So, you’re thinking of taking a vacation to
North Korea. First question: why? No, seriously, why in the name of sanity would you want to do
that? Listen, we here at the Infographics Show Travel Agency can’t officially pass judgment
on your decision. The customer’s always right, after all, but it’d be irresponsible of us
not to point out just how dangerous that idea is! We genuinely cannot advise that you
go to North Korea, and even actually licensed travel authorities will tell you the same!
As if ongoing tensions between South Korea and the DPRK weren’t enough to make you reconsider,
you are aware of the brutal, dictatorial regime that runs North Korea, right? Even if you
were to go on a tour, that wouldn’t protect you from being stopped and potentially detained
or arrested by authorities, as well as possibly having your belongings searched or confiscated or
even having your communications monitored! Look, before you end up booking the last plane tickets
of your life, let us just run you through a list of laws from there to see if you’ll still be set
making this insane trip after you hear about these normal things that are totally legal everywhere
else in the world, but are illegal in North Korea! You like music? Of course you do; everyone does!
Movies too? Who doesn’t love watching movies, even on a vacation? Well, you can wave those
things goodbye while you’re under the jurisdiction of the DPRK. Listening to any music or viewing
movies that come from outside North Korea is considered a criminal offense. The severity of
the sentence that it carries can vary depending on where the banned media originates from.
Say you feel like watching a Hollywood movie in your hotel room. Maybe you’ve downloaded it
to watch offline on your streaming app of choice, or perhaps you’ve just got yourself a really
good VPN. Hope you made it a good movie pick, because it’ll be the last one you ever see:
watching an American movie can actually get you executed in North Korea! If you’re more of
a fan of Bollywood, though, then don’t worry; watching Indian movies might mean you get away
with just a prison sentence. If you’re caught with any DVDs of media out of South Korea,
then you can potentially wind up being sent to a labor camp for years, so maybe it’s best
to leave those physical copies of Parasite and Squid Game at home. And god forbid you decide to
watch any… ahem, not safe for work movies, as that could also land you with the death penalty.
While on your extremely inadvisable trip, you might feel the need to phone home just to
let your friends or family know what a swell time you’re having on all those guided tours where
you aren’t allowed to deviate or explore. Well, good luck getting away with that since making an
international call from within North Korea is also a crime. As a matter of fact, it’s another one
that could get you executed, as a factory chief in the South Pyongan province tragically learned.
In 2007, the North Korean man was executed for making international calls. Apparently, he
had thirteen phones installed in the basement of the factory where he worked, all so he could
make calls out of the country. What’s worse is, in order to make an example of him, the man’s
execution was made into a public spectacle! He was put to death by firing squad in a stadium, with a
hundred and fifty spectators turning out to watch his execution. And as if the whole horrible affair
couldn’t get any worse, six more people died when they were crushed in a stampede as they attempted
to leave the stadium. And you thought your cell phone provider’s roaming charges were bad enough.
Speaking of roaming, you should probably keep an eye on your choice of wardrobe while
you’re out and about in the DPRK. After all, it’s not exactly a tense place, so you at least
want to wear clothes that make you feel somewhat comforted and comfortable. Best hope you don’t
feel at your most comfortable in jeans or skirts, though, because that could see you taken to court!
According to the North Korean government’s official newspaper (and by extension, Kim Jong
Un himself), wearing jeans – especially skinny jeans – as well as any branded t-shirts with
visible logos is considered to be an act of embracing Western, capitalist fashion.
Additionally, wearing skirts that show off anything above the knees is also outright
banned. This even applies to shorts, too, but that ban seems to be enforced more against women
than men. As many as ten women were arrested for wearing above-the-knee trousers during a heatwave
in North Korea in 2023. And don’t even think of trying to deal with the heat upwards of eighty
Fahrenheit by wearing a bikini; that’s yet another ‘anti-socialist’ article of clothing and one that
conveys you partake in a capitalistic lifestyle! The only way to atone is to write out a statement
of self-criticism and sign a document stating that you agree to receive more severe consequences
if you’re caught committing such crimes against fashion again. And you can only be released
provided someone can bring you something more appropriate to wear, so you’d better hope there’s
an acceptable change of clothes in your suitcase! As if suppression of any self-expression
through clothing wasn’t enough, North Korea even has restrictions on what haircuts people
can have. There is even an official list of state-sanctioned haircut guidelines released
by the DPRK’s government that includes even more oddly gendered instructions. For example,
men are prohibited from having hair longer than five centimeters – or just shy of two inches –
until they reach a certain age, wherein they’re generously afforded to grow it out a little
more, up to a whole three inches! Having spiky or dyed hair is also banned, as it’s considered
as bad as wearing a pair of skinny jeans when it comes to expressing capitalist sentiments.
