It doesn’t take much to get arrested in the Hermit Kingdom.
All it takes is watching the wrong thing, or saying the wrong thing, or…smiling?
Here are some more of the craziest regular things that are illegal in North Korea.
Have you ever been in one of those work meetings where the boss goes on, and on, and on? The next
thing you know, you’re dozing off - until your boss slams his fist on the table. In most cases,
that’ll get you a dressing down in front of the entire staff. If you’ve done it before, it might
get you fired. But in North Korea, falling asleep in a meeting while the country’s boss,
Kim Jong Un, is talking is a much more serious affair. It can carry the death penalty, and in
2015 an unfortunate defense minister was publicly executed with an anti-aircraft gun for dozing off.
Respect for the Kim family is serious business in North Korea.
It’s a scenario no one wants to contemplate - what do you save in the event of a fire? That
was the choice facing one unfortunate North Korean mom in 2020, and the first thing she did was save
her children from the blaze. Unfortunately, that left her facing jail time - because
every family is required to hang a portrait of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-Sung in their home,
and allowing any harm to come to it is considered a crime. One would think a fire counts as special
circumstances - but even failing to dust it properly can get you a visit from the police.
And don’t even think about talking about these weird rules to your friends on the internet.
That’s because the internet, as we know it, does not exist in North Korea.
Access to unfettered online communication is strictly banned, as is any use of social media
sites. The people of North Korea who have internet access are few and far between,
and civilians only have access to a very limited number of sites under a closed system
named Kwangmyong. Estimates vary, but it’s no more than fifty-five hundred - compared to
over a billion worldwide. Unauthorized use of the internet through Wi-Fi or private servers
can result in imprisonment or even death. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily apply
to the highest reaches of North Korea’s government - a common theme on this list.
But at least you can go for a nice relaxing drive, right?
Not so fast. Cars are scarce in North Korea for a number of reasons - the first of which being
that the country is very poor. Very few people can afford a car, especially with the only way
foreign cars get into the country being through smuggling. But even if someone has the money,
getting that need for speed won’t be easy. Government regulations only allow about one
in one hundred people to own a car, and those approved are only male government employees. Women
are not allowed to drive at all. Even the ones working as the country’s famous traffic officers.
It’s not the only rule that makes moving around the country difficult.
Like all countries, North Korea has border controls. But in most other countries,
moving from state to state is easy. You don’t need to fill up any paperwork to get approved
to move from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. But in North Korea, everyone’s whereabouts are strictly
determined by their status and relationship with the government. This is especially significant
in one area - living in the capital of Pyongyang. The bustling city is home to the country’s elites,
and anyone trying to live there unauthorized would be subject to strict punishment.
Some of North Korea’s strange laws might actually have some positives - at first glance at least.
It probably hasn’t been too long since you skipped an election. Maybe you thought both candidates
were bums. Maybe the incumbent was going to win by 30 points and you just didn’t see the point.
Or maybe you were just too busy binging YouTube videos. In most countries, that’s
fine - but in North Korea, elections to choose party leaders are serious business, and anyone
eighteen or over is legally required to vote. The problem is, North Korea is a one-party state and
elections are virtually uncontested. But hey, at least they can boast about high voter turnout.
And this isn’t the only unexpected responsibility.
School in North Korea is very different than in most countries. Not only is there a heavy
dose of government training, but supplies are lacking in the best of times. Of course,
in other countries kids have to bring their own supplies to school - things like pens and pencils,
notebooks, and maybe a calculator for math class. But in North Korea, school kids could get into
trouble if they don’t bring their own desks or chairs to class. Not only would that not
fit in the backpack, but it might be a financial hardship to the many poor people in the country.
And don’t expect too many conventional luxuries to be readily available.
How many times a day do you use electricity without even thinking about it? It can be as
simple as flipping the light on and off when you go to the bathroom. We don’t think of this as a
luxury, but in North korea electricity is in short supply and is strictly rationed - as is seen in a
stunning viral photo of the Korean peninsula. It’s so bad that North Korea cuts off the
power every night once the day’s business is done, plunging people’s homes into darkness.
And certain power-sapping devices like microwaves are completely illegal to own
Even expressing yourself isn’t easy in North Korea.
In most countries, getting a new haircut or style is a traditional way of showing some
harmless rebellion as a teenager. It’s not a phase, mom! I’m keeping my neon green mohawk!
But rebellion comes with a much higher cost, and every choice
you make can arouse the ire of the state. North Korea has a carefully curated list of official
hairstyles - eighteen for men and fifteen for women - and any person who has an off-the-books
style will be subject to interrogation and potential arrest for disloyalty.
