Letter to the editor: Artemiy Arzumanov

To the Editor:

The nuclear crisis with North Korea has been in and out of the news for the past year, and much of the coverage has been one sided condemnation. But if you can look past the aggressive rhetoric of the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, you will see a people suppressed and shut off from the outside world. The most basic fact of life today- internet access – is forbidden and seeking it is punishable by death.

The lack of internet access in the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” (DPRK) is truly staggering and carries with it severe disadvantages to the people. Without Internet, the people of North Korea are clueless to the situation about the outside world and blindly follow their “Supreme Leader”. The propogandated population of the DPRK can do nothing but follow and support the state, since they do not have any other possibility. Allowing the people outside information is crucial to creating pressure from the people to change the government from beneath. Such a change is possible with enough information, seen historically with the USSR. When the people were allowed a wave of outside information, they successfully pressured the government for more reforms and warming of relations. The same can happen in the DPRK.

There is a way to make that happen, something that can be contributed to by anyone. The organization “Flash Drives for Freedom” strives to spread outside information to North Korea through flash drives, which are common and can be donated by anyone to the organization. Distributing information through flash drives could be just enough to force a wave of change to bring about free internet access. If that internet access is granted to the people of the DPRK, it would inevitably change the country and open it up to reform, potentially de escalating the situation and resolving the situation on the Korean Peninsula

Sincerely,

Artemiy Arzumanov

Sophomore, Vernon Hills High School

 

Letters to the editor are sent in by sophomores, as part of their Activism Project. Opinions expressed in a letter to the editor do not represent the opinions of The Scratching Post staff or District 128.