Human Rights Violations in North Korea

Human Rights Violations in North Korea After World War II, Japanese-occupied Korea was divided in two: North Korea, a newly Communist government under the supervision of the Soviet Union, and South Korea, under the supervision of the United States. The North Korean Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) was granted independence in 1948  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹and is now one of the few remaining Communist nations. The population of North Korea is approximately 25 million, with an estimated annual per capita income of about US$1,800. The State of Human Rights in North Korea North Korea is in all likelihood the most oppressive regime on Earth. Although human rights monitors are generally banned from the country, as are radio communications between citizens and outsiders, some journalists and human rights monitors have been successful in uncovering details about the secretive governments policies. The government is essentially a dictatorshippreviously operated by Kim Il-sung, then by his son Kim Jong-il, and now by his grandson Kim Jong-un. The Cult of the Supreme Leader Although North Korea is generally described as a Communist government, it could also be characterized as a theocracy. The North Korean government operates 450,000 Revolutionary Research Centers for weekly indoctrination sessions, where attendees are taught that Kim Jong-il was a deity figure whose story began with a miraculous birth atop a legendary Korean mountain (Jong-il was actually born in the former Soviet Union). Kim Jong-un, now known (as his father and grandfather once were) as Dear Leader, is similarly described in these Revolutionary Research Centers as a supreme moral entity with supernatural powers. Loyalty Groups The North Korean government divides its citizens into three castes based on their perceived loyalty to Dear Leader: core (haeksim kyechung), wavering (tongyo kyechung), and hostile (joktae kyechung). Most of the wealth is concentrated among the core, while the hostilea category that includes all members of minority faiths, as well as descendants of perceived enemies of the stateare denied employment and subject to starvation. Enforcing Patriotism The North Korean government enforces loyalty and obedience through its Ministry of Peoples Security, which requires citizens to spy on each another, including family members. Anyone who is overheard saying anything perceived as critical to the government is subject to a reduced loyalty group rating, torture, execution, or imprisonment in one of North Koreas ten brutal concentration camps. Controlling the Flow of Information All radio and television stations, newspapers and magazines, and church sermons are government-controlled and focus on praise of the Dear Leader. Anyone who makes contact with foreigners in any way, or listens to foreign radio stations (some of which are accessible in North Korea), is in danger of any of the penalties described above. Traveling outside of North Korea is also forbidden, and can carry a penalty of death. A Military State Despite its small population and dismal budget, the North Korean government is heavily militarizedclaiming to have an army of 1.3 million soldiers (the fifth-largest in the world), and a thriving military research program that includes the development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. North Korea also maintains rows of massive artillery batteries on the North-South Korea border, designed to inflict heavy casualties on Seoul in the event of international conflict. Mass Famine and Global Blackmail During the 1990s, as many as 3.5 million North Koreans died of starvation. Sanctions are not imposed on North Korea primarily because they would block grain donations, resulting in the deaths of millions more, a possibility that does not appear to concern the Dear Leader. Malnutrition is almost universal except among the ruling class; the average North Korean 7-year-old is eight inches shorter than the average South Korean child of the same age. No Rule of Law The North Korean government maintains ten concentration camps, with a total of between 200,000 and 250,000 prisoners contained therein. Conditions in the camps are terrible, and the annual casualty rate has been estimated as high as 25%. The North Korean government has no due process system, imprisoning, torturing, and executing prisoners at will. Public executions, in particular, are a common sight in North Korea. Prognosis: By most accounts, the North Korean human rights situation cannot presently be solved by international action. The U.N. Human Rights Committee has condemned the North Korean human rights record on three different occasions in recent years, to no avail. Strict sanctions are of limited usefulness because the North Korean government has already demonstrated that it is willing to allow millions of its citizens to starve.Military action is not feasible, primarily because the artillery batteries maintained by the North Korean government along the demilitarized zone could literally result in millions of South Korean casualties. North Korean leaders have promised an annihilating strike in the event of U.S. invasion.North Korea maintains a stockpile of chemical weapons, and may also possess biological weapons.North Korea has augmented this threat with nuclear weapons development.North Korean missiles delivering chemical, biological, or nuclear munitions can reach South Korea, can almost certainly reach Japan, and are presently being tested for potential launch against the U.S. west coast.The North Korean government regularly breaks treaties, reducing the value of diplomacy as a human rights strategy. The best hope for North Korean human rights progress is internaland this is not a futile hope. Many North Korean citizens have gained access to foreign media and foreign radio stations, giving them​ a  reason to question national propaganda.Some North Korean citizens are even distributing revolutionary literature with apparent impunityas the governments loyalty enforcement system, fearsome though it is, is too bloated to function efficiently.The death of Kim Jong-il in 2012 has introduced a new generation of leadership, which may respond to international pressure in a more practical way.

