WEBVTT 00:00.587 --> 00:09.458 [SPEAKER_00]: Of all the countries in the world, the democratic people's Republic of Korea, more commonly known as North Korea, might just be the most mysterious. 00:10.419 --> 00:18.129 [SPEAKER_00]: Nicknamed the Hermit Kingdom, its famous for its isolation and independence, but also for its shocking lack of human rights. 00:19.038 --> 00:28.262 [SPEAKER_00]: Because it exists under the iron-fisted rule of a dictator ship headed by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, it's laws are some of the most extreme in the world. 00:28.982 --> 00:35.105 [SPEAKER_00]: So with that in mind, let's expose some of the craziest laws that have ever been enforced here that we know of. 00:48.157 --> 01:01.228 [SPEAKER_00]: Now we've all honestly when we've none meant to, maybe it was a zoo meeting around a school desk, and while you may expect some sort of punishment you'd never expect capital punishment for it, while you would in North Korea. 01:02.570 --> 01:10.937 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2015, Minister of Defense Young Chul was reportedly ordered to be dispatched for napping during military rallies. 01:12.043 --> 01:23.351 [SPEAKER_00]: Kim Jong-un had him removed from his post immediately, and the sentence was carried out in public this end of message that laziness and insubordination will not be tolerated to everyone in the country. 01:24.251 --> 01:27.333 [SPEAKER_00]: The crazy thing is, this isn't the only time it's happened. 01:27.633 --> 01:37.180 [SPEAKER_00]: Just one year later, in 2016, North Korean Education Minister Kim Jong-jin was dispatched in front of hundreds of people for, having bad posture during a party rally. 01:37.980 --> 01:49.109 [SPEAKER_00]: The Supreme Leader was so displeased with his poor master, Kim Young-Jin was interrogated before being labeled an anti-party anti-revolutionary agitator and sentenced to capital punishment. 01:49.890 --> 01:51.811 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's one heck of a rude awakening. 01:52.792 --> 02:02.760 [SPEAKER_00]: Bicycles are an essential transport option for many people that live or work in busy cities, yet an North Korea Bicycles were actually banned in the streets of its capital city Pyongyang. 02:03.572 --> 02:13.217 [SPEAKER_00]: Unlike neighboring China, which, over the last century saw a natural progression from walking to cycling to motorized transportation, North Korea wanted to fast track this progression. 02:13.817 --> 02:14.097 [SPEAKER_00]: How? 02:14.577 --> 02:18.759 [SPEAKER_00]: By manning bikes and insisting its citizens rely on motor vehicles to get around. 02:19.680 --> 02:27.724 [SPEAKER_00]: This might have worked if their economy hadn't completely tanked in 1991 leaving most North Koreans to pour to afford enough to eat, let alone a car. 02:28.910 --> 02:38.554 [SPEAKER_00]: As such in 1992, Pyongyang's bicycle ban was lifted, but even now, most citizens remain too poor to afford a car, so it's mainly bikes that are used on the empty roads. 02:39.454 --> 02:43.116 [SPEAKER_00]: After this, she'd expect transport options would have improved, but sadly not. 02:43.676 --> 02:48.137 [SPEAKER_00]: From 1995, the state decided to ban women from owning and riding bicycles. 02:48.738 --> 02:56.961 [SPEAKER_00]: The regime's reasoning for the ban was that the side of an attractive woman on a bike was deemed too suggestive and would damage public morality. 02:57.761 --> 03:01.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that says more about the ruling party being perverts than anything else. 03:02.224 --> 03:08.067 [SPEAKER_00]: They also argued women were genetically incapable of handling traffic, making them a danger to others. 03:09.027 --> 03:13.310 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, North Korea, it's time to sit down, shut up and pay attention for a hot minute. 03:13.890 --> 03:19.093 [SPEAKER_00]: Men are universally responsible for more traffic-related accidents and fatalities than women. 03:20.248 --> 03:25.673 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2021, in the U.S. alone, women were responsible for around 6,000 fatal crashes. 