The white tour bus stopped in front of the
deluxe and pompous building with “Geum-gang Beach Hotel” named upon it, as
13-year-old boys rushed of the bus filled with excitement. I was one of those
boys who attended the Mt.Geum-gang tour program held in 2008, as a lot of
people wearing white uniforms stood in one row to welcome us with open arms. As
the boys calmed down and stood in lines, the tour program began.
It was the perfect tour indeed. All the schedule, services and people
we’d met during the tour were so proficient that it seemed nothing could
disrupt it. As young children, we made a lot of problems that could affect the
program. Some of us lost things, and even lost their way during the tour.
However, every problem we’d made was solved within 20 minutes, and our guidance
never failed to keep us on the right program on time. The program itself was
fascinating and wonderful. Hearing the
chorus, having a barbecue, and watching the beautiful autumn colors of
Mt.Geum-gang were just some of the memories. With those great programs, four
days out of seven-days tour passed in the blink of an eye. Everything seemed
perfect, and I was so satisfied with the tour. However, the horrendous event
right after the fourth day completely changed my feeling towards the program.
It
was fifth day when I got lost in the hotel while playing with my friends. On
that day, we watched the performance of young children at the theater in the
hotel. We were excited watching the chorus, singing and dancing. After, we had
a free time before the dinner, thus we played hide-and-seek altogether. I hid
in the place where we were banned to go as I thought it would be a safer place
to hide from the tagger. And in there, I heard a strange sound; a little, small
weeping sound came out from the one room in the banned place. At first, I just
tried to ignore it focusing on the tagger. But as the sob kept coming out from
the place, I became curious and tiptoed to the room to find out who is making
the sound. And in the place, I saw a grievous thing- a young boy, who is just
as young as I was, beaten intensely by a man who was wearing a military
uniform. So surprised, I was petrified in the place. And after the
embarrassment and astoundment swept my body, I barely found out that he was the
one member of the choir who had the performance in front of us in the day. The
reason why the boy was beat so severely, according to the soldier scolding the
boy, is that he made little mistakes during the performance. I came out from
the place as soon as I could, extremely careful not to making any noise at all.
Since then, I couldn’t enjoy the program, and just kept quiet for the last 3
days of the tour.
At
the time, the Mt.Geum-gang tour was one of the most important national
enterprises of North Korea. Getting tourists from foreign countries, it
attained not only a great amount of earnings but also great promotional tools
as the cultural exchange is inevitable in the tour program and the fact that
the closed society like North Korea allowed the exchange that could make a
great impact on aims toward peace. Just by holding the tour program, North
Korea could notify the fact that it aims peace indirectly without declaring or
announcing any official statement about its policy. The violence that happened
during such an important program informed me that such violence is prevalent
throughout the whole nation. If the soldier hit the children in the nationally
important place, it definitely means that he could hit them in any places.
Wolfgang Sofsky, a famous sociologist who wrote
“The Order of Terror”, mentioned in his book “Traktat uber die Gewalt” that
violence motivates society, but also makes society to collapse. Violence
seemingly is an efficient tool to control society, as it makes people keep
rules. However, like the word “He who suffers, remembers”, the violence incurs
the suffered one’s odium. The odium, which is created by the violence, calls
more violence toward other people, organizations and even toward to the
society. One of the clearest examples of the accumulated odium called brutal
violence is Nat Turner’s slave rebellion. The rebellion which took place in
Virginia on August 21, 1831 resulted in 60 deaths and at least 100 black
deaths. The violence that the whites had used against the blacks incurs the
blacks’ odium, and it played a critical role in the outbreak and expansion of
the rebellion. Similarly, the violence used by the North Korean government
incurs the North Koreans’ odium; even though it has not erupted, it doesn’t
mean the detestate is not accumulated. Some day, it will erupt and will play
the important role in the collapse of the North Korean regime.
What the experience emplies is clear:
violence is so common in North Korea that it is easily exposed to even a little
kid. And that’s the reason why I think North Korea will collapse at last.
Throughout history, there were a lot of societies which were maintained from 3
days to thousands of years. Each society has its own characteristics, but the
use of violence was the main catalyst of of the social chaos of society for
almost every country. Uncountable rebellions of slaves, the poor, and many
other suppressed classes are good examples. I plainly believe that North Korea
will not be an exception, as it uses atrocious violence and will collapse if it
keeps atrociously suppressing its citizens. He who suffers, remembers.
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