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Access to Evil was broadcast in the UK on Sunday, 1 February, 2004 at 2100 GMT on BBC Two.

If you would like to have your say on the issues raised in the programme, please email us.

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The comments published on this page reflect the balance of views we have received.

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Watching the film was like seeing George Orwell's 1984 coming to life in front of my eyes. The experiments done on prisoners were for me, a grandchild of a holocaust survivor, too hard to hear. The world has once again turned its head while people are being slaughtered.
Uri Biber, Belgium

Let us not be under any illusion. The concern the West has over North Korea's 'evil' regime is based on a possibly justified, yet ultimately selfish, fear of nuclear attack and has little or nothing to do with human rights' violations, regardless of how sickening they are.
Michael Dawson, London

I found this programme completely compelling. The eyewitness accounts were astounding, and the human tragedy appalling.
S Fitt, Edinburgh

When I am older I am going to set up an organisation to prevent these things from happening Sarah, Bournemouth

This programme will not contribute to trust and understanding between North Korea and the West, or alleviate the problems in North Korea. It was content to paint the regime as Nazi. If it had been an objective critique, the programme might have increased trust of foreign reporters whie, simultaneously, questioning some of the abusive practices said to be taking place.
James Hope, Rochdale

I am a 12-year-old girl and I was really scared and horrified by the programme. I cant believe North Korea is such a wicked place. I feel happy and sorry for the people that escaped. Their nightmares of the camp must be terrible. When I am older I am going to set up an organisation to prevent these things from happening.
Sarah, Bournemouth

I want to thank you for unbiased and dynamic coverage of the North Korean human rights situation. Those of us who gathered to watch were shell-shocked at the testimonies.
Jonathan Thiessen, Winkler, Canada

Seeing that "James, UK" is so worried about "bias", perhaps he would like to try his luck in such a regime? Are people so eaten up with jealousy and anti-US lies that they are blinded to reality, like North Korean schoolchildren?
Stephen Anders, UK

As a Korean, I found the programme interesting and deeply moving Steve, Cambridge

It terrifies me that a country who treats its own people with so much brutality and violence, has nuclear capabilities. I believe that the level of threat posed by North Korea greatly outweighs tthat posed by Iraq.
James Grant, Leicester

This report was one-sided and bought into the whole Axis of Evil propaganda without considering how western policies have exacerbated tensions in the area. The demonisation of an entire country in this way does not constitute balanced reporting. The unquestioning acceptance of Western propaganda as historical fact is a failure of investigative journalism.
Jeff Mitchell, UK

Thank you for showing what I consider to be one of the best programmes of all time. I have been to South Korea on two occasions, spending about two months there in total, and I know the attitude that exists there.
Andy Petrie, London

As a Korean, I found the programme interesting and deeply moving. There is no doubt in my mind that there are horrendous human rights violations in the North and the evidence for their nuclear capability seems well supported. However, I do not believe that branding a nation as evil is a constructive approach towards stability. Intervention in a country like North Korea would be best served through compassion, restraint and patience, rather than judgement and condemnation.
Steve, Cambridge

How can this modern world allow a state to exist that conducts human experiments on its own people?
Ian Sharp, Birmingham, UK

The answer is regime change by whatever means and soon Brian Clarke, Woking

Why is it that hatred of America seems to automatically class a person, nation or regime as an evil criminal bent on destruction ?
Simon, Wales

The glib confusion is: "If Iraq, why not North Korea?' North Korea has been allowed to reach the point where there are few realistic options to deal with the threat. It is unsurprising that the US, and allies, are unwilling to see other rogue regimes reach this point of untouchability.
Dugald Barr, London

It would appear from your programme that there is little hope for North Korea, so the answer is regime change by whatever means and soon.
Brian Clarke, Woking

I imagine it would be extremely hard to perform "regime change" in North Korea since the entire population has been indoctrinated from birth to hate the Western world.
James, UK

This creeping threat to the world and indeed it's own people is the most serious dilemma the world community must solve.
Sandy, UK

And just what is the point of Jonathan Roberts' message? What is this "human rights" stuff about electricity? What about the right to live in liberty without looking over your shoulder for the secret police to take you to Prison camp 22 together with your neighbours and three generations of your family. Get your priorities right.
Jeremy Zeid, England

It is sheer hypocrisy that US will pursue regime change in Iraq but not in North Korea Garvan, Northern Ireland

It is shocking that the UK and the USA went to war with Iraq with so little evidence. When you look at North Korea, Iraq seems quite "tame".
Ellie Kidd, UK

This programme was completely biased and all the accusations were conjecture and based on hearsay from people who may or may not have their own agenda. I know from experience that you can't just believe something just because some says it.
James, UK

North Korea is one of the most evil regimes left on earth. It was so sickening to hear the accounts of human experimentation. It is sheer hypocrisy that US will pursue regime change in Iraq but not in North Korea.
Garvan, Northern Ireland

Europe should wake up and stop protesting on the streets of our capitals to keep murderous dictators in power. Let's take to the streets in support of America's war on terror before disaster strikes!
Neasa Moloney, Ireland