03:26.093 --> 03:31.198 [SPEAKER_00]: That number was 3.5 times higher at more than 21,000 for men. 03:32.058 --> 03:35.982 [SPEAKER_00]: So you're genetically incapable argument, just drove itself into a wall. 03:36.857 --> 03:41.378 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, the ban was briefly lifted in 2012, but then reinstated in early 2013. 03:41.638 --> 03:47.820 [SPEAKER_00]: Today, the rule is flexible, thanks to the lack of motorized public transportation in the country's main cities. 03:48.660 --> 03:53.761 [SPEAKER_00]: But we can't say as much for the state of women's rights in the country, speaking of which. 03:55.201 --> 03:57.762 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but I live in my genes. 03:58.022 --> 04:01.523 [SPEAKER_00]: I can imagine not being able to wear them, they are a closet staple. 04:02.223 --> 04:05.224 [SPEAKER_00]: Now what if I told you they were a completely banned in North Korea? 04:06.184 --> 04:12.969 [SPEAKER_00]: Since mid-2020, Kim Jong-un has announced a crackdown on Western influences, including all styles of genes. 04:13.590 --> 04:14.050 [SPEAKER_00]: But why? 04:14.070 --> 04:26.059 [SPEAKER_00]: This stems all the way back to the division of Korea in 1945 where South Korea backed by capitalist America fought the North, backed by the Communist Soviet Union for control over the country. 04:26.719 --> 04:34.185 [SPEAKER_00]: Ever since the division citizens in the North have been taught to view American capitalism in the wider Western world as the enemy. 04:34.613 --> 04:36.955 [SPEAKER_00]: along with all their influences and values. 04:37.516 --> 04:45.682 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't just stop at jeans and hair, though, unless you have a work uniform, women are technically not allowed to wear trousers in North Korea at all. 04:46.984 --> 04:52.989 [SPEAKER_00]: The law is still enforceable to this day, but it's time to enforce on a nation of 26 million people. 04:53.689 --> 05:01.436 [SPEAKER_00]: If women are caught wearing them a patriotic youth league member, can and will interrogate the individual and force it to write a letter confessing to the crime. 05:02.592 --> 05:09.495 [SPEAKER_00]: They even have the power to access government-controlled loudspeakers releasing the woman's name, home address, and place of work to the public. 05:09.995 --> 05:16.777 [SPEAKER_00]: If you can get dogs just for wearing trousers, imagine the sentence they passed down for what TikTok influencers think are trendy these days. 05:17.618 --> 05:22.079 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, between banning bikes and banning jeans, which rule do you think is the most ridiculous? 05:22.480 --> 05:24.640 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us know in the comments if the platform allows it. 05:25.100 --> 05:26.141 [SPEAKER_00]: Now onto the next one. 05:27.351 --> 05:30.493 [SPEAKER_00]: And the West hares often used to express your individuality. 05:30.753 --> 05:36.077 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of us choose to have a spiky mohuck or bright blue hair, even the mullet is back in fashion. 05:36.677 --> 05:38.179 [SPEAKER_00]: Ever thought I'd see that day. 05:39.179 --> 05:42.982 [SPEAKER_00]: But in North Korea, extreme hairstyles are heavily discouraged. 05:43.382 --> 05:51.328 [SPEAKER_00]: It's likely you'd find yourself stopped by the pathetic, sorry, patriotic youth league again, and then forced to remove or cut your chosen style. 05:52.498 --> 05:58.322 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2013, the state released a guide of 28 appropriate hairstyles, 10 for men, 18 for women. 05:58.903 --> 06:08.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Although there are a few more styles to choose from nowadays, it's still forbidden for men to have hair longer than two inches, and you're only permitted to grow it as long as three if you're over 60 years old. 06:09.411 --> 06:10.712 [SPEAKER_00]: How generous of them! 06:11.883 --> 06:16.470 [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, young men are required to cut their hair every 15 days before it grows out. 06:16.850 --> 06:26.143 [SPEAKER_00]: For women having short hair is allowed when you're married with long hair and curled styles that look similar to those worn in the West in the 1980s, allowed when you're young in single. 