North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at one point had the power to become the most humanitarian leader of the last 200 years, when at just 27 he was elected leader of the hermit kingdom upon his father’s death.
Yet rather than move his nation out of tyranny, starvation and abuse, Jong Un has encouraged the diabolical behavior. His latest move to showcase this resolve is the announcement that he has restored the practice of interrogating children about whether their parents are drug users, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday.
He’s sure to find no shortage of drug addicts, as the country has experienced a surge of addiction to methamphetamine. North Korea is now the largest per capita user of Meth in the world.
North Koreans use the drug to combat extreme hunger. Methamphetamine suppresses appetite, making dealing with the chronic food shortages the country experiences more tolerable. It is also used to escape the dreary, harsh everyday life of North Korea.
Security officials have now decided to crack down on drug use rather than tackle the root causes of the issue – namely the kingdom’s obsession with expensive weapons programs, which come at the direct expense of its people.
In an elementary school in the city of Hamhung, a security official drew pictures of drug paraphernalia and presented them to seven-year-old students.
Those who could recognized the tools were called up to explain how they had acquired such knowledge.
Students who got up were “cajoled and threatened” by security officers into confessing that their parents were drug users. Officials subsequently arrested those parents, who will likely die in a harsh prison labor camp.
“Security officials in charge of schools are intimidating and interrogating elementary school students to investigate drug offenses,” an anonymous source informed Radio Free Asia.
The new policy is similar to one imposed by Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un’s father, where North Koreans were ordered to anonymously submit wrongdoings of friends and relatives. That system, which aimed mostly at finding people opposed to the regime, was suspended because of its unpopularity.
North Korea, enabled by Chinese chemical suppliers, produces some of the most pure crystal meth in the world, which it began manufacturing it in the early 2000s in order to generate income.
This production, while mostly for export, has led to a huge rise in drug use inside the country, as Koreans prefer the cheap high of meth to harsh lives and chronic hunger.
Stay Connected
