Bizarre Things That Only Exist In North Korea

north korea is a country well known for its secrecy poverty human rights violations and of course its enigmatic leader kim jong-un being such a private and unique nation however means there are a few quirks that simply don't exist outside it's all encompassing walls so let's break into the democratic people's republic of korea and see what we can find [Music] number 20 korean cuts haircuts are a great way of expressing yourself but the number of potential style choices can sometimes be overwhelming luckily for the people of north korea they don't have to deal with all that as the government issues a list of approved styles for them women can choose from a list of about 18 styles while men are limited to 10. married women must keep their hair reasonably short while single ladies are encouraged to try out the slightly longer styles young men meanwhile mustn't grow their hair longer than two inches but older men can get away with three inches that said with these cuts the only options i'm hardly foreseeing a six inch mohawk being likely to appear personally though i have to say i'm partial to number ten number 19. traffic beauties in the relatively recent past it was pretty common for friendly local police officers to direct traffic instead of the rage inducing light bulbs we know today kim jong-un seems to look back on those days fondly with the eyes of a mild pervert because pyongyang's traffic flow is directed by an entire workforce of traffic beauties north korean traffic conductors are rigorously trained with robotic precision and perform their role with the utmost seriousness specifically chosen for their physical attractiveness and family loyalty the post of traffic beauty is especially sought after because of the associated high social standing indeed the job is among the highest respected roles for north korean women making traffic beauties effectively as desirable to north korean men as attractive hollywood actresses in the west the downside is that these women are forced to quit at the age of 26 which is hardly a retirement age hopefully the ability to point at stuff is a transferable skill number 18 cast closed in order to dissuade any potential defectors the north korean government has divided its citizens into castes based on how loyal their families are to the system it all comes down to how red representing the red flag of communism an individual is the three classes are tomato for those who are both red inside and out apples for those who are red on the outside only and exhibit certain non-conformist traits and grapes those who are not read at all and do unspeakable things like telephoning people from the western world because the government controls education and jobs your family's status really does matter as though seen as disloyal won't be allowed to go to college or get desirable government jobs overall the whole system seems kind of fruity to me number 17 korean calendar while most of the world is currently trudging through the year 2020 north koreans are living in jusheid 109 this is because the dprk redefined their calendar around the birthday of the country's founder kim il-sung born in 1912. each year simply the number of years since april 15 1912. so next time you want to make someone's birthday really special base a calendar on them number 16 necrocracy north korea's love of its founder kim il-sung isn't limited to their calendar the man who's now been dead for a quarter century was declared eternal president by his contemporaries giving him absolute power even in death following after kim il-sung kim jong-il and jong-un are only considered supreme leaders by comparison this means that unlike any other nation on earth north korea could technically be defined as a necrocracy which means having a government that functions under the rule of a dead leader creepy number 15 long-term punishment it's no revelation that north korea takes political dissidence pretty seriously but the punishments can be even crazier than you'd think if someone's accused of a political crime like accidentally disrespecting the supreme leader it won't just be the guilty party being punished the suspect their family and possibly even their friends will all be sent to a re-education camp if the crime was considered serious enough the whole family will remain there for life with only the fully indoctrinated great-grandkids being allowed back into society this system called the three generations of punishment policy was instigated by kim il-sung in 1948 and unfortunately is still used to this day number 14 korean computing while most people are probably familiar with mac or windows operating systems and the korean hermit kingdom these programs are a no-go instead anyone lucky enough to own a computer uses a state-created operating system called red star the program is essentially a mac rip off and uses a very similar ui north korea has its own take on the internet too with as many as 5 000 state-controlled websites only accessible in the dprk strangest of all on these sites the names of kim jong-il and ken il-sung must be coded to appear 20 larger than the surrounding text sounds like someone's overcompensating to me number 13. singing man in case north koreans were at risk of having too much fun kim jong-un recently placed a ban on gatherings involving singing and drinking in a crackdown on any and pure behavior even mother's day celebrations were outlawed for fears they might detract from the people's adulation of the supreme leader kim is your mommy now okay number 12 statue laws some of the most iconic images of north korea's capital pyongyang feature the colossal statues of its former leaders perhaps their great size is so memorable because it's actually illegal to photograph single parts of the statue if you take a picture you're legally required to photograph the entire statue not just that but people are forbidden to chew gum or even talk loudly nearby as it's seen as disrespectful to the former leaders even cars are required to slow down as they pass and cyclists are obliged to dismount and walk while the statues are in sight talk about attention seeking number 11 human fertilizer north korea's farmers are so poor and resource deprived they're regularly forced to resort to using their own waste as fertilizer there are even state-mandated waste collections when resources run especially low with quotas families are expected to provide it's such a sought-after commodity that there are reports that people will actually steal it from their neighbors there have even been reports that a ringworm epidemic broke out due to the lack of sanitation resources involved in the human fertilizer gathering process moral of the story