06:27.184 --> 06:29.246 [SPEAKER_00]: Better than the Kim Jong-un cut, I guess. 06:30.147 --> 06:41.299 [SPEAKER_00]: With 8 billion people on the planet, there's bound to be someone out there with the same name as you, but Kim Jong-un decided that his name should be unique and now all North Koreans are prohibited from sharing it. 06:42.160 --> 06:49.587 [SPEAKER_00]: That's right, everyone called Jong-un were forced to completely change their name in 2011, the year he became the Supreme Leader. 06:50.588 --> 06:58.892 [SPEAKER_00]: He's also recently extended this rule to include his daughter's name, Kim Jo-A, who at this point appears to be his successor. 06:59.593 --> 07:07.056 [SPEAKER_00]: While there is no exact number on the amount of people who had to rename themselves, John Oon was an extremely common name amongst North Koreans. 07:08.017 --> 07:12.179 [SPEAKER_00]: So basically, he's made himself the one Kim Jong-un to rule them all. 07:12.819 --> 07:17.782 [SPEAKER_00]: Man, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of hobbits out there trying to take this dictator down. 07:18.635 --> 07:25.857 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the advancement of cell phone technology, you can call just about anyone anywhere in the world, unless they're in North Korea. 07:26.417 --> 07:37.601 [SPEAKER_00]: As standard, the country's popular domestic mobile phone service, Corio Link, blocks all international calls, signal jammers are used at the country's borders, and just about all electronic communications are monitored. 07:38.757 --> 07:48.222 [SPEAKER_00]: While it's estimated that some 80% of North Korean households own at least one mobile phone, making so much as one international call can warrant a death sentence. 07:48.682 --> 07:49.162 [SPEAKER_00]: But why? 07:49.823 --> 07:58.927 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, North Korea's government specifically sensors and prohibits the spread of information so that outside influences don't get in, and vital information can't get out. 08:00.395 --> 08:18.854 [SPEAKER_00]: as such any form of contact with people from the outside may prompt citizens to realize how harsh the regime is undoing the decades of brainwashing from propaganda they've been fed on a daily basis and subsequently their citizens will either try to flee or rise up against the government and mass. 08:19.735 --> 08:30.118 [SPEAKER_00]: Back in 2014, a man used a smuggled phone and SIM card to make several international calls and was dispatched for contacting his family who defected to South Korea. 08:30.818 --> 08:36.580 [SPEAKER_00]: He sadly didn't have enough time to hide the phone before officials locked onto his signal and came knocking on his door. 08:37.320 --> 08:42.642 [SPEAKER_00]: His demise was used to make a very public example of those who break the rules in the worst way possible. 08:43.914 --> 08:52.077 [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of a stream of being able to buy a house one day, having your own place is considered by most as a basic necessity, but not so in North Korea. 08:53.357 --> 08:57.258 [SPEAKER_00]: Like so much else here, the government controls all property in the country. 08:57.899 --> 09:02.780 [SPEAKER_00]: All buildings are technically owned by the state and citizens are assigned their housing by them too. 09:03.761 --> 09:07.762 [SPEAKER_00]: It's even harder to make a life for yourself in a big city, North Koreans have to be 09:11.103 --> 09:17.485 [SPEAKER_00]: It's also illegal to lease or trade your home, but since 2000 North Koreans have utilized the clever loophole in the system. 09:18.365 --> 09:22.186 [SPEAKER_00]: While they don't have property rights, they do have a residency rights. 09:22.726 --> 09:29.168 [SPEAKER_00]: This is confirmed by a certificate known as Ipsid-Jung, a document proving the person lives in a specific place. 09:30.049 --> 09:34.530 [SPEAKER_00]: North Koreans have an issuing new certificates under other names and canceling the old ones 09:38.577 --> 09:47.945 [SPEAKER_00]: But because it skirts the laws that since need enough money to bribe this city official into looking the other way, a pack of cigarettes or a good bottle of liquor apparently does the trick. 