Preondactylus - Facts and Figures

Preondactylus - Facts and Figures Name: Preondactylus (Greek for Preone finger, after the region in Italy where it was discovered); pronounced PRE-on-DACK-till-us Habitat: Shores of southern Europe Historical Period: Late Triassic (215-200 million years ago) Size and Weight: Wingspan of one to two feet and less than a pound Diet: Probably fish Distinguishing Characteristics: Long beak and tail; relatively small size About Preondactylus Gross-out alert: paleontologists have identified two fossils of Preondactylus, one normal and the other not so normal, and both hailing from Italys portion of the Alpian mountain chain. The normal fossil is an imprint of a nearly complete specimen, lacking only part of the head, encased in a 200-million-year-old slab of limestone. The not-so-normal fossil is a wadded-up ball of bones, as if a Preondactylus individual had been gobbled up a prehistoric trash compactor. As far as paleontologists can tell, this ball is what is known as a fish pellet: the unfortunate Preondactylus had been eaten whole by a prehistoric fish, which then vomited out the indigestible bits, including the bones! Now that that unpleasant detail is out of the way, what kind of creature was Preondactylus? Paleontologists have identified this long-tailed, narrow-beaked reptile as one of the most basal (i.e., earliest and least-evolved) pterosaurs in the fossil record, dating to late Triassic southern Europe. Preondactylus was closely related to other early pterosaurs like Rhamphorhynchus and Dorygnathus (hence its classification as a rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur, as opposed to the pterodactyloid pterosaurs of the later Mesozoic Era), and it probably made its living by plucking small fish out of the water (which would explain how that unfortunate individual wound up getting eaten by a fish itself).

Criticisms of the Federal Reserve System Assignment

Criticisms of the Federal Reserve System - Assignment Example M1 is a category of supply of money that includes all the physical money; that is, currency and coins. It also includes negotiable order of withdrawal accounts and checking accounts. M2 is a category of money supply which includes M1 and saving deposits, market funds, and time related deposits. When M1/M2 is defined commercial institutions such as banks create money in the society. Fiscal policy is the way the government influences its economy through controlling its revenue or taxation and its expenditure. The federal reserve alone controls fiscal policy. If any other governmental entity was involved in this, Fed would have been scraped due to the criticism towards it. it is important to have three different governmental entities so that each one of them serves specific purposes for the public. This ensures that the public receives better services since they are handled efficiently. Fed is there in order to take care of a sensitive issue of money. It has a major influence on the economy of a country and therefore should be handled separately. In monetary policy there is an authority to control money supply to promote economic growth (Paul,

