by Daniel Tudor
But electricity is supplied for only two to three hours per day in North Korea. And even when power is available, the voltage is often too low. When the voltage goes down below 120–130 V, the TV turns itself off. To prevent this, I remember my younger brother always having his hand on the power switch of a voltage transformer. That was our desperate way of watching TV. People who cannot afford a transformer with a capacity large enough to handle this cannot watch TV, even if they have a TV set.
There is only one main channel, the Chosun Central Broadcasting Channel. However, people find it boring because most of the content is focused on Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, or something set up to promote their propaganda. Everyone knows it is all fake. Therefore, people want to watch movies on DVD. People usually watch movies made in North Korea, China or Russia. Only few people dare to watch American or South Korean movies. If anyone is caught watching movies from those countries, there are consequences.
On special occasions, our family split into two teams and played a card game called “Joopae.” We put a small bet on the game, and whoever loses has to take over household chores like cooking or cleaning up the backyard. Sometimes on sleepless nights, all of our family members would lie down side by side and play a word relay or sing songs. There are not many houses that have more than one bedroom in North Korea, so it is very common for all family members to sleep in one room together. When my younger sister, a tone-deaf singer, set the mood by singing seriously but with lyrics that were all wrong, we all ended up laughing aloud. Now I am in South Korea my sister and I sometimes go to karaoke. It is funny that my sister’s lousy singing sounds way better with the help of the instrumental background of karaoke, but I still miss the old days when we burst out laughing together at her singing in the dark. I remember back then that the game or the singing finished up naturally, and we all went to sleep.
In North Korea, there is a six-day workweek. Even on Sundays, some people have to participate in collective labor, such as road paving, street cleaning or farming. Many in North Korea consider weekends time to work, just like other days, but only on individual tasks such as laundry, cleaning or gardening. Of course, there are some wealthy people who enjoy their pastimes. They might go fishing or watch DVDs.
When I first came to South Korea, a two-day weekend felt too long and boring to me. In hindsight, I think it was only natural to feel that way because I had never learned how to enjoy free time and didn’t know what to do with it. Now I have spent a couple of years in South Korea trying to catch up with the rapid pace of life here, the weekend sometimes feels more hectic than a weekday. I go to movies, meet up with friends downtown, grab lunch with them and go shopping. I also spend time with my family and, of course, study. Now I know that even a two-day weekend is actually too short.
Do North Koreans keep pets?
DT: Pets are only for the rich in North Korea. For most people, keeping a pet dog would be an unjustifiable extravagance. Dogs are generally kept for guard work, and even eating. That said though, there is a rising class of nouveau riche Pyongyangites who keep animals for companionship.
Je Son Lee:
It is not common for North Koreans to keep pets, because it costs a lot of money to feed them. Still, there are some people who do so.
In Pyongyang, the most commonly found pets include monkeys and dogs. Outside Pyongyang, dogs are the most common. Some keep dogs for their meat and others keep dogs to guard the house when they’re not home. But not everyone—few outside of Pyongyang, in fact—can afford to have companion animals because they require a lot of effort and money.
In 2000, I had a Maltese in my house and many people in the neighborhood wanted my dog so badly. It was a cute Maltese my grandfather had sent us all the way from Pyongyang. People always stopped by my house to see him. My not-so-very-thoughtful parents ended up giving away my Maltese to someone else in my neighborhood. I was so sad to see the dog go but it was my parents’ decision, and there was nothing I could do about it.
While I’ve heard monkeys were popular in Pyongyang, they became less popular later on and there is a story that explains why.
First, you need to remember that North Korea is a so-called socialist state. Therefore, when you pay the bills for utilities, everyone pays an equal amount regardless of how much electricity they used. Moreover, you cannot use the electricity whenever you want to. If you end up using electricity without the government’s permission, you are subject to a big fine. So it’s even illegal to use a microwave or make rice in a rice cooker in the North. This doesn’t sound realistic, does it? North Koreans still need microwaves and rice cookers to feed themselves! Public servants randomly search houses and if you get caught using a microwave, you get fined. So people hide their microwaves, and use them secretly.
So let me tell you what happened one time in Pyongyang. One day, a public servant stopped by to inspect a house where they had a monkey. The family took some time trying to hide the microwave above the closet before opening the door for the official. This official was very suspicious, and demanded that they come clean and admit that they had used a microwave. The family didn’t back off, but just then their pet monkey, who had been observing the situation, climbed up to the closet, grabbed the microwave, and placed it down in front of the official.
Almost every family has secrets—things they do that are perfectly legal in democratic societies but which are illegal in North Korea. In this case—and others—people began to get into trouble because of their pet monkeys. As a result, people’s interest in monkeys declined. Instead, they turned to dogs and piglets as pets.
