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"Inside North Korea" documentary/ Parallel to 1984

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Note the similarities between the dystopian society and totalitarian regime we read about in "1984" and present day North Korea.

Show Transcript

to explore with National Geographic Channel mysterious  terrifying North Korea is the most isolated country on Earth Kim Jong-il known as the dear leader rules as a god-king he controls the world's fourth largest army and platoon home for nuclear weapons  now will penetrate North Korea with a man on a mission to help the blind see will find a world of absolute conformity  full of government minders whores the people risk their lives to escape capture the real story of Life inside North Korea 1:45 a.m. the 38th parallel along the border of North and South Korea the 148 Mi longboarder is the most heavily militarized in the world disjoint South Korean can platoon is on constant alert for infiltrators from the north Behind These fences Korea has a million man army and now nuclear weapons which they could use or possibly give away to terrorists the soldiers can monitor every sound and movement close to the Border so what makes this place so dangerous is the uncertainty of what eyes on the other side of the Divide  North Korea is one of the most secretive countries on Earth it's regarded as an intelligence black hole  but we know some basic facts North Korea is roughly the size of sippy it has 23 million people a showcase Capital Pyongyang and is completely controlled by Kim Jong skill  the dear leader is an absolute dictator worshipped in a personality called perhaps more extreme than any other in history Kim Jong-il is the Son of God in North crap he is the state the notion of questioning his ability to rule of what he does does enter into things  everyone is trained from birth to love the dear leader  and no outside sources of information Nation are allowed newspapers and television are controlled by the state  there's no internet cell phones have been banned and many don't even know a man has walked on the moon don't reckon there's no Freedom it's a country run on tyranny leadership I don't think anyone can understand North Korea until they experience it  North Korea's known as The Hermit Kingdom because of its extreme isolation from the rest of the world  put on the other side of Asia one man is literally planning to light to the darkness of North Korea  Nepalese eye surgeon dr. Sundeep would travel the world setting up I clinics in developing countries dubbed a miracle doctor by the media trains local doctors in inexpensive and effective treatments for cataracts North yeah maybe his biggest challenge yet  thousands of people go blind due to a lack of even the basic medical facilities the annual number of surgeries performed is just just very little and the brightness magnitude is one of the highest in the world to do more than one in less than 10 days his mission is purely humanitarian what the North Koreans don't know is that our camera crew is going with him what do you think of the camera so far that's what you think these cameras are big our camera crew is posing as members of doctor ruetz medical team we're going to document his work and show the world what life is like inside North Korea this meeting and it kept Mandu hotel room will be the last what time are team can converse in private so there will be a North Korean man traveling with us the entire time from here to Pyongyang turn back to Commando  North Korean minders will meet us in Nepal and monitor every step until the trip is over nose are South African cameraman Brian and I will be watched very carefully  do you think that friend and I will be followed and I'm sure that the cameras will too much attention as we enter the country Evan wants to pack them more carefully buried beneath the medical equipment  at the cat man do report the North Korean official checks are luggage  and dr. Woods plan for packing our cameras seems to work everything is okay two North Korean minders are already keeping an eye on things and our team is on edge as we wait for our flight all of us will be watched very carefully camera down now after hours in the air we steal the shots as we approach North Korea  normally Americans are not welcome here and I'm told I'll be the only one in the entire country North Korean animus Troy the US hasn't changed since the Korean War more than a half-century ago they still view us as imperialist and Hold Us responsible for wide in the country between North and South  on the ground we get our first glimpses of the capital P on yang and shoot undercover footage no easy task with minders in the car we passed 12 Lane highways with hardly any cars and see images of the great leader everywhere  John Yang is a city of the relatively privileged the government reward strong supporters by letting them live here  and unless you're a high-ranking official you need a permit to travel anywhere in the country They seized our cell phones immediately there's a feeling of being completely cut off from the outside world at the hospital hundreds of blind people have already gathered for surgery since the North Koreans know we're documenting dr. Ruth medical procedures allowed to shoot inside hopefully this will let us see past the propaganda that's usually presented to Outsiders this hospitals probably as fancy as it gets in North Korea most of this cutting-edge equipment was donated by other countries but few. where is know how to use it  the government has let dr. ruin and his team because the way for Kim Jong ill to get services to his people our team has had to bring most of our equipment and supplies with us and because blackouts are common even here in the capital we brought her on generator for power  we can only stay for 10 days but in that time doctor route hopes to conduct more than 1,000 operations to help the blind see  and if the missions to be a truce next he'll train North Korean surgeons to carry on his work after we leave turn off training programs we're starting to get a sense of what it's like to be trapped under the iron grip of Kim Jong ill  at