by Daniel Tudor
Because of the long-lasting famine, it was tough to find anything edible. When you went out to the mountains, plenty of people were already competing to dig out edible herbs. Farmland was another battlefield for digging out the rice roots remaining in the soil.
These rice roots would be ground into powder and made into porridge, or maybe some noodles. Though not as good as rice itself, the roots still contain some useful nutrients. Food made from rice root tasted so awful, though, that for the first time in my life, I realized that some foods are tasteless even for starving people.
The most popular substitute food in those days was rice bran cake, pine bark cake, wormwood cake and cake made with wine lees. Rice bran, which is called Mi-Gang in North Korea, is the powder produced in the process of polishing brown rice. My grandmother kneaded the powder and made us rice cake in a cauldron. We waited for the rice cake to be cooked, and because there was not enough firewood, the flame was not strong. My little brother, who could not wait for the cauldron to finally boil, started saying, “You no good ass, you’d better boil soon…” but eventually he fell asleep before the cake was done.
Even in those hungry, painful days, there were some happy events worth waiting for.
The days we ate pine bark cake were like Christmas to us. If you remove the thick, tough outer layer of pine trees, there’s another layer before you get to the white flesh of the tree. There’s a thin brown film between the outer skin and the white core. People peel off that thin film and pound it into fine powder. Then they add a couple tablespoons of flour to make a cake. So, basically, it is a cake made with tree bark and it actually tasted quite decent. However, it had one severe side effect: My little brother, the youngest, ate the cake and got constipation that was so bad that it caused him to burst into tears. Remembering my little brother sobbing loudly, now my heart aches again because he is still in the North. He was only four then, way too young to understand the hardships of life.
I sometimes wonder how I could live in such a world. I then remind myself that others were in an even worse situation than me.
Anyhow, none of our family died of hunger. My father’s social status as a military officer was of no help, but we three children survived all this with our sick mother. I was the eldest, and I wanted to find anything to feed my little sister and brother, even little pieces of herbs. I sometimes went out wandering around hills and fields nearby with some of the old ladies in the village. As a nine-year-old girl, there was no herb that I didn’t know. I can still recognize all the herbs on the mountain. Fern, bracken fiddlehead, bonnet bellflower, Solomon’s seal, mountain wormwood, victory onion, clavaria, naematoloma…all of these now have become a memory of those times.
Now I can say I am in good shape. But when I left North Korea I was very weak. My mom visited me when I was receiving social adjustment training right after I arrived in South Korea, and when she saw me, she could not hold back her tears.
Can you take your pets to a vet in North Korea?
DT: The concept of pet ownership is not so common in North Korea, just as is the case in any poor country. When humans do not have enough for themselves, the idea of keeping a dog purely for companionship is a luxury. One hears of members of the new Pyongyang rich keeping pets these days. But for the average person, an animal is usually an asset to be put to work or eaten.
Je Son Lee:
When I was growing up in North Korea, I never saw any veterinarians or animal hospitals in my hometown. That’s not to say that they don’t exist. There may be animal hospitals in Pyongyang, or elsewhere, for all I know.
Now, while people don’t talk about veterinarian clinics in the North, that doesn’t mean that veterinarians don’t exist in North Korea. During the Great Famine, North Korea tried to overcome food shortages by breeding a large number of animals that live on grass. That’s when vets rose to prominence in the North. Most vets seen in the public eye at that time were all wearing thick glasses and they looked like giant geeks.
Vets in TV dramas or movies were no different. In films, they merely wrote prescriptions for sick animals in need of treatment.
By contrast, in those stories young, creative people in the neighborhood came up with a better way to treat the animals and they went on to become heroes. That was the typical line of such movies and TV dramas.
Vets studied and took examinations at institutions. On TV, I saw vets visiting sick animals to treat them at homes and farms. I have no way of knowing whether such a system exists in every neighborhood in North Korea. I only saw vets on TV. I never saw them in person while I was living in North Korea.
Of course, some dogs and pigs fell ill in my neighborhood. Under such circumstances, people went to doctors rather than vets. In North Korea, as long as you have money, you can buy pills and medicine that you need from the market without a doctor’s prescription. When livestock or pets fall ill, people buy penicillin and inject it into the sick animal. If the animal doesn’t get better, then they go to seek help from doctors.
I grew up in a city, with no farms nearby. However, some families in my city kept several pigs and dogs. I don’t have any memory of any contagious diseases breaking out among the animals, but there were occasions when a male pig’s urge to mate would get out of control. In such cases people would get a doctor to come and partially castrate the pig. On the same evening, men in the town would have drinks with the pig’s testicle as a side dish. Dads in my old hometown used to say it was the perfect food to go with drinks.
As I’d seen veterinarians on North Korean television, I assumed that there would be medical schools for students who wished to become veterinarians in North Korea. But I never met anyone who studied veterinary medicine while I was in North Korea. I didn’t hear of any vet schools while I was in the North, either. I can only assume that there would be one or two in Pyongyang.
