Freedom of Movement in North Korea
New York: North Korea remains one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world, ruled for seven decades by the Kim family and the Worker’s Party of Korea.
With the start of Kim Jong-un regime in 2012 there have been various attempts to describe North Korea politics and society. One way way to grasp the general scope of North Korea society is to analyze the current conditions which North Korea residents face under Kim Jong-un reign, by exploring the situation of human rights violations in North Korea.
One can observe rapid social changes through the growth of the jangmadang economy, rampant corruption, the regime control of its people, among other aspects in particular, the Kim regime adopts strong social control by reinforcing control over outside information and culture, and interdicting defection attempts by border control.
Yet, as state control increases, the people way of life adapts and evolves accordingly. Understanding domestic freedom of movement in North Korea is a helpful analytical framework that effectively illustrates the country’s rapid social changes. Since the expansion of freedom of movement directly relates to the influx of outside information and changes people awareness, it can be considered one of the key gauges to measure future changes in North Korean society.