International USA and other news companies or other countries
question our actions just as we question theirs.
Personally for me I do not agree with our actions in Guantanamo. I do
agree it is necessary to keep our biggest threats under surveillance and
make sure that they dont do anything wrong to harm our country. I dont
agree with the amount or level of torture that we perform at this place, the
more that we hold prisoners and perform these actions, the more we are like
these countries that we are trying to stop.

All in all the video was very eye opening to what is currently happening
in the world and what most people dont know about. It helped me better
understand the problem that the country is having as well as problems that
they as well as others can have in the future.