North Korea: a Close Brother Nation or a Distant Hostile Enemy Nation?

-After Watching a Meaningful Vice Documentary on North Korea-

<John Lennon & Ono Yoko- "Give Peace a Chance">

  In the global village of 21st century, North Korea is perhaps the most isolated nation of all. Currently ruled by the dictator Kim Jung Eun, North Korea is a rogue nation whose basic ideology is that of Communism combined with dictatorship. Its infamous experiment on nuclear technology is front-page news all over the world. The president of the most influential country once even referred to North Korea as the “axis of evil”. In journals and documentaries, people living in North Korea are portrayed as poor subjects of tyranny and torture. Everyone around the world wonder, “What on earth is this country? What kinds of people live in it? What is the daily life of North Koreans?” 

  The Vice documentary seems to portray North Korea in a bit different focus. Instead of focusing on the evil political crimes, it deals with the actual lives of North Koreans in their daily lives. It also includes a basketball game between Americans and North Koreans, which may be the first sport diplomacy between the two nations. It also shows the university life in North Korea, which seems to be no different from that of any other “liberal” nations. Also, the kids in North Korea show warm smiles that one would expect from any happy kid in a wealthy nation. However, the Vice documentary brings up a crucial question to all of the happy lives shown to the foreign visitors. The people seem to be happy, but they do not seem to be a unique, individual human being! They are just like robots and clones from the movie Star Wars, pressured by the heavy virtue of conformity. One thing weird(although there were many awkward scenes) from the movie was the scene video-taped in a computer lab in a university. The sits were full of students, but almost no one knew how to actually use the internet or any other functions of the computer. This got me to wonder if the whole scenery shown to the visitors was a “fake” one, intentionally created by the North Korean government to build a better image of North Korea to the international world. It was an awkward scene that one would find in a movie like The Truman Show. 

  As the documentary was almost getting towards the end, a thought came to me that all of these seemingly “nice” documentary producers in North Korea were actually creating another dictator image of North Korea in a smart, indirect way. I mean, they probably would have known that the North Korean government will try to create a better image of their country to the foreigners. It seems to me that they simply over-dramatized the whole trip to North Korea and exaggeratedly made a negative image of North Korean conformity. There was one crucial evidence that lead me to this troubling idea: in the scene where the crowd was yelling “Man-Sae!”(translated into “Hurray!” in English), the subtitle showed incorrect translations such as “A live thousand years!”, which sounds much more awkward in terms of conformity. Who would yell “A live thousand years” in a basketball stadium? Not even the North Koreans. The Vice producers should have concerned more about accurate translations especially in cases like this where one small mistake can lead to a huge influence because it is a popular documentary. 

  Just as in Vice, the world has a wrongful point of view towards North Korea. Even the fellow South Koreans are trapped inside that narrow-mindedness. The world attention towards North Korea sees reality through a blurred lens, a lens called “western dominance”. To the world, North Korea is nothing more than a trash country that poses nuclear threats to international peace kept by the strong superman nation, United States of America. The US government always threatens North Korea for its tests on nuclear technology. But let’s consider this whole fight over nuclear technology in a little different aspect. Why is North Korea not allowed to develop nukes when America already has tons of nuclear weapons? Why are developed western nations always an exception to limitations on weaponry development and many other kinds of limitations on development? 

  All of us should keep in mind that it is not only the North Korean government who is deceiving its people. Every government and leaders of nations show distorted images of the world to make them favorable to their own nation. The naïve commoners in the country are, in a way, deceived by their own leaders and governments. Thus, the American viewpoint of dividing the international world into two grops-good(the US and its allies) and evil(enemy nations to the US)-is another form of indoctrination with no fundamental difference with that of North Korea. 

  Now, I am not saying that the North Korean government has done kind, benevolent deeds to the international society. What I am saying is that we should consider international matters from diverse aspects, with diverse “lenses”, not only with the “lens of westernization”. With such attitudes, we will finally be able to truly give peace a chance.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

-Debunking Myth about EV1, the Crushed Miracle!-

<Jaurim(Purple Rainforest) - "EV1" from 8th Album>

It might be quite moving to listen to this music while reading the tragic story of EV1!!!

  In the last decade of the millennium, the California Air Resources Board passed a zero-emission vehicles act, which required major automobile companies to make and sell cars with zero-level pollution emission. Following this mandate, General Motors invented a miraculous state-of-the-art electric car. It took less than 10 seconds to accelerate to a speed of 100km/h from stationary state, and it could speed up to 130km/h. Fuel was not an issue since the unbelievable car ran for 4 hours once it was electrically charged for only 10 minutes. The name of this amazing car was EV1. 

  EV1 was available on lease in the Southwest regions of US at first, but its popularity had skyrocketed and more and more consumers were eager to drive the fascinating electric car. Because the lease-fee wasn’t too high(about $400 a month) and there were more than 150 charge stations in the country, most people were satisfied with the electric car. EV1 seemed like the perfect solution for the environment as well as the consumers’ exacting demands. 

  However, the tragedy of EV1 developed because of its rising popularity and perfection. Many people suspect the oil companies and conventional automobile-related enterprises as virtual “murderers” of the electric car. Because this car did not need any petroleum, its popularity posed much threat to the oil industry. Also, other major car companies and enterprises related to conventional automobile parts were probably not happy with EV1 due to its competitiveness regarding economic and environmental aspects. Due to the massive lobbying from such interest groups, the zero-emission vehicles act was repealed, and car companies won in a lawsuit against the state government to succeed in compromising the strict mandate to “low-emission vehicles” instead of vehicles with no pollution at all. Under the heavy pressure of such major industries, all EV1s were recalled from its lease contract and junked in the lonely deserts of California not many years later. 

Many activists still blame the oil and car industry for the sabotaging of the poor little EV1, which could have become a milestone for eco-friendly cars. Their arguments are highly convincing, but there is yet another point of view, or rather an explanation to the story of EV1. General Motors brings up financial issues and limitations for the causes of the recall, rather than blaming oil and other automobile industries. Spokespersons from GM have repeatedly argued in various interviews that the recall of EV1 was because the production expense was far greater than the profit by lease, and GM was not ready to invest in eco-friendly automobile problem enduring such heavy deficit. 

  The controversy about the sabotaging of EV1 is still a big issue, now that environmental problems are becoming more and more important than ever. We do not know the exact reasons and causes for the massive recall of the electric car, and we probably will never know, but one thing for sure is that if EV1 was still widely used, the humankind might have been in a much more better position in terms of the environmental problems than as it is 10 years after the death of EV1.