09:49.486 --> 09:54.190 [SPEAKER_00]: In cash, you may be expected to pay as little as 50 to $100 to secure the exchange. 09:54.590 --> 10:00.235 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you're going to limit people's freedom as harshly as this, you've gotta expect people to fight back in some way. 10:01.056 --> 10:06.961 [SPEAKER_00]: Of all the totally unhinged laws enforced by the North Korean government, this next one might be the most insane. 10:07.641 --> 10:12.666 [SPEAKER_00]: Kim Jong-un and his regime have completely banned smiling on July 8th every year. 10:13.326 --> 10:20.932 [SPEAKER_00]: This data significant in the country is the death date of founder and former president Kim Il-sung, who passed away in 1994. 10:22.093 --> 10:27.798 [SPEAKER_00]: On each anniversary of his death, citizens are not allowed to smile, talk loudly, dance, or drink alcohol. 10:28.479 --> 10:34.684 [SPEAKER_00]: No fun celebrations or activities can be held either, so if it's your birthday, that day you're completely out of luck. 10:35.988 --> 10:40.892 [SPEAKER_00]: Disregarding these rules will send you to the labor camp and may even be caused for your dispatch. 10:41.393 --> 10:44.035 [SPEAKER_00]: Who would have thought smiling could be a capital crime? 10:44.695 --> 10:52.722 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, in recent times, it's only got worse, and 2021 the government banned laughing for 11 days straight in a show of mourning. 10:53.483 --> 10:59.969 [SPEAKER_00]: This rule was enforced to honor the 10th anniversary of Kim Jong Il's death, the predecessor and father to Kim Jong-un. 11:00.449 --> 11:03.351 [SPEAKER_00]: This has got to be though, weirdest family tradition ever. 11:04.172 --> 11:12.585 [SPEAKER_00]: It's extremely hard to picture our lives without the internet now, over 65% of the world's population has access to it and it's actively used by 5.3 billion people. 11:15.523 --> 11:22.205 [SPEAKER_00]: You're probably using it to listen to this podcast right now, and yet, North Koreans can't use it the way we do at all. 11:23.325 --> 11:43.390 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of the internet, North Korea provides its citizens with access to an intranet, a domestic only network, known as Quang Myeong, which back in 2014 boasted it gave its user's access to 5500 websites, including things like video games, though all communication and activity on them is monitored. 11:46.111 --> 11:54.859 [SPEAKER_00]: Certain state officials can be granted access to the wider internet, but with the suppression of information being so important to the regime, even disk can be limited. 11:55.400 --> 12:02.327 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2016, a security engineer discovered North Korea had actually created 28 websites available on the wider internet. 12:03.162 --> 12:09.525 [SPEAKER_00]: These include for end.com.kp, a kind of hyper-political Facebook page, which apparently has some 18 million members. 12:10.026 --> 12:20.451 [SPEAKER_00]: There's also Cooks.org.kp, a recipe website, and corefilm.com.kp, where you can watch hundreds of North Korean films, documentaries, and even anime. 12:21.031 --> 12:22.152 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, anime. 12:23.392 --> 12:30.476 [SPEAKER_00]: It's believed more sides have been added in recent years, but still compared to the two billion sites on the World Wide Web, it's barely anything at all. 12:31.585 --> 12:34.086 [SPEAKER_00]: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? 12:34.366 --> 12:37.007 [SPEAKER_00]: An astronaut, a ballerina, a YouTuber? 12:37.447 --> 12:39.327 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you can tell which one I was. 12:40.087 --> 12:46.349 [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, North Korean kids don't get to dream because everyone's life-long job is delegated by the government. 12:47.550 --> 12:47.790 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 12:47.810 --> 12:48.930 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's simple. 