our hotel all of the books are by author Kim Jong il's father the founder of North Korea Kim il-sung  I hope we can see what life's you like here but Kim Jong-il controls everything  and the rare times that he's granted foreigners access they've only been shown idealize versions of country like in this Dutch documentary called A Day in the Life  in this thing a mother sings nursery rhymes boxer child to school  then she goes to work the Garment Factory it's a workers Paradise finally she returns home to a lavish the film shows only the cheerful facade because here image matters  after letting a shoot inside the hospital for days are minders take us for a walk in a park and allow us to bring our our cameraman comes across the bench  so why why is it going to cost why is it in a glass cup set upon by none other than Kim Nielsen himself back on the streets of Pyongyang are camera turn wants to take a photograph of a statue of the great leader  it's huge so he lies on the ground to make it fit in a shot  but the minder snow this is a mistake a big one just the line I'm afraid you're going out of a country reminder doesn't follow through on his threat to kick us out of the country but it's clear that antagonism still exist between North Koreans and Outsiders more than 50 years after the fighting ended  in 1910 Korea was colonized by Japan brutal occupation ended more than 1,000 years of Korea's reign as a Sovereign Nation  and was a major source of Shame Japan lost Korea in World War II and the country was split between the American back south and the russian-backed meet us North led by a young rebel named Camille song  a 1950 Kimmel song invaded this to unify the country and US oppose communist expansion at all costs as many as four million people died in the Korean War which included some of the most brutal Warfare the world has known in a four-month. Alone the US drop nearly 1 million gallons of Napalm 18 of 22 major cities in North Korea or at least half a blitter rated 1853 after three years of fighting Korea remained divided in almost exactly the same place as it had been before the War Began the 38th parallel but most people think the war ended more than 50 years ago there never was a peace treaty and more than 19000 days later the very very long ceasefire continues today The Joint security area on the border of South Korea is the one place where North Korean forces stand toe-to-toe with the rest of the world  on one side of this concrete marker is North Korea on the other The Joint American South Korean forces every Flinch is monitored neither side wants to Blink and nobody has for more than 50 years this unique area each side shows its best face the Norse puts only well-fed top officers here and the South stack their side with men who are at least five foot eight or taller but only one side is worried that their soldiers might wanted to fact cross the Divide  you can see on the North Korean side how their setup they have two soldiers watching each other so neither of them fact in a new have there later to the north making sure that no one else from the north will come down and defect with everyone watching no one can cross here and affecting anywhere else along the DMZ is nearly impossible  the DMZ or demilitarized zone is it two and a half wide buffer that runs 148 miles along the border of North and South Korea  with more than a million landmines high voltage Electric what is a nearly two million soldiers crossing over is almost certain suicide the DMZ helps North Korea keep its own citizens inside the country and cut off from the rest of the world is very blind isn't at the hospital more than a thousand blind patients from all walks of play have been picked by the government to see dr. Rohit  dr. Ruth team examines the patients to make sure cataracts are the source play blindness  a cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye it's like a window that is frosted or yellow with the right equipment it's easy enough to peel out the clouded lens  and replace it with a clear plastic one dr. Ruth is ready to begin his surgery what is modern equipment and expertise it's a quick and simple procedure it takes only minutes to replace each lens but with more than a can patients waiting dr. Ritz team needs to treat more than 100 people every day Korea doctor ruach continues his work and the medical team prepares patients for surgery in the developed world cataracs what's so bad especially in young people that they result in blindness but here because of poor care and likely poor nutrition the is as much as 10 times higher than in the west and afflux young and old alike the demand here is enormous go to North Korea cataracts are only a small part of the humanitarian nightmare  German physician in human rights activists Robert Fullerton worked for over a year in North Korea he shot pictures of the horrible medical conditions  bloody old operating beer bottles for IVs no antibiotics or anesthesia it's not true because it's not away though there's no medicine there's no running water Daisy no soap in the hospital give me the most lasting impression too late when there was no more need for any emergency Duty because the child was dying when I came into the room so I felt so help in the mid-1990s natural disasters in government mismanagement created a famine that killed up to 3 million people about 10% of North Korea's population  taking place in the heart of prosperous East Asia it was one of the worst Samons of the century  today nearly 40% of North Korean children remain chronically malnourished the average 7 year old boy Korea is nearly 8 inches shorter and 22 lb lighter than his brother in South Korea the stunted generation malnutrition  reluctant to ask for help from the outside world Kim Jong ill has expelled a dwarf overtime he is isolated the country for much of the world even cutting off Communications with his neighbors to the South this room on the DMV is one of the few places set up for meetings between the North and South Koreans  one door opens to the South and the other is the North  they hold hands to keep from being pulled over the Border  boots set access but despite only being separated by a pane of