Two teenagers wake up in North Korea. One is the son of a high ranking North
Korean government official, the other is the son of an average citizen. Over the
next twenty four hours, their lives couldn't possibly be more different.
The first teen wakes up in a luxurious apartment located in one of Pyongyang's newest high rises.
His father is a high ranking official amongst the North Korean government, but not amongst the top
ten percent within the party who control nearly all the power and wealth in the nation. Still,
by any standards- even Western ones- his father is very wealthy, and by North Korean standards
his family is amongst the richest in the nation. However, wealth isn't the only way to power in
North Korea, and while his father is a rising star in the government, he still hasn't earned
the privilege of living in the most wealthy residential districts of the capital city.
For breakfast our teen has his pick of a variety of foods. He could choose to have a traditional
korean breakfast, which sort of resembles Spanish tapas- a variety of dishes which include grilled
short ribs, spicy seafood salad, bean sprout rice, spicy stewed fish, cold cucumber soup,
seasoned kelp, and radish strip kimchi. His family's kitchen staff has already made itself
available by 5 am to be ready to serve, given that his father often has to be at work by six am.
Our teen has woken up at a modest 8 am though. Despite his wealth, he is very much being groomed
to join the halls of North Korean power, and work his way up the ranks to hopefully
surpass his father. That means that unlike most other wealthy North Korean kids, there's immense
pressure on him and he is constantly scrutinized by party officials for any sign of weakness.
Despite not having school today, sleeping in too late would be seen as a sign of laziness,
and there's a good chance at least one member of the household staff is secretly spying on the
family for more senior party officials. One must always have their guard up even in their own home.
Instead of a traditional korean breakfast, our teen opts for an American classic-
Smacks! It's authentic Smacks! cereal too, complete with cartoon frog. While
you'd be extremely hard pressed to find legit American products anywhere else in the country,
our teen's father is important enough to be able to access goods smuggled into North Korea
through its various government-sponsored black market programs. Smacks! cereal, pop-tarts,
and other American treats are a favorite amongst North Korea's elite, and a sign of status.
Our second teen has already been awake for hours- he got up at 4 am along with his father,
so they could both find a ride into the city. He lives on the outskirts of Pyongyang, and this is
considered a privilege. This teen lives in one of a row of squat, concrete homes built on the
outskirts of the capital. His family has few belongings, and he shares a large sleeping mat
in his room with his younger brother. The family doesn't own a car and there is no formal public
transportation on the extreme outskirts of the city, so the teen and his father must rise early
to secure themselves a spot in a large utility van owned by another local. In exchange for ferrying
as many people as he can fit in his van into the city, the man gets the equivalent of 75 cents per
passenger. This is about 1/6h of what his father will earn today, but there's no other choice. In
the evening he and his father will likely be forced to make the three hour walk home.
Despite the relative poverty our second teen lives in, his family is extremely lucky. Here on
the outskirts of the capital city, his father is able to commute into the city and get a job as a
doorman at one of the luxury apartment buildings. When his father was a teenager such a thing
would've been unthinkable, as luxury apartment buildings were extremely scarce. Today though,
despite tough international sanctions, the North Korean economy has slightly improved, and while
most of the benefit is for those at the very top, some of that wealth has trickled down to the rest.
For those living outside of a major city though, daily hunger and abject poverty are a continued
reality- our second teen is extremely lucky and his parents make sure to tell him every day.
Our second teen hopes to also secure a job as a doorman. He's only 15,
but that's old enough to work in North Korea. He could opt to go to school, but entry into
North Korean universities is all but impossible without the right connections or wealth. Most
slots for new students are immediately taken up by the children of North Korea's elite.
Just to earn a spot, one has to have exceptional school grades,
and then be nominated by a local college recommendation committee. If cleared by the
committee, the applicant must then be approved by subsequent county and provincial-level committees.
Our teen was a good student, but the sheer number of hurdles to jump through to get to a university
means that he's more likely to make a living for himself by finding work in the city. He
dreams of a doorman job, or perhaps even getting accepted to work at one of the city's factories.
For now though he hires himself out as a general laborer, picking up trash or
sometimes even helping out at construction sites. If he's lucky, he may get a job as a builder,
and the government might send him to work overseas. These types of contracts are common in
construction across the middle east and asia, with North Korean laborers hired out by the government
to construction companies. The government keeps most of what the contract is worth,
but he could make as much as several dollars a day- a very good deal for him,
even if the work conditions are often extremely brutal and tantamount to slave
labor as foreign companies can be extremely abusive to their North Korean laborers.
Our first teen has finished his breakfast, and has an hour to kill before his cultural enrichment
classes begin. It's a saturday, so he doesn't have to attend Kim Il-sung university where he's
majoring in Finance. Kim Il-sung university is the country's premier institution of higher learning,
and admissions are extremely competitive. Only one in six applicants are accepted,
and recommendations have to be ironclad. Luckily for our teen,
his father has the right connections and the wealth to make the appropriate bribes.
Despite not having official schooling today, he still takes various arts classes outside of
his university requirements. Achieving status and power amongst the North Korean elite is a careful
game, and one must give off the appearance of being well rounded, as well as having
fierce dedication to the Kim regime. Thus our teen takes a few hours of art classes on his weekends.
He dresses in some of the West's latest fashions, yet another sign of his status.
Most well-to-do North Koreans will be a season or two behind in fashion,
as it's difficult to get items from western markets into the nation. However, only the
most elite remain on top of fashion trends, and proudly display the fact as a status symbol.