12:49.210 --> 12:57.672 [SPEAKER_00]: The maintain that rigid control of resources under its collectivism system, the government researchers how many people are needed in each industry and location 13:00.708 --> 13:06.812 [SPEAKER_00]: When kids graduate high school, the government assigns each and every graduate with jobs they think proper or necessary. 13:07.233 --> 13:12.276 [SPEAKER_00]: What the kids or their parents want isn't taken into consideration unless big bribes are involved. 13:12.917 --> 13:16.479 [SPEAKER_00]: And once your assigned work, it's almost impossible to be transferred. 13:17.220 --> 13:26.687 [SPEAKER_00]: For example, during Kim Jong-il's reign, he supervised an area called Tae-Hung-Dang, Goon, which had a good potato supply but had few people living in it. 13:27.549 --> 13:32.835 [SPEAKER_00]: So thousands of graduates were relocated to Rihang Gang to become lifelong potato farmers. 13:33.576 --> 13:39.904 [SPEAKER_00]: They had to build houses with their own hands and knew that their children would also likely grow up to be potato farmers thanks to the system. 13:40.584 --> 13:42.266 [SPEAKER_00]: But there was nothing they could do. 13:43.027 --> 13:45.688 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, at the very least, I really hope they like potatoes. 13:46.368 --> 13:49.509 [SPEAKER_00]: In the west, Freedom of Religion is a pretty essential human right? 13:49.750 --> 13:51.430 [SPEAKER_00]: You can choose to believe whatever you want. 13:51.710 --> 14:00.033 [SPEAKER_00]: Being that the son of God walked among us as the Bible teachers or that galactic warlords invaded our volcano 75 million years ago is Scientology claims. 14:01.214 --> 14:03.855 [SPEAKER_00]: But in North Korea, Freedom of Faith isn't a thing. 14:04.435 --> 14:10.117 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2014, an American was imprisoned for five months for leaving his Bible in a North Korean restaurant toilet. 14:10.790 --> 14:19.555 [SPEAKER_00]: The outrage this incident caused stems from the fact that North Korea is a largely atheist state with an enormous 70% of its citizens having no religion. 14:20.972 --> 14:25.936 [SPEAKER_00]: Although there aren't churches located in Pyongyang, these buildings are fully operated by the state. 14:26.316 --> 14:35.624 [SPEAKER_00]: Tourists have reported that churches can be closed during advertised sermon times and when they are open, they are filled with political propaganda and fake believers. 14:36.605 --> 14:45.812 [SPEAKER_00]: Observing the Christian religion as a North Korean is restricted completely because having faith in a higher power or savior-like figure conflicts with having faith in the reigning regime. 14:46.793 --> 14:49.255 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't believe in both, according to North Korea. 14:50.000 --> 14:52.043 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the Kim family, or nothing. 14:53.004 --> 15:00.493 [SPEAKER_00]: One extreme case in 2023 involved the arrest of a family including their two-year-old daughter for possessing a Bible. 15:01.614 --> 15:05.959 [SPEAKER_00]: All family members including the Tyler were apparently sentenced to life in prison. 15:06.780 --> 15:09.984 [SPEAKER_00]: Yep, Kim Jong-un's definitely going to hell for this one. 15:11.642 --> 15:20.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Many things may be considered good luck, a symbol, a number, or even worshiping a particular god, and North Korea, triplets are supposed to represent good fortune. 15:21.655 --> 15:28.023 [SPEAKER_00]: Not only are they venerated because of the falling birth rate in the country, but they're also signs of luck and prosperity. 15:29.073 --> 15:33.456 [SPEAKER_00]: This is why when triplets are born, they're automatically taken away by the state. 15:34.237 --> 15:38.841 [SPEAKER_00]: The regime will have the mother fly into Pyongyang to receive the best care when giving birth. 15:39.361 --> 15:45.646 [SPEAKER_00]: The government will then give the parents gifts and exchange for the kids, a gold ring for girls, and a silver knife for boys. 15:46.487 --> 15:52.972 [SPEAKER_00]: The children are only given back to their parents at the age of four after being raised in a state-run orphanage or nursery school in the city. 15:54.044 --> 16:03.808 [SPEAKER_00]: Even after they've grown, being a triplet will give you better access to money, success and quality of life in North Korea with better chances of being admitted to the military or attending university. 