Communism in theory could be great, but it's a pity that in practice it is manipulated to such extremes by tyrants like the Kims. North Korea has to be watched, but I hope that Bush & Co don't steam in with all guns blazing as this would be disastrous.
Stu, Scotland

The demonisation of an entire country in this way does not constitute balanced reporting Jeff Mitchell, UK

If the information coming out from North Korea is true, then why did the US invade Iraq and run around the country looking for WMD that the UN could have taken care of by non-military means? If the information can be believed then North Korea is more of a real threat than Iraq ever was.
Allan Robertson, Scotland

I would like to see this country basing things on evidence again. We are breeding a mentality of "whatever goes". Let's see some evidence, or the war mongers will be out in force. Will we see an investigation into these atrocities?
Claire, UK

Diplomatic pressure should be applied to improve the human rights records on the country, and to remove the heredity law. While caution should be applied because of the country's nuclear capabilities and obsessive hatred towards America, the recent example of Libya shows that the countries in the Axis of Evil are willing to co-operate and can be reasoned with to promote peace.
Nick Axford, UK

I think we need to get the weapons inspectors back in Tyrone Bowles, England

I think we should be very worried about the capabilites North Korea has and what they intend to do with there nuclear rods. I think we need to get the weapons inspectors back in and start talking and trying to break down barriers between the West and them.
Tyrone Bowles, England

History has taught us that intelligence is only an indicator as to what might be occuring in another country. We need hard physical evidence which can then be used as a lever.
Chris Hanscomb, Bucks

Instead of an Axis of Evil, I fear the world is suffering from a Paradox of Evil. How do you end human rights abuses in North Korea when the power for intervention rests in the hands of countries like the US, who have themselves funded countless regimes that have done the same? I think North Korea needs to strike oil!
Monkey Mason, UK

It just goes to show that the US policy on Iraq about regime change cannot be justified when North Korea is so much worse. Why aren't the US pushing so far for regime change there? It's making it so obvious that it was never regime change in Iraq but all to do with oil, and if North Korea hasn't got oil, it's not worth fighting for.
Chris Sausman, England

North Korea is a nation which knows of America and Bush and hates them for their power. They want the same power and that is a huge problem.
Forrest, UK

I would like very much to know what, if any, charges are being brought against that senior prison guard? Barry Bremner, Fife

What leads one to do such acts to one's own people? Some form of greed, vanity or boredom.
JT, UK

I think the USA and Britain should worry about the nuclear weapons, but they should also really think about the serious human rights problems. A nuclear attack could kill hundreds of thousands of people, but meanwhile the human rights problem is killing hundreds of thousands of people anyway.
Ben Grilli, England

I would like very much to know what, if any, charges are being brought against that senior prison guard by the South Korean or international authorities after the broadcast of your programme? Has the tape been passed to any law enforcement agency, or has he got off scot-free?
Barry Bremner, Fife

If the BBC wants to report on a brainwashed public, then it doesn't have to go further than London Niayyir Malik, UK

The programme gave a chilling account of North Korea's appalling human rights record. Hopefully people that say toppling Iraq's Saddam Hussein was right irrespective of whether he had WMD or not will now push for a military campaign to liberate North Korea. Then again, Koreans do not have oil flowing underneath their feet.
Gregory Roumeliotis, UK

I can't understand how our governments can ignore the suffering of fellow humans. By doing nothing to get rid of the few who terrorise the many in North Korea, we are as bad as those dictators. People who oppose regime change should think about living in a concentration camp.
Paul King, UK

If the BBC wants to report on a brainwashed public, then it doesn't have to go further than London. Failing that, if their correspondents are really that eager for some foreign travel then let them go to the United States. I wonder how many US school kids are told about their nation's brutal record of supporting massive and flagrant human rights abuses in South America?
Niayyir Malik, UK

After watching your programme on North Korea I was rather disgusted with the way that prisoners and the people in general were treated. Plus the fact that North Korea has WMDs. Wouldn't it have made more sense to go to war with North Korea rather than Iraq where they still can't prove that WMDs exist?
Adam Kenneth Burke, UK

As they haven't got any oil reserves, don't they need nuclear power to generate electricity for power? Shouldn't the provision of electricity be considered one of their fundamental human rights?
Jonathan Roberts, Nottinghamshire

An excellent exposé of a whole people, children and all, brainwashed into a hatred of America and anyone else perceived as a threat to their cocooned hell. Shame we are too spineless to do more about it.
Jeremy Zeid, England

All the communist regimes are evil - they differ only in degree Kent Deng, UK

We have as a world tolerated evil regimes for far too long. It's time we took a stand against North Korea and got rid of the evil dictatorship. I am not a supporter of George Bush but sometimes his descriptions are correct.
Rod, UK

All the communist regimes are evil - they differ only in degree. They should be uprooted. So, down with communism.
Kent Deng, UK

While we must always be vigilant, we must be careful of reports coming from North Korea. Everything in the Koreas is a matter of opinion, hearsay and propaganda, as opposed to corroborated fact. However, given the notorious deeds of North Korea's army in the civil war, it would not be surprising if reports of the chemical gas chamber exterminations are true.
Malky, Scotland

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