The forbidden railway: Vienna - Pyongyang (2008)

"And we? We were standing next to the sleeping-car at the regauging facility of Tumangan. No soldier, no guide, no conductor... nobody took care of us or what we did...

We were really surprised about so much freedom in North Korea! Usually something like that is totally impossible for tourists in North Korea..."

And yes, this is followed by the explanation of a typical tourist experience.

In summary of what I've learned, it's generally accepted that there are around 200,000 people kept in active concentration camps [1]. There are two types of camps: those for political prisoners (and those related to suspected defectors, because you're guilty by association with the convicted individual) held until they die, and re-education camps for "minor" offenses. Regardless of the prisoner classification, both are subject to a similarly deplorable fate.

Conditions are eerily reminiscent of concentration camps operated by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

This includes: 1) Constant threat of public execution at the whims of guards. 2) Deplorable conditions including: lack of suitable sleeping areas, lack of general access to toilets except on a twice daily basis. 3) Malnutrition. Amnesty reports 40% of inmates die due to malnutrition. Highly rationed diet consisting of 100 grams of corn (if you're not being punished) and salt soup. Finding and eating rats raw is generally considered a blessing, but at the risk of punishment by guards. 4) Torturing prisoners is commonplace. Without going into the gory details, suffice it to say, it is horrible. 5) Human experimentation performed on prisoners a la Dr. Mengele. 6) Infanticide of babies born in captivity.

I remember when I first learned about the Holocaust in school and wondered how in the hell did the world stand by for so long while these atrocities were being committed? Now I understand.

When you are, by pure randomness, lucky enough to be living in a part of the world where these horrible acts are distant enough to barely register on the press radar, reading about these things do seem unfathomable, almost fake.

Most of what I've heard about North Korea in the past has focused on their bizarre cult of personality and generally bizarre culture. As comical as North Korea is made out to be in much of the internet, there is a serious humanitarian crisis ongoing. Given that the Korean War ended in 1953, the situation has perpetuated for sixty years now.

If the statistic of six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust shocks and disgusts you, I shudder to think about what we shall uncover after the North Korean dictatorship falls (if it ever does at this point if the situation continues) and their dark history finally becomes public knowledge. It really makes me feel nauseous to think that we always have to wait until after the atrocities end to learn from them.

Is there anything we can do? I'm sure there is, I just don't know what. Ugh.

[1] Amnesty International Media Briefing on North Korean Prison Camps http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA24/001/2011/en/26...

Beijing Pyongyang is/was open to tourists at least a few years ago, they put you in a special car while everyone else gets off somewhere in Liaoning.

This situation changed somewhat with the fall of the Soviet Union. I believe the article has a chart of the freight tonnage crossing the border that shows a sharp drop off at this time (I saw the chart somewhere last night). The loss of aid from the Russians exacerbated the North Korean famine in the 1990s. The Chinese still continued to support the Koreans as a buffer state, however. Recently, it has become clear that the Chinese have grown somewhat ambivalent to the whole situation (wikileaks, for example). It is now unlikely that they would defend North Korea in a war, but they do still think of it as their backyard. For the Americans and South Koreans, the prospect of going to war against the North with a possibly nuclear armed army of 2 million soldiers is not very appealing.

I would say that the Chinese influence is growing as the Koreans have not been able to play them off against the Soviets for the last 20 years. More and more (capitalist) Chinese investment seems to be occurring, and the country seems to be opening up ever so slightly, though the Koreans still act pretty randomly.

One final note, I have been watching North Korea for a few years, and I would say there has been a very important sign of opening up. Last night, I watched a video from a tour where the guide at a collective farm talked openly if not completely honestly about the famine. A few years ago, they would not have even admitted that the famine occurred and blamed it on American propaganda. The door has been wedged open a little bit, and I am hopeful that a new generation of leadership that has grown up without the benefit of Soviet support will allow things to open further. Then, we may be able to do something productive about the atrocities that sadly still occur.