16:05.287 --> 16:10.709 [SPEAKER_00]: Handing out special benefits is nice, but taking away the kids from their families because they're considered lucky. 16:11.350 --> 16:14.091 [SPEAKER_00]: Ironically, I'd say that's actually pretty unlucky. 16:14.951 --> 16:18.933 [SPEAKER_00]: If you have siblings, you've probably been blamed for something they did at some point? 16:19.553 --> 16:25.055 [SPEAKER_00]: When it was deliberate or an accident taking the heat for your family's mistakes feels unfair. 16:25.675 --> 16:29.077 [SPEAKER_00]: But in North Korea, you can be jailed just for being related to a criminal. 16:30.380 --> 16:34.743 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what's known as the three-generation sentence or kin punishment. 16:35.664 --> 16:44.511 [SPEAKER_00]: This means that committing a crime will also condemn three generations of your family, which could be your children and grandchildren or your parents and grandparents. 16:45.652 --> 16:55.459 [SPEAKER_00]: With a rule like this, the government deters the vast majority of people from Rebelling as it's not uncommon for a whole family to receive a life sentence for one criminal's actions. 16:56.708 --> 17:02.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Children born in prison are actually raised as prisoners too because their blood is deemed guilty by association. 17:03.495 --> 17:04.136 [SPEAKER_00]: Jeez. 17:05.417 --> 17:11.103 [SPEAKER_00]: This law began after World War II ended in an effort to eliminate the blood lineage of North Korean rebels. 17:11.964 --> 17:20.213 [SPEAKER_00]: The only thing is, World War II ended almost 100 years ago and this rule is still an effect making it as old as it is horrifying. 17:21.555 --> 17:25.079 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the early 21st century, that's what it says on all calendars, right? 17:25.720 --> 17:26.861 [SPEAKER_00]: Wrong. 17:26.881 --> 17:32.889 [SPEAKER_00]: 168 countries use the Gregorian calendar, but some use their own in North Korea as one of them. 17:33.469 --> 17:40.378 [SPEAKER_00]: They have their own system called Jouchei, an ideology centered on self-reliance and independence from the outside world. 17:41.083 --> 17:46.524 [SPEAKER_00]: that you'd shake calendar is unique, and that it only goes back as far as April 15, 1912. 17:46.624 --> 17:47.864 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 17:48.265 --> 17:51.725 [SPEAKER_00]: Because that's the birthday of North Korea's founding father, Kim Il-sung. 17:53.306 --> 17:59.107 [SPEAKER_00]: This was turned into year number one, and all the years since are now numbered that way. 17:59.587 --> 18:03.028 [SPEAKER_00]: For instance, the year 2010 was actually the year 99 in North Korea. 18:05.370 --> 18:11.836 [SPEAKER_00]: There also, no before due chase, which means history before 1912 is not well spoken of or learned. 18:12.636 --> 18:16.360 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's right, children's education is full of propaganda too. 18:17.182 --> 18:26.646 [SPEAKER_00]: The calendar was officially implemented on the 9th of September 1997, and on that date all North Korea newspapers radio stations birth certificates and other media were converted. 18:27.326 --> 18:29.987 [SPEAKER_00]: Like keeping track of the date wasn't hard enough already. 18:30.647 --> 18:35.409 [SPEAKER_00]: When the president of the United States was asked if they were worried about the national debt, do you know what they said? 18:35.929 --> 18:37.950 [SPEAKER_00]: Nah, it's big enough to take care of itself. 18:38.551 --> 18:44.413 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that was a pretty bad joke, although the worst I'll get is some keyboard warriors in the comments down below. 