In regions outside Pyongyang, people keep shepherd dogs for pets instead of small dogs such as Maltese or Shih Tzu. North Koreans feed raw fish or pork to their shepherds, which is easier than buying specialist dog food. Moreover, shepherds are smarter. Other dogs, such as Maltese and Shih Tzu, would eat food given to them by other people. But shepherds only eat the food given by their owners. I always felt that shepherds were like a friend to people, while small dogs like Maltese were little babies that act cutesy to attract attention.
We had a shepherd while living in North Korea. We named him Bun-kae, which means “thunderbolt” in Korean. After my mother got scammed in 2005 my family went through financial difficulties, so my mom sold our shepherd for money. Bun-kae was about 3 years old at that time. Because he was so well-behaved we made a lot of money from selling him. However, three days later, Bun-kae escaped from his new home and found his way back to our house! My mom was so touched that Bun-kae found his way back home that she wanted to take him back. But because there is a saying, “It brings bad luck when an animal which left your house comes back,” my family ended up returning Bun-kae to his new home. Later, we brought another dog to our home, but I could never like him as much as I liked Bun-kae.
Are there holidays in North Korea? If so, what do you do on them?
DT: North Korea has rather a lot of public holidays. But when you have a day off, it isn’t realistic to imagine you would be able to go to the beach or a resort. Anyone who has traveled around North Korea knows the reason why: the transport network is absolutely dreadful. There are also the inevitable political duties that have to be performed, cutting into precious free time. However, people do enjoy these holidays as a chance to get together with friends and family in their hometowns.
Je Son Lee:
There are numerous national holidays in North Korea, from Chuseok (harvest festival, the date of which is set by the lunar calendar) to Independence Day (August 15) to the birthdays of leaders Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un. In addition to these government-declared national holidays, North Koreans work six days per week and get their Sundays off. Workers in North Korea are given 15 days of vacation per year and students two months.
On national holidays, every North Korean older than elementary school has to visit the statue of Kim Il Sung at 7 in the morning. Everyone has to get dressed according to the dress code specified by the gover
nment. Women have to wear either a dress skirt or hanbok. Men have to wear a suit and tie. Everyone has to wear the badge of Kim Il Sung. After this mass event, everyone finally gets free time to themselves. But when there’s an important speech by the leader, we have to watch on TV and participate in discussions about it.
The government gives out gifts to children up to the age of 10 on February 16 and April 15. Apart from this, the government also distributes holiday hampers to every family on traditional holidays. These holiday hampers usually consist of a bottle of cooking oil and 500 grams of biscuits, but they’re not completely free—we have to pay one third of the price. Since there’s a shortage of ingredients, you cannot receive one of those holiday hampers if you happen to arrive too late. You have to wait in the queue from early in the morning. We get nothing else from the government.
After this, most workers have their own parties with food and drinks. You don’t have to attend if you don’t feel like going; these parties are purely organized and attended by ordinary North Koreans, but you shouldn’t say anything to criticize the government in any way while you’re at the party. People who are not affiliated with any particular group or working unit throw their own parties with people they’re close to. In this case, if you’re close enough to share secrets, you would criticize the government a little over drinks. But if anyone in your presence happens to be a spy, you’d be faced with serious consequences.
Most people spend vacations at home. Sometimes people visit their hometown or go on a trip, but this costs a lot of money and only people who can afford it do that. Students are the people who have the most fun on holidays. They gather together to share food and dance together afterwards.
There are no clubs or karaoke rooms in North Korea, so students have to organize everything for themselves. In winter, you usually make your own “club” in an empty house. We have speakers, but when there’s no electricity, we can get power by firing a generator with oil. We wanted to play K-pop to dance to, but it’s dangerous to do so—if the sound of South Korean music is heard from the house, we could get arrested. Enjoying anything from South Korea is illegal in North Korea. In the case of a sudden police raid, if we failed to hide the tape or CD, it would be used as evidence against us.
Therefore, most of us played guitar at these parties. It’s the most popular way of making music, as it doesn’t leave hard evidence that could be used by the authorities. Usually, we played K-pop tunes on our guitars and if a stranger or security guard comes by, we can easily switch to North Korean music.
Did you celebrate New Year in North Korea?
DT: New Year—either of the Eastern or Western variety—is more of a day for family in Korea. Even in the much more Westernized South, you don’t see many big parties for New Year. It’s a time for honoring one’s ancestors, and eating homemade food.
Je Son Lee:
I don’t remember seeing a New Year’s countdown on television while I was growing up in North Korea. However, I remember seeing the sun rising above Mount Baekdu on television on the first day of the year. At Lunar New Year, they would show the “General’s Star” on national television. They talked about whether the new year would be an auspicious one for North Korea depending on the intensity of the starlight. If the star exuded excessive light, it meant that it was going to be an auspicious year, they said.
Now that I think about it, this sounds pretty stupid. But back then, I really believed that it was true and that our General Kim Jong Il was someone that heaven had sent to us. Like all children in North Korea, I’d been brainwashed about the three great figures of North Korea—Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Suk—since I was very young.