Men aren’t supposed to keep their hair longer than two inches - and you bet the
security guards have rulers. Changing up your hair color is also a no go, and of course,
trying to mimick Kim Jong-Un’s distinctive hairstyle will lead to sever punishment.
This next one might not be Kim Jong-Un’s fault, exactly.
It can be stressful traveling in a foreign country, and sometimes you want a taste of
familiarity. You head into the local convenience store, look for a cold, refreshing bottle
of Coca-Cola - and come up empty. Why is the beloved beverage not available in North Korea?
The primary responsibility falls on international sanctions that make it illegal to sell certain
goods to North Korea - and Coca-Cola is considered a luxury good. While some high-end stores might
sell a varient produced in China, you can bet only the elite are likely to get their hands on it.
This next one seems like it’s a problem for a country in poverty.
In most countries, responsible family planning is seen as a virtue.
Education about birth control is often taught in schools - to much snickering from little
boys who just learned some things and will never look at a banana the same way again.
But in North Korea, all forms of birth control are banned. While hormonal birth
control is rarer and many people in the poor country would have a hard time getting it,
this even extends to condoms. That’s created a small black market in the rubber business,
as it’s common for adult males to get a pack as a present if a friend can get ahold of it. Awkward.
They seem to want you to have a lot of kids - but where are they going to stay?
It’s one of the great rites of adulthood in most countries - getting your own place for
the first time. While most people rent at first, there’s a great sense of pride when
you sign on the dotted line and buy your first house or condo. But in North Korea,
no one owns their own house and there’s only one landlord - the state. North Korea
maintains the exclusive rights to all land and property within the country’s borders, and most
people’s abode is chosen by the state. However, a black market in real estate in recent years
has led to some laws being liberalized. Can’t execute everyone with an aircraft gun, I guess.
It’s not the only way the government gets invasive.
We live in a digital society, and it’s bridged the gap. For most people, calling Cousin Rudolf who
lives in rural Liechtenstein is a simple task - although it may be invasive. But for those living
in North Korea, getting a word in or out can be more difficult. Very few people own cell phones,
and those that do have their service heavily restricted and monitored by the government.
One thing that’s strictly banned? Making phone calls outside of the country,
including to neighboring countries like South Korea or China, where many people have relatives.
Just because North Korea has neighbors doesn’t mean they’re not a world apart.
If you ask most people what they think about when they hear “Korea” right now, they’ll probably talk
about K-Pop - especially if they’re young. Bands like BTS have swept the globe, getting a massive
number of adoring fans in countless countries - except one. Kim Jong-Un has maintained his
father’s ban on western media - and that includes popular music from their next-door neighbor.
But don’t worry, North Korean music lovers, you can attend concerts from his hand-picked bands.
They typically mimic the fashion and style of the outside bands - but with a strong political bent.
At least you can probably watch TV, right?
Not quite. While your hotel in the tourist sector might have a TV, don’t expect to keep up on your
favorite shows or watch some Wheel of Fortune. North Korean TVs only have four approved TV
stations, all either showing government propaganda or approved entertainment from the country. The
TVs run on a closed network, so don’t even think about trying to pick up some unapproved channels -
being in possession of outside entertainment can be a capital crime in North Korea.
And there’s one device, in particular, you shouldn’t expect to find.
Are you one of those tech jockeys who can’t stand to be without your iPhone for too long?
You probably shouldn’t be planning a trip to North Korea. Not only is the use of outside
devices restricted within the country, but it’s a double whammy for Apple lovers. The powerhouse
tech company is prohibited from selling or supplying any of their expensive gadgets to
North Korea due to the US sanctions against the Hermit Kingdom. So the only people with
these devices are the leadership, who always seem to be able to smuggle them in somehow.
It’s not the only familiar sight you’ll miss in North Korea.
It’s a common pastime of tourists - they miss home, so they seek out something new and familiar.
Sure, the locals may sneer at the Americans eating McDonalds in the middle of Paris,
but no one’s stopping them. In North Korea, though, most western chains are
banned. Not only does Kim Jong-Un not want Western influence in the country,
but sanctions keep many businesses out. That means you won’t be able to get that Big Mac
Attack cured in North Korea, nor will you be able to get your favorite Frap at Starbucks.
So what do North Koreans do for entertainment anyway? The answer is…not much.
When North Korea launched nuclear tests in 2017, countries around the world responded
by tightening sanctions. North Korea’s response was to make sure their public couldn’t express
any negative feelings about this downturn in their economy…by instituting a ban on singing
or drinking in public. The ban targeted public gatherings where people could get out of control
and start letting their true feelings about the regime fly. Better to keep that behind
closed doors, after all. It’s not like the government should know what the people think.