18:45.876 --> 18:49.360 [SPEAKER_00]: And North Korea, though, a joke like that could have caused me my life. 18:50.020 --> 19:00.652 [SPEAKER_00]: Seriously, anything that disrespects the Kim family in particular is considered blasphemy, and would be met with severe consequences, even a minor job. 19:01.938 --> 19:04.341 [SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't have to be verbal disrespect either. 19:04.621 --> 19:09.126 [SPEAKER_00]: Portraits of the leader's Kim Il-Song and Kim Jong-il are hung in every house. 19:10.167 --> 19:14.231 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's obligatory to wear party badges with their images on their clothes. 19:15.432 --> 19:19.477 [SPEAKER_00]: Not taking the care to maintain them or even dust them properly can get you in trouble. 19:20.017 --> 19:24.801 [SPEAKER_00]: To combat this, each family is given a special duster specifically for cleaning these portraits. 19:25.381 --> 19:32.647 [SPEAKER_00]: They can't family and their government are meant to be revered almost looked up to as gods, so it's no surprise some people bow to them every morning. 19:33.908 --> 19:40.292 [SPEAKER_00]: Luckily, we're outside this insanely egotistical joke free jurisdiction, so take a hike, Kim Jong-no-foon. 19:41.313 --> 19:46.997 [SPEAKER_00]: Back in the 1960s, TVs became must-have items in western homes with a total of just three channels 19:48.772 --> 19:55.437 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, there's hundreds of TV broadcasts to spoil yourself with now, but unsurprisingly North Korea's stuck in the past. 19:56.177 --> 20:02.922 [SPEAKER_00]: It offers just four-state-owned TV channels to choose from exclusively showing programs glorifying the regime and its achievements. 20:03.362 --> 20:04.563 [SPEAKER_00]: Anything else is banned? 20:04.903 --> 20:08.506 [SPEAKER_00]: This goes for all foreign media including movies, music, and even books. 20:09.467 --> 20:13.490 [SPEAKER_00]: If the propaganda department finds just one article from the Big Band list in a citizen 20:17.727 --> 20:28.409 [SPEAKER_00]: Punishments vary depending on the content and background of the contraband, too, watching an Indian film may send you to prison, but in the American movie can sign your dispatched certificate. 20:29.149 --> 20:34.850 [SPEAKER_00]: And 2021, a man was dispatched for distributing copies of the South Korean thriller series Squid Game. 20:35.710 --> 20:44.772 [SPEAKER_00]: This offense was particularly serious as the show mentions North Korea's regime and paints it in a negative light by including a fictional defector from the country. 20:45.851 --> 20:55.335 [SPEAKER_00]: However, experts have debated whether this report is real or not as COVID locked down of the country, which saw its borders closed to all trade, would have made it impossible to smuggle in. 20:56.196 --> 21:02.319 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet the government haven't denied this, so it's possible the story was spread to prevent anyone in North Korea from acquiring it. 21:03.159 --> 21:05.180 [SPEAKER_00]: That's as smart as it is, sinister. 21:06.273 --> 21:09.254 [SPEAKER_00]: Nowadays, you won't find many things without a huge brand slapped on it. 21:09.474 --> 21:16.735 [SPEAKER_00]: We drink Coca-Cola often, we pick up McDonald's now and again, but North Korea hates brands, especially American ones. 21:18.015 --> 21:23.196 [SPEAKER_00]: Branding is related to capitalist living, the exact opposite of the communist socialist dream. 21:24.017 --> 21:30.678 [SPEAKER_00]: Branding is related to capitalist living, the exact opposite of the communist socialist dream the Kim Dynasty is striving for. 21:31.822 --> 21:39.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of this, the country is one of the only places in the world that doesn't sell Coca-Cola, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a McDonald's there, too. 21:40.607 --> 21:47.892 [SPEAKER_00]: They do have fast food chains of their own, such as Sente Song, a burger joint whose locations are limited exclusively to Pyongyang. 21:48.572 --> 21:54.676 [SPEAKER_00]: But this is only for tourists and the elite as it's a business venture owned and operated by Kim Jong-un's aunt. 21:55.536 --> 22:02.278 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead of relying on fast foods, the vast majority of the population relies on traditional staples like kimchi and potatoes. 