by Daniel Tudor
This leads to the justification of the possession of nuclear weapons. The North Korean government doesn’t teach its people about the negative side of the nuclear program. So, ordinary North Koreans have no way of finding out how dangerous nuclear weapons can be.
I’d like my readers to keep in mind that this is purely my opinion and experience from my time in North Korea. But from what I’ve seen, North Koreans are in favor of their government’s nuclear program for one reason: It will prevent a return to the time when Koreans had to suffer under the U.S. military or Japanese imperialism.
Are North Koreans allowed to use the Internet? And can they communicate with the outside world?
DT: For a time, certain embassies in Pyongyang would leave their WiFi open so that passers-by could get online. The government put a stop to it, as they simply do not want their citizens to have free access to information. Internet access is strictly controlled, and despite persistent rumours of liberalization, no concrete reform has yet taken place. It is common for North Korean organizations to have one email address, which will be checked by one designated senior person. If you want to get in touch with someone by email, it may take months to receive a reply.
Je Son Lee:
Internet use is quite limited in North Korea. At least in my hometown, where I was born and raised, people didn’t know what the Internet was. The Internet does, in fact, exist in North Korea, but not everyone has access to it.
In other countries, anyone can send an e-mail by a simple click. Until 2008, all you could do using the Internet in North Korea was log onto the library website of universities, such as North Korea’s prestigious Kim Il Sung University. Still, being able to sit in a chair and view documents from Pyongyang online was a sensational experience.
What the North Korean government is most afraid of is the gathering of like-minded people who have the same opinions on social issues. That’s because they never know when the people might decide to instigate an uprising. To prevent disorder, there are laws in North Korea against three or more people gathering together; of course, this law, like others in North Korea, isn’t always enforced. Still, it is true that North Korea won’t approve any kind of gathering of people not initiated by the government.
But still, the government allowed the people to connect with each other on mobile phones within the domestic network. I think it did so for the following reasons: First, they were still able to block communication with people from outside North Korea on the phone network. Second, although it has become easier for North Korean people to share their opinions by messaging each other, at least for now most people hold similar beliefs and opinions on many issues.
North Korea did its people a big favor by allowing them to own mobile phones and connect with each other within the domestic network. But the risk they were taking was not that great. One thing is certain: The government will keep an eye on its people.
However, there are other forms of media through which North Korean people can see the outside world: radio transmitted from South Korea; Chinese TV channels; DVDs (smuggled from the outside world, South Korean and American in particular); and magazines. Of course, all of these make their way into North Korea via China. Hallyu (the spread of South Korean pop culture) in North Korea and North Koreans’ love of imported goods have grown, well beyond what the outside world thinks. Thanks to all of this, authoritarianism in North Korea is gradually being eroded day by day.
This has also had an impact on colloquial language in North Korea. North Koreans have begun to copy South Korean accents and adopt more foreign words. For instance, there’s a story that goes, one day, a phone rang in a North Korean house. The father of the household picked up the receiver and said, “Hello?” The next thing he said is, “Son, you have someone calling you from Seoul.”
Do you understand what happened here? It was a female classmate of his son who was calling up and spoke with a South Korean accent. Of course, there’s no way to confirm whether it really happened. But a story like this is an indication of how popular Hallyu is among the younger generation of North Koreans.
There is another example I can give you, and this I can confirm really is happening in North Korea. In North Korea, the word for bathroom is uisaengsil, while in South Korea it is hwajangsil. Young people in North Korea use the South Korean word to refer to the bathroom these days. This example shows how North Korean society is going through cultural change more rapidly than the outside world might think. North Korea is transforming so rapidly every day. I think it is unfortunate that people in the outside world are unaware of this.
It seems that people outside North Korea still picture the same country that went through the Great Famine of the 1990s. This makes it harder for people to understand North Korea properly. If you’d really like to know about North Korea, break away from the stereotypes you’ve created inside your head. That’s the first step to understanding North Korea.
Footnote
* The currency revaluation she mentions was the 2009 decision to lop two zeroes off the North Korean Won, with citizens given just seven days to change a maximum of 150,000 Won in cash. The real value of that amount was just US$30, meaning that anyone holding more than that lost the remainder. The revaluation functioned as a cash grab against the emerging trading class, who held lots of Won in cash. Today, traders understandably use Chinese Yuan or other foreign currencies instead.
PART 4
Pyongyang vs. the Rest
[Introduction]
Kim Jong Il himself used to say that as long as he could control Pyongyang, his position would be safe. Pyongyang is the regime’s fortress, and as such, only those who the government wants there can stay there. Over the years, Kim Jong Il moved hundreds of thousands of people he considered to be from “disloyal” classes out to remote provinces like North Hamgyeong, and brought those he liked better into the capital to replace them.
