Wokeness in North Korea

For John, BLUF:  North Korea gives us an example of how ugly it can get when certain thoughts are proscribed.  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Four publicly executed in Pyongyang on charges of distributing “illegal video materials”

From the Daily NK, by Reporter Ha Yoon Ah, 12 March 2021, 1:03 PM.

Here is the lede plus two:

Four North Koreans were publicly executed in Pyongyang recently on charges of distributing “illegal video materials,” Daily NK has learned.

A source in the country told Daily NK yesterday that the execution took place on Mar. 2 at the Daewon-ri Firing Range in Pyongyang’s Sadong District.  The four people, including three men and one woman, were executed by firing squad in front of local city residents and the heads of all Pyongyang’s inminban (neighborhood watch-like organizations).

All those executed were residents of Hadang-dong, an area of Pyongyang’s Hyongjae District.  Led by a man in his early 50s along with his wife, who was in her late 40s, the group was accused of placing South Korean movies, entertainment and music programs on SD cards and distributing them throughout the country.

This seems rather harsh.

The source of this action is covered toward the end of the article:

Article 27 of the anti-reactionary thought law says that anyone caught importing or distributing South Korean movies, music or published works face a lifetime of forced labor or execution, according to materials obtained by Daily NK.

Now there is serious "woke" enforcement.  There is, apparently, no forgiveness, no bringing a repentent person back into the Community.  In North Korea wrong thoughts, wrong actions, wrong words can get you in trouble, a lot more trouble than here, so far.

Those doing wrong not only sufferred execution, but also consequences for their immediate families:

The teenage children of the couple have been sent to South Pyongan Province’s Bukchang 18 concentration camp, which is run by the Ministry of Social Security.  The immediate family members of the other executed people who had been living in Pyongyang have all been exiled to other parts of the country.

Will those family members ever recover?  Not likely under the rein of President Kim Jong-un.  Under North Korea's Songbun system the sins of the parent, and of the grandparent, will be visited on the individual.  Digging out from under the Songbun system is not easy.

But, are we not developing a like system here, with our Woke approach to things?  We aren't executing anyone, but we are removing them from their place in society and casting them aside.

Regards  —  Cliff