At 34 years old, Kim Jong-Un is one of the youngest world leaders alive today.
And he's certainly, by far, the most infamous.
But what makes him so terrifying?
Today, we'll take a look at some of the cruelest things he's done in this episode of the Infographics Show:
How brutal is Kim Jong Un?
In 2011, the world was formally introduced to Kim Jong Un,
the third dynastic ruler of North Korea since 1950
Kim's cruelty started almost as soon as he assumed power.
Faced with the spectre of a possible coup from within the ranks of the nation's top political and military elite,
Kim Jong Un immediately began a political purge
that is rumoured to have killed dozens of senior officials.
In his bid to consolidate power and prevent any challenge to his authority,
he even went so far as to have his own uncle executed,
and years later, paranoia concerning his half-brother led him to dispatch assasins to Kuala Lumpur in 2017.
But political purges are simply par for the course concerning Kim's cruelty
His real crimes against humanity are committed on a daily basis against his own citizens.
Wait until you hear about the laws they must follow and the penalties they incur for breaking them.
The hallmark of North Korean cruelty is known as the "Three Generations Rule",
established in 1972 by Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather.
The Three Generations Rule mandates that any serious crime warrants punishing not just the offender, but three generations of his or her family, as well.
This is, according to Kim Il-Sung, the only way to exterminate the seed of evil completely.
What this means, is that, in North Korea, if your father committed a grave crime against the state,
You, AND your children, would also be sent to a prison camp alongside him for the rest of your life.
The Three Generations Rule is supposed to be only for great offenses,
but testimony from North Korean defectors and escapees shows that it has been enacted for offenses
from political dissent to failing to remove dust from a portrait of any of the Kim ruling family members.
Conditions inside the labor camps are purposefully cruel as well,
with prisoners being fed barely enough to stay alive and forced to try to catch rats and insects to eat.
Survivors have described 12 hour hard labor work days, 7 days a week, with people becoming physically stunted and deformed from the unceasing work.
Beatings, torture, and rape are all common place in these camps, and there exists no possibility of parole.
North Korea's constitution technically guarantees freedom of the press,
but the State does not allow any foreign or non-state sponsored media to operate.
It is, therefore, technically illegal to operate any independent press, and this is a law that Kim's North Korea enforces strictly.
All foreign media is completely banned from the nation, making it illegal to watch foreign TV shows or movies,
listening to foreign radio or music, or even reading foreign books.
While North Korea does have a State-run version of the internet that is 'open to all citizens',
Government permission is first needed to own a computer, and only State-approved content is available.
Occasionally, outside websites are made available, but they are heavily censored,
after being downloaded and hosted locally.
Violating any of North Korea's media rules is met with strict punishment with either execution, or imprisonment in a force labor camp.
North Korea's constitution also technically guarantees freedom of religion
But Kim Jong Un's government is extremely hostile to the idea of any religion,
and the practice of it is banned by law.
In its place is a nationaly ideology of Juche, a hybrid fusion of Marxism and Korean nationalism created by Kim Il-Sung
Juche states that man is the master of his own destiny, and that the North Korean masses are to act as masters of their revolution,
and in the construction of their own socialist State.
The Juche ideology preaches strong nationalism and self-reliance, but makes no mention of any divine creator or other spiritual entities.
Wary of what the Kim family believes to be corrupting Western influences, all other religions are banned in North Korea,
and anyone caught practicing any other religion faces immediate inprisonment, often with the dreaded Three Generations Rule [..]
Kim Jong Un has also continued his father's and grandfather's practice of tightly controlling the movement of its own citizens.
It is illegal in North Korea to leave the country without official permission,
which is almost never granted.
While thousands of defectors and refugees still attempt to flee accross the border into China,
or through the heavily mined DMZ, into South Korea,
They do so, knowing that their families they leave behind will likely be punished in their absence.
Even those that manage to successfully escape, though, are still not safe,
as North Korea has for a long time conducted international abductions and forced repatriations of escaped citizens.
North Koreans in Japan, South Korea, China, and even as far as Europe
have all been the target of North Korean abduction squads,
who force the individual back home, under threat of violence.
Sometimes, they even drug them and smuggle them back home.
Once returned? You guessed it!
They face execution, or forced imprisonment,
where they will likely join whatever family they left behind in a force labor camp.
But pregnant women who are captured and repatriated
face yet another of Kim's horror.
His belief on complete racial purity and Korean superiority.
If a woman becomes pregnant while abroad,
the child is killed,
and if she is returned home pregnant, she's forced to have an abortion.
One report from an escaped North Korean
told of a woman in a hospital who gave birth,
only to have the baby immediately smothered to death.
Kim Jong Un's government preaches self-reliance,
yet it is completely unable to meet the needs of its own people.
In its place, a black market has sprung up.
And often, it is the only place that food and medicine can be found.
Yet, Kim has continued his father and grandfather's abolishment of a free market system,
so any private enterprise is completely banned in the nation.
Those caught dealing smuggled goods or trying to start up their own business, are imprisoned.
Though it is a well-known fact that corruption is so rampant among North Korea's police and and military,
that most officials will look the other way in exchange for a hefty bribe.
Theft, however, is still harshly dealt with,
even things that would seem petty to you and I.
In 2016, 21-year-old American college student Otto Warmbier,
on a sponsored tour of the Nation,
stole a propaganda poster of his hotel's wall, and was caught.
His sentence was 15 years of hard labor, for trying to harm the motivation and work ethic of the Korean people.
Though he was released to the US 17 months later,
Warmbier suffered severe brain trauma by then,
likely due to severe torture and starvation,
and died days later.
In North Korea, your freedom - everthing from what you watch, read, or even where you can work -
is severely restricted, and there exists no due process.
The country is ruled completely and absolutely through the brutality of Kim Jong Un alone,
who fears dissent so much that he is willing to go to extreme lengths to prevent it.
While you may occasionally get annoyed by the rules and laws in your country,
at least give thanks that, safe at home, you don't face the possibility of getting sentenced,
along with your entire family, to prison for failing to dust the portrait of your country's ruler.
So, what do you think about Kim Jong Un's brutality?
Are there any unfair or unjust laws in your country?
Let us know in the comments. Also, be sure to check out our other video called, "What If Hitler Had Won?"
Thanks for watching, and as always, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe :)
See you next time!