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How ordinary people live in Korea. How the rich live in North Korea. A country in half: historical background

North Korean counters

The lives of ordinary Koreans in the DPRK are protected from outsiders as a military secret. Journalists can only look at her from a safe distance - through the glass of the bus. And breaking through this glass is an incredibly difficult task. You cannot go to the city on your own: only with a guide, only by agreement, but there is no agreement. It took five days to persuade the accompanying people to take a ride to the center.

Taxis go to the center. The drivers are incredibly happy to see passengers - almost no one uses their services at the hotel. It is impossible to order a taxi for a foreigner in the DPRK. They take us to a shopping center on Kwan Bo Avenue - something like New Arbat in Moscow. The store is special - there are two red signs above the entrance. Kim Jong Il was here twice and Kim Jong Un came here once. The shopping center resembles a typical Soviet Central Department Store: a three-story concrete cube with high windows.

Inside the atmosphere is like in the main department store of a small Russian city. There is a supermarket on the ground floor. There's a line at the cash register. There are a lot of people, maybe even an unnaturally large number. Everyone is actively filling large carts with groceries.

I study the prices: a kilo of pork 22,500 won, chicken 17,500 won, rice 6,700 won, vodka 4,900 won. If you remove a couple of zeros, then prices in North Korea are almost the same as in Russia, only vodka is cheaper. It’s a strange story with prices in the DPRK. The minimum wage for a worker is 1,500 won. And a pack of noodles instant cooking costs 6900 won.

How so? - I ask the translator.

He is silent for a long time.

Consider it like we simply forgot about two zeros. - after thinking, he answers.

Local money

And in terms of prices, the official life of the DPRK does not coexist with the real one. The won exchange rate for foreigners is 1 dollar - 100 won, and the real exchange rate is 8,900 won per dollar. An example can be illustrated on a bottle of North Korean energy drink - this is a non-carbonated ginseng decoction. In a hotel and in a store it costs completely different money.

Local residents look at store prices through the lens of denomination. That is, two zeros are subtracted from the price tag. Or rather, adding two zeros to your salary. With this approach, the situation with wages and prices will more or less normalize. And either noodles cost 69 won instead of 6900. Or the minimum wage for a worker is not 1,500, but 150,000 won, about 17 dollars. The question remains: who is buying food carts at the mall and using what? It looks like they are not workers and definitely not foreigners.

Foreigners in the DPRK do not use the local currency, the won. In the hotel, although prices are indicated in won, you can pay in dollars, euros or yuan. Moreover, there may be a situation where you pay in euros and receive change in Chinese money. North Korean money is banned. In souvenir shops you can buy old wons from 1990. Real won are hard to find, but not impossible.

They differ only in the aged Kim Il Sung.

However, from real money The DPRK is of little use to a foreigner - sellers simply will not accept them. And it is prohibited to take national money out of the country.

On the second floor of the shopping center they sell colorful dresses. On the third, parents lined up in a tight formation at the children's play corner. Kids ride down slides and play with balls. Parents film them on their phones. The phones are different, a couple of times quite expensive mobile phones from a well-known Chinese brand flash in my hands. And once I notice a phone that looks like a South Korean flagship. However, the DPRK knows how to surprise and mislead, and sometimes strange things happen - on an excursion to the red corner of a cosmetics factory, a modest guide suddenly flashes in his hands what seems to be the latest model of Apple phone. But if you take a closer look - no, it seemed like it was a Chinese device similar to it.

On the top floor there is a typical row of cafes for shopping centers: visitors eat burgers, potatoes, Chinese noodles, and drink Taedongan light draft beer - one type, no alternative. But they are not allowed to film it. Having enjoyed the abundance of people, we go out into the street.

Pyongyang in style

A new Lada is parked on the sidewalk, as if by chance. Domestic cars are rare for the DPRK. Is this a coincidence - or was the car parked here specifically for guests?

People are walking along the street: many pioneers and pensioners. Passers-by are not afraid of the video recording. A man and a woman, who appear to be 40 years old, are leading a little girl by the hands. They say they are walking with their daughter. Koreans get married late - no earlier than 25–30 years old.

A cyclist in black glasses and a khaki shirt rides by. Girls in long skirts pass by. Girls in the DPRK are prohibited from wearing miniskirts and revealing outfits. The streets of Pyongyang are guarded by "fashion patrols". Elderly ladies have the right to catch violating fashionistas and hand them over to the police. The only truly striking item in the wardrobe of Korean women is the sun umbrella. They can even be flamboyantly colorful.

Korean women love cosmetics. But mostly it's not makeup, but skin care products. As elsewhere in Asia, face whitening is in vogue here. Cosmetics are made in Pyongyang. And the state is closely monitoring her.

In the depths of Pyongyang's main cosmetics factory there is a secret rack. Hundreds of bottles and bottles: Italian eye shadows, Austrian shampoos, French creams and perfumes. The “banned product,” which cannot be bought in the country, is sent to the factory personally by Kim Jong-un. He demands that Korean cosmetologists and perfumers take cues from Western brands.

Men in Korea often wear gray, black and khaki. Bright outfits are rare. In general, the fashion is the same. There are no people who clearly oppose themselves to those around them. Even jeans are illegal, only trousers are black or gray. Shorts are also not allowed on the street. And a man with piercings, tattoos, painted or long hair impossible in the DPRK. Decorations interfere with building a bright future.

Other children

Another thing is North Korean children. Little residents of the DPRK are not like boring adults. They wear outfits of all colors of the rainbow. The girls have pink dresses. The boys are wearing ripped jeans. Or a T-shirt with not a portrait of Kim Jong Il, but an American Batman badge. The children look as if they have escaped from another world. They even talk about something else.

