The Worst Man | The New Republic

The Worst Man | The New Republic: The world may not lack for oppressive regimes and mass murderers—from Bashir in Sudan to Mugabe in Zimbabwe to Ahmadinejad in Iran to the leaders of China’s Communist Party—but there can be little doubt that the suffering of North Koreans is “sui generis,” in the words of the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights. Because North Korea is less open than any other society, we hear comparatively little about conditions on the ground there. But what information we have about life in the country is horrifying. The massive labor camps in which political prisoners and their offspring toil (the sickening details can be found in this Washington Post profile of an inmate who escaped); the radios installed in people’s homes that play government propaganda and cannot be turned off; the widespread reports of malnutrition and starvation even as Kim and his family hoarded luxury items: All of it paints a picture of a reality so horrifying that it is probably beyond our comprehension to fully understand.