I thought that might have been what you're asking.
It's kind of a complex answer. North Korea has been locked in a state of near-famine for over a decade. A recent health report by the WHO said that conditions are so poor that many people in rural areas have to regularly eat bark, leaves and grass as a part of their diet just to stay alive. In cities, health conditions are so bad that hospitals are forced to do operations without anaesthesia - not to torture people, but to perform live-saving surgery.
You would think that enough is enough and that the people would revolt - but they don't. More to the point, they won't. North Koreans are seriously indoctrinated. They believe that their homeland is paradise on earth. They believe that Kim Il-sung was almost a deity made flesh, and that Kim Jong-il is the next best thing. When Kim Il-sung died, North Koreans packed the streets a hundred deep to mourn the loss of their leader. When Kim Jong-il shuffles off (and by the sounds of things, it could be soon, because he's started transferring power to his youngest son), it's probably going to be more of the same. A regime change in North Korea isn't going to do anything - the people still believe that their leaders are the greatest men alive. If they have to suffer for it, they're not going to complain; they no doubt believe that their suffering is for the glory of Pyongyang.
Not only have Kim Jong-il convinced his people of this, but he's convinced himself of it. He was born in an army camp inside the Soviet Union when his father was serving there, but according to official North Korean doctrine, he was born on the slopes of the nation's most sacred mountain after his birth had been foretold by an eagle. North Korean school children are taught that Kim Jong-il does not go to the toilet because he does not need to. Stuff like that; it would be hilariously insane (though not as insane as the guy who was running Turkmenistan a few years ago) if it weren't so terrifying and so oppresseive.
One of Kim Jon-il's beliefs seems to be that political dissent is some kind of cancer, and that it is infectious. If someone dissents, the stain sets - for three generations. Entire families are locked up in labour camps because one person didn't speak highly of Pyongyang. Kim Jong-il is essentailly trying to bully those thoughts out of their minds, or at least keep them away from other people where their "cancerous" thoughts may spread like a disease. Few people committed to labour camps leave. If by some miracle they survive a twenty year sentence, they're probably given another one just to be sure.
Okay, exposition over. Now it's time for the serious stuff you mentioned (as if the above isn't already serious enough). I can only extrapolate parts here, but I'm guessing the reason why the North Koreans commit those atrocities is because they don't consider those people to be human, or at the very least, second-class citizens. To them, to be Korean is to be in awe of Pyongyang. If they are not in awe of Pyongyang, if they do not believe in the greatness of Kim Jong-il, then they are not Korean. If they are not Korean, then they are not people. They are animals. They are cast into the prison camp system as punishment, and give up any claim they have of people human. Yes, it's like the Nazis and the holocaust. They'll maim, they'll torture and they'll kill. They'll cut babies from the womb, test chemical weapons on them and gas them. They'll throw the bodies in unmarked mass graves and forget about it. And all because the victims had the nerve to conjure up an independent thought.
The problem is that there's not a lot we can do about it. We can't intervene; for one, we have no idea where these prison camps are actually located because very few survive them. And if we tried to intervene, it would start a war. Kim Jong-il is crazy enough to drop the Bomb (assuming he has it) if he's convinced an army is coming for him. He could aim it at that army - or he could just as easily drop it on Seoul or aim for Tokyo, someone removed from the conflict so that the world will back down (at least, that's probably what he thinks will happen). And if ever an army did breach North Korea's borders, Pyongyang would expect its people to rise up and fight the invaders off. Unarmed. And they'd do it because they believe in their regime. They'd believe that by sacrificing themselves, North Korea's glory will continue. But it won't, because if America invaded North Korea, it would be an unfair fight. Those people, who have committed no crime except believe in something (however misplaced that faith may be) would die for nothing.
So there isn't really anything that can be done about it. Not without thousands or even millions of innocent people dying. We can't walk in and change the leadership, because it won't achieve anything except maybe a bloody coup the instant our backs are turned. Right now, the only two really realistic choices would be to either a) do nothing, but trry and gradually change North Korea's way of thinking over the next century or so, or b) carpet bomb the place. And the latter would result in millions of needless deaths.