What do you like most about the DPRK? - I ask the kid with Batman on his jacket. And I'm waiting to hear the names of the leaders.

The boy looks at me shyly, but suddenly smiles.

Toys and walks! - he says somewhat confused.

Koreans explain why kids look so bright and adults look so bland. There are no serious demands placed on children. Before school age they can dress in whatever they want. But from the first grade, children are taught to live a proper life and explained how everything in the world works. Rules of behavior, way of thinking and adult dress code change their lives.

Street life

There is a stall near the shopping center. Koreans buy DVDs with films - they contain new releases from the DPRK. There is a story about partisans, a drama about an innovator in production, and a lyrical comedy about a girl who became a guide in the museum named after the great Kim Il Sung. DVD players are very popular in North Korea.

But flash drives with films banned by the party are an article. For example, the article covers South Korean TV series. Of course, ordinary Koreans find such films and watch them on the sly. But the state is struggling with this. And gradually transfers local computers to the North Korean analogue operating system Linux with its own code. This is so that third-party media cannot be played.

A nearby stall sells snacks.

These are the buns that workers buy during their breaks,” the saleswoman says joyfully and hands over a bag of cakes that resemble portions of shortbread cookies with jam.

“Everything is local,” she adds and shows the barcode on the package “86” – made in the DPRK. On the counter is “pesot” - popular homemade pies, shaped like khinkali, but with cabbage inside.

A tram arrives at the stop. A crowd of passengers surrounds him. Behind the stop there is a bike rental. In some ways it is similar to Moscow.

One minute - 20 won. You can rent a bike using this token,” a pretty girl in the window explains the conditions to me.

Having said this, she takes out a thick notebook. And hands it to my translator. He makes a note in his notebook. Apparently, this is a catalog for registering foreigners. A cyclist in black glasses and a khaki shirt stands by the side of the road. And I realize that this is the same cyclist who passed me more than an hour ago. He looks carefully in my direction.

It’s time for us to go to the hotel,” says the translator.

Internet and cellular communications

The Internet that is shown to foreigners reminds local network, which used to be popular in residential areas. It connected several blocks, and films and music were exchanged there. Koreans do not have access to the global Internet.

You can access the internal network from your smartphone - there is even a North Korean messenger. But there's nothing else in particular. However, cellular communications have only been available to residents of the country for ten years.

The DPRK's internal Internet is no place for fun. There are websites of government agencies, universities and organizations. All resources have been reviewed by the Ministry of State Security. The DPRK does not have its own bloggers or truth-tellers on the Internet.

Memes, social networks, swearing in the comments - these are alien concepts to the capitalist world. I toured different computer labs. Some run on Windows, some on Linux. But not a single computer can access the Internet. Although the browsers there are well-known, there is even a local DPRK browser. But search histories are not names of sites, but sets of IP addresses. Although there is an Internet for journalists: global, fast and insanely expensive.

Dog's dinner

Koreans eat dogs. South Koreans are a little ashamed of this. But in the north they are proud of it. In response to all the indignant remarks, they ask why eating a dog is worse than eating a beef cutlet, pork kebab or lamb soup. Goats, sheep and cows are also cute pets. Just like dogs.

For Koreans, dog meat is not only exotic, but also medicinal. According to tradition, it was eaten in the heat, in the midst of field work, “to expel heat from the body.” Here, apparently, the principle “knocks out fire with fire” works here: the hot and spicy dog ​​meat stew burned the body so much that relief followed and work became easier.

Koreans do not eat all dogs - and pets do not go under the knife. Although it was not possible to see the dog (with or without its owner) on the streets of Pyongyang. Dogs for the table are raised on special farms. And for foreigners it is served in the hotel cafe. They are not on the regular menu, but you can ask for them. The dish is called Tangogi. They bring dog broth, fried and spicy dog ​​meat, and a selection of sauces. All this must be mixed and eaten with rice. You can drink it with hot tea. However, Koreans often wash everything down with rice vodka.

The taste of the dog, if you try to describe the dish, is reminiscent of spicy and insipid lamb. The dish, to be honest, is incredibly spicy, but very tasty - may particularly scrupulous dog breeders forgive me.

Souvenir, magnet, poster

A souvenir from the DPRK is a strange combination in itself. It seems that it is impossible to bring sweet tourist delights from such a closed and regulated country. In fact it is possible, but not much. Firstly, ginseng fans will feel at ease in the DPRK. In the country they make everything from it: teas, vodka, medicines, cosmetics, seasonings.

For lovers alcoholic drinks don't go out too much. Strong alcohol - or specific alcohol, like rice vodka, which, according to people in the know, gives a strong hangover. Or exotic, like drinks with a snake or seal penis. Drinks like beer exist in two or three varieties and differ little from the average Russian samples. They don't produce grape wine in the DPRK; they do have plum wine.

There are catastrophically few types of magnets in the DPRK, or rather, one - with national flag. No other pictures - neither of leaders nor of landmarks - will decorate your refrigerator. But you can buy a figurine: “a monument to the ideas of Juche” or the flying horse Chollima (emphasis on the last syllable) - this is a North Korean Pegasus carrying the ideas of Juche. There are also stamps and postcards - there you can find images of leaders. Unfortunately, the famous Kim pins are not for sale. A badge with the national flag is the only loot of a foreigner. In general, that's all - the assortment is not large.

Exotic lovers can buy themselves a souvenir passport of the DPRK. This is certainly a nomination for the most original dual citizenship.

Bright tomorrow

It feels like North Korea is now on the verge of big changes. What they will be is unknown. But it seems that reluctantly, a little fearfully, the country is opening up. Rhetoric and attitudes towards the world around us are changing.

