I found the movie “Inside North Korea” disturbing, intriguing and disappointing. The movie follows National Geographic correspondent Lisa Lang as she accompanies Dr. Ruit, a famed Nepalese eye surgeon while doing cataract surgery in North Korea. He does 1000 surgeries in 10 days, while training North Korean surgeons. The camera crew is there on the pretext that they are just filming the doctor and the work he is doing there. Lisa Lang and her crew, film North Korea and its citizens from the inside and offer a rare look at North Korea. Kim Jong Il is known as the “Dear Leader”. He is an absolute dictator; he in essence is the state, with absolute power. The people of North Korea are taught and trained to adore, almost worship him. They are not allowed cell phones and there is no internet or outside media allowed. The country is the most isolated country in the world, it is roughly the size of Mississippi with a million man army.
North Korea is full of contradictions. While it has the world’s 4th largest army, the incident of cataract is 10 times higher than in the rest of the world. With such a high occurrence it is clear that malnutrition is the leading cause showing that the people are not receiving enough nutrients in their diet. While their leader lives a life of decadence with more than a private fleet of 100 limousines and was at one time the largest single customer of Hennessy Cognac in the world. The North Korean’s are on average 22 pounds lighter and 8 inches shorter that the South Koreans. They are genetically almost identically, virtually the same diet and similar resources. The reason for the severe difference in health is the way the country is run. North Korea has the world’s largest flagpole, in a town that is built of buildings that are just façades. The country is an extreme example of isolationism. North Korea would not be able to exist