By More reports are coming out in regards to the abuse of children in North Korea where now children orphaned from the mass famine of the mid-1990′s are now being rounded up and put into labor camps. This Joong Ang Ilbo video shows how bad the lives of these orphans known as “kotjaebi” really is:
I highly recommend everyone read in full One Free Korea’s posting on the plight of children in North Korea.
Well at least there is now a government in Seoul that no longer gives standing ovations for child abuse in North Korea.
11:56 am on February 4th, 2009 1
I guessed before watching the clip that the footage came from Japan, whose media have consistently provided the best coverage of the lives of North Koreans.
1:40 pm on February 4th, 2009 2
Sonagi, any guess why that is the case? maybe just geographic proximity combined with an uncensored press (regarding reporting about this particular issue).
1:45 pm on February 4th, 2009 3
My opinion is that the suffering of North Koreans is not something pushed greatly in the South Korean media like it is in the Japanese media because of the shame South Koreans feel for turning a blind eye to what is going on up there for so long.
1:48 pm on February 4th, 2009 4
Japan is much more interested in North Korea than the US or other Western countries and has no reason to censor or downplay the horrors of life under the Kim Dynasty. Japan also appears to have a stronger network of informants.