However, not everyone watches the first sunrise or the “General’s Star” on television. Due to the shortage of electricity, not everyone can have their TV on. Plus, people are usually busy making mandu and songpyeon (rice cakes) at that time of the year. Since the Japanese celebrate January 1 rather than Lunar New Year, the North Korean government suddenly decided to urge its people to celebrate Lunar New Year (Seollal). But, in the people’s hearts, January 1 means a lot to them. It is regarded as the first day of the new year.
On January 1, people pay respects in front of a table full of dishes. This was really for the living rather than the dead, though. For this, participants prepare mackerel, fried tofu, apples, pears, candy, jijim (Korean-style pancake), rice, boiled eggs, pork and other side dishes. There should be an odd number of dishes. I’m not sure exactly why, but I was told that it should never be an even number.
When the food is ready, people begin to pay respects. In the past, only men were allowed to offer a glass of liquor to the dead but now both men and women do so. While they pay respects to the dead, they pray that the new year will be a good one and that their dead ancestors will watch over them. People take turns toasting ancestors and, while they do so, they pray their ancestor will help them realize their dreams for the year. When this is over, they add a little portion of every dish to a bowl filled with water. They add a little bit of liquor to this bowl and sprinkle it on the ground outside. They do so because they believe the dead souls are waiting for them outside.
After sprinkling this bowl of food, they turn around and wait between one and five minutes for the dead ancestor to eat the food they’ve just sprinkled. While they are eating, their living family members shouldn’t turn around to look at them. After the ancestor finishes eating, the whole family are able to help themselves to the food. I was told that if we ate before the ancestors we would get upset stomachs. They told me that they’d seen so many people getting upset stomachs because they didn’t wait for their dead ancestors to finish eating.
A North Korean proverbs says: “If you sleep somewhere else on January 1, you won’t sleep in your own home for the rest of the year.” That’s why most people try to sleep at their own houses on January 1. Some people would go out to see the first sunrise of the year as well. Before the North Korean government switched to Lunar New Year, January 1–3 were public holidays in North Korea. If Sunday fell on one of those days, we got to take an extra day or two off.
On January 1, the whole family gathers together at 7 a.m. to pay respects with carefully prepared food, as I’ve already explained. After paying respects and having breakfast, people visit family elders and their work supervisors or teachers at their houses from 10–11 a.m., and bring them presents. People who can’t afford to buy big presents will still bring a bottle of soju at the very least. We were taught that it is impolite to go to the house of someone older than you without taking any presents. Adults still visit their teachers from kindergarten, elementary and high schools even after they’ve grown up, on New Year’s Day and other important holidays.
On January 2, people are busy hanging out with their friends. People usually drink, sing and dance together at empty houses, from the age of about 15. You need money to do this, right? Mostly, boys pay but sometimes girls do, too. Adults and older people sing along and tap their chopsticks on the table as if they were playing drums. The younger generation usually sing South Korean songs and dance to K-pop. This means they have to find secret places. If you get caught by the security police, you could be in deep trouble (but mostly you bribe your way out).
When the New Year’s shenanigans end, people go back to work. On the first day back at work, people take a pledge to sacrifice their mind and body for the Workers’ Party and the Leader. They say it is the first day of combat. The first day of combat begins with people bringing manure from the co-op farm, due to a national shortage of compost. It is not possible for co-op members to deliver all the manure, and so everyone in the country helps deliver manure on that day.
For people like me who lived in an apartment, we had to beat other people to the manure by getting washed and ready in the shared common bathrooms first. But after traders began selling compost at the market, people would simply buy it to complete the first mission of the year. If I was still living in North Korea, I wou
ld have been pretty worried about the compost task.
Do North Koreans like telling jokes? What makes people laugh in North Korea?
DT: It should go without saying that human beings anywhere like to laugh and joke around. Unfortunately the standard media portrayal of the North Korean is either that of the helpless victim, or the brainwashed robot—there is little room within the stereotype for someone like you or me, who would like to have a laugh to brighten up their day. That said, there are certainly fewer opportunities to laugh in North Korea than in most other places.
Mina Yoon:
I agree that in tough times laughter is the best cure, but in North Korea people do not make jokes as often as they do in South Korea or other developed countries. I think this is because North Korean people are too tied up with the hardships of life to relax and exchange jokes with other people.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though. North Korean people make jokes, too. Despite being struck by poverty and depression, people cannot live their entire life being miserable. And sometimes jokes appear even in the weirdest situations…such as when I recall a goat and a pig that joined the army!
One of my distant relatives was an old man who lived in the countryside raising a goat and a pig. During the daytime, he would stay out cutting the grass to feed his pig and put the goat out to pasture. But one day when I visited his house in the afternoon, I was astonished to find him at home. I asked why he was at home instead of out taking care of his animals as he always did.