North Korean abuses told through poetry, drawings

The Aug. 2009 issue of Vice includes an article on the horrors of abuse faced by North Koreans, as told through poetry and cartoons that are literally smuggled over the border. Included is an excerpt of the poem “I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won” by Chang Jinsung. There are also really terrifying line drawings of things most folks couldn't even dream up.

Excerpt from “I Sell My Daughter for 100 Won”

Wherever there are people
There is the sound of gunshots.

Today in front of the public
Another someone is executed.

You should never feel compassion.
If dead, you have to kill once again, with rage.

Left unsaid from the declaration
In front of the bang-bang of gunshots
How so is it that today
the silence of the people feels heavier?

Stealing a sack of rice,
The criminal was killed with 90 gunshots.
His occupation
a farmer.

(Defector poet Chang Jinsung, from Vice, Aug. 2009)