North Korean Facts and Fallacies

Found various posts about amazing and strange facts about North Korea. Thought I'd share. Credit from websites are included in a few of the descriptions, but most came from this page:
http://jetlaggin.com/the-most-disturbing-facts-about-life-in-north-korea/

[EDIT] Thanks for all the votes and criticism. As was pointed out by several people, many of these things aren't necessarily true. But I did state that in the title if you noticed. ;) Thanks again!

1. Every student in North Korea is required to pay for their own chairs, desks and heating fuel.

2. North Korea is only one of two countries where Coca Cola is not sold.
The other is Cuba, but now they are sold all over that island.

3. While attending a private boarding school in Switzerland, Kim Jong-Un was once caught with a bondage magazine, which is a big no-no in his culture.

4. North Korea has an election every five years, and sure the people have the right to vote for whoever they want… but there is only one name on the ballot.

5. Women in North Korea only have 18 hairstyles to chose from and that number goes down as you age. Older women in North Korea must keep their hair short.

The men aren't left out either. There are only 12 acceptable haircuts for men in North Korea and having long hair on a man is strictly forbidden.

6. Apparently, North Korea found an ancient cave that was home to unicorns in 2012.
The Unicorn was supposedly ridden by former King Tongmyong.

7. For some odd reason, in 2014 Kim Jong-Un outlawed Choco Pies from North Korea, a favorite snack of his people. So South Korea launched over 50 massive weather balloons filled with Choco Pies.

8. The USS Pueblo was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on 23 January 1968, in what is known today as the "Pueblo incident. The ship is still held by North Korea today, officially remains a commissioned vessel of the United States Navy.It was recently turned into a museum for the N. Korean people to visit.

9. There are well over 34,000 statues of Kim Il Sung in North Korea, that’s one for every 750 people. Every person in the country is required to wear a badge with his face on it as a sign of respect.

10. Because of North Korea’s extreme politics, the country has been isolated from the rest of the world for so long, just look at the satellite imagery that shows the electricity usage. The Soviet Union stopped supplying the country with electricity in the 1990’s and since then they have been energy bankrupt.

11. In 2017, Kim Jong Nam, half-brother to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un was murdered in Malaysia. A banned chemical nerve agent was used to kill him and this is not an easy thing to come across on the black market. Most people believe that North Korea was behind the hit.

Kim Jong-Un also executed his uncle by having him stripped naked and eaten alive by starving dogs while he watched. This is an actual photo of his uncle, Jang Song-Thaek.
Jang Song-Thaek was said to have been thrown into a cage with his five closest aides, after which 120 hounds which had been starved for three days were released, eating the men until there was nothing left.
The horrifying details emerged in a report in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper, which said the gruesome act was known as ‘quan jue’, or ‘execution by dogs’.

12. The infamous Ryugyong Hotel is the 28th tallest building in the world and is easily the tallest in all of North Korea. The 105-floor hotel remains mostly empty with almost 3,000 rooms available. I think it's quite majestic and has a "Blade Runner" feel to it.

13. In the 1990s, all teachers in North Korea were made to learn the accordion.
It was called the people’s instrument in North Korea.

14. North Korea notoriously has some pretty brutal gulags or prison camps where some 200,000 North Koreans are kept. These people are tortured daily and often are kept in jail their entire lives. This is Camp 25 in the North-East of North Korea as seen from a satellite in May 2012

15. The North Korean calendar starts with the birth of Kim Il-Sung not Jesus like the rest of the world.

16. After the death of their supreme leader Kim Jong-Il, a couple thousand North Koreans were jailed for up to six months for not grieving enough for his death.

17. Kim Jong-il kidnapped a famous South Korean director Shin Sang-Ok and made him remake Hollywood classics with a propaganda twist. Thier most famous film together was Pulgasari, a Godzilla remake filled with propaganda.

18. In 1974, Kim Il-sung took 1,000 Volvo sedans worth around $20 MILLION to North Korea and never paid for them. These cars are still being used and were never paid for.

19. In North Korea, if you violate any law no matter how big or small, you are subject to the unbelievably harsh “three generations rule.”
Anyone found guilty will be thrown into an internment camp with their entire family and the next three generation will live out their lives in prison.
So if your grandfather committed a crime, you would live your entire life in a prison.
I found these photos on a Korean blog, so I am assuming they are illustrations about North Korean torture. But they very well could be North Korean propaganda about what happens to them if they defect to S. Korea. Not sure, but interesting and gruesome art for sure!

This is very disturbing.

This one isn't any better.

20. The streets of Pyongyang, the countries capital, are so empty that children often play in the middle of the streets. With terrible public transportation and failing infrastructure, soldiers are often seen hitchhiking around town.

