ATA goes “Inside North Korea”

To raise awareness of human rights violations occurring in North Korea under dictator Kim Jong Il , Northwood’s All Throughout Asia (ATA) club hosted a screening of the National Geographic documentary “Inside North Korea” on Friday, March 5 at 4 p.m. in the theater.

ATA collaborated with Liberty in North Korea (LiNK), a global organization dedicated to educating people about the human rights crisis in North Korea and protecting and providing resources to refugees fleeing from oppression. LiNK member Austin Holmes presented the screening, and merchandise was sold at the event to raise support for LiNK’s missions.

“Inside North Korea” was hosted by Lisa Ling, the older sister of journalist Laura Ling, who had previously been held captive in North Korea. The elder Ling and other members of National Geographic’s film crew traveled under the guise of coordinators working with Nepalese eye surgeon Dr. Ruit. Ruit, who had come to cure North Korean patients of blindness caused by cataracts, was able to  get the crew past the strict restrictions North Korea holds toward visitors. The documentary reveals the poverty North Koreans face as well as the restrictions on speech and press that Kim Jong Il’s dictatorship has employed to maintain his control over his citizens.

One of the purposes of “Inside North Korea” was to demonstrate that human rights issues are often too complex to be solved by simply distributing aid. As the film demonstrated, in a country where the rights to freedom of movement in and out of the country , speech, religion and assembly are denied, political and ideological complications make alleviating the crisis extremely difficult.

Extra credit for attending the screening was offered to all freshmen in World History classes, as the freshman history curriculum puts a great emphasis on the philosophical origins from which the idea of human rights is derived as well as what human rights violations are taking place in the world today.