DPRK: 10 facts about the country

Fact 1: Capitalism in the shadow of an uncle

The Chuchehe Tower in Pyongyang is one of the symbols of the city / TripAdvisorivsor Pictures

Formally, the DPRK is an absolutely communist state (some people even say it is led to the absurd and absolutism of Stalinism). But in practice, this is not entirely true. Today, the dominant ideology is self-sufficiency: chucheismo.

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Often the system cannot provide its citizens with everything they need, so they must be concerned with themselves. So there was an underground trade, when one price is official and the other is underground. It is usually more expensive for tourists and foreigners. For example, eating at a restaurant in Pyongyang may be more expensive than in Seoul.

Inside, especially with the appearance of Kim Jong-in, the outbreaks of capitalism are beginning to sprout. Large markets, called janmadang, are allowed where ordinary people can trade or exchange goods. A survey of Koreans who fled the DPRK in 2017-18 found that 61% of them traded in similar markets. Children who grew up in the 1990s to 2000s are known as the ‘janmadang generation’.

Even a new safe class has grown: the Daunju, as Chung Min Lee writes in his book The Sealed King. These are entrepreneurs close to the Kim family, who have millions of dollars in total wealth.. An unofficial biographer, Kim Jong-in, Anna Fifield called them “Pyonghetten” in her book “The Great Successor”. There, children can have expensive mobile phones, unaware of hunger and pressure.

Outside the capital, many people live in much worse conditions, unless they are large resorts like Wonsan or a place of military development. Border regions with China survive by transporting goods across the border (border guards in the DPRK are fairly easy to bribe). This is, of course, illegal, but is tolerated.

Fact 2. A country without the Internet

According to the latest estimates, less than 1% of the DPRK population uses the World Wide Web. These are mostly officials, students, and the top elite. All the others are connected to the internal Kwangmen Intranet with predefined links. There is another exception, but it will be discussed below.

What can this “Kwangmen” do? Work with rudimentary emails and simple browser searches that have been copied from the Internet worldwide. To a greater extent, “Bright Star” runs on “pirated” versions of Windows XP.

Kim Jong Ying and Modern Technology / Photo from Merdeka.com

There have been photos where Kim Jong Ying uses gadgets that are similar to Apple products (the elite is often not bound by the general rules while this elite is in favor).

North Koreans obtain basic information through illegal activities (of course!) By listening to the radio and consuming the secretly transported dramas of South Korea and China. And the percentage of people who do this, despite the ban, is growing.

Fact 3. Extremely rich subsoil

In addition to its almost intact nature, North Korea has large mineral deposits on its land that are not really mined.

Trillions of dollars on the ground They are estimated to cost between $ 6 billion and $ 10 billion. The DPRK is known to produce and sell coal and ore, and these are important export items (after work, weapons and nuclear technology, of course). And there is gold, magnesites, zinc, copper, molybdenum, a total of 200 minerals. There are also rare earth metals used in the production of smartphones.

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There are around 700 mines in the DPRK, but many of them are abandoned and not working because there is not enough experience, basic infrastructure and technology to modernize them. And yet, the mining industry occupies a niche of 14% of the total economy. Most of the vending machine is sold in China. It brings millions of dollars in regime revenue, but it is also an important lever to pressure Beijing (often used) by Beijing.

Fact 4. Talented hackers

Hackers Make DPRK Make Big Money / Photo Wired

The DPRK generates up to $ 2 billion annually through cyber attacks and has departments of good hackers who work solely in the state. To have a personal computer, one must register it with the police or even with the Ministry of National Security.

So hack. The DPRK Bureau has the so-called Bureau 121, which is exactly what it does. In addition to collecting information, such offices are involved in the bankruptcy of Western or South Korean companies (such as Sony) or in cyber attacks on infrastructure.

Much of its staff is trained at Pyongyang Automation University. Perhaps the most famous operation of the DPRK hackers was the WannaCry virus, which blocked the device and demanded ransom in cryptocurrency. The money went to the construction of weapons of mass destruction.

Fact 5. The largest stadium in the world.

The largest stadium in the world is in Pyongyang / Photo Youtube

Ninado Island is home to the world’s largest stadium, with a capacity of 114,000 spectators: the stadium on May 1. It was built until May 1, 1989, when the World Youth and Student Festival took place there. Subsequently, they began to perform massive dress-up games, play soccer, and … public executions. The architecture resembles a magnolia flower.

In the DPRK, soccer, water sports, roller skating, wrestling, and weightlifting are popular. The country has 56 Olympic medals, 16 of which are gold. Only most of them in weightlifting: 5. The last one was won at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

It is interesting that silver and bronze are practiced in atypical sports such as ice skating. Soccer has been cultivated in the country, but the results are disappointing lately, the national team cannot play evenly with its neighbors in the region. Incidentally, the legend that the players were shot or sent to camps after the failure of the 2020 World Cup (the DPRK lost to Portugal 7-0 at the time) is not true. Most continued to advocate for the team.

