Whenever I must endure the hardships of life, I take a moment to reconcile and refocus, and in a self-advocated flurry of returning to my former mindset of objective accomplishment, I realize that my life isn’t as wretched as I make it out to be. In fact, I’m extremely privileged, much more so than the majority of adolescents my age, due to the unyielding care and dedication put forth by my caretakers and educators. I’ve only recently learned the hard truth is that devastating as the African Ebola crisis and Malaysia Airlines tragedies may be, they are still vastly incomparable to the horrors that lie inside the inescapable barriers of North Korea.

The way Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea leader Kim Jong-un operates his piece of the planet is astoundingly barbaric beyond belief. The tyrannical despot has gone above and beyond to follow in his father’s footsteps and violate his citizens’ rights in the most despicable ways, such as giving orders to find and eliminate potential defectors, holding public executions for all to see, and sending innocent, law-abiding citizens to political prisoner camps for presently-irrelevant crimes their ancestors committed decades ago. It January of 2013, over 10,000 people had died of starvation, which is ironic in that the government collaborates with local hotels to ensure that tourists visiting North Korea receive lavish amounts of food to guarantee their positivity regarding meal portions and quality of service. So far, over 200,000 North Koreans have been sent to suffer and inevitably die at political prison camps, with no possibility of ever being released. To put the icing on the cake, Kim Jong-un has made multiple threats in the past and present to launch nuclear missiles at key areas in the United States, such as Los Angeles, California and Washington, D.C. to affirm his standing regarding even the slightest question to his supreme authority.

To make matters even worse, Kim Jong-un has recently employed a multitude of experienced hackers to bring down entertainment-giant Sony Pictures’ website and threaten the safety of American citizens over the theatrical release of The Interview, a comedy movie about North Korea’s hilariously oppressive leader and his daily regime. Cyber-threats to blow up movie theaters showing The Interview incited a considerable cause for concern, as even with North Korea’s “all bark and no bite” attitude still retaining its near powerless stature, U.S. citizens still took the inhibitive incentive to stay put and let matters calm down before venturing out into another potential Aurora massacre.

It disgusts and angers me in countless ways at how the world can just let these unbelievable atrocities occur, all because of sanctions and ethical/political barriers that world officials have put in place to affirm worldwide peace, yet every minute of every day, thousands of North Koreans live in absolute misery and fear of their very own leader, the one that should protect, care for, and respect for who they are as citizens of his country. With all this said, I will never cease to express my anger for Kim Jong-un, as his corrupt regime must come to a halt at one point or another, as that is the only way countrywide peace and prosperity can be achieved in North Korea.