Performance Evaluation Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance Evaluation Paper - Essay Example Secondly, in his evaluation the manager used terms that were not effective in the evaluation process. Instead of using the terms such as medium or low-medium, the manager could have used evaluation ratings such as outstanding, meets expectations, exceeds expectations, below expectations or unsatisfactorily (Robbins and Judge, 2007). In this way, it was possible for the manager to rate the engineer’s attitude. Thirdly, the current evaluation form used by the manager does not suggest methods of improving the negative aspects of the employees. Part A 1. Definition of the most commonly-used sets of evaluation criteria in organisations Productivity This is the volume of products or services that an employee produces during his or her duties. Employers mostly reward highly productive employees to motivate them and enhance higher productivity. Quality It means the originality of the work done by the employees. It portrays the innovativeness of an employee. Consistency This means prod uction of similar quality and quantity of work. Employers measure constituency by comparing the previous and the current evaluations. Attendance This is the rate at which the employees report to work. It involves checking the attendance records and valid reasons for absenteeism. Adherence to policy It means the extent to which the employees abide to the procedures that are set by the company. Part B. The relative value of the commonly-used evaluation criteria defined in Part A 1 As mentioned in the previous section, employers are keen to reward the employees who portray significant productivity thus motivating them to work hard. Even though the amount of products by the employees is a major evaluation criterion, it should not compromise the quality of the products. This is the major reason as to why managers evaluate the quality of the work done by employees. In the same way, consistency ensures that employees who depicts waxes and wanes during their duties are noted and adequate tr aining done to ensure they maintain unswerving performance (Robbins and Judge, 2007). Attendance ensures that employees are there when they are needed by their employers. Employees who are consistently at work are highly desired by the employers and their co-workers. Adhering to policies set by a company ensures employees’ safety and an improved working environment. Part C. Advantages of including supervisors, peers, and subordinates in the evaluation process It ensures that the ratings are anonymous. In this way, individuals provide open and honest evaluation that cannot be singled out from the multiple sources. In addition, inclusion of the various stakeholders ensures that ratings portray multiple perspectives that are ignored by the top-down technique of evaluation adopted by the traditional appraisals. In the same way, including supervisors, peers, and subordinates during evaluation saves time and it provides helpful performance feedback (Thomas, 1987). This is due to th e fact that there are no comparisons between workers, no goals and there are no figures involved in the process. Part D. Disadvantages of including supervisors, peers, and subordinates in the evaluation process One of the major disadvantages of including supervisors, peers, and subordinates in the evaluation process is that the possibility of giving dishonest feedback is high. For example, subordinates may give dishonest feedback

Texting and driving Essay Example for Free

Texting and driving Essay I think texting and driving is dangerous and whether or not it has affected you as of now, statistics show it could in the future. Did you know that texting while driving is now one of the most common distractions that take a driver’s eyes off the road today? Imagine if someone in your family, your mom, dad, or sibling were killed by a driver who was texting, how would you feel? Would you think, was that text really worth losing a life over? I am going to show you that texting while driving is never a good idea and can have dangerous and deadly consequences’ for that individual. Problem: Texting while driving kill’s people on a daily basis. Recent statistics from 2009 show that 5,474 people in the United States were killed due to texting. This was a significant increase from 2007 when 3,210 people were killed in accidents where drivers were texting.(http://www.stoptextsstopwrecks.org/#facts) Teenagers are the most experienced drivers and when they read or write a text it compounds their likely hood of having a fatal accident. Statistics bears this out with this age group when texting and driving 45% of their accidents resulted in death. The Allstate Foundation’s recent survey showed that 82% of teens report texting while driving, while only 23% admit to drinking and driving which shows how common this practice is for this age group. According to data collected by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on (http://www.textndrive.com/, more teenagers die on May 20 than any other day of the year. Over the past five years, May 20 claimed 63% more lives than any average day because of prom and other end of the school year celebrations II. Cause: Driving and texting is considered a multi-tasked skill that increases the output of the driver’s brain causing distractions to our cognitive functions, memory, visual fields, and manually. The first way that texting interferes with drivers is through the brain’s cognitive functions that allow for multi-tasking. Driver’s attention span is split between what’s going on in the road and what’s happening on their cell phone, and this lack of focus makes them a liability for other drivers. Most people do not have the cognitive skills to manage two different multi-tasked processes at once.  This causes individuals brains to process too much mentally, making the information that is received unclear and hard for them to react quickly to events happening in their surroundings. Second way that texting interferes with driving is through memory. a. Memory is when the brain engages in a constant process that sends. III. Solution: There are many solutions to this problem and I will list a few: Unless you are on a long road trip, put your phone away until you arrive at your destination, if you have to text just pull over for a few minutes. There are apps for most phones that you can use to prevent if you are tempted to text while you are driving called anti-texting apps that can be utilized. If you are on a trip with more than yourself, designate a person that will be the texter, if you are driving have your passenger text for you so you can concentrate on the road. Silence your phone if you are one who has to look at your phone for every noise it makes. I have just taken you through the problems with texting and driving. Provided you with the statistics and presented you with possible dangers of texting and driving. I have given you alternatives to not only keep you safe but to also keep others safe too. Laws are being enacted due to the public outcry and most states are on board with legislation punishing drivers that text. But that would be a drop in the bucket should you be distracted and injure or kill someone when it could have been avoided. I hope that I have convinced you to join me in educating people to change their driving habits†¦ Silence can saves lives. References: BIBLIOGRAPHY \* MERGEFORMAT Stop the Texys Stop the Wrecks. (2014). From Stoptextsstopwrecks: www.stoptextstopwrecks.org www.stoptextstopwrecks.org. (2014). From www.stoptextstopwrecks.org www.textndrive.com. (2014). From www.textndrive.com: www.textndrive.com/wordpress/2010/05/may-20-is-deadliest-day-for-american-teen-drivers/ Here is the link to my Persuasive speech: http://youtu.be/dgCanjzytFs