There is something like a “border” around Pyongyang. I’ve seen it with my own eyes—road signs tell you you’re about to enter, but there are also three diagonal red lines through the word “Pyongyang” itself. This means you can’t come in unless you have a permit. If you’re caught in the capital without one, you can get into serious trouble.
You can also, of course, pay a bribe. The figure I heard for entrance to Pyongyang was US$30–50, though this may have changed. Some say this is more expensive than the bribe required to actually leave the country and cross into China!
Why is this? Anyone who has seen both Pyongyang and any other North Korean city will know the answer. Pyongyang isn’t rich—there are still many poor people living there, and overall, it may compare to a third-tier Chinese city—but relatively, it is better off than anywhere else. Pyongyang also has status, as the capital city and as a center of culture and opportunity.
So Pyongyangites are the luckier ones, but what of other North Koreans? Read on, and you’ll see that there are major differences between the different regions in terms of lifestyle, way of thinking and worldliness.
What is life like in the countryside?
DT: North Korea is obviously changing. But that change is not evenly distributed. Those living in Pyongyang or in those cities near the Chinese border tend to live much more “modern” lives and know more about the outside world than those in rural areas.
Please note that since Jae Young’s piece was written, agricultural reforms have been introduced. Farmers are now allowed to keep the majority of what they produce, in direct contravention of standard communist practice (after all, North Korea is not really communist any more; that cannot be stressed enough). This is starting to result in better standards of living in the countryside.
Jae Young Kim:
Life in the North Korean countryside is difficult compared to life in the South Korean countryside. North Korean farmers just don’t have access to good equipment or fertilizers, two things that make life considerably harder there. I lived in the countryside and people like me got used to workin
g all year, adjusting to the seasons.
From a young age I had to help my parents with farming, and even during school days I would go to help in the fields between lessons. This is quite normal for a lot of kids, and at school there is even a one-month break for farming every spring and autumn! I hated it so much that I often skipped it, pretending to be ill.
Because we lived at a relatively high altitude, we grew potatoes and corn instead of rice. In addition, we farmed beans, barley, millet and other kinds of grains, while at home, we grew various vegetables on our small plot. So at least my family did not need to pay for fresh vegetables. And although farming takes place all year round, people can’t rely on it to sustain themselves, so they have to make money on the side by rearing domestic animals. As such, most homes keep pigs, rabbits, goats or dogs, but in our home we had dogs and rabbits.
As North Koreans do not have modern equipment or much fertilizer, we got used to doing most of the work by hand rather than with the help of machinery. In spring when weeds began to sprout, it would be time t o plow the fields. This can be done by oxen or with tractors. But in North Korea, in addition to fuel being too expensive, there aren’t many tractors for farmers to use, so most of the plowing is done by oxen. As you can probably guess, oxen therefore were very valuable animals, and we needed to keep them healthy for the entire year’s farming work.
While oxen could help plow the fields, they were useless at dealing with weeds. So when new weeds appeared in the fields, they had to be removed by hand because the chemicals we had were not sufficient. Between spring and autumn, we did back-breaking work, weeding the field about four times with a hoe. Not wanting to waste even the weeds, we also used a sickle to cut them down to make compost with them. This compost helped make the soil better, so every summer or autumn we made compost after doing the weeding.
I always helped my parents by sowing seeds in spring, weeding in summer and harvesting in autumn. It became a familiar rhythm to my life. Before school and after school, I tended our home garden. I often took my younger brother to the fields, but he would always disappear if we were weeding—it was hard to make him do any work! As he grew older though, he began to feel bad for our hardworking parents and started coming to work the field without being told to do so.
When it came to harvest time we collected the grains, made sheaves to carry them, then transported it all by oxen or tractor to the granary on the farm. After all of the grain was gathered, it was threshed and then distributed according to farmers’ recorded attendance and work attitude. As we lived at a high altitude and had poor soil as well as poor equipment, we didn’t end up with much at harvest time. And because farmers must sell crops to buy other household goods, we were always poor.
If we’d had our own private land for farming and were able to engage in market activities, things could have been different. But as you probably know, the North Korean government forbids private ownership of land, and even farming equipment may not be owned by individuals. The only land available for private use is the little bit of land that surrounds a house, and we did all we could with this tiny plot of land.
My parents put a lot of effort into planting vegetables and tending them. Fertilizer and pesticide was supposed to be provided by the state, but it didn’t happen regularly. Instead, these chemicals were only to be found in the illegal market, but the government maintained tight surveillance on these kinds of private activities. If you were absent from work, you had to explain yourself and submit a medical report.
Life in North Korea was very communal, you had to work all the time, and the day was always long. Even on holidays or at weekends, you had to work in the garden at home. It was the only way to get by. Life in the South Korean countryside feels much easier, as here there is mechanized farming. I truly hope that agriculture will improve for North Koreans so they can enjoy a better life soon.