glass a meeting is hard to come by simply trying to get a message across the border reveals how much relations have broken down  today The Joint us-south Korean forces have a message to pass to their counterparts only a few feet away in the North telephone hotline is supposed to connect the two sides  they use a 1962 Russian Crank phone contributed by the North Koreans in the 19 80s to ring up their neighbors to the north apparently it's not a good day to call North Korea but there is a foolproof method to get there should cross  pick up the phone we have a message to pass Pendleton Community sing a song grab a message to pass and will be renting it Kendrick Lamar Rigamortis two senior Colonel clock jung-hoon Korean People's Army subject remains repatriation who is washed Downstream are we can storm paragraph 13 foxtrot since they believe belong to the north skip to meet you in the military Armistice commission conference are up at 1400 hours to arrange the repatriation of all dancer bands find Colonel John W Towers secretary United Nations today again the only response is silence evidently the North Koreans respond only when Kim Jong ill tells them to  and up till now for us communication with our minders it's been difficult as well  making the case that it's part of our medical research I've been pushing are minders for awhile to let us go to the home of a blind much to my surprise they suddenly agree the blind woman live in a 6 floor apartment in the heart of Pyongyang since I'm told I'm the only American in the country I feel lucky but a bit surprised that the miners are willing to take me here are six government officials watching our every move but it's still a rare chance to see inside a real North Korean home like others in Pyongyang this is a privileged family the woman lives here with four of her family members including her two granddaughters the first thing I noticed was that there weren't any family pictures just in after image of the dear leader and his father volume and once again we were warned photograph the dear leader carefully what happened why not you're supposed to ask why we were supposed to sit down and be entertained by the granddaughter we wanted to talk to people under the watchful eye of the minders this was what we got finally sat down with the family and asked a few questions is life for your mother without sight the son-in-law answered without missing a Beat do you want to  the later so so much so bad decision can you repeat that she was obviously but what surprised me was so is everyone else his party official is crying even this government minder what can the great leader do anything wrong  is there anything wrong or he's at he's always what he says is this is Magic it's okay I think he genuinely didn't understand my question it seemed there wasn't even vocab Larry to question the dear leader  country plate leader defend it against  make power is like the news who won Jacksonville it helps to have nuclear weapons doesn't it as the conversation went down I wondered where did North Korea willingness to face down the entire world come from is powerful mindset take hold North Korea's defiant stance toward the rest of the world stems from a philosophy created by tell me a song called juche the juche philosophy basically means up yours to the outside world we can make everything else we don't need to and from an outsider's perspective it's the cutest thing they make such a big deal  out of being the people starving you've got no economy got no trade  stop in the Korean contacts is a profound residence because Korean history is one of invasion and all sorts of abuse from major pallets so the North Koreans turn this history around and said we're not going to take it anymore  and for Koreans there is a very profound thrill that someone would have the guts to send them be like that Camille song used Uche ideology to run North Korea for half a century and to transform himself into the father figure of the nation  he rule can Iron Fist and wielded absolute power Ricky Nelson died in 1994 he left behind a traumatized Nation his son Kim Jong-il took power in the world's first communist dynastic Handover over the years Kim Jong-il his used the juche losophy to unify his people in opposition to all things foreign especially during times of hardship like famine but personally he indulges in luxurious Imports he has a 20,000 title private movie collection a fleet of more than 100 imported limousines and at one point was the largest single customer of Hennessy cognac in the world no worries  still he uses the juche ideology of self-reliance to justify his Rule and Crush all descent in one way he's held on power is through the use of concentration camps to strike fear into the hearts of the people in North Korea places like this a 31 mile by 25 mile long work camp known simply as number 22 are scattered throughout the country camps can be the size of small city's number 22 reportedly holds up to 8000 people and many who enter don't leave alive  Defector on Myung Cho guard at number 22 he escaped through China and is one of the few guards to tell his story to the outside world  the satellite provide the only photographs of his camp on remembers every detail change region code when we were educated his guards we were call not to think of the prisoners as human the moment you enter in North Korean prison camp you're no longer human being if you think you're human being there's no way you can survive in the camps  on size fellow guards beat and even shoot prisoners for minor offense like searching for mice to eat  food was always scarce something is scene kids fighting over a corn kernel they found inside cow dung a cow eating corn and the children fought over it and eventually washed it in the water and Aiden  Camp 22 is a family camp the people there didn't actually commit crimes themselves what were the family members of those who allegedly did if a North Korean citizens simply comply to a friend about that month's rations or did anything else it could be seen as questioning the regime he's entire extended family children cousins could end up in Camp 22 for life the tube guitar combo how or why they ended up