don't shoot where you eat number 10 perfect liquor among the more lighthearted of north korean oddities are their claims that they've invented a type of liquor that doesn't give you a hangover this 80-proof drink is made from ginseng extracts and replaces the standard alcohol sugars with scorched rice gluten instead which the government claims is the secret to kicking hangovers whether these claims are even slightly true or not with kim jong-un's crackdown on drinking it may be a while before the western world gets a chance to try number 9 unicorns while their liquor might be hangover free it seems to be getting people plenty drunk at least that's the only explanation i can come up with for north korea's official news source kcna announcing that archaeologists in pyongyang discovered an ancient unicorn lair unicorns actually are featured heavily in korean history textbooks with one tale involving the ancient korean king tongyeong riding one up and down the peninsula the supposedly uncovered lair is according to the dprk's finest archaeologist one of king chongyong's unicorn garages i have to say out of all the ludicrous claims north korea makes this is the one i most want to be true number eight not nasa not wanting to be left out of the great space race the dprk have commissioned their own space program it goes by the name national aerospace development administration or nada while this might mean nothing in spanish the program is real and has its own logo a hilariously low effort rip-off of nasa's own the program claims it launched its first satellite in 1998 called brightstar one but no other country has been able to detect the satellite suggesting it crashed back down shortly after launch whoopsie number 7 fashion police to really emphasize how much the kim regime dislikes western culture they vowed law dressing in any way that could be seen as a symbol of the west they even have their own fashion police made up of volunteers who report dissenters to the government you can be reported for pretty much anything from having inappropriately long hair to sporting blue jeans which are seen as the ultimate symbol of evil consumerism as if picking outfits wasn't already stressful enough number six unhappy birthdays as a north korean it sucked to be born on july 8th or december 17th these were the death dates of kim il-sung and kim jong-il respectively and consequently it's illegal to celebrate on those days this means more than 100 000 people celebrate their birthdays on july 9th or december 18th instead so they don't distract from the enforced sadness of the days of mourning not that it really matters anyway because any celebration deemed excessive that might detract from praising the supreme leader is an offense to play it safe all citizens birthdays are kept on the down low so unfortunately that super sweet sixteenth is off the cards number five kim's visits as if life wasn't already tense enough for north korean citizens it's made even worse by the ever-present threat of a random workplace visit by kim jong-un any perceived disrespect against the leader is enough to land you and your family in a re-education camp so you can imagine the stress as you can see here this lubricant factory worker is clearly counting down the seconds until he can breathe again but hey kim seems to be having fun number four pleasure squad one of the darkest eccentricities of the dprk has to be kim jong-un's pleasure squad this all-female subsection of the north korean army are assigned to accompany high-ranking officials as well as the supreme leader himself the squad is made exclusively up of young pretty women who are expected to tolerate and perform unthinkable acts all in the service of pleasing their assigned superiors the girls are often selected as teenagers and are often forcibly taken from their families directly into the service while the rest of the world's governments are by no means free from disgraceful practices this is one thing i'm glad only officially exists in north korea number three world's largest stadium on a lighter note considering how poor the country is it seems strange that north korea is home to the largest stadium in the world with a 150 000 capacity but they certainly make use of it with their annual rrying festival the show features spectacular feats of gymnastics and full-blooded military ceremonies it even features school children dressing up in piglet costumes pretending to be birds from a mother pig and then dancing around happily totally normal the point of that specific piggy tradition is a celebration of the fruitful lands of north korea which they claim have never known famine or despair it may be full of lies but at least their annual festival looks cool because that's what really matters right number two notepad people if it wasn't already clear how much the north korean people respect their leader check out this picture or this one notice anything well kim jong-un is frequently pictured with people writing down everything he says on notepads this is a propaganda trick kemp's father also used designed to create the sense that there's indispensable wisdom in every word a north korean leader says but really how much timeless wisdom can be found in a standard man's shoes i guess i'll have to ask him number one korean cure according to the always trustworthy north korean press the dprk has now developed the most important medical invention of all time it's called komdenk2 and this wonder serum is supposedly manufactured from secret rare earth elements and of course ginseng and can cure everything including aids ebola and even cancer and i assume it'll make light work of a certain other disease that's got us all worked up at the minute while some western scientists have speculated that this miracle cure might just ever so slightly be a lie designed to attract south korean defectors that's just ridiculous the supreme leader's finest minds would never lie about something like this now if you'll excuse me i'm off to north korea to write out the current pandemic catch you on the flip side have you heard of any other crazy practices that only exist in north korea let me know in the comments section below thanks for watching you

Channel: BE AMAZED

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Keywords: beamazed, be amazed, top 10, north korea, north korea facts, kim jong-un, kim jong un, life in north korea, kim jong-il, inside north korea, north korea life, north korea truth, north korea bizarre things, bizarre things north korea, north korea culture, north korea traffic, living in north korea, truth about north korea, things you didnt know

Id: dGZV-JrkTvg

Length: 13min 24sec (804 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 28 2020