50 Interesting Facts About North Korea

1. Interestingly, you can smoke Marijuana legally in North Korea. It is not even classified as a drug in the country.

2. On January 23, 1968, North Korea captured “USS Pueblo (AGER-2),” a Banner-class environmental research ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy. It is the world’s only nation to capture and retain a U.S. Navy ship to date.

3. North Korea does not use the Gregorian calendar, which is also known as the Western calendar and the Christian calendar. They have their own calendar in place. The Juche calendar was introduced in 1997 and is based on Kim Il-Sung’s date of birth: April 15, 1912. The year 2015 was the 104th year, as per their Juche calendar.

4. The North Korean city of Pyongyang has the world’s largest stadium, boasting a seating capacity of 150,000. This stadium is used for football, athletics and mass games.

5. Surprisingly, haircuts are also approved by the supreme leader, Kim Jong-Un, in North Korea. There are only 28 styles of approved haircuts from which to choose in North Korea. Men can choose from 10 different styles, while women have 18 different options.

6. History tells us that only two South Koreans have moved to North Korea, while more than 23,000 North Koreans have defected to the south over the course of the last 60 years.

7. Kim Il-Sung scammed Sweden out of 1,000 Volvo 144 sedans in 1974, and to date has never made the payment.

8. They have their own computer operating system: North Koreans use “Red Star OS,” which is offered in only the Korean language.

9. Death penalties can be levied for distributing pornography, watching South Korean movies and possessing Bibles.

10. “NADA” is North Korea’s space agency. If you translate it into Spanish, it means “nothing.,”

11. It is illegal to wear jeans in North Korea.

12. There is only one candidate to vote for in the North Korean elections, which take place every five years.

13. On the morning of September 21, 1953, “No Kum-Sok” was the first pilot to defect with an operational aircraft from North Korea to South Korea. He was later rewarded with $100,000 offered by Operation Moolah.

14. It is a ritual to not celebrate birthdays on July 8 and December 17. Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il died on these dates.

15. It still operates under the rules of a dead leader. And it is the world’s only necrocracy.

16. On average, North Koreans are shorter than South Koreans by one to three inches.

17. North Korea has only three TV channels. Two of these only broadcast during the weekends. South Korean soap operas are smuggled in for entertainment.

18. Pyongyang is only for elite groups of people. Only loyal, trustworthy and healthy citizens can live there.

19. To this day in North Korea, about 12 million people suffer from poverty and lack of basic human needs.

20. North Korea has one of the largest armies in the world. It is estimated by the U.S. State Department that they have an active-duty military force of up to 1.2 million personnel.

21. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il never flew on an airplane. He was reportedly so afraid of flying that the only way he would travel is in custom-armored trains specifically built for him.

22. Four invasion tunnels have been found so far, leading from North Korea to South Korea. It is believed that there are 20 more tunnels of this kind. It is estimated that any one of these tunnels could allow rapid movement of at least 30,000 soldiers. Remember: North Korean soldiers are highly trained and are frighteningly deadly. You can just estimate the amount of damage these troops could do in the event of a successful invasion of the southern land.

23. Michael Jordan is the hero of the basketball-fascinated, newest face of North Korean leadership: Kim Jong-Un. He (Kim Jong-Un) attended boarding school in Switzerland, and was not much interested in studies, as reported by his fellow classmates.

24. Life in North Korea is completely isolated from the other parts of the world. Their citizens have limited access to television, radio and other forms of communication and media information. Their average earnings are less than $5.00 per month. They are always under a threat of being poisoned for violating any of the rules laid out by the dictators.

25. Government permission is required to own a computer in North Korea.

26. They have their own intranet – “Kwangmyong.” It was opened in 2000 and includes a browser, email, news and search capabilities. They do not have the open internet as it exists in other parts of the world. Most things there are restricted.

27. There is only one ISP in North Korea. And there is just one cable linking the internet in North Korea. This is an intentional design to maintain complete access when there is only one route to access and send information.

28. North Korea has just 1,024 IP addresses, while countries like the U.S. have 1,541,605,760.

29. There is a ‘three generations of punishment policy’ in North Korea. The offender, along with his next two generations, has to bear the consequences of the offense.

30. North Korean workers enjoy virtually no free time. They have to work six days a week, with the seventh day spent doing ‘enforced’ voluntary work.

31. To date, the North Korean space program has experienced a success rate of only 20%.

32. North Korea has a propaganda city, built in the 1950s, which has no actual residents. The aim to build such a city close to its southern borders was to defect South Korean people. The city has some empty buildings, while others are just empty concrete shells.

33. North Korea also houses the world’s largest flagpole. It holds the North Korean flag.

34. Most ordinary North Koreans eat ‘corn-rice’ as their staple food.

35. There are a total of 25,554 km of roads in North Korea, but only 724 km are paved.

36. North Korea is an East Asian country consisting of the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. Russia, China, and South Korea are its closest borders.[1]

37. Did you know that there is a heavily Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea? This zone acts as a buffer zone between the two countries. The zone is about 250 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide.

38. The northern part is known as the socialists Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the southern part is known as the capitalist Republic of Korea.

39. Between 1994 and 1998 a famine in North Korea resulted in the deaths of between 240,000 and 420,000 people.

40. North Korea is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel. They follow Songun (“military first”) policy.

41. The country has the fourth largest strength of active duty personal behind China, the United States, and India.

42. After Japan’s surrender in World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two zones. The northern part was occupied by the Soviet Union and the Southern part was occupied by the United States. The partition divided the country into approximately two halves and the capital of the Korean Peninsula fell under the American control. However, both the forces withdrew from northern and southern regions in 1948 and 1949 respectively.

43. Between 1950 and 1953, the region was under the effects of a war, which was predominantly started by North Korea when it invaded the south on June 25, 1950. The United States intervened and supported South Korea while China intervened and supported North Korea and the war came to a complete halt on 27 July 1953.

44. Malaysia and Singapore are the only two countries in the world that are allowed via free travel to North Korea. However, the visa-free stay is allowed up to a maximum of 30 days.

45. Sadly, malnutrition affects a shocking amount of children in North Korea. It is estimated that at least 28% of the kids fewer than 5 years of age have stunted growth.

46. One soldier that tried to defect North Korea was shot by his fellow soldiers five times as he made his escape. When he was rushed to the hospital, the surgeons made a shocking discovery when they revealed that he had white worms, some of which reached 11 inches long. It is estimated that it costs approximately $8,000 to defect from North Korea.

47. North Korea (120,538 square kilometers) is about the size of Pennsylvania (119,279 square kilometers).

48. According to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2017, North Korea is among the top ten most corrupt countries in the world.

49. According to the CIA, North Korea has a 100% literacy rate.

50. On December 17, 2011 – North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (the second Supreme Leader of North Korea) died at the age of 69.