North Korea’s Women Are Made To Withstand Appalling Conditions

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, right, is escorted by police at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017. The two women accused of killing Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader’s half brother, toured the Malaysian airport Tuesday as participants in their murder trial visited the scene of the attack. (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf)

In the United States, we have seen the mistreatment of women through objectification, sexual assault, workplace discrimination, and the like.

We are blessed that in the United States this type of treatment of women is not accepted at large.

There are advocates, law enforcement officials, and a judicial system that seeks justice and retribution for the oppressed.

Women in North Korea do not have many advocates in their corner. The communist regime, by its very structure, does not have the individual’s best interest at heart.

Being in a male-dominated military, under the command of the ruthless leader Kim Jong Un, the women are forced to endure conditions worse than we provide our enemies with.

A North Korean female defector gave unique insight into what supervisors are doing to the women under them, and how they lived day to day.

Fox News reported:

Female North Korean soldiers are often raped, and some are forced to reuse sanitary pads while many stop menstruating altogether because of the tough conditions suffered during their army duty, a North Korean defector who dealt with years of hellish service in the regime’s army revealed Monday.”

The defector, Lee So Yeon, came to South Korea by way of China, according to BBC. Lee joined the army voluntarily in 1992 at 17-years-old.

She served until 2001 when she first attempted to escape the grueling demands of the oppressive military, only to end up in a prison camp, before successfully trying once more.

Thankfully, Lee was never raped but had comrades who weren’t as lucky. BBC reported on what Lee recalled:

The company commander would stay in his room at the unit after hours and rape the female soldiers under his command. This would happen over and over without an end.”

When the human body undergoes extreme stress it conserves energy and runs only vital processes.

The “rigorous training schedules and lack of food were hard on women’s bodies”, reported Fox News.

Living with the constant demands required of them in the military, the women’s natural cycles are diminishing, and their bodies are in strict survival mode.

Fox News reported:

After six months to a year of service, we wouldn’t menstruate anymore because of malnutrition and the stressful environment,” she told the BBC. “The female soldiers were saying that they are glad that they are not having periods. They were saying that they were glad because the situation is so bad if they were having periods too that would have been worse.”

Menstruating is thought to be worse by the mistreated clan because it was common practice to reuse sanitary pads.

Basic hygiene rituals, like bathing and putting clean clothes on, were hard for Lee, as she recalls the “odor from her own sweat” to be overwhelming on her rice hull bed.

Juliette Morillot, who authored “North Korea in 100 Questions”, reported to BBC:

women still used “traditional white cotton pads” that had to be washed when men weren’t around.. women missed their period for years while in the army.”

Now, under Kim Jong Un, young ladies are forced to join North Korea’s army at the age of 17. They are required to serve a minimum of 7 years to even have a chance at a “normal” communist life.

There are certain conditions that can make you exempt. Fox News reported:

Exceptions are held for “gifted people” who possess special talents, including those who excel in sports and music.”

So, if you’re privileged enough to make music your peers find worthy, you get to take a bath and have your menstrual cycle.

Conditions are only getting worse. Demands are becoming more strict under the angry rule of Kim Jong Un.

North Korea’s hyper-focus on world domination has made them neglectful of their land’s decline.

Last week, another defector was shot 5 times escaping to South Korea. He is being treated currently by South Korean doctors, according to Fox News.

The man was highly infected. Fox News reported:

It’s still unclear why the soldier defected, but doctors treating him in South Korea said they removed dozens of parasites from his body. Some presumed roundworms were as long as 11 inches.”

Parasitic infection is on the rise as farmers are using human feces on their crops, that they call “night soil.”

It is unknown if North Korea’s condition will improve in the foreseeable future. At this moment, proven by their missile launch on Wednesday, they are more focused on threatening their opposition than they are on their citizens.

Letting the world know how the women soldiers are abused and disrespected in North Korea is just a start to helping correct an atrocity in need of justice.

Please let us know in the comments section if you see a resolution for the North Korean mistreatment of women in the military.