What is it like to live in Pyongyang, compared to the rest of the country?
DT: You might not envy someone for coming from Pyongyang, but a provincial North Korean probably would. It is often said that Pyongyang is more or less a different country to the rest of the DPRK. People there have a much better standard of living, but also, they are expected to show greater loyalty to the regime.
If you travel through North Korea, you’ll notice the difference immediately. As soon as you leave the capital, the roads turn to dirt tracks, and most buildings are shoddily built.
Ji-min Kang:
When I tell people I’m from Pyongyang, it always raises their attention. People give me a surprising look and always show a keen interest in learning about my life there. They seem to have this fixed idea of North Koreans from Pyongyang—they see us performing at mass games or wailing uncontrollably over the death of Kim Il Sung. Often I feel they see me as if I came from ancient Rome or another planet.
I have a lot of friends around me now, something I could never really have in North Korea. There, it’s very difficult to form proper relationships with other people—when I lived there we were prohibited from privately meeting with more than five people and were under a surveillance system that made us monitor even our closest friends. So the friends I have here in Europe now make me feel so grateful and comfortable.
North Korea is a small country—you can reach anywhere by airplane within an hour. But countless people die there without visiting Pyongyang even once. That’s because the government does not allow its people to move from one place to another without the relevant travel documents and a good reason for travel. It is very difficult to do so except on business trips or for family events. Entry into Pyongyang is strictly controlled due to the security of the Kim family and the dense military presence there. So Pyongyang is seen as a dream city that everyone wants to visit: The only city in North Korea that has a theme park and zoo; the only place you can enjoy culture, the arts, and sports. It’s even home to the country’s only bowling club!
People living outside Pyongyang have never had much of a modern lifestyle and probably won’t for the foreseeable future, so it cannot be denied that Pyongyang citizens are a privileged class in this sense. For example, when millions of North Koreans starved to death during the Arduous March, the people in Pyongyang hardly suffered. And during that time I never saw any homeless kids in the streets.
So how did the people in Pyongyang survive in a period of severe nationwide famine? Are they really better off because they are a privileged class? Of course there are indeed a lucky few, such as high-ranking officials and their families, who live under armed guard. But what about the others?
North Korea once had a planned economy that included a rationing system that allowed many people to get their basic necessities from the government. But the severe famine, which followed natural disaster and economic crisis, meant that the government could no longer sustain the rationing system and the normal people outside Pyongyang were pushed out onto the street without being given a chance to adapt to such an abrupt change.
But Pyongyang was a completely different world. No one was dying of hunger, no one was homeless and the rationing system more or less continued to work smoothly, albeit with reduced quantities. Even though the electricity and fuel supply frequently cut off, at least in Pyongyang there was no sign of weakened government control. So while rations were not as abundant as they used to be, the fact that people got rations at all was a substantial advantage.
So what about other the other regions?
Since the rationing system stopped working, people began to embrace the concept of the market economy and gained first-hand experience of it. They were desperate to find food and needed money. So they went to the river or sea to hunt fish and sell in the market. Some people even bred domestic animals and butchered them secretly.
People running restaurants or hotels were often involved in prostitution and brewing illegal alcohol to make money. Some of them even tried to dismantle infrastructure, machinery and ammunition in order to sell the equipment off to Chinese m
erchants. Almost every market in North Korea became overflown with Chinese goods and consequently North Korea became economically closer to China. In my opinion it was this economic turbulence that ultimately opened the eyes of the North Korean people.
Additional contribution from Je Son Lee:
For many people in the countryside, Pyongyang is a place that is typically viewed more as the residence of the leader than as a traditional capital city. In a nutshell, if North Koreans were Christians, Pyongyang would be viewed in a similar way to Bethlehem. As a Christian might regard the place of God as a holy place, North Koreans living outside Pyongyang perceive the city mainly as a place of holiness. However, these perceptions tend to be limited to those who only see Pyongyang on their TV screens.
Since TV is the primary distribution system for visual propaganda in North Korea, materials are only broadcast after a thorough and strict censorship process that ensures there is as much worship of the leaders as possible, and to reduce excessive information about other countries. As a result, Pyongyang on TV always seems heavenly and dreamlike. But the dream doesn’t last forever. People who visit Pyongyang often discover the economic gaps there, and learn how many of the residents actually live in relative difficulty.
Many visiting North Koreans are rather relieved that they live outside Pyongyang. While people outside Pyongyang only need to sweep their streets three times a week, Pyongyangites are required to do so every morning. The reason? Because they live in the same city as the General (Dear Leader). While people in other cities hold small events to celebrate important days such as the birthdays of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, people in Pyongyang must hold much bigger events. As such, residents in Pyongyang are subject to a stricter and more intensive form of collectivism than those in the remote countryside.