They are so malnourished, so drained of resistance, that a flu can kill them. In North Korea, a repressive apparatus uncoils whenever there is criticism. The suffocation, by surveillance, shadowing, wiretapping and mail interception, is total. They are toilworn, prostrate, at the end of their tether. Clinical depression is rampant.
Alcoholism is common because of mindnumbing rigidities, regimentation and hopelessness.
In patients' eyes I saw no life, only lassitude and a constant fear. Once, I had an opportunity to visit my driver, a member of the military, who was in the hospital because of injury. The authorities were vexed that I wanted to see him, but I was able to overcome objections. On this occasion, I was embarrassed to see that, unlike any other hospital I visited, this one looked as modern as any in Germany. It was equipped with the latest medical apparatus, such as magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, electrocardiograms and X-ray machines.