Orwell’s Idea of Dictatorship and North Korean Society

How would you characterize the country of North Korea? Many people would answer straight away and say how this nation is against free will and power to the people. We have seen stories and have been shown how the North Koreans have been brainwashed and do not make their own thoughts, but these thoughts are ingrained into their head. The question that many people wonder is what kind of government would do this to their own people? The answer to that would be a dictatorship, which is a government that is controlled by one person with a group of advisors and the people of the country have no word. North Korea fits this definition for their lack of civilian involvement in social, military, and political forms.

North Korea is one of the radicals in the world and has always had a great military with a poor economy. This is a symptom of being a dictatorship because the government is focused on being the strongest nation in the world with the most firepower and push away the fact that the people in the country are starving and being denied of their basic needs. This relates to 1984 because the proles are the very poor and only the top 15% of the country is wealthy (Orwell 72). War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength,(Orwell 4). The quote represents how the government is convincing people that freedom is wrong, and if they stay out of the government's way, then the country will be powerful because the party has full control with no opposition. This is one of the reasons that North Korea correlates with Big Brother and the inner party in 1984.

The greatest method that many dictatorships use to keep the citizens silence is torture. Torture can take away a person's spirit and that's how people are ruled in these type of governments, as Winston is being tortured as they make him answer a question with the wrong answer, as they say that whatever the party says is true (Orwell 250). This is because the party wants full control of their people and all of their rebellious motives to be destroyed (Orwell 260). North Korea relates to this because nobody has ever been found in North Korea that openly rebels. This means that either everyone thinks of him as a god, or he has silenced the citizens of North Korea. Either way, he has brainwashed the people with either power or torture.

For these reasons North Korea is one of the most powerful dictatorships. There range of power is unlimited because they have no concerns for their peoples safety and only support military actions of their own choosing. As their economy struggles their military strength increases by the decisions Kim Jong Un makes. Because of their dictator, the people of North Korea believe that Kim is a god and those who do not feel are quieted by the government. This explains how the government of North Korea is a dictatorship.

Cite this page