The novel 1984 is a book that everybody must have read at least once in their lifetime. It is about a world in which everything is owned and controlled by the government. Culture, the economy, physical activities, and even their thoughts are being controlled by the Party. The Party has totalitarian control over its citizens. In the real world, North Korea is also known to have totalitarian control over its citizens. In what aspects does 1984 look like the situation in North Korea?
In Orwell’s book 1984, there are four ministries that each have a different task. The four ministries are the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Love, the Ministry of Peace, and the Ministry of Plenty. As the name says, the Ministry of Truth concerns itself with truth. They do this by changing the past. The main character Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth. He has to manufacture lies by rewriting old texts so it matches the latest facts about the Party and the government. Old articles will be destroyed, so nobody knows for sure what has happened in the past. Unfortunately, the same goes for North Korea where the truth is also controlled by the government. Books older than fifteen years are not allowed to be in libraries to be shown to the public. This will result in North Korean citizens being ignorant about the past, and not having a clear vision of the reality of former times. Here, you could say that the North Korean government is just like the Ministry of Truth in 1984. The government of North Korea banned all types of expression of freedom, except when it is about someone’s admiration of the nation and its leader, Kim Jong-un. Besides freedom of speech being forbidden, having wrong thoughts is also not allowed. When North Koreans have a bad opinion of their government, they are sent to prison camps where they have to take classes about the political situation in North Korea. The prisoners are not allowed to sleep until they have remembered everything that is taught in class. They are brainwashed into loving their leader. Some other human rights that are violated in these prison camps are forced labor, public execution, and children being forced to eat rats and insects due to a food shortage in the country. Moreover, the country uses food rations to equally divide the food supply among its citizens. In May 2019, the North Korean regime cut the food rations to just 300 grams per person, per day. This was due to a bad harvest, because of many different issues. The government had always been bad at supplying enough food for its citizens. Even at high production, most people have to live with only 500 grams of food per day. This includes mostly just rice and kimchi. The government starves and neglects its own people and provides very little help in dealing with the food shortages. In 1984, the main ratio that is very obvious in the book is the chocolate ratio. People are allowed to buy a certain amount of chocolate every week due to a shortage. All citizens of Oceania and North Korea struggle a lot because of the rations and some limitations that are placed on certain kinds of food.
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Not only does the North Korean government censor all forms of media, most of the populace has no access to the internet at all. The inhabitants are forced to believe what the government says. What the government says is the truth, and since people do not have access to other sources they will be brainwashed into believing the government’s reality. In 1984, Winston Smith and the other inhabitants of Oceania are also brainwashed by the Party using propaganda, for example. The citizens have to obey their leader, Big Brother, who is very powerful. If one does not worship him, he will be tortured until they show their love to Big Brother. They will go to ‘Room 101’. This is where the Thought Police puts people that have thoughts that go against (the rules of) the government. In Room 101, people have to face their worst fears to complete the final stage of accepting Big Brother. Winston is also tortured here and is so broken that he eventually turns in his love Julia and surrenders. This story reflects the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, who is the only native ever to escape one of the labor camps. He was tortured in Camp 14, which violates many human rights. He bid for freedom and turned in his mother and brother to the authorities to be executed so he could be set free. He witnessed the execution of both family members.
Furthermore, Big Brother is watching people through telescreens at all times. The telescreens are displayed everywhere, and people are not allowed to turn them off. Every move is watched, so there is no privacy whatsoever. Citizens are not allowed to feel love and affection for someone else. Close friendships and relationships are prohibited. This means that sex is forbidden, and is only used for the practical purpose of increasing the number of population. North Koreans live, just like the people in 1984, under constant surveillance. Microphones are used to record face-to-face conversations and telephones are being tapped by the government. No aspect of their lives is really private. This looks extremely familiar to the situation in 1984, except that people actually can feel love and affection towards one another. However, people still live in fear as they have to be careful about what they say and how they express their opinions about the government and their leader Kim Jong-un. If they say the wrong thing they will be taken to one of the labour camps.
All things considered, the situation in 1984 and North Korea look really alike, sadly. It is horrible that even in modern 2019, the same totalitarian conditions apply to North Korea as they did in a fiction book written in 1949.
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