The ladies of the DPRK, on the other hand, have a whole fourteen styles they can choose
from, but married women are told to keep their hair slightly shorter. All the single ladies
in North Korea are allowed to have looser, curlier styles, but god knows where that leaves
any non-binary or agender folks. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of prohibited personal
styles, piercings are also banned, so take out your earrings and kiss your tongue stud goodbye!
Oh, actually, while you’re making sure you don’t look too conspicuous on your trip, you’d better
not be smiling while you’re in North Korea. To be completely fair, this law isn’t in effect
all year round and is only really enforced on the anniversary of the death of Kim Jong
Un’s dearly departed dad, Kim Jong Il, who died in December of 2011. A ten-day mourning
period is in effect every year starting on the seventeenth of December, during which time North
Koreans are forbidden from smiling, laughing, or engaging in any kind of leisure activities.
That means, if you’ve got a birthday during those ten days, then forget about it, not anymore
you don’t! And if somebody dies during that time, then you aren’t allowed to cry out loud or even
remove their body until the mourning period is officially over. Anyone found to be breaking
these rules is treated as an ideological criminal and is arrested, never to be seen again.
So, best start practising your poker face to avoid smiling during the mourning period.
Oh, and the same rules also apply during the annual commemoration of Kim Jong Un’s grandfather,
President Kim Il-sung, who died in July of 1994. Remember when we mentioned needing a really good
VPN if you wanted to try your luck at watching movies in North Korea? That wasn’t just a great
joke but also really subtle foreshadowing since there’s no Internet access in North Korea either.
If that’s not enough of a reason to not go, then we don’t know what is! After all, most
of our lives are entirely centered around being free to access the internet at any given
moment, whether it’s for communication, research, or entertainment. But in North Korea, the use
of the World Wide Web is largely prohibited. The DPRK’s government places huge
restrictions on internet access, primarily because they view it as a potential
threat to their regime. If its citizens were able to connect with other people from around
the world, there could be efforts to smuggle humanitarian aid into North Korea or cause them to
question the country’s oppressive social systems through the everyday exchange of information
that regularly takes place on the internet. A few people do have access, like government
officials and scientists, people considered to be a part of the country's societal elites. For the
average citizen living under the regime, though, they are only permitted to use Kwangmyong,
which translates to ‘bright star,’ the name of the state-run, closed, domestic-only
network. It looks like the regular internet, albeit running on pirated Japanese versions
of Microsoft software, but it can only access certain sites that are approved by the government
and require specialized clearance to even log on. In fact, if you asked most North Korean citizens
about the internet, most of them might not have a clue what you’re talking about since so much
of the population is still living in poverty. But restricting internet access isn’t the only way
that North Korea keeps its citizens isolated from the rest of the world and even from each other.
Hope you weren’t too attached to your smartphone or laptop because you’d sure have a hard time
owning those in North Korea. Yep, even owning a computer requires permission from government
authorities, and all personal computer owners have to be registered with the police – like firearms
would be in the US, in an ideal world, at least. Phones are a little more readily available but are
mainly concentrated closer to major cities like Pyongyang. And even then, it’s not like phones
are allowed to connect to the internet. Visiting tourists have to deposit any phones or computers
on their person with security guards and are only allowed to have them back before they leave North
Korea. Hell, even owning technology that the rest of the world left behind in the nineties, like
the humble fax machine, is outright banned. Okay, so what about cameras? After all, you’d
love to have something to commemorate your life-threatening trip rather than this ‘I Went
to North Korea, and All I Got Was This Dumb Shirt (Thank God)’ t-shirt. But taking pictures
is also banned, right? Well, yes and no. There’s a popular belief that photography is
outright banned in North Korea, but in actuality, this is only partially true. It’s more than
taking pictures of certain places, people, and things that are restricted. You can take
photos, just not as freely as you can in most other places around the world. Taking
any pictures of military installations, checkpoints, or vehicles is straight up not
allowed, with the main exception being the Demilitarised Zone between the North and South.