22:03.219 --> 22:13.162 [SPEAKER_00]: While this is due in part to the avoidance of everything western, the economic sanctions placed on North Korea by America means that trading between the two countries is practically not existing. 22:13.860 --> 22:18.362 [SPEAKER_00]: However, there's a huge Mount Everest-sized level of hypocrisy to this rule. 22:18.902 --> 22:30.968 [SPEAKER_00]: The day-songed apartment store caters to the elite in Pyongyang by selling luxury brands such as Rolex, Dior, Chanel, and even more common brands like Adidas, which are all Western capitalist labels. 22:32.420 --> 22:37.304 [SPEAKER_00]: Kim Jong-un's wife, Resilju, likes wearing these expensive Western brands herself. 22:37.964 --> 22:41.607 [SPEAKER_00]: So brands are banned if you're poor, but find a buy if you're part of the elite. 22:42.488 --> 22:47.592 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but that sounds less like communism and more like a new brand of capitalism. 22:48.758 --> 22:50.819 [SPEAKER_00]: In a fire, what's the first thing you'd grab? 22:51.279 --> 22:53.601 [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, it would be what's most precious to you, right? 22:54.141 --> 23:02.566 [SPEAKER_00]: A parent would instantly grab their child or a loving owner might grab their pet, but the North Korea, the first thing you have to take with you, are those damn portraits. 23:03.226 --> 23:03.826 [SPEAKER_00]: That would really. 23:04.407 --> 23:13.832 [SPEAKER_00]: When disaster strikes, the first thing citizens must do is save the pictures of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, and only after this can they save their own lives and belongings. 23:14.920 --> 23:18.544 [SPEAKER_00]: Respect for the leaders as we've all come to realize is no joke. 23:18.925 --> 23:26.514 [SPEAKER_00]: Back in 2020 it was reported that a mother of two actually faced jail time after saving her children from a fire and leaving behind the pictures. 23:27.575 --> 23:33.862 [SPEAKER_00]: We can hope that she's no longer being held by the state but something tells me the North Korean government loves to hold a garage. 23:34.623 --> 23:39.286 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're a basketball fan, you might feel a little confused if you ever caught a North Korean game. 23:39.967 --> 23:46.010 [SPEAKER_00]: As we've learned North Korea has its own way of doing things so naturally their basketball games are, vastly different. 23:47.371 --> 23:57.218 [SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, the famous 3-pointer is worth 4 points if the ball passes through the net without striking the basket or backboard, and a slam dunk acquires an extra point making it worth 3 instead of 2. 23:58.746 --> 24:10.969 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not all, a point can be deducted for every missed free throw in any field go made in the last three seconds of a game, cannot only earn your team extra, making completely change the outcome with a bump-up of 8 points. 24:12.309 --> 24:17.191 [SPEAKER_00]: Games can also end in a tie against opponents, something that's rare in the normal rule bug. 24:18.011 --> 24:23.052 [SPEAKER_00]: Kim Jong-il supposedly added these amendments because they thought he could improve the rules of the game. 24:24.092 --> 24:26.333 [SPEAKER_00]: I got this man's ego is unbelievable. 24:27.638 --> 24:33.941 [SPEAKER_00]: Also, it turns out he was a fan of the 1990 Chicago Bulls team, you know, that famously American team? 24:34.701 --> 24:37.882 [SPEAKER_00]: That's a slam dunk for hypocrisy right there. 24:39.143 --> 24:42.884 [SPEAKER_00]: Which of these rules and laws did you think was the craziest of them all? 24:43.405 --> 24:46.146 [SPEAKER_00]: In controversially, are there any you agreed with? 24:46.746 --> 24:54.589 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us know in the comments if the platform allows it, and if you enjoyed this episode hit follow wherever you listen to podcasts, so you don't miss the next one. 24:55.050 --> 24:55.910 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening. 24:57.747 --> 24:59.176 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for watching.