there they ended up being worked to death or dying from disease without stepping outside of that place for their entire life  the what times are key part of the regime successful hold on power it will collapse without them come to the most important thing North Korea needs is a means to frighten its people camps especially those like number 22 which house the families of the accused keep people to the regime and when someone tries to defect from the country their family often faces death or imprisonment despite the cost many people are so desperate they try to escape anyway  most go through China with chairs long border with North Korea 4 years especially after the famine in the late 90s missionaries and paid Smugglers have desperate people out  like this woman who traveled under cover of Darkness with her baby into Mongolia tens of thousands of North Korean refugees like her have come through China while some continue onto South Korea or elsewhere those who remain in China live marginal existences and are under constant threat of repatriation back to North Korea those thousands of snuck what is North Korea to China only a handful has successfully crossed the DMZ into freedom one of the few DUIs speak directly to South Korea is a 25 year old student living in soul juicing l please that I made it through with the guidance of an invisible hand because of God's will you used to be a in charge of a propaganda broadcasting booth on the North Korean side of the DMZ  one night a soldier working for you broadcast the wrong message he told the enemy that the next day was a holiday in the North could have been under great threat from the North Korean government chances of survival zero before the authorities arrested him doing his friend tried to escape the only way they could across the DMZ the drug their fellow guards and came to a series of deadly electric fences use to keep people inside North Korea shoe thought he had a plan to divert the current long enough for them to squeeze by but he wasn't sure it would work what's your plans this before I wasn't confident that I had mastered the skills so I felt scared to assemble plastic pool equipment shed  he takes off his clothes so we can slip under the fence more easily and wraps the end of the in case any electricity flows to the handle  Jew needs to hook the pool onto the electric fences in order to temporarily dye vert the electricity playground one slip can beat disasterous it's a Chihuahua charge the electric flows cut off there's only about two to three minutes that it can hold after that you can easily burn to death on the so we had to be extremely careful uses wooden Stakes to push up the fence the electric flow in the fence in front of me sounded like it was crying out almost as if it was going to burst soon at any moment on the other side he motions for his friend to join him Junior was very nervous and frightened because he had no previous experience with electric fences at first everything looks okay but halfway through disaster will power Returns the defense jiu can only watch vegetative organs Paw Paw sing someone who set out with you die in front of your eyes it's just a horrible thing I felt like my own body was breaking down Oshkosh do I reset the memory follows me around like a nightmare on  but you onward  step by step he picked his way across one of the largest minefields on the planet  find he crossed into South Korea and surrendered at a guard post  Tottenville inclusive me I had a privileged life in that Society but I don't yearn for it anymore  21 shakuntala coverage one core value that is missing their I think is freedom because it doesn't have freedom but there was a huge cost to be pay when asked what happened to his family as a result of his leaving North Korea he replied ominously it's our final evening in North Korea and Doctor route work late into the night to reach cool of operating on 1,000 patients he believes in humanitarian engagement with all of the countries of the world whatever there politics tries like you need to have a mountain they have kid tuna and it's for the wall in general can connect in North Korea we have a lot of people who need love if all goes well tomorrow the patients will have their Vision restore and how they actually see the world may be different from what we expect at the hospital the Cataract patients are waiting for Doctor Rua to remove their bandages he's achieved his goal of operating on more than 1,000 patients but they still don't know if they'll be able to see must have been blind for years some in one eye others in both doctor ruid is optimistic beautiful modern house in surgeries and always very good results New infections that aspect I feel okay as soon as the bandages are removed people will be able to see immediately the minder gives us last warning to shoot only the full image of the dear leader  the moment of truth comes first for a 23 year old woman  she's come with her father and his been completely blind for years open tonight yep it's royal blue who's your father play me up Indian tank when you get up 300 next is a 35 year-old woman who was blind in both eyes clue Doom play the money now we spot the grandmother we had visited at home play Waiting for years to see the dear leader  and she's not disappointed each time a patient regain their site we were amazed to see them direct their gratefulness for the dear leader the Spy the hardships he received credit for everything that happens here as I watched hundreds of people do and say virtually the same thing over and over  an turn again I wondered which people had genuine faith  which were acting out of fear chipmunk I'm finally it hit me  here after generations of absolute rule incomplete fascination  it may not be a difference between true belief true fear Thunder tickets North Korea is a place ruled by an absolute dictator who now possesses nuclear weapons it's no longer possible to regard the country as an isolated anomaly what happens here in the hermit Kingdom can directly everyone in the world

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"Inside North Korea" documentary/ Parallel to 1984

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