This is part of NK News’ series of opinion and analysis of the first five years of Kim Jong Un’s rule.

North Korea has a justifiable reputation as being one of the world’s worst human rights violators. In pretty much every ranking, whether it be for freedom of the press, freedom of religion, or freedom of speech, Pyongyang’s government is named as a serial offender.

In many ways, North Korea was designed this way, and under the rule of Kim Il Sung it was known as one of the most repressive of the USSR-inspired Communist states. And