It’s not even easy to get the news in North Korea.
In other countries, if you want to find out what happened on a certain day, you look up that paper
in the library or on a website. But in North Korea, newspapers are treated more like state
secrets. You can’t go back into the archives - and you can’t even buy one to take home. Like
many North Korean policies, this might be due to the government wanting to maintain strict control
of the flow of information - and not have anything exist to contradict them. So how do you read the
newspaper in North Korea? They’re put on display in subway stations, and people gather around
public boards to get a look. I wonder what North Korean Garfield will be up to in the comics pages…
Not even the normal holidays we celebrate are the same in the Hermit Kingdom.
North Korea is an officially atheist country, with a ban on all religions
and a state-sponsored mythology surrounding the Kim family. Owning religious paraphernalia is
banned - but this even extends to some things that are considered secular by many people now.
Most notably - don’t even think about owning a Christmas tree. In fact,
nothing related to the world-famous holiday is allowed in North Korea. So watch out, Rudolph.
Stay in colder climates, Frosty. North Korea’s got all of you on their own personal naughty list.
With rules like this, people must be heading for the exits, right?
Not so fast. While in most countries, traveling abroad might be an easy affair - at least before
2020. If your passport was in order, you could just hop across the border to Cancun for some R&R
and be back the next day. But getting out of North Korea for citizens is a much more arduous affair,
bordering on impossible. It’s illegal to emigrate from the Hermit Kingdom,
and the line between North Korea and South Korea is a heavily guarded DMZ.
So the most common way people escape is through the northern broder shared with China.
Few make it, many are killed - but those who do survive become an invaluable source
of information for the rest of the world about the isolated kingdom.
Meanwhile, some rules apply only to tourists.
Like most countries, North Korea has its own currency, the North Korean Won. Unlike many other
currencies, it doesn’t have much of a counterfeit problem - because it’s not allowed to be brought
in or out of the country. It’s only for internal use, and they take its secrecy seriously. So
seriously, that it may be the only currency in the world that tourists aren’t allowed to use.
Tourists have to use the currency of their home country, usually Dollars, Euros,
or Chinese money. And don’t even think of trying to get some Won out of the country as a souvenir.
Guess you’re stuck. Better make the best of it. How about a game of B-ball?
Just make sure you know the rules, because basketball as you know it is illegal in North
Korea. Kim Jong-Un likes to separate himself from Western ways as much as possible,
and he’s even gone so far as to change the rules of the game in some bizarre ways.
Not only do slam dunks now carry an extra bonus point, but the game speeds up massively at the
end with shots going from two points to eight points in the last three minutes of the game.
And watch your aim - teams lose a point if a player misses three shots in a row.
It doesn’t take much to stand out as an outsider in North Korea.
Sometimes all it takes is getting the date of the year wrong.
That’s right, North Korea even has its own calendar. While much of the world goes by the
standard Gregorian calendar, and some cultures like China and Israel go by ancient traditions
where the new year starts at a different date, North Korea uses the Juche calendar,
one which starts at a unique point - April 15th, 1912. That’s the date that Kim Il-Sung,
the founder of the Juche system, was born - so if you’re paying a visit to North Korea,
it’s probably best not to wish anyone a happy April Fool’s Day.
If there’s one thing that defines North Korea, it’s that they take their leadership seriously.
One of the strictest rules in North Korea is that any sort of insult towards Kim Jong-Un or the rest
of the Kim clan is considered the highest of crimes. In the US, it’s common to see people
on Twitter openly insulting the President as he tries to lay out policy - and he used to
insult back! But in North Korea, something as simple as calling the Supreme Leader fat
can get you sent to a labor camp, and this applies whether you’re a citizen or a guest.
Attempted theft of an in-room poster was enough to get an American tourist
arrested and sentenced to hard labor, where he later sustained fatal injuries in 2017.
And it’s not the only way patriotism is compelled.
Universal national service isn’t unusual in countries around the world. The United
States drafted soldiers in multiple wars, and in countries like Israel and South Korea they have
a universal draft. But few make it harder to get out of the draft than North Korea - and few demand
more from their young soldiers. North Korean mandatory service applies to both men and women,
and ranges from seven to ten years. Most of these soldiers will wind up serving the government,
but many may be sent to the harsh DMZ region, where war is just one wrong move away.
And it’s not the only time your fate isn’t in your hands.
How do most people in other countries choose their profession? It’s either after an exhaustive look
at possible majors they want to learn about - or it’s by scanning the want ads to find something
that pays enough. But in either case, they make a choice. Not in North Korea, where the government
will typically choose someone’s profession for them based on their aptitude shown in school
and where the government needs them, as well as their family’s stature. For those who
object to their assignment, there’s usually another one waiting for them - forced labor.
