There’s a place in the world where peaceful
protests are now illegal.
Not only are they illegal, it’s illegal
to even try to organise a protest.
You don’t actually have to successfully
hold the protest.
Just the mere mention of it can get you arrested.
Can you guess where this place is?
I’ll give you a clue.
It’s on this map.
That’s right…
North Korea.
The North Korean leader claims that his state
is a democracy, but I think we all know now
that it’s not.
It’s a full-blown dictatorship.
For example, just the other day, a young North
Korean lady tried to organise a peaceful protest
online.
Within a matter of hours, police were knocking
on her door, handcuffed her in front of her
young children, and took her away.
She didn’t actually hold or participate
in a protest.
Just the very mention of organising one was
enough for her to be arrested.
This is the brutality of the North Korean
regime.
Another example.
In North Korea, people can be arrested for
going out at night.
That’s right.
If you go out to rendezvous with your boyfriend
or girlfriend, expect to be arrested.
North Koreans must stay in their homes during
nighttime hours.
If they break this rule, they will be detained.
Sadly, this is the barbarity of the North
Korean regime.
Everyone in North Korea are put into zones.
Basically, this means that you cannot travel
more than 5km from your place of residence.
I know this sounds ridiculous.
I know it sounds draconian, but this is the
grim reality that every North Korean faces
on a daily basis.
North Koreans who try to break this rule are
fined or arrested.
Another rule that I found really arbitrary
and callous, is that North Koreans are only
allowed to exercise for one hour a day.
I’m not quite sure the reasoning behind
this, but on top of this, they’re only allowed
to exercise with one other person.
Failure to obey these stringent rules will
get you arrested.
This is just how life is under a North Korean
dictatorship.
Grim, depressing, and overly cruel.
I really feel for the North Korean people.
I can’t believe that their leadership has
gone this way.
They were once a great state – the envy
of the world perhaps, but now they have turned
into a tyrannical dictatorship.
I hope one day they’ll get their freedoms
back, but so far this year, things are looking
pretty bleak.
Oh by the way.
There’s another state in the world that
imposes similarly harsh and punitive regulations
on its citizens.
It’s called Victoria, and it’s in my home
country of Australia.
