The Least Free Places on Earth

North Korea

North Koreans enjoy the lowest level of freedom in the world, according to Freedom House. All power is held by Kim Jong Il, who assumed power in 1994 upon the death of his father, North Korea's founding leader Kim Il Sung, whose statue in Pyongyang is shown above. The regime maintains a network of prison camps in which thousands of political prisoners are subjected to brutal conditions. All facets of a person's life -- including employment, education, place of residence, access to medical facilities, and access to stores -- are determined by a semihereditary system of social discrimination that classifies citizens into 53 subgroups under broad security ratings (from "core" to "wavering" to "hostile") based on their family's perceived loyalty to the regime.

Also listed:

Burma
Equatorial Guinea
Libya
Somalia
Sudan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Chechnya (Russia)
Tibet (China)
Belarus
Chad
China
Cuba
Eritrea
Laos
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Zimbabwe
Western Sahara (Morocco)
South Ossetia (Georgia)


I find it interesting that the magazine did not mention Iran. Talk about no freedom. To read more, check out foreignpolicy.com.

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