For women in North Korea, things can be especially dicey.
It’s taken for granted by women in most countries - although purchasing them can be awkward when
dad or the boyfriend gets sent instead. But not only will sanitary products for that time of the
month be available, but there’ll likely be a wide selection of them in comforting pastel colors.
However, if a tourist is expecting to need sanitary products while in North Korea,
she should take a healthy supply and hope security lets her keep them. These products
aren’t available in North Korea, mostly due to lack of supplies for disposable products,
and most women use washable sanitary pads instead.
It’s not the only case where women have fewer options in North Korea.
Reproductive freedom is strictly curtailed in North Korea - as the contraband condoms probably
made clear. But it goes further than that, due to Kim Jong-Un’s obsession with the women of
North Korea producing more socialist soldiers. Abortion is totally banned in North Korea,
but the restrictions don’t end there. Women are required to give birth alone,
and are kept from meeting their husband for a week after birth. And it’s common
for children to be taken by the state for training or adoption if the mother
is deemed to be undesirable or the children are multiples. Like most other things in North Korea,
children are often considered to be the collective property of the state.
And don’t expect flowers either, mom.
Mother’s Day, a popular holiday all around the world,
at first seems like one brief dose of normalcy in North Korea. The holiday was introduced in 2012
and became popular with the public - and that couldn’t stand. First the government decided
it should honor all mothers, including the metaphysical mother of the Workers’ Party,
which they commonly call the Mother Party. The holiday became increasingly focused on
celebrating the party instead of mom, and now it’s prohibited to send personal messages to
your mother that day when you could be celebrating the deceased members of the Kim family instead.
Sometimes, things get weird on one specific day of the week.
Sunday funday, right? Not so much in North Korea. While the weekend may be sacred for
many workers in the rest of the world, things are very different in the Hermit Kingdom.
While the day is officially a day off from standard jobs, it’s also known as a collective
labor day. That means workers are often assigned to complete large-scale jobs like paving sidewalks
and cleaning up trash. Making this worse, all cleaning must be done without the use of tools.
And don’t even think about calling in sick - the boss has a pretty strict attendance policy.
But one day probably holds the biggest risk for people.
Don’t smile. Don’t even think about it. Does thinking about it make you want to smile?
Imagine if for one day a year, smiling was considered a crime against the state.
That’s the law in North Korea every July 8th, the anniversary of Kim Il-Sung’s death.
Both the birthday and death day of the Juche founder are seen as holy days in North Korea,
and any sense of frivolity on the latter is seen as a sign of a lack of mourning.
It’s prohibited to smile in public or even talk too loudly, and the police have their
eyes open for anyone who doesn’t seem to be mourning the departed leader sincerely enough.
But one banned item in North Korea made national news in 2021.
It was the Korean TV show seen around the world - Squid Game. Influenced by
classics like Battle Royale, the South Korean drama became a sensation for its tense plot,
which saw ordinary citizens competing in a series of twisted life-or-death games for a
chance at fortune. Not only did people love seeing classic children’s games turned into deathtraps
when it streamed worldwide on Netflix, but many people praised its incisive look at the failings
of South Korea’s capitalist economy and how it leaves many of its poorer citizens behind.
Anti-capitalist satire? North Korea probably loves this show!
The bent of the show, condemning South Korea’s secular capitalist culture as
decadent and harmful to the poor, might have met with Kim Jong-Un’s approval. After all,
it’s pretty common for the leadership in the country to get ahold of western
media and luxury goods through smuggling. But for the general public is a different story,
and the country is under a tighter lockdown than ever when it comes to foreign media. In 2020,
the country passed the Elimination of Reactionary Thought and Culture Act,
which banned the importation of foreign media. And that includes South Korean dramas.
A few people found that out the hard way.
According to Radio Free Asia, a late 2021 attempt to bring Squid Game to North Korea ended
in tragedy when authorities found high school students watching the show. The source of the leak
was traced to a smuggler who managed to bring in hard drives from China. He was sentenced to death
by firing squad, the student who bought the flash drive was given a sentence of life imprisonment,
and five other students who simply watched the show were sent to a labor camp for five years.
But that doesn’t mean the Hermit Kingdom has no use for the show. A propaganda site
described Squid Game as “Depicting the sad reality of a beastly South Korean society”.
So they’re in favor of the message - just don’t think about trying to watch it.
Want to know more about this strange country? Watch “What
Is it REALLY Like Living in North Korea?”.