An Orwellian empire

If you haven’t read “1984,” by George Orwell, you needn’t look far for Big Brother, a.k.a. Kim Jong IL, “Dear Leader” of North Korea. Born in the Soviet Union in 1941, Kim rules his hermit nation with an iron goblet (I say “goblet” in reference to his penchant for fine wines and cognac).

You can’t go anywhere in North Korea without a government pass. You can’t access the Internet, look an American visitor in the eye or use a cell phone. Everywhere you go, Big Brother is watching. Kim posters permeate the place along with images of his father, Kim IL Sung, the “Great Leader” and founder of Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea.

Foreigners visiting Pyongyang, the capital and supposed epitome of North Korea, must bow to Kim IL Sung’s giant statue. Hotel rooms are equipped with two-way mirrors. Every tourist’s conversation is monitored by handlers, who hold your passports and airline tickets in ransom till you leave the Soviet-style dictatorship.

People are hungry in the DPRK. The infamous famines of the 1990s left a large portion of its youth stunted and starved. The majority of the money North Koreans earn through industry, agriculture and mining go to their million-strong Korean People’s Army.

If you live there and don’t like that idea, you better keep your opinion to yourself. Family prison camps operate throughout. They exist to punish the relatives of anyone who questions the system. Many in these camps don’t even know why they’re there. Many end up there for life. God knows what happens to those that dared to question the Dear Leader themselves. Heaven help anyone that jokes about Kim’s signature bouffant hair style or platform shoes.

Generations of North Koreans have been raised to become Kim Jong IL fanatics. Official biographers claim his birth was announced by a swallow and heralded by a double rainbow and a new star in the heavens, this while his late father is heralded as “Eternal President.”

God Himself has no place in the DPRK. Kim is god. Free rreligious activities don’t exist. But the government sponsors religious groups to create an illusion of religion.

North Koreans have no concept of vacations, Bluetooth technology, Fellini films, Gothic fashion or freedom of the press. If anything good happens, they praise the Dear Leader. If anything bad happens (which often is the case), they blame themselves for not serving the Dear Leader well enough.

According to a defector, the DPRK system became even more centralized and autocratic under Kim Jong IL than it was under his father, who died in 1994. Although Kim IL Sung required ministers to remain loyal, he still sought their advice. Kim Jong IL demands absolute obedience and agreement. He views any deviation from his thinking as a sign of disloyalty. Kim personally directs even minor details of state, such as the size of houses for party secretaries and the delivery of gifts to subordinates.

An apparent golfer, DPRK state media claim that Kim routinely shoots three or four holes-in-one per round. His official biography says he has composed six operas and enjoys staging elaborate musicals. He refers to himself as an Internet expert and defectors state that he has 17 different palaces and residences. The list includes a private resort, a seaside lodge and a palace complex northeast of Pyongyang surrounded with multiple fence lines, bunkers and anti-aircraft batteries.

Still, this North Korean god appears mortal after all. Foreign news agencies reported that Kim suffered a stroke in August 2008. He didn’t show up for a Sept. 9 military parade celebrating North Korea's 60th anniversary and he hasn’t been seen on video since at least last summer. Maybe there is a God.