When North Koreans flee to China they risk severe punishment if they are captured by the Chinese authorities and repatriated to the DPRK. Despite its domestic censorship practices and sub-standard human rights laws, the standard of living in China is still attractive to North Koreans because it is much better than conditions in their own country.

 After six decades, North Korea’s totalitarian regime is rapidly losing popular support. Numerous escapees have said “no one believes” in the government and that somewhere between 2007-2008, people’s attitude towards the government began to change.

 This shift in domestic sentiments towards the DPRK’s government was spurred by a series of events. First, a devastating famine that happened in the 1990s resulting in hundreds of thousands of North Koreans perishing due to hunger. Second, an increase in knowledge about the outside world due to greater penetration of external news and information. For example, some North Koreans are beginning to question whether South Korean society is really as dystrophic as the North Korean government says it is. These doubts are strongest among the parts of North Korea that border China, but even people residing in North Korea’s interior are losing faith in the government. Third, poor living conditions and quality of life are sowing dissent. The North Korean government promised its people economic prosperity, but has not delivered on that promise. Instead the government implemented a disastrous currency reform in 2009 that targeted the private wealth amassed by citizens making money in North Korea’s local market system. Lastly, the execution of Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un’s uncle, was a stark example of how unpredictable North Korea’s ruling regime can be.

 Last month, a UN report accused the DPRK government of committing numerous atrocities including “murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence”.

Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul believes it is no longer possible to rule out the chances of a popular revolution or an economic revolution taking foot in North Korea. If the DPRK’s government were to implement economic reforms, they would be incapable of satisfying citizens who have seen Chinese lifestyles. The only guaranteed long-term solution that helps everyone is freedom. 

Source: The Gurdian