Essay on North Korea South Korea

Submitted By Rimbo8
Words: 1619
Pages: 7

When one thinks of North Korea, the first thoughts that pop into your head are certainly not “friendly, happy, and free”, but rather a description that proves to be drastically different. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or, more commonly known as North Korea, is considered to have one of the most controlling and repressive governments in the world. Some North Korean refugees have even described their own country as a massive prison. The United States and North Korea could not be more vastly different. Whether it be their type of government, their implementation of the constitution, their history, their voting rights, or simply their freedoms, America is by far a more harmonious country.
North Korea can be described as a communist country, a totalitarian system, and is governed by a one-man dictatorship. It is a system where the state regulates relatively every aspect of personal, private, and public life. The life under these conditions is brutal. The country today is less free and less humane than any other country. The government seeks to control the things they watch on television, hear on the radio, buy at the store, and essentially control the way that people think, feel, and believe. In various ways, they attempt to oversee all things that their people take part in. America is the complete opposite in that they have claimed their freedom through democracy. The U.S. has an evenly distributed separation of powers and the privilege of being able to use the word freedom without hesitation. Americans are gifted with the freedom of speech, press, religion, and, essentially, the freedom of life and equality.
When the United States of America gained its freedom from Great Britain, it created its constitution, construing the many rights that Americans were entitled to. This constitution is still held in very high regard today, and is referred to when someone has violated it. This provides yet another difference among the two governments. The North Korean Constitution asserts human rights and a democratic government, but this is certainly not practiced. Rather than a democracy, the North Koreans are governed by a man that smothers their freedom of expression. Most of the power is held in the hands of a ruling elite dominated by a single person. Their constitution was adopted in 1948, but it was completely revised in December 27, 1972. America was and still is rooted on equality. Their separation of powers is set up in such a way that the American people can choose how they wish to be governed and nothing is necessarily forced upon them. While both countries have presidents and it appears as though they each have a smooth distribution of power, they are extremely contrasting. The North Korean government is shockingly corrupt and manipulative in the structure of their system. America is loyal and follows what is stated about their country.
Another obvious, yet significant difference between North Korea and the United States is that North Korea is a unitary state. Unlike a typical unitary state, governed by parliament, North Korea is run purely by dictatorship. So it can create assemblies, governors, mayors, and other persons of authority and then simply abolish them when they feel the need. In contrast, the United States is a federal state, where assemblies within the states are of constitutional importance. The central government, or the government on the federal level, cannot control exactly what lesser powers do. This is how the separation of powers works.
The problems with the North Korean government are far too numerous to list. Recent famines show that North Korea is incapable of feeding itself and this weighs heavily on the government. North Korea is highly reliant on foreign aid, which feeds most of North Korea’s people; at the same time potential social and political instability caused by the influx of outside influence remains a consistent worry for North Korea’s