On the one hand, the DPRK authorities continue to build their inhabited island. A fortress-state, closed from all external forces. On the other hand, they are increasingly talking not about fighting to the bitter end and to the last soldier, but about the well-being of the people. And the people are drawn to this prosperity.

At the next cafe table three Koreans are sitting and drinking. They are wearing nondescript gray trousers. In plain polo shirts. Above everyone’s heart is a scarlet badge with leaders. And on the hand of the one who is closest is a gold Swiss watch. Not the most expensive - costing a couple of thousand euros.

But with the average salary in the DPRK, you will have to work for this accessory for a couple of lifetimes without days off. And only Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il live forever. However, the owner of the watch wears it calmly, perceiving it as something normal. For him, this is already a new, established reality of the Juche country.

Of course, in a society of demonstrative universal equality, there are always those who are significantly more equal. But it seems that the country faces a closed door to new world. The people of the DPRK have been frightened by this world for a long time, but in the near future they may have to open this door and face the new world face to face.

About a year ago we met Perm traveler Elnar Mansurov, who has been traveling to various parts of the world for several years. Now his notes have grown into a full-fledged travel project, mishka.travel. Today FURFUR publishes a report on a trip to North Korea, in which Elnar told how he went to the mausoleum of Kim Il Sung, met Korean girls and was almost mistaken for a spy.

We flew on the plane with Dennis Rodman, who, after staying with Kim Jong-un, decided to lead the DPRK basketball team. It’s kind of surreal: I’m flying on a new AN-124 to Pyongyang, the flight attendant brings a burger for lunch, and sitting not far from me is a big dark-skinned guy whom I remember from playing NBA on the Sega console.

Much that is written in the media about North Korea is not true. Even the information that comes to television and the leading media in Russia is greatly distorted. For example, according to some of them, on Independence Day, September 9, a military parade was held in Pyongyang, which was personally led by Kim Jong-un. In fact military equipment there were no people in the city that day, there are many holidays in this small country, and any military parade is a costly event, so on September 9 we had the labor army of the militia (this is something like an army in reserve) or the workers' and peasants' red guard of the DPRK. I felt like I was in the chronicles of a war film, as if I was seeing off North Korean soldiers to war. Hundreds of ZILs with people in uniform, girls with Kalashnikovs, nurses, a military band and one long black limousine with a portrait of the great leaders on the roof. Koreans cry, release balloons into the sky and throw artificial flowers to the militia. There are no real flowers in this country; at the airport we also saw how loved ones were greeted with artificial flowers.

In reports on visits to the DPRK you can read about the cult of personality, the ban on photography from bus windows and the complete absence of cars on the roads. Times change, most of the facts become myths, but the truth is that in Pyongyang we even stood in a small traffic jam. On the roads there are mainly Chinese-made cars, sometimes our UAZs and Prioras. In the villages you can find legendary trucks with a gas generator, they are heated with wood or coal. We met them several times on the way to Wonsan, but Koreans react quite jealously when you start photographing them.

Phones are no longer confiscated upon entry - on the contrary, you can buy a SIM card from a local operator and call home, although it is cheaper to call from a hotel.

It is still forbidden to photograph military personnel, military installations, working people, as well as those places that the guide will tell you about (for example, inside a mausoleum or some museum). You can take pictures of ordinary people, but the guides ask you not to scare the North Koreans, but to ask permission to photograph them. I travel all over the world with a bear head, but I was forbidden to take photographs with it against the backdrop of the monument to two leaders. It is also prohibited to remove sculptures that imitate leaders or cut off parts of the bodies in the photo. They may be asked to be removed. We still managed to secretly take photographs of the bear’s head.

In the DPRK there is extreme collectivism and snitching, the system of denunciations works smoothly. Therefore, even if you run away from the hotel from the supervision of your guide, ordinary townspeople will immediately turn you in. Near the restaurant after lunch I went to tram stop, tried to meet the locals, communicate; the first thing they did was run away. And the next day the guide asked: “Elnar, why did you try to communicate with the Koreans? Realize that they rarely see tourists.” That is, information about this was already reported to her, and they had a friendly explanatory conversation with me.

It is still forbidden to photograph military personnel, military installations, working people,
as well as those places that the guide will tell you about (for example,
inside the mausoleum or
some museum).




Our bus driver was proud that in 25 years he had not been involved in a single accident. Probably because in the last 25 years there have been practically no cars on the roads, and the roads themselves are six- or eight-lane “concrete”. Nowadays you can see taxis on the streets of Pyongyang, and private riders on motorcycles are also starting to appear. It is quite possible that in ten years Pyongyang will not be a half-empty city, but will become an ordinary Asian noisy metropolis with all the exhaust fumes and motorcycle taxi drivers shouting and arguing with each other over the next client.

For me, the whole trip was a solid spy movie. And I must say, I was not disappointed. I sometimes record travel notes in the voice recorder on my phone, but once the guide, after our conversation with her, saw the microphone icon on the phone and suspected me of recording all our conversations. I expected that the special services would be of particular interest to me when leaving the country, so I hid the memory cards with photographs. But it worked out.

But Igor, a representative of the then unknown Ukrainian party “Udar,” was less fortunate. He loved to joke about signs and slogans, jokingly translating them in his own way; the Koreans did not appreciate the humor and suspected him of knowing the Korean language. During a visit to the mausoleum, security officers caught Igor and interrogated him about “the real purpose of his visit to the DPRK.”

