1/16

Today in Human Geo, we took our test on North and South Korea. I went over the powerpoint and my notes. The test was overall not that hard but there were a few that I think I mixed up a couple of the questions. When the test came back, I was I ended up doing well on the test and I'm happy with my grade. I think doing well is a good way for me to end this semester. I am so happy that I have Mr. Schick for Western Civilization next semester. This class is definitely one of my favorites. At the end of the class, everyone just talked. I can't believe the first semester is over and this will be my last blog saying "Today in Human Geo," which I'm pretty sure that every sing one of my blogs starts like that. I hope next semester is just as good as this one. I'll definitely miss my friends from this class that are leaving to a different one.

1/15

Today in Human Geo, we went over what will be on the test tomorrow. Here are the notes that I took. 

Government: Stalinist

Capitol: Pyongyang

Identify: Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia

Isolated

First Leader: Kim Il-Sung (made to look perfect)

Viewed as a god

Citizens are told untrue facts about him and are required to show extreme devotion to him

Closest thing to religion is their idea of Ju Che - We don't need you

Kim Il-Sung invaded South Korea in 1950

Korean war was started

We killed many people by bombs to save and defend South Korea

When he died:

Second Leader: Kim Jong-Il

Statues and portraits of Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il next to each to show that "Yes its very upsetting that Kim Il-Sung has died but Kim Jong-Il is great too)

Some untrue facts citizens are told: When he was born, winter became spring and learned to walk at 8 weeks old

When he died:

Kim Jong-un at the age of 32

Thought to be the one to change the vicious ruling of North Korea became he has seen other parts of other countries and played basketball and video games

But sadly, no...

One of the first things he did as leader: Threatened to bomb the US

Tries to establish things by being his own person/leader by: Firing 5 of the people that carried his father when he passed

Kim Jong-Un killed his uncle and other extended parts of his family

North Korea's army is almost as big as ours with 1.1 million soldiers

Five of the eight sovereign states that have successful detonated nuclear weapons are considered to be "nuclear-weapon states" are under the terms of NPT

1/14

Today in Human Geo we mainly took notes and talked about the past and current leader(s) of Japan. One thing in the notes that I found specifically interesting was the fact that the people of North Korea are told that the current leader is perfect and they should treat him as a god. Here are the rest of the notes that I took.

Kim Il- Sung (1912-1972)

            Ruled from 1948-1994

·      Prime Minister: 1948-1972

·      President: 1972-death

Called Great Leader, Eternal Leader, Supreme Leader, Eternal President of the Republic

·      Kim Il-Sung viewed as a god

·      Establishment of “Cult of Personality”

·      The people are required to show extreme devotion to him

·      During early parts of his rule, the state destroyed over 2,000 Buddhists and temples and Christian churches

Kim Jong-Il (1941-2011)

            Ruled from 1944-2011 as Supreme Leader

            “Perfect”

Kim Jong-Un

·      Born in 1983

·      Became supreme leader December 17, 2011 after death of his father

·      At age 34, he is the youngest leader in the world

·      Attended school is Switzerland

·      Friends said he “spent hours doing meticulous pencil drawing of Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan

·      Obsessed with basketball and computer games

·      Reportedly a fan of Eric Clapton

·      Reportedly killed his uncle and extended members of his family

·      North Korea – Military – 1.1 million soldiers

·      Only 8 sovereign states have successfully detonated nuclear weapons

·      NPT treaty to not make more and use nuclear bombs

·      Most countries are apart of this but North Korea is not part of it

1/9

Today in Human Geo we finished watching the movie. The rest of the movie talked more about the people who tried to escape and the consecration camps. At the end of the movie, the patients were all in one big room waiting to see if the surgery worked, and it turns out it did. After they saw the painting of their leader, they praised him and thanked him for their eyesight returning. Here are the notes that I wrote.

• In 1950, Kim Il Sung invaded the South
• 38 parallel divides North Korea and South Korea
• The DMZ is an area in the middle where both countries have guards
• The DMZ keeps citizens in and out of each country
• 40% of children in North Korea are malnourished
• Ju Che - "we don't need your help/you"
• North Korea has total self reliance
• Concentration camps are used to strike fear in the people
• Only a handful of people have successfully crossed the border and have escaped

1/8

Today in Human Geo we watched a movie that was mainly about North Korea. In this movie so far, a man and his team and camera crew go to North Korea to do surgeries on people that are blind to help them see, to teach other inexperienced “doctors” how to use their imported machinery and how to do smaller surgeries an give less expensive medicine, and last but not least, to get an inside look in the mysterious country of North Korea. Here are the notes that I took.

·      North Korea is the most isolated country on earth

·      Kim Jong Un rules as a “god king”

·      Their border is 148 miles long that is constantly guarded

·      They have many nuclear bombs behind their fence

·      North Korea known as an intelligence black hole

·      North Korea is about the size of Mississippi

·      Population: 23mil

·      Since North Korea became its own country in 1948, there has only been three leaders in 67 years who are all related

o   Grandfather: Kim Il Sung

o   Father: Kim Jong Il

o   Son: Kim Jong Un

·      Also known as the “hermit kingdom”

·      Thousands of people go blind because of lack of good medication

·      Americans are not welcome

·      Permits are required to be in the country unless you are a government official

1/7

Today in Human Geo, we basically just went over the notes that we took Monday for the people who were not there. While going over the notes, the screen turned off and got disconnected. That was kind of odd considering we were looking at a world map focusing on North and South Korea, who oddly enough control their peoples internet and what the outside world knows about them. Mr. Schick told us that a few years back, the same thing happened but after restarting everything, it turned on and continued to work properly. That was definitely not the case today. This class was already short because we were 2 hours late, so when the class talked among themselves and Mr. Schick tried to get the notes back up, it felt even shorter.  Since there was really nothing to do I just talked to some of my friends and before we knew it, it was time to leave.

First Blog of the New Year 2015

Today was the first day back from break. We started a new chapter and took some notes. Here are the notes that I took:

Korea - North and South

North Korea

• oppressive government
• very secluded and isolated from the world
• currently headed by Kim Jong-Un
• Kim Jong-Un didn't seem to like "The Interview"

Oppressive Government

• State run socialist government that many consider to be a Stalinist dictatorship
• Official name: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)
• notice that they say "Korea," and not North Korea - they claim to be the legitimate rulers of the entire peninsula

Secluded and Isolated

• isolated by the government
• also somewhat isolated geographically
• after all, they are on a peninsula
• Pyongyang is the capital 
• located at 39 degrees north (latitude)
• Bel Air, Maryland is also located at 39 degrees north

• utter lack of development in North Korea
• Average money per year: $1,800
• Pyongyang (capital) has a population of 3.2 million people
• People don't have much electricity because most people are extremely poor to have more than a couple lights
• Students are being taught that North Korea is the best and the United States is awful and we are very scared of them
• Students are also taught false facts about their leaders
• Internet is not allowed