Maybe I wasn’t able to meet any veterinarians in North Korea because it isn’t common for people to have pets there. Instead of small dogs such as a Maltese, big ones such as shepherd dogs are more commonly found in North Korea. Shepherd dogs are not only expensive to buy, but it’s expensive to feed them the meat they need.
You have to be rich to keep such a dog. Ordinary North Koreans usually keep mongrel dogs to watch the house or to eat as boshintang. When they fall ill, people would rather eat them than provide treatment for them. They wouldn’t go and see a veterinarian.
North Koreans would probably think it nuts to take your dog to a veterinarian when there’s a shortage of physicians for people. They don’t understand how you can spend so much money on going to a veterinarian for your dog. When North Koreans hear of the existence of veterinarians in other countries, they think it is only possible because these are capitalist countries. They assume that people seek help from a vet in a capitalist market not because they care so much about their dogs or that the dogs have become a part of their family, but because money can buy anything in a capitalist market.
When I first arrived in South Korea, I laughed so hard at the wide prevalence and existence of animal hospitals in South Korea. In North Korea, I was told that nothing is impossible in a capitalist market as long as you have money. Me and my friends often imagined how life in a capitalist society would be different from our lives in a communist state. In North Korea, we couldn’t even imagine taking our dog to a veterinary clinic. Animal hospitals only existed in our imagination. Suddenly, they were everywhere in South Korea.
That’s when I finally realized that I was living in a capitalist society. To me it was interesting to witness with my own eyes that money could buy anything. At the same time, I was confused and daunted about the unpredictable future that lay ahead of me. Several years have passed since then. I have a poodle at my home now. It breaks my heart when my poodle gets sick. I realize that veterinarians exist to ensure your companion animal—which has become a family member—gets the care it needs.
Do North Korean women use sanitary pads?
DT: I must ad
mit this is a subject I know very, very little about. But given the general difficulty of daily life North Korea, and the male-first nature of society there, Je Son’s answer below is exactly what you might expect.
Je Son Lee:
What pleased me most about leaving North Korea was that I didn’t have to worry about sanitary pads anymore! In North Korea, women make sanitary napkins out of white cotton. We wash and use them again and again. Some women buy cotton from street markets and make their own sanitary napkins. Some women buy pre-made sanitary napkins. Either way, they are not like the disposable ones you use in South Korea or America. Of course, North Korea produces disposables called “Daedong River” sanitary napkins, but they’re so expensive that most North Korean women cannot afford to use them every month. Women choose to use such disposable sanitary napkins only when they go on a trip or when they’re in a situation where they cannot wash sanitary pads. Washing them every month is the hardest task, one you want to avoid at all costs.
I once heard that Daedong River sanitary napkins were produced solely for female soldiers. But delivery drivers sell some of them to vendors on their way to military bases.
Recently, I saw adverts for “eco-friendly sanitary napkins, good for skin and good for the Earth.” It is true that using cotton sanitary napkins reduces garbage and therefore, is good for the environment. But I cannot agree when these advertisements claim that using such sanitary napkins also reduces period pain. I got my first period at 14 and I had to use cotton sanitary napkins for the next 17 years in North Korea. I suffered from terrible pain every month during this time. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the napkins. Maybe my period pain got worse and worse because I was under constant stress from having to wash and dry the sanitary napkins in secret. To make it even worse, drugs for period pain don’t exist in North Korea. When the pain becomes unbearable, some women buy aspirin, but that doesn’t help much.
The very last thing I want to remember about North Korea is the sanitary napkins I used over there. In summer, it was slightly better as it took less time to dry. But in winter, it took forever. The water pipes froze and it was always difficult to find a place to dry them. Because they’re usually made of white cotton, we had to use a lot of water to wash the blood away. Warm water isn’t suitable for removing bloodstains. Thus, we always had to wash them in icy cold water while blowing our hot breath on our hands. It was always stressful for women to hang sanitary napkins under other pieces of washed clothing so that men would not see them. Not many people owned washing machines. Even if you owned a washing machine at home, you might not have been able to use it due to electricity shortages. So women had to wash sanitary napkins with their own hands in cold water.
Of course, there are many hard things in life. But dealing with sanitary napkins was the hardest thing about living in North Korea as a woman.
When you have to go to school during your period, it gets even worse. Most high schools in North Korea are co-ed. You have to take extra care so that boys in your class don’t notice, using a cotton sanitary napkin 20cm in length and 10cm in width. There is no fixture to fasten your sanitary napkin onto your pants. If you don’t take extra care, the sanitary napkin could slip out. I always had to walk with extra care so that boys wouldn’t make fun of me. If you have never used one, you have no idea how stressful it is. At that time of the month, I was so envious of boys because they don’t have periods.
