Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Rape and no periods in North Korea's army
How big is the North Korean army? It is estimated that there are nearly 1.2 million active service members, the fourth largest army in the world. The total population of North Korea is just over 25 million, roughly the half of that of its southern neighbor. So, approximately 47 persons in every thousand are on active duty. That’s because they have the longest compulsory military service period in the world, seven years for women and ten years for men.
Traditionally, women are not respected or treated as well as men in the peninsula. Also, it was only a few years ago when women’s compulsory service was introduced. As a result, those young women serving in the military have to bear very difficult, inconvenient, and intolerable conditions and treatment. Many of them are physically unhealthy and mentally depressed. Some of them attempt to defect by swimming across the river to China.
How long will this sort of ruling last?
Read the article and think what you would do if you were among the young in North Korea.
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