We were fascinated by one Korean girl, her name was Un Ha, she was a trainee guide in another tourist group. We asked our guide to organize a date with my single friend, jokes aside, but we managed to pull off the meeting. True, there were four of us on a date: in addition to the two of them, there were me and our guide. On another it is impossible. A friend took some French wine (I think you can imagine how much it costs in a closed country), I took a beer to enjoy watching what was happening. The Korean women drank only water, embarrassment grew, we discussed common topics about whether they are on the Internet, whether they are going to visit Russia again, whether they come across harmful tourists from our country. It looked like everything was like a pioneer camp and getting to know another detachment. After 20 minutes of boring monotonous conversation, our guide felt ill and went to her room, followed immediately by Un Ha.

That evening we invited our guide Dzo, who in his age most resembled a representative of the special services, to celebrate our departure, since our guide, Comrade Pak, was, by all accounts, really a guide, which was confirmed by her appearance in other reports. Our third guide, trainee Kim, was very young, his knowledge of the language was noticeably worse, so Dzo (we called him Jo or Tsoi) in our eyes was from the authorities. That evening our “spy games” continued. After we decided that we were all brothers and went to our room for whiskey, the fun began. It is believed that every hotel room is bugged, Zou turned up the volume on the TV to communicate with us frankly. He asked who was “good” and who was “bad” in our group, and said that Igor was clearly there for a reason. They talked about banned books, about the real state of affairs in Russia, and not about what their propaganda says. We exchanged banknotes with him as souvenirs, which, as it later turned out, had gone out of circulation.

We were fascinated by one Korean girl, her name was Un Ha, she was a trainee guide in another tourist group. We asked our guide to arrange a date with my single friend.


Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption Are North Koreans really that happy?

We have little idea how the residents of the DPRK themselves perceive the current escalation of the situation around North Korea, since the Kim Jong-un regime tightly controls all information entering the country.

Western media often write about North Korea as a country completely isolated from the outside world and living in the last century.

There are very few statistics available and they are often based on extrapolations. But what can they tell us about life in the north of the Korean Peninsula? How does this life compare to its southern neighbor North Korea?

Kim Il Sung became the first leader of North Korea in 1948, founding the Kim dynasty, and his descendants have ruled the country ever since.

During the same historical period, South Korea saw six republics, a revolution, a couple of military coups, and a transition to free, democratic elections. In total, the country has had 12 presidents.

3 million mobile phones in the DPRK - it would seem a considerable figure, but for a country with a population of 25 million people, this means that, at best, owners of mobile phones here are slightly more than 10 percent of the population. Most of them live in Pyongyang.

In South Korea, where the population exceeds 51 million, there are more mobile phones than people.

Until recently, there was a mobile communications company called Koryolink in the DPRK. It's a small company, but it continues to grow. It was originally created in collaboration with the Egyptian company Orascom and for many years was the only one in the North Korean mobile market.

However, in 2015, Orascom discovered that another mobile network called Byol was being created in the DPRK. The Egyptian company was forced to admit to investors that it had almost lost control over the company's three million subscribers.

There are reasons to be skeptical about the stated number of subscribers. It turns out that many North Koreans believe that it is cheaper for them to buy a new subscription than to pay for additional minutes on the phone.

In addition, access to the Internet in the country remains limited - phone owners can only connect to a closed intranet-type network, which has no external access to the global network.

In 2016, it was reported that there were only 28 registered domain names in the DPRK.

There is evidence that men in the DPRK are on average shorter than in South Korea.

Professor Daniel Schwekendieck of Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul studied height data on male North Korean defectors and found that the difference in height was 3-8 cm.

Schweckendieck points out that this difference cannot be explained by genetic reasons, since the population of both countries is the same ethnic group.

He also disagrees with those who argue that defectors must be low-income and therefore short.

Malnutrition is considered the main reason for such a sharp difference in the physical appearance of Koreans in the north and south of the peninsula.

Photos of the North Korean capital Pyongyang show empty, wide avenues and clean streets without cars. The reality looks a little different.

In the DPRK, the total length highways is 25 thousand 554 km according to 2006 data, but only 3% of them are paved, that is, only 724 km.

According to other estimates, there are only 11 car owners per thousand in the DPRK, which means that the majority of the country's residents use buses and other types of public transport.

North Korea mainly exports hard coal, but the volume of this export remains a state secret and can only be judged from the data of the countries purchasing this coal.

Most North Korean coal was exported to China, which officially stopped purchasing in February 2017. However, there are experts who question this fact.

"There are people who are tracking the arrival of ships from North Korea at coal terminals in China even after the import ban. I believe that the ban exists, but it is not fully implemented," says Kent Boydston, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Illustration copyright Getty Images Image caption Public transport poorly developed in North Korea

Until 1973, the economies of North and South Korea were approximately at the same level in terms of GDP.

Since then, the Republic of Korea has rushed forward, becoming one of the leading countries in the world with developed industry. Companies like Samsung or Hyundai have become famous all over the world.

In the 1980s, the DPRK economy stopped growing, no reforms were carried out there, and the country is dominated by a Stalinist-type state monopoly.

North Korea ranks 52nd in the world in terms of population, but the size of its armed forces puts it in fourth place.

Military spending accounts for up to 25% of GDP, and almost all men receive some form of military training.

Crop failures and famines that have repeatedly struck the country since the late 1990s have led to a sharp decline in life expectancy in the DPRK, but even without taking this factor into account, North Korea lags behind the South by 12 years.

There remains an acute shortage of food in the DPRK; South Koreans live noticeably longer, partly because they eat better.

South Korea's birth rate fell to a record low in 2017, despite government efforts to boost it.

South Korean authorities have already spent about $70 billion on paying bonuses for the birth of a child, increasing the period of maternity and parental leave for newborn children, as well as paying for infertility treatment.

