Today we share a story of courage and defiance in one of the most oppressed and secretive countries in the world. This is about the North Korean people’s connection with the outside world, and the wind of change.
Complementary Resources:
North Korea’s Darkest Secrets Documentary 2017 [Video].
The Plot to Free North Korea With Smuggled Episodes of ‘Friends’ – Wired Magazine [Article].
 
Produced by Camille Duran & Eleen Murphy
Published by Eleen Murphy
Music Credits: License by Ins. Green White Space.
Picture used on thumbnail: Wired Magazine. Taken by Jung Kwang-il in May 2013.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[Mobile ringing / vibrating]
Camille Duran [CD]: Ah there she is…
Eleen Murphy [EM]: Hm, now she calls you directly on your mobile?
CD: Of course, you gave her my number…
CD: Green Exchange, good morning.
EM: Sure, pretend you don’t know who is calling…
CD: [Aside] Shhh!
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: [To Planet Earth] Hey, how are you?
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Yes I am at my desk. Uh…no I am not alone…
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Uh, yeah, right…ahem… Right, well, I got a story you are going to like today, Is that still interesting? because the team is working hard on those.
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Well, today we are going to North Korea.
01:31
It’s a small country in East Asia. Korea was part of the Japanese Empire until the end of the Second World War, but it was divided into two zones: the North occupied by the Soviets, and the South occupied by the Americans. Those two parts never managed to get reunified, they were at war for three years in the 50’s, and since then never signed a peace treaty.
It’s governed by a totalitarian dictatorship.
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Yeah, a totalitarian dictatorship. In short this means the state has complete authority on what people can do in both their public and private life. You cannot do whatever you want with your free time, everything is controlled and everything is done for the State and ruled by the State.
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Why? Well, it’s a long story. All decisions follow an ideology and reinforce the cult of one family – the Kim family – who has been ruling since the beginning. The ideology they follow is the one of “Juche” which means “self-reliance”. A good example is food production where they will stay self-reliant at all costs: About 20 years ago, a famine killed between 200,000 and 400,000 people, we’re unsure of the numbers, some say more than a million. And it is estimated that 3 quarters of the population is still hungry everyday.
The government follows a policy that says “military-first”. They have the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel in the world with around ten million people – that’s more than United States, that’s more than China. What else? Nuclear weapons – they have been running important tests over the last years. I am sure you felt this. They do them under ground from what I heard.
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Yeah that must be it. Yes in East Asia, you have a peninsula in front of Japan. North Korea is the North part of this peninsula, bordered by China, Russia, and South Korea.
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: Yeah well no one really like this, the United Nations are throwing sanctions every year but I don’t know if it’s going to stop them.
[Planet Earth speaks]
CD: A revolution? Well, people are brainwashed, they’re punished, put to jail,