The Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea is an ironically name small country to the
east of China and the West of Japan. But what…if it were..urm…a city?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, where sometimes we laugh in the
face of our channel name and take fights of whimsy and fancy based on your strange video
suggestions and your viewing statistics….so join me as I embark upon a career highlight
as we discuss the hard hitting question: What if North Korea was a city? Even though I’d
really like to be asking – what if we could go back in time and slap Nick Crompton. Alas,
we may never know. North Korea is small as far as countries go
compared to mammoths like Canada, China and Russia, that being said, it is still 120,540
km² which would be one large city. The largest city in the world is currently New York, which
spans 8,683 square kilometres….so the city of North Korea would quickly become the biggest,
however it would still not necessarily be the most populous. There are 25.4 million
North Koreans, yet the city of Shanghai in China alone houses 24.3 million people, and
the Greater Tokyo area with the Yokohama has a population of 33 million…so maybe the
question of North Korea being a city isn’t so crazy after all!
Despite being one of the biggest cities in the world, North Korea would not be the richest,
in fact, it would still be one of the poorest. The Gross Domestic Product for the entirety
of North Korea is 12.38 billion US Dollars, but the GDP of the city of Tokyo is over 1000
times that at one thousand, five hundred and 20 billion dollars. If North Korea was a city,
it would perhaps find a fiercer rival in Tokyo…their much richer neighbours across the water. North
Korea as a country hates Japan, so as a city, I am sure they could localise their hate to
a well performing city nearby. The city centre would be somewhere like Jangjin,
an airforce base in the mountainour region of Chanjin County, although of course the
financial centre would be Pyongyang, the only real metropolitan area of North Korea.
I suppose if North Korea was a city, then Kim Jong Un would be mayor? Hmm. I wonder,
If North Korea was a city …what country would be in? Well, the obvious answer is China.
North Korea is located to west of China, and boarders it at Dadong and Pippa Island. Of
course North Korea also boarders a tiny corner of Russia.
The City of North Korea would be a private city and I don’t imagine the city would
enjoy being part of a bigger country. Kim Jong Un probably would build walls around
itself, like an ancient walled city. Food would have to be farmed within the city as
trading would be pretty limited. If the city of North Korea was in China, they would probably
leave the city alone, but given Russia’s track record with the Ukraine, the Russians
would smash down the city of North Korea’s walls and if Kim Jong Un didn’t comply with
Vladimir Putins leadership, he would be overthrown. If either Russia or China owned the city of
North Korea, it would change global politics a touch... Who is to know if South Korea would
like their neighbours more or less… they may be worried they’ll be demoted to a city
too and annexed. If North Korea was a rogue city with walls
then perhaps it could keep its own currency and rules and official haircuts, but if those
walls were broken down…then North Korea would be forced to use a separate currency,
and comply to separate laws. I can’t imagine a city being allowed to have their own separate
nuclear programme to the rest of the country or being able to wage war…. In the process
of levelling out North Korea, perhaps a civil war would be sparked between the citizens
of North Korea and the rest of whatever country they belong to, but my guess is, most people
would be pretty happy to be released from oppression. In fact, the walled city concept
would pretty much still render North Korea a country, so by definition the would have
to comply with their new country or try and become a country of their own.
The problem with dealing with North Korea has come from the fact that they are a country,
formed in 1948 as a result of a civil war, and causing the Korean War. Being a country
has Kim Jong Un’s government authority and rights that he has abused to control the people
who live there and to threaten other nations. The North Korean people are forced to march
under one flag and live lives dictated to them by an unelected authority….if North
Korea was a city, this wouldn’t be allowed to happen.
So, that is our answer to What if North Korea was a city. What do you think would happen?
Let me know! Also, if you want to watch a video of the North Korean Anthem played over
the It’s Every Day Bro video, you absolutely can. You can absolutely also watch North Koreans
march to the sweet sounds of It’s Every Day Bro. It’s a cultural exchange!
I hope you guys enjoyed this seminal video…I am Rebecca Felgate, thanks for watching…
I’ll see you in the next video but for now, stay curious, stay alert and never ever stop
questioning.