Journalist Roman Super managed to meet and talk frankly with an old man who was able to escape from Pyongyang to South Korea fourteen years ago. Not everyone is able to learn about the reality of life and everyday life of ordinary North Koreans. For example, only one Russian journalist succeeded in this, not counting Roman.

North Korean defectors, for fear of being identified by the DPRK authorities, are in no hurry to communicate with journalists. And the stories of those defectors who agree to be interviewed by Western media, as a rule, resemble propaganda tales, says the author himself. It took four whole years to find a refugee who could talk openly about the most closed country in the world.

"Survivor"

Jon Hyun Moo (not his real name) is now 60 years old and lives in Seoul. In 2003, he miraculously managed to escape from the DPRK to neighboring South Korea. The man was born in the capital Pyongyang into a middle-income family. His parents are the most ordinary people, not belonging to the elite or having high ranks. My mother worked for the North Korean Women's Association for thirty years. My father worked at an art academy, then changed two more educational institutions. According to the hero's story, the family lived modestly, without excesses. Like everyone else, they did not have the right to private property.


John agreed to the interview on the condition that he would not be filmed or photographed.
Photo: author of the article

“In the nineties, the situation began to change: four categories of people appeared who were allowed to own a personal car: Japanese Koreans who returned to their homeland, diplomatic service employees, i.e., who received a car as a gift from the country’s leadership, and children of high-ranking officials.”

Residents of the capital could enjoy the benefits of civilization: a refrigerator, TV and other simple household appliances. Until the nineties, the old man says, there could be no transactions involving the purchase, sale or exchange of housing. This was strictly prohibited by the party. However, in the 90s, something like a black real estate market began to take shape. The state knew about this, sometimes punishing market participants in an exemplary manner. But the market was just developing. Under Kim Jong Il, the sale and purchase of apartments outside of Pyongyang became quite common, the hero shares his memories. In the mid-nineties, problems with power outages began. At first they started turning it off for an hour. Then for four hours. Then it could be dark for half a day. There are still regular interruptions.


Photo: kchetverg.ru

Who was it better with?

The journalist’s questions also touched on political trends related to the Soviet Union. For example, are terms like “thaw” or “freeze” appropriate in the DPRK?

“Such phenomena were also observed in North Korea. We all felt it. I remember life under the young Kim Il Sung. It was a very tough regime. As Kim Il Sung grew older, around sixty, he began to mellow. It's not obvious, but it showed up. But these changes cannot be compared with Russia anyway. In the DPRK, the pattern of changes is completely different: there is no clear division between thaw and frost.”

John Hyun Moo explains this by the fact that the political line of the party always changed with the coming to power of the next leader. For example, during the reign of the already aged Kim Il Sung, the country seemed to experience a weakening. However, as soon as Kim Jong Il came to power, such trends immediately disappeared, if not to say that it became even tougher than it was.

“Older North Koreans say that things were better under Kim Il Sung, that there were no such terrible repressions. I don’t think so myself. During the harsh period of Kim Il Sung's rule, I was a child and did not experience repression myself. But I remember my surroundings, my parents’ friends, people I know, many of whom suffered. Of the sixty-three people who studied with me at school, only thirteen remain.”

The hero does not see much difference in the regime of government of the two leaders. After all, you cannot compare the number of missing or liquidated people. At the same time, John cites a parallel between the USSR and the DPRK.

“Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were ten times harsher than Stalin”

Party member with a fig in his pocket

After university, John got a job as a cook in a hotel. Then, after three years of military service, he was able to become a party member. His party affiliation helped him get a job at the same hotel, but no longer as a cook, but as a manager. Talking to foreign guests was strictly prohibited. And in general, it is legally prohibited to communicate with the outside world, to find out about what is happening outside the country. You can't even listen to the radio without state permission. Otherwise, prison.


Photo: tourweek.ru

However, closer to the 2000s, a lot of contraband from China appeared: disks with films, USB cards with South Korean TV series. It was a real underground cultural revolution.

“After being shown the same show for decades, cinema from Seoul is a treat”

Next, John begins to talk about the huge gap between rich and poor in the DPRK. Such a spread exists in many countries of the world, but unlike them in North Korea, the rich are only one percent of the total population. Despite the fact that a huge number of the population understand this injustice, arguing this with memories of the nineties: there was a terrible famine in the country, but now it is not, so now it has become better!

Card system

According to the stories of John Hyun Mu, there used to be two types of cards: grocery cards, which were used to purchase food, and those that could be used to get clothes. Each citizen had his own standards. The workers have seven hundred grams of rice, the students have three hundred grams. According to everyone's needs. The problem was that the standards were not followed. In Pyongyang they monitored this and gave people food as needed. In the provinces they gave less than they should have. The cards provided only basic products: soybean paste, rice, sugar. And what was not included in the obligatory basket could be bought for money. But there was some minimal diversity only in Pyongyang.


Photo: repin.info

Clothes were rarely issued; for example, a set of underwear and socks could be obtained at a time for the whole family. Once a quarter. Shoes are rarer. They also gave out fabric. Everything was strictly recorded: such and such a person took so many panties, so many meters of fabric in such and such a period. In the eighties, clothes were regularly issued. In the nineties there were big interruptions in distribution, says the hero.

Private entrepreneurship began when the country began to run out of food and basic necessities. People turned to business solely out of urgent need, so as not to die of hunger, and not out of love for private enterprise. In the nineties, when famine was raging, this was already flourishing.

“I would even say that in the nineties, North Korean citizens were greater capitalists than southerners. Only in the DPRK the party did not recognize this. North Korea introduced a private business system modeled on the USSR. Everyone is trying to sell something if possible, but this is not official. The currency was banned, but it definitely exists on the black market. In 2002, when the Kaesong Industrial Complex opened, the Party recognized that a new business system had emerged in North Korea."

