Social Citizenship

If the United States decides to do something about the refugee crisis in North Korea, some may question why we would help a country that does not support the human rights laws of the world, and has a major disregard for any international laws, especially those about nuclear proliferation. Korean Americans might argue yes-- because they are related to those people who are being affected. Others might argue no-- because the money we spend giving aid to North Korea or its citizens could be used to help other problems back home here in America (such as homelessness, poverty, or even to reduce taxes).

Each of these arguments presents a very strong side, and on the topic of citizenship, it does not matter. Both sides are becoming more involved in the issues, and therefore are becoming better citizens. However, by helping the North Koreans, we are also indirectly helping their citizenship. If we get them food, water, and shelter, we are giving them a better quality of life with which they can begin to question their government. This is definitely a social right, but they are the basics. These people do not even have the ability to think about having liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is definitely skewed, since happiness for them is believing in their great leader, Kim Jung Il. I think it is important for those in North Korea to start by increasing their social citizenship, and then they can move on to have more civil and political citizenship (in that order).

At the same time, I think my project will be working to improve the civic and political engagement of the North Koreans. The civic would be human rights-- really to the right to be treated like a human being. They need to be given their basic rights. Political rights also need to be a major focus because of resource allocation. The North Koreans need to be given more resources, including education (that is not brainwashing), as well as open and unbiased information. This project is focusing mostly on getting the people out of North Korea, but there are many other things that can and need to be done to completely solve the issues.

The New Right Critique would argue otherwise. They would say that North Koreans need to get themselves up off the ground without the help of outsiders such as the United States giving them aid. They need to be self reliant. I have to disagree with this approach, at least on this issue because the North Korean people are not able to get up on their own. If it was a smaller, select group of people in the country, the N.R.C. would make sense. However, it is an entire country, and they will not be able to completely pick themselves up and go in an entirely different direction, at least while under the same leadership.

One question that needs to be asked is whether the goal of helping the North Koreans is to moderate the leadership (Kim Jung Il) or to get the people out of the country (safely). I think it is important to let those who want to leave out. Those who stay need to be allowed to have access to good information and to have a leader that does not force horrible ideas and ideals on them. It needs to become a more open system.

In this situation, I think both Positive and Negative liberty need to be addressed. The government of North Korea needs to back off of its citizens, especially on the education of the people (at least the biased education), but at the same time, it needs to help the people to get on their feet, feed them, and make sure that they can survive. The focus of my project is more on negative liberty, because it is important for the government to get out of these people's way as much as it is right now.