He also catches a bit of western television. While the rest of the nation only enjoys North
Korean government sponsored programming, and international communications and
television are strictly banned, a perk of power is access to satellite television.
Even just to access the regular internet one has to have special permission from the government,
while the rest of the nation enjoys a nation-wide intranet run completely by the government. Our
teen has enough time for one half hour show before it's time to leave- he dislikes the
plethora of chinese tv channels available to him, all of them also heavily censored
by their own government, and instead appreciates the uncensored content from Europe and the USA.
One day he might even continue his studies abroad, and hopes to go to the United States
to continue his education. Given the relationship between the two countries it seems impossible,
but his father has the connections to get him fake Chinese documents that should fool US customs.
Riding an elevator down to the lobby, a shiny new Mercedes and a driver are waiting to take him to
his art class. The Mercedes is very luxurious, but a few years old- a sign that his father isn't yet
amongst the top 1% of North Korean society, but very close nonetheless. These luxury vehicles
are prohibited from being exported to the hermit kingdom, but the government has ways of smuggling
them in anyways, and owning a current-year luxury vehicle is the ultimate sign of power and status.
Hopping into the air conditioned vehicle,
he is whisked away in total comfort for his one hour art class.
A few blocks away, our second teen and his father have finally arrived at the city center. His
father has to hurry to work, he's risking running late and losing his job- but the van has made more
stops today than anticipated. He says goodbye to his father and heads in the opposite direction,
looking for any public workers or construction sites who may need an extra hand for the day.
If he finds nothing he'll keep looking for the next fourteen hours until his father is off work
and the two head back home. He has no lunch or money with him,
he won't eat until he gets home tonight. The only meal he had before leaving home was some rice,
soybean paste and a few vegetables. Compared with people in the country, he's eating extremely well.
Our first teen wraps up his art class. His teacher is from France, one of the few
foreigners allowed into the country, let alone to teach. In return he's paid extremely well,
which makes his classes very expensive- yet another sign of our teen's status.
He sends a text to some friends over his cell phone- cell phones were once banned in the
country after an alleged assassination attempt on the Kim family, but those restrictions have
been relaxed. Now you can enjoy 3G service, though again with no international internet
since the cell service is run by a government controlled communications company. KoryoLink is
the fastest service available, though Kumsan has larger coverage, even if it's only 2G.
Our first teen and his friends agree to meet up for lunch and drinks at the Taedonggang Brewery,
famous for making domestic North Korean beer. Normally one would have to make reservations,
but our teen's father, and the fathers of his friends,
are known to the brewery staff and one phone call is all it takes to clear them a table for lunch.
The legal drinking age in North Korea is 18, but most places don't bother with enforcing that.
Despite some of our teen's friends only being 16 years old, none of the staff says a word-
and they wouldn't dare question the son or daughter of a high ranking official anyways.
Once there, they are served by pretty waitresses in form-fitting pink uniforms. At North Korea's
elite social spots, a strong emphasis is placed on the wait and serving staff being attractive,
fit, and young. Once a server ages out, they are replaced by a new, younger member.
Being pretty and fit in North Korea's major cities can offer many opportunities to young
women not available elsewhere, but those opportunities are often rife with abuse.
The teens drink and eat, ordering western fare such as burgers and even burritos.
Enjoying 'American' foods is yet another sign of privilege,
and a growing number of establishments in major cities are pairing traditional korean fare with
American and western dishes. Despite being allowed to drink, none of the teens drink to excess,
as they are always under close scrutiny. Any major public incident could spell
doom for not just their, but their father's political futures as well.
After lunch, the teens are driven to one of Pyongyang's amusement centers,
featuring flashy arcades and even some carnival style rides.
There they enjoy themselves playing North Korean versions of popular Western arcade games,
but many are either blatantly pirated copies or simply smuggled into the country.
A Led Zeppelin pinball machine sits next to a Jurassic World shooting simulator, and a bevy
of treats and sugary drinks both traditional and western are available to the teens.
As the day grinds down, our teen returns home just in time to catch his father also arriving.
The two take the elevator up and discuss their relative days,
before entering the home to be greeted by their mother who's already supervised the house staff
in the preparation of a delicious meal. Tonight dinner will be traditional with a western twist-
braised short ribs and kimchi accompany a meaty beef lasagna dish. The family isn't stingy though,
and what they don't eat the house staff will take home to their own families.
These leftovers are still significantly more meat than the average North Korean will eat in a month.
Our second teen's day is also coming to an end. He spent the entire morning until noon desperately
looking for work, until finally he got lucky and a construction site offered him work for the day.
For seven hours he lugged heavy bricks up and down scaffolding, being allowed to rest only when
there was a lull in the work. His hard work has paid off though, and despite being only sixteen,
the foreman said that he would consider the boy for an overseas job assignment.
If he's lucky enough to receive it, he'll likely end up working in the exploding
cities of the middle east, where he'll work in 105 + degree weather with few breaks.
The local management is known to be extremely abusive to their North Korean workers,
doling out physical punishments as they see fit. After a 14 to 16 hour workday,
he'll be immediately herded to shared living quarters, government minders will oversee his
entire stay and not allow him any contact with the local population. For his work he'll get
an average salary of $12 a day, though the government will take at least half of that.
Still, this would be an incredible opportunity for our teen, and as he and his father begin
their three hour walk home he looks with optimism towards his future.
Now go watch What Is It Really Like Living In North Korea- or click this other video instead!