All businessmen in North Korea are counted by the state, everyone knows everything about everyone. In the DPRK, the authorities have a clear rule: if a person, in the opinion of the state, begins to earn too much, then this businessman will sooner or later go to prison.. Because, according to the logic of the state, a person cannot honestly earn a lot of money. This logic is sufficient grounds for a prison sentence. Or elimination.

John himself at one time sold used bicycles and used clothing. He managed to earn colossal sums: $87,000 and another 1,300,000 Japanese yen, with an average monthly salary of several dollars.

Everything would be fine, but I want to live

With such income, John had no idea of ​​fleeing the country where everything was going so well for him. But after a series of disappearances, and subsequently the murders of his companions, the businessman decided to flee.


Photo: newsader.com

Realizing that escaping with the whole family (his wife and two children) would mean outright death, he decided to fake his own death. He made false documents that he died in a car accident. This is the only safe option for them. If they had known that I was alive and had escaped, and had not told the authorities, they could have been severely punished. He never communicated with his family again.

“I will be able to see my family if only the North Korean regime collapses. I think it will collapse. But this may take a long time. Most likely, I won’t live, so I won’t see my family.”

Escape from homeland

Pretending that he was on his way to pick up another shipment of goods, he went to China. It took John 4 months to buy a fake South Korean passport. Or rather, special people carefully pasted his photograph into someone else’s real passport. Having confessed to the South Korean embassy about his flight, he ended up in the Philippines. This is a common practice; defectors are almost always sent to South Korea through some other country, not directly. In the Philippines, he spent two hours at the airport just to catch a plane to Seoul.

What followed was a series of checks by the South Koreans to determine whether he was a spy and whether he was really a refugee. After that, he was sent to a retraining college, where he was taught to adapt to life in South Korea. To do this, first of all, you need to free yourself from previous ideological attitudes. It is difficult for people who have lived their entire lives in a socialist society to adapt to a capitalist mode of existence. This adaptation is a very difficult thing. In all senses. Life is very different.

“The North, at the party level, tells you all your life clearly what you should do, and you don’t make any decisions. The South forces you to make all decisions yourself. At first, this is incredibly difficult to understand, accept and apply to life.”

New life


Photo: arhinovosti.ru

In Seoul, John tried to make jewelry, then got a job at a radio station in the department where they prepare programs for the DPRK. However, he is not sure that even in 2016 this radio can still be heard.

There are two reasons when defectors return to the DPRK: The first reason is family. People get in touch with their loved ones, this is revealed very quickly, the family begins to receive real threats, then refugees return to soften the government’s blow to their relatives. The second reason is the problems of northerners with the law in South Korea. Upon return, some are released, some are imprisoned, some are liquidated.

When asked what surprised John most in South Korea, he says that in North Korea all his life they were told that South Korea is completely under the control of the Americans. In geography lessons at school they said that there are mountains only in North Korea, but not in South Korea. I heard that the Internet exists, but I have never even used a computer. Now he has his own email and social networks, but he uses them very carefully, fearing that his wife and two children might get hurt.

“If the party finds out that I am alive, and even in South Korea, my relatives will have big problems. While I am "dead", they are alive. This is what I think about every day."

Dissidents

“In Pyongyang, dissident movements are simply impossible. The South, despite its harsh authoritarian past, has long been able to afford a court, could count on the attention of the world community, and could ensure the basic rights of citizens with the help of institutions. Southerners did not send people to concentration camps without trial on such a large scale. Southerners did not kill people because of the sick suspiciousness of the authorities.”

According to the former northerner, a coup from within is impossible. Now North Korea has its third leader. And all this time, people's dissatisfaction has been accumulating. They accumulate, accumulate, accumulate, but this “gas” does not come out. He is afraid that this gas will only come out when someone outside holds a lit match, war for example. Then change will be inevitable, John believes.

“People will not fight even for the divine Kim Il Sung. It’s one thing to silently go with the flow in a situation where it’s scary to speak. Another thing is to fight. Nobody will fight. But by taking advantage of the military situation, discontent will come out. Words will begin to come out.”


Photo: kchetverg.ru

As for the crowds of people crying in the square after the death of Kim Jong Il, John says that they were different people. There were also tears of careerists who tried to curry favor in this way. And those who are simply pathologically afraid of not showing loyalty.

“I’ll tell you how the North Korean government brings up these tears and flowers. The first word a child says out loud in the DPRK is “mama.” The second word is a word of praise for Kim Il Sung. This propaganda literally comes to a person with mother’s milk and accompanies him throughout his life. This is religion. In religious families, children are raised in a specific tradition. In North Korea this religious tradition called Juche."

John himself does not miss his homeland at all. Even after 14 years of living in South Korea, Juche continues to haunt him in nightmares.

When asked if he knows about Russia, John says that it doesn’t bother him much. He thinks more about China, because, in his opinion, this is the only country that can really influence North Korea.

“Moscow has no serious ties with Pyongyang. Moscow cooperates much more with Seoul"

Talking about refugees

As the hero says, about 30 thousand refugees from the DPRK live in South Korea. Basically they “huddle” and stay together. But all people are different. Anyone who lived well in North Korea lives well in South Korea. Those who lived poorly in North Korea still live poorly now. The social system, the system, is very important. But a person’s internal problems are more important, John shares his observations.

Nine out of ten are fleeing the country from poverty in search of a better life.


Modern Pyongyang
Photo: Reuters

Workers who live without breaking laws and do their jobs well receive up to 1 thousand grams of rice, meat and eggs in return. They constantly report on TV that residents of other countries do not have all this and live much worse. It is beyond the power of an ordinary person to check this, since only trusted individuals are allowed to communicate with foreigners.