But since the moment I left North Korea, I have been free from all the pain and stress of “reusable” sanitary pads. Whenever I see disposable sanitary napkins, which are so affordable and available everywhere in South Korea, I’m reminded of my old memories and feel bad for women who have to wash their sanitary napkins during the icy cold winter in North Korea. When I see news about sending USBs or flyers to North Korea, I cannot help thinking it’d be better to use that money on sending disposable sanitary napkins to North Korean women.
Does North Korea look after its elderly?
DT: Traditionally in Korea, it was a big deal if someone reached 60 years old. Thus South Koreans still have 60th birthday parties, even though average life expectancy there is now 82. According to the World Bank though, the average is just 69½ in North Korea, testament to the huge economic divergence between the two countries. And for those North Koreans who do manage to live long enough to be “elderly,” there is no such thing as a pension.
Kim Yoo-sung:
To tell you the conclusion first, I think there is no such thing as welfare for the elderly in North Korea. Actually, I had never heard of the term “welfare” when I was living in North Korea. I only learned that such a concept existed after I came to South Korea.
Of course, the North Korean government puts up a façade and says it takes care of its people. However, the government cannot afford to provide welfare benefits for those in need. In South Korea, everyone who is 65 and over can ride the subway for free and receive a monthly stipend from the government. But as far as I know, the North Korean government provides none of those benefits for the elderly. The community may try to help them, but their ability to do so is limited. Just like everywhere else, both sympathetic people and selfish people exist in North Korea. Good people try to help the elderly who get sick or injured, but since many people in North Korea are starving, it is not possible to help everyone.
Also, people in North Korea try to save up for retirement. Since there is no government support or welfare for the elderly or the disabled in North Korea, it is only wise for people to save up.
My maternal grandparents still live in North Korea. They have to make a living by themselves without receiving any government support, even though they are in their 80s. Life isn’t very different for most other elderly people in North Korea, as far as I know.
In South Korea, people of 65 or over are entitled to free rides on the subway, but the elderly in my North Korean hometown weren’t entitled to such welfare benefits. I’m not certain whether the elderly in Pyongyang can benefit from free transportation. But people in my hometown never heard of such benefits. In regions outside Pyongyang, public transportation hardly exists. You don’t see a subway or buses outside Pyongyang. My mother is highly satisfied with South Korea’s welfare system. She always says, “I would bring your grandparents to South Korea if they were 10 years younger.”
I will admit, South Korea doesn’t have the best welfare system in the world. Still, I think its welfare system for the elderly is good. Meanwhile, North Koreans in their 60s and older still have to work either on the farm or at the market in order to make ends meet.
It is widely known that the North Korean government spends an immense amount of money on the development of nuclear weapons, while its people are starving. A good government would take care of its people. But the North Korean government does not.
As I write this column, I wonder what my grandparents are doing up there, where they don’t even have electricity. I wonder if they’ve already eaten their dinner. When I was still a college student in the North, my grandparents gave me a bunch of 1,000 won notes, telling me not to skip a meal. It was their hard-earned money and they gave it to me because they were worried I might miss a meal or two while in college.
It’s getting so cold these days, and it must be a lot colder up there in North Korea. I wonder if they’re still working such long hours. I would like to get a job as soon as possible so that I can help my grandparents, even in a small way. When unification comes, I hope all elderly people in North Korea can benefit from the same welfare system as the elderly in South Korea.
What is a North Korean funeral like?
DT: As Mina says below, North Korean funerals typically last for three days. This is, of course, a culture that existed long before the division of Korea, and as such, South Korean funerals also last three days. Main family members stay there throughout, and receive guests—old friends, relatives, co-workers, and so on. Korea is small, and in the South, transport links are excellent, meaning that those who care
for the deceased will be able to attend on one of those three days. Things are quite different in North Korea though, due to logistical and bureaucratic barriers.
Mina Yoon:
Funerals in North Korea are not like in South Korea, where most of the bigger hospitals and chapels provide venues for funerals. Most North Korean funerals are held at home, though there are a couple of exceptions. There’s an old custom that the body of a person who died in a foreign land cannot enter the house. So, if someone dies while they’re out of the country, the funeral will be held in that person’s workplace, either in a hallway or an office.
High-ranking military personnel don’t have funerals at home, either. In such cases, a funeral committee is set up and students and residents in town are mobilized to hold a grand memorial service. These kinds of funerals are usually held in a spacious hall at the central offices.
North Korean funerals usually last for three days. However, a special adjustment is made when someone dies at the end of the month. In North Korea, there is a superstition that the coffin has to leave the house in the same month in which the person died. If a person dies on the 29th, the coffin has to be out of the house on the 30th, or the 31st at the latest. However, this custom is not strictly followed.
Because of travel restrictions, people have to wait for permits to be issued. This usually takes at least two or three days. Plus, North Korea’s outdated transportation system makes it impossible for many people to arrive quickly. Funerals sometimes have to be postponed while they wait for the immediate family to arrive. If guests are coming from far away, some people will extend the funeral to accommodate them.