21. Kijong-dong, also known as Peace Village, is an example of a fake town. Known for having the world’s largest flag pole, it’s located on the border with South Korea in the the North’s part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The official claim is that the village houses 200 families, has a childcare center, nursery (kindergarten), educations for all levels, and a hospital. However, military observers from the South declared the village to be ‘fake’ with no inhabitants and mostly made of wooden facades.
Toward the end of this post, I added a few more images of fake towns and actual villages.

22. It is equally illegal to own a bible or pornography, and distributing either is punishable by death. Regardless, South Koreans, along with North Korean defectors send thousands of tiny bibles over the border using balloons (pictured) throughout the year. I'm not religious, but if it gives them hope--so be it. There is a project called North Korea Bible and this is the web page. Interesting read: http://www.billionbibles.org/north-korea/north-korea-bible.html

23. If you were unlucky enough to be born on either July 8 or December 17, you may never celebrate your birthdays again, these are the dates when Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il died. Here is a list of their holidays.

24. In a move that shocked no one, North Korea started its own time zone in 2015.
Called Pyongyang time, this time zone is not internationally recognized. It's 30 minutes behind all other world clocks. This was to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese rule.

25. While places like California are just getting around to legalizing marijuana, North Korea has made it legal for years. It’s a recommended alternative to tobacco and is grown wildly. This is an actual bag of North Korean weed, bought for about £0.50 [this is from a great article on this blog: http://www.thebohemianblog.com/2013/09/on-smoking-weed-in-north-korea.html]

26. The most popular tourist attraction in North Korea is the preserved body of former leader Kim Jong-il. His body is on full display for all to see, even foreign tourists. There are other world leader's corpses on display around the world. Kim Jong Il, Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, and Vladmir Lenin.

27. According to folk lore, Kim Jong-Il has god like features and could control the weather with his emotions. Children were taught that none of the Kims even went to the bathroom, they were too perfect.

28. Most everyone knows of North Korea's Internet restrictions, but not the numbers. Of the nearly 25 million people who live in North Korea, only 1,600 of them have access to the internet and that access is really restricted.They even have their own operating system that filters out nearly 99% of the internet.

29. Leave your jeans at home when visiting North Korea on your next summer vacation, they are outlawed by the government. Jeans are seen as a sign of American Imperialism. Piercings are also banned. I guess this is as close as it gets to 'blue jeans' there.

30. According to government statistics, the country has a literacy rate of 100% and put themselves on par with the United States.Although this could just be more propaganda. I lived in China and even they don't claim that.

31. North Korea has a “Pleasure Squad,” a group of nearly 2,000 attractive females who entertain and give services to top officials. Kim Jong-il is famous for having harems of beautiful women who follow him around.

I don't think any of these photos (including the one above) are actual 'pleasure squads', but its kind of amusing to see the fat dumpling surrounded by women.

I would cry too, if I had to follow that melon head around all day.

32. Every North Korean is made to save their own shit, to use as fertilizer.Due to the extreme lack of resources means that every turd counts.

33. The Demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is such a tense area that soldiers often hold hands to prevent them from being kidnapped to the other side. North Korea regularly uses a fax machine to send threats to the South Koreans.
Most people have seen the photos of guards facing off on both sides. I chose this picture from the Cheorwon zone, very picturesque! You can actually tour it [https://www.triphobo.com/tours/cheorwon-dmz-tour]

Here are a couple of more shots of 'model villages' (i.e. fake towns) that can be seen from points near the Chinese border. The idea is to attract Chinese defectors. The statistics for people actually defecting to North Korea, as opposed to people leaving are monumental. Since 1953, 100,000–300,000 North Koreans have defected, most of whom have fled to Russia or China.
As of December 2016, some 30,000 have defected to South Korea. Starting from 2008, especially after the Kim Jong-un regime in 2011, the number of North Korean defectors fell between 20,000 and 40,000.

Now this one is quite grand! Again, on defectors--Out of some 25,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea 800 are missing, some of them due to defecting back to the North. In the first half of 2012 alone there were 200 cases of such double defectors, although officially the South Korean Ministry of Unification recognizes only 13.

This is what you would actually see if you toured North Korea by bus.

Another typical village. Honestly, they don't look much different than places in mainland China. I lived there for five years (2001-2006) and you would see very ramshackle dwellings once outside any city center.

From what I found reading on another blog, nobody owns a washing machine (although I would think some of the leader's wives do). Here you see people washing items in a river.

Horse Tax? Nope--The national animal of North Korea is Chollima. Chollima yes! never heard of that animal? Well, Chollima in real does not exist. It is a mythical creature. A mythical winged horse that originates from Chinese classics.
The word “Chollima” is actually derived from the Chinese word Qianlima which means talent and ability.

Dog Tax. This is the Korean Jindo. Lovely beasty! I guess this is where I say send nudes or something, but I have no idea why people say that, or how one even receives anything here (is it just a joke?). So, don't send anything but upvotes :)
I hope you enjoyed this. I really found all the various blogs quite a good read.