Life in North Korea is about complete obedience. If a person keeps a radio in his house, listens to the music of foreign performers, or watches foreign TV channels (although this is practically impossible), he will be sent to hard labor or prison. The situation is worsened by the fact that repression is imposed not only on the offender, but also on his entire family. And the whole family ends up on the so-called black list. This is fraught with the fact that no one will be accepted into the university, there will be no work, and entry into the capital is also prohibited. For particularly serious crimes, a person is publicly executed.

There is one huge advantage to such laws: there is virtually no crime. The nation is growing healthy and strong, because from childhood everyone attends classes, is regularly examined by doctors and does not eat much. No woman has the right to pick up a cigarette.

North Korea's birth rate exceeds South Korea's. But these numbers will soon become equal, as the country’s government is pursuing a policy to reduce the number of children in families.

Decrease in life expectancy

As strange as it may sound, even though Koreans often do not have bad habits, their life expectancy is decreasing. Now he is 66 years old. This figure is constantly falling due to the fact that women and children suffer from the general situation in the country.

An expert on US international affairs said that the amount of food allocated per person is not enough to restore vital energy. Therefore, life expectancy in North Korea, especially for ordinary workers, is only falling.

The problem with this system is that some areas of the country simply do not receive it. This is due to the fact that the state has a basic rule - to notify the government of your intentions to visit any area.

The impact of the Korean War on the country's economic development

The war, or police operation, was carried out from 1950 to 1953. This confrontation is also called the “Forgotten War”, since it was not mentioned in official publications for a long time.

In fact, this conflict was fueled by poor relations between the United States and its allies and China. The Northern Coalition consisted of the DPRK, the army) and the USSR. The latter two countries did not officially participate in the war, but actively supplied weapons and finance. The Southern Coalition consisted of the Republic of Korea, England and the United States of America. In addition to the listed countries, the UN was also on the side of the South.

The cause of the war was the desire of the president of both North and South Korea to unite the peninsula under his leadership. This belligerent mood radically changed life in North Korea; photographs from those times are indisputable evidence. All men were liable for military service and were required to serve more than 10 years.

During preparations for the confrontation, the government of the Soviet Union feared the outbreak of the Third World War, which was their reason for not fulfilling some requests from North Korea. However, this did not affect the supply of weapons and military personnel. The DPRK gradually increased the power of its army.

The war began with the occupation of Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea. It ended with India making a proposal to create a peace treaty. But since the South refused to sign the document, Clark, a UN general, became its representative. A demilitarized zone was created. But interesting fact What remains is that the agreement to end the war has not yet been signed.

Foreign policy

The DPRK is very aggressive, but at the same time reasonable. Political scientists in other countries suspect that the leader of the state has experts who are able to suggest the right decisions and predict the consequences in a given situation. It is worth noting that North Korea is a nuclear state. On the one hand, this forces hostile countries to take it into account, on the other hand, maintaining such weapons is quite expensive; many European countries have long abandoned them.

Relations with developed countries and their influence on the economic development of North Korea

  • Russia. After it broke up Soviet Union, relations with the Russian Federation have almost died out. Only during the reign of Vladimir Putin were cooperation agreements signed in many areas. In addition, in 2014, all debts of the north to the Russian Federation were written off. In some ways, this did little to make life easier for the North Koreans.

  • USA. Relations with the United States are still quite tense. America to this day stands on the side of South Korea and supports it in every possible way, which helps the economy develop significantly. The same cannot be said about the northern part of the state. US representatives portray North Korea as an aggressor and often accuse them of provoking their southern neighbor and Japan. Some serious publications conducted investigations and wrote that the northern government was trying to kill the president of South Korea, shooting down planes, sinking airliners. This American attitude is not conducive economic development country, and this does not improve life in North Korea for ordinary people.
  • Japan. Relations with this country are completely severed and could escalate into a full-fledged war at any time. Each state imposed sanctions on each other after the Korean War. And the DPRK openly stated in 2009 that if Japanese planes flew into Korean territory, lethal fire would be opened.
  • South Korea. Due to strained relations and desires to unite the peninsula, kidnappings, murders and attacks occur regularly. Shootings are often heard on the outskirts of countries, and they are also recorded on the land border. Several years ago, North Korea announced its decision to launch a nuclear attack against Seoul. However, this event was prevented. This is one of the main reasons why life in North Korea is dangerous and leads to the fact that young people, at the first opportunity, try to leave for permanent residence in other countries.

Military life of men

In 2006, there were more than 1 million people in the army of the Democratic People's Republic. There were over 7,500,000 in reserve, and 6,500,000 people were members of the Red Guard. About 200,000 more work as security guards at military installations and in other similar positions. And this despite the fact that the country's population is no more than 23 million.

The contract with the ground military is for 5-12 years. A man has the right to choose where to serve: in the army, division, corps or brigade.

Service time in the Navy is slightly shorter, ranging from 5 to 10 years. Thanks to the fact that the government spares no expense in developing its army, people are fully equipped with the necessary equipment, weapons and protective suits.

Unlike other countries, the state in question is investing in intelligence development, which significantly worsens the lives of people in North Korea.

Most of the military is concentrated in the area of ​​the demilitarized zone. The People's Army has at its disposal more than 3 thousand main and 500 light tanks, 2 thousand armored personnel carriers, 3 thousand artillery barrels, 7 thousand mortars; The ground forces also have approximately 11 thousand anti-aircraft installations. Such uniforms require a large investment Money, which could bring the country out of stagnation.

Life in North Korea (feedback from ordinary people confirms this) due to such a bellicose attitude does not make progress, or rather, it simply stands still. The indigenous people don’t even know that it is possible to exist in any other way. It’s not for nothing that the country’s rulers came up with a slogan, the essence of which is not to envy anyone and live only on your own. This policy helps in some way to maintain control over the common population.