Fact 6. Numerical Army

Most militarized society / YouTube screenshot

If the DPRK army is not the most powerful of teams, as it uses mostly old and dismantled (even rockets), then there is no question about human resources. It is the most militarized society in the world.

At the same time, it is one of the largest standing armies in the world, with up to 1 million soldiers. The military employs 4.7% of the country’s population, which is also a record. Neighboring China, which has an even larger army of 2.3 million people, employs just 0.18%. And the DPRK has a much smaller population: just 25 million people.

Compulsory military service for children it lasts 10 years. There is also a prize for women, but it is more selective. Elite children, important specialists, can be avoided as well as those who have a bad “sunburst” (In fact, a bad family history: children of traitors, executed, unreliable, etc.). Higher level children can go to college or university. So higher education is not for everyone here.

Fact 7. Drugs are popular

About 30% of the North Korean population uses drugs. And it’s both heavy methamphetamine and opium. Marijuana, known in the DPRK as yoxan, is grown on an industrial scale and is also an export product.

The same applies to very high quality methamphetamine. With the fate of this drug, the DPRK has already become an international center. However, the price of this “target” is still quite low compared to other retail locations. Interestingly, South Korea did the same at one point, emerging from poverty after World War II and dividing the peninsula.

Drugs are often used to suppress appetite for lack of food. And also to allow workers to go through long shifts on farms, factories and other hard work places.

Fact 8. The DPRK has been around longer than the Soviet Union

In any case, the DPRK has survived the USSR / Pinterest

The USSR once helped create North Korea. After World War II, the peninsula withdrew to the Soviet occupation zone. In Moscow Stalin gave good to create a puppet state and configure Kim Il-sung, who fought with the Japanese in China but was forced to move to the Soviet Union after the defeat of his guerrillas.

With the help and friendship of the USSR and the People’s Republic of China, North Korea prospered and was richer than South Korea, which also had its own dictatorship, but under the American wing. In those days, the North was perhaps the most industrialized and urbanized country to emerge from the heat of the world war. The Japanese invaders left a lot behind: factories, mines and irrigation.

In fact, it was from 1948 to the 1990s it was gold for the DPRK. The industry developed, then the nuclear and missile program. Things changed when communism and the USSR fell. In 1994 Kim Il-sung died, who had already finished the era. According to Victor Cha in the book The Impossible State, the DPRK still lives in the Cold War paradigm, although the entire world has come a long way. In a sense, the DPRK is their last relic.

Under Kim Jong-il, the country has experienced terrible famine and drought (a period known as the Cruel March). However, the north it has survived the Soviet Union, and still exists, albeit already in full Chinese rule. The state has persisted despite all the predictions that it has been “buried” repeatedly, even after the inauguration of Kim Jong-in, a young and then inexperienced leader.

Fact 9. It is not a communist state, but which one?

Kim Jong Il is a brilliant representative of the days when the DPRK was a gangster in the region / Photo The Atlantic

It’s strange to read, given all the available attributes, but it is. The term “communism” disappeared from the Constitution in 2009. The power of the people was replaced by a monarchy, even hereditary. Socialism: corruption and terror by the State. Some elements of Stalinism persist, but the underlying ideology is no longer communist.

According to Robert Kelly, the DPRK is more of a racially fascist country. It is closed from other races, does not allow them to mix, preserves the racial purity of the nation. Racism and militarism are much more similar and familiar to us in the modes of fascism and Nazism than in classical communism. On the other hand, it is a throwback to the Confucian monarchies that were previously in Korea. The DPRK believes that it is the reincarnation of the Kingdom of Koguryo (the prehistoric period of Korea from 57 BC – AD 668).

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And in fact, if you reject ideology, it turns out that DPRK is a country of organized crime. Smuggling, the constant blow of money, food and supplies are flourishing there. The Kim family behaves like gangsters: buy expensive things, including very expensive cars, Despite financial penalties, it sells goods when it is impossible. It all comes down to rockets and bombs. While the population is poor and hungry.

Fact 10. Escaping the DPRK is costly

Possible, but risky and expensive / Photo Daily Express

But they still do. According to those who fled, the average check for people sending it abroad to South Korea is $ 12,000. But this is a minimal amount, as it can be more. Since Kim Jong-in’s inauguration, the number of fugitives has increased. In 2017, the escape price was already $ 16,000.

Most North Koreans make less than $ 2,000 a year, and escaping is very risky. If a fugitive is caught in China, he will return and kill (the same is waiting for the family). Therefore, those who want to help escape are getting smaller.