Personal Narrative- Contributing to Society Essay -- Personal Narrativ

Personal Narrative- Contributing to Society I am one of those people that you’d probably term â€Å"normal†. I attend a normal school, I work at a normal job, I have a normal life. You wouldn’t single me out on the street: there is nothing remarkable about me, I am one of the many. So, what has someone like me got to say that would make any difference to this world? I haven’t fought the important socio-political battles of this century; I haven’t done anything that will be recorded in the world annals. Yet, I believe that I can contribute towards a healthier society. We live in a world that has forsaken the value of small things and deems those who think like me, foolish dreamers who will be left behind in the rat race. Well, so be it. I know I have to keep working and living in thi...

Please Vote for Me

In the far away land of china the great film and documentary producer Don Edkins and film and documentary director Weijun Chen have made an epic tale of a class of third graders who have been introduced to democracy and a democratic election for their hall monitor. Of the class three of them have been chosen as the classes’ candidates. First we have Cheng Cheng he is a powerful leader but may not be the best choice for the class. Next we have Xu Xaiofei, she is a hard worker and almost gave up at one point but was willing to stick it out till the end. But last we have Luo Lei, he was previous class monitor and a strong willed but easly swayed character. All their characters will be tested by this election. Now after meeting all the candidates we’ll discuss their strategies because they were all unique in their own way. Now first off is the talent portion, I personally think that a talent portion is pointless in any election but, now they all had good strategy in their talents with the singing and instrument playing but cheng cheng was the behind the scenes attacker and also made the first signs of attack on the opponents by talking lou lei to start booing Xu Xaiofei, which made her cry. Now lou lei showed his true colors when he started crying and had cheng cheng apologize for him. Next, we have the debates and like any debates it has the goods of yourself as an opponent, but it also has the bads of your opponent. And this time the tables had turned a little Xu Xaiofei had decited to start making list of the other opponents’ faults which turned around on her when the opponents started to make lists to. They also questioned each other with â€Å"loaded† questions which proved cheng cheng to be a little bit of a liar. Other opponents were left speechless on the spot with some of the questions. Lastly they had their speeches which were partially created by them but some were made by their parents. The kids parents this entire time had been very active in there Childs debates, almost more into it than their kids. But their speeches like any common were kindly begging for people’s votes and with as hard as they tried to make a good impression on their peers. The one person who made that lasting impression was lou lei when he brought the gifts to hand out at the end of his speech. In the end compared to many of today’s politicians they ran a very clean race and were thoughtful towards each other. But in the thought of a third grader in china who knows. After their speeches the students casted their votes. It has been a long race for these children and in the end it all comes down to the other students. After careful counting of the ballets the vote was in lou lei had won with a unbelievable vote of twenty-five. He was a fair winner and shook both their hands but that wouldn’t hold back the tear of the other opponents. It had been a long and fair race but in the end there can only be one winner and as the great Ricky Bobby would say â€Å"if you aint first your last†.