Most parts of the capital of Pyongyang are fair game for pictures, but that’s also by design.
The city is intended to depict a different, far more positive image of the DPRK
rather than being an honest example of the oppressive regime that it is. On top of
that, there are also pretty strict guidelines about how photographs have to be taken; for
example, any photos of monuments, murals, or artwork – especially depicting Kim Il Sung
or Kim Jong Il – must be taken directly from head-on and without any part being cropped out.
Appearing in these pictures yourself is permitted, but only in the respectful, arms at your sides
stance, with no obscene gestures, no pulling faces, no wearing glasses, and no chewing.
While you’re there, you should also probably get used to walking, as there are some seriously
strict laws surrounding driving in North Korea, as well as transportation and freedom of movement
in general. Citizens of the DPRK aren’t permitted to travel freely around the country, and thanks
to government restrictions, only one in a hundred people can own a car. Foreigners traveling to
North Korea must apply and pass a test for a local driver’s license, and even then, might still
not be allowed to drive, especially if they happen to be a woman. Oh, look, it’s yet another sexist
law; what a surprise. Stay classy, North Korea. Women aren’t permitted to travel within the
country unless they have a male escort present and are forbidden from being able to drive at all.
And that includes North Korean women who work as traffic officers; yes, women whose job involves
enforcing traffic laws are themselves not allowed to drive. They can ride bikes, though, which
is almost just as good, right? When it comes to public transport, visitors from outside the DPRK
aren’t permitted to board, and although they are allowed to hail taxis to get to and from their
hotels, some North Korean taxi drivers will be reluctant to take tourists as passengers without
a local tour guide or interpreter also present. Seriously, you’re still not reconsidering this
ridiculous North Korea vacation? After everything we’ve talked about. Fine, well, you’d better
not stay up too late while you’re there. Not only are you going to find the nightlife in
the DPRK pretty lacking, but you’ll probably find yourself in the midst of a state-imposed
blackout if you’re still up in the late hours. North Korea is subject to regular energy
shortages, with some of the poorer parts of the country only receiving power once a year! For
the rest of the country, including the capital, rolling blackouts are fairly common, especially
late at night. Under the rule of Kim Jong Un, Pyongyang has more often received more
electricity, often still staying lit while the rest of the country is in darkness. Much
like many of the technological regulations, using electricity in any major capacity requires
permission from the government. North Korea’s dual electricity grid means that typically, more
power is often diverted towards priorities like factories and military facilities
while leaving very little, if any, available for civilian households. And god forbid
you try and reheat any leftovers in a microwave, you capitalistic monster, since microwaves
– yep, you guessed it – are also illegal to own and operate in the DPRK!
Oh, and we’re not done! We’re going to convince you not to take this trip any way
we can. Here’s another example: you know how, in much of the world, people are free to practice
any belief system they want and be a part of any religion they feel a connection to?
Well, guess what? Not in North Korea, muchacho! Freedom of religion is virtually a myth
to the people living in the DPRK, despite claiming on paper that its citizens are free to practice
any religion they like. Officially, North Korea considers itself to be an atheist state.
Any practices or texts associated with any religion, especially those widely practiced
within Western countries, are forbidden. In 2014, an American visitor by the name of Jeffrey
Fowle was actually arrested by North Korean authorities because he left his copy of the
Bible in a restaurant bathroom. If you ask us, Jeffrey got off lightly compared to the almost
seventy thousand Christians who Kim Jong Un’s regime has imprisoned in labor camps or
even outright executed for handing out Bibles. Others arrested for religious crimes
have faced detention, torture, and death. Okay, we’ll hear you out; what’s your plan
once you get to North Korea? Getting a job and living a cushy life in the capital? You’re
not just wrong, you’re stupid, and here’s why: you can’t choose what job you do in North
Korea. For one, after finishing their high school education, all citizens are required to
serve time in the military. Ready for another one of those laws? Men have to stay for a minimum of
ten years, whereas women only have to stay until they reach the age of twenty-three.