What is life like in North Korea? Reviews from foreigners

Unfortunately, all people living in the country are prohibited from talking about how hard their lives are. However, tourists who have visited North Korea willingly share all their memories and impressions.

According to reviews from travelers, entry into the country is carried out only with the help of travel agencies. All the time, a person or group of people is under surveillance and moves around the city or region only with a guide. Radios, telephones, and any other gadgets are not allowed to be imported. This goes against the government's beliefs. You can only take photographs of what is permitted by the guide. In case of disobedience, the person is added to the blacklist and is prohibited from entering North Korea.

It is immediately clear to the naked eye that people live an average life. Poorly dressed, empty roads. Cars appear very rarely, which is why many children play on the roadway.

There are a lot of soldiers on the streets, who are also forbidden to photograph, especially if they are resting.

People travel on foot or on bicycles. Tourists are given free rides near the hotel. By the way, the corridors in the building resemble horror films. There have been no renovations for a long time, people appear here extremely rarely. In addition to bicycles, residents use bulls.

Both women and children work in the fields. Abandoned areas located on military bases are rich in small decoys that look like tanks.

Some buildings have escalators, which have only recently appeared. People are not yet used to them and have little understanding of how to use them.

Electricity in houses is provided for several hours. Trees and small monuments are whitewashed not with a brush, but with hands.

In the spring, people eat ordinary grass added to dishes, which can be quickly and unnoticeably picked from a neighboring lawn.

Economic spheres

The DPRK's economy is not well developed. Due to the fact that since 1960 the country became closed and stopped publishing production statistics, all conclusions are given independent experts, they cannot be 100% reliable.

  • Industry. North Korea (the everyday life of citizens depends on the level of development of the state in this area) is moving well in the direction of mining. In addition, there are oil refining plants on the territory.
  • Mechanical engineering. The country produces machines that Russian Federation imports. However, the models are not modern; they were produced in the USSR several decades ago. Cars, SUVs, and trucks are produced here.
  • Electronic sphere. After the DPRK imported several million more smartphones and ordinary cell phones in 2014 than in 2013, everyday life things have gotten better in North Korea. Over the past 5-7 years, companies have produced tablets, several smartphones and a special computer for working in factories.
  • Agriculture. Due to the fact that the country lacks fertile land, Agriculture poorly developed. A large area of ​​the country is occupied by mountains. The main crops planted are rice, soybeans, potatoes and corn. Unfortunately, few greens and vegetables are grown there that can be eaten raw. And this leads to deterioration in health and, as a result, reduces the life expectancy of ordinary Koreans. Livestock farming is dominated by poultry and pig farming. Due to the poor development of the country, the crops are harvested by hand.

Comparison of living standards of people in North and South Korea

The most closed country is North Korea. Life for ordinary people here is not the best. You can only get around the city by bicycle. Cars are an unprecedented luxury that an ordinary worker can hardly afford.

Anyone wishing to enter the capital must first obtain a pass. However, it's worth it. There are picturesque places, various monuments and monuments, and even the only metro in the whole country. Outside the city you can hitch a ride. Military personnel must always be given a ride - this is the law.

All residents of the DPRK must wear badges with state leaders. Also, citizens who have reached working age must get a job. But since there is often simply not enough space, local authorities come up with new activities, such as baling hay sheaves or cutting up old trees. Those who have retired also need to do something. As a rule, parties are allocated a small plot of land, which the elderly undertake to look after.

Everyone has long known that North Korea, where the life of ordinary people sometimes turns into hell, has cruel laws and follows in the footsteps of fierce communism. However, there is something with which this country attracts and beckons. These are parks, nature reserves and simply very beautiful places that you can admire endlessly. What is “Dragon Mountain” worth, which is located 30 minutes drive from Pyongyang.

Life for women in North Korea is very difficult. Mostly men are involved in the army, they have practically no benefit for the family, so the weaker sex became more active and was able to prove that they could live in such conditions. Nowadays, women are the main breadwinners. They are the ones who work around the clock due to the somewhat inadequate laws of the DPRK, aimed only at protecting the state. If we compare modern life with any historical era, then we can say with confidence that Korea is living in 1950. The photo below is proof of this.

South Korea is a country of cinema, music, prosperity. The country's main problem is alcoholism. The state ranks 7th in the world in terms of drunkenness, but this does not prevent it from advancing, expanding its sphere of influence and becoming a powerful power. The Government of the Republic conducts its foreign policy in such a way that it has a good relationship with many European countries.

The people living in the country are kind, helpful, they always bow and smile at passersby. And this trait is especially evident in the service sector: in cafes, restaurants, cinemas. The buyer, or rather the person who pays the money, is treated like God. Under no circumstances should he wait long for his turn. Due to such rules, service in this country is distinguished by quality and speed.

Education is what makes South Korea different. He she top level. Poor academic performance, which entails failure at university, means expulsion from society.

The army is not as well developed as in the north, but everyone is required to serve here - from workers to pop stars. The consequences that await after attempts to evade service are reminded of the constantly flying North Korean planes in the sky. Men are drafted closer to the age of 30. As a rule, Koreans get married very late, often after demobilization.

Their apartments look sparse. Only those who work tirelessly can afford houses. The citizens themselves laugh at the apartments and other housing that is shown on TV and published in magazines, saying that this is just a fantasy.

North and South Korea, whose living standards vary greatly, unfortunately, do not even think about uniting with the world. Some kind of conflicts and risks of renewed war constantly arise, which greatly impacts ordinary citizens of the north and forces them to migrate to other countries.