After completing military service, they are then assigned a job by the government
based on the country’s current needs. Oh, and these aren’t temporary internships, nor are
they jobs that allow the flexibility of making a career change down the line. These are for life.
An assigned profession isn’t up for negotiation either; you get what you’re given, and you can
either like it or… well, lump it if lumping it meant being sent to a forced labor camp.
Most assigned jobs consist of farming or agriculture, with other possible professions
including sweeping streets, working in factories, the aforementioned traffic officers or
teaching. And if you were expecting these to be thirty-hour-a-week positions, guess again bucko
– how does a forty eight hour work week sound? Nightmarish? Yeah, it sure does! If you’re lucky,
you’ll be allowed to take Sundays off unless, of course, the government decides it really
needs everyone to keep working. Once, in 2016, North Korea had their entire workforce
working for seventy days straight without a break, under a direct order from their
government in order to boost their economy. Still, after clocking off from your
forty-eight-hour a-week, government-mandated job, you can at least have the reprieve of cracking
open a nice cold brew with the boys, or heck, even nursing a nice whiskey at the end of a hard
day. North Korea has at least ten major breweries, with a number of microbreweries for beer,
but if you’re looking for something harder, then spirits are pretty popular over there. The
national drink of choice is soju, a clear spirit made from rice and wheat or barely, often drank
neat after a meal. Hey, maybe have this one on us; after all, you’re probably going to need to
enjoy what little luxuries you can on this insane vacation you’re set on taking. It’s not like
you’ll be able to take another one any time soon. That’s right, did you think we were done? No way,
you’re not going through with this! As if just getting to North Korea wasn’t hard and inadvisable
enough, then leaving is even worse! People in North Korea are essentially trapped within the
country and unable to get out. With any and all travel requiring government approval, trying to
escape North Korea is often highly dangerous. Many people have lost their lives trying to
defect to South Korea or escape to China, usually requiring the aid of a third party
to smuggle them out to safety… with only a fraction ever being successful. Those who are
caught face brutal punishment, either being killed or sent to labor camps for attempting to
flee. It can’t be overstated just how risky and difficult it is to leave North Korea.
Things have only gotten harder in more recent years, too, since relations between
the DPRK and China have improved. Now, any defectors who are caught traversing through
China in order to reach safer countries run the risk of being captured and deported back
to North Korea by Chinese authorities. Even tourists aren’t always free to leave either. One
American student, Otto Warmbier, was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport while waiting
to leave after visiting the DPRK as part of a guided tour. Thanks to taking a memento from his
hotel room, he was imprisoned; his treatment there resulted in him entering a vegetative state,
eventually dying after being released in 2017. And if, after hearing all of these normal
things that North Korea deems illegal, you’re still thinking that a quick jaunt over there can’t
hurt – then guess again. If the contents of this entire video were to be read aloud over there, let
alone shown in North Korea, then we here at the Infographics Show would be in serious trouble. For
one, sarcasm is also banned there, so that rules us out instantly. But if you’re set on going – and
we think it’s a big mistake – then you’d better be comfortable living with all these restrictive
aspects of North Korean life. You wouldn’t want to complain or, god forbid, be critical.
The freedom you have to openly vocalize a critical opinion of your home nation’s government does
not exist in North Korea. Speaking out against the regime, Kim Jong Un, or any part of the
DPRK’s government, is considered to be an act of blasphemy and incurs severe punishment. Anyone
caught insulting, joking about, criticizing, or threatening the Supreme Leader faces imprisonment
for dissent. One mother of a North Korean household was sent to jail for saving her children
while her home burned down – instead of recovering her state-issued portrait of Kim Il Sung.
Back in 2015, Hyo Yong-chol, the country’s defense minister at the time, was executed for
falling asleep during a military rally attended by Kim Jong Un. And they didn’t just give him
a firing squad for insubordination; oh no, he was killed with an anti-aircraft gun in front
of a hundred people! For snoozing! You can’t even call it ‘North Korea’ while you’re there! Since
they consider themselves the only true Korea, if you don’t call them by their
official name, of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, then they’ll
consider that to be a form of dissent, too! Now check out “Daily Life of a North
Korean.” Or watch this video instead!
