Imagine yourself living in what’s often
called the most secretive country on the planet.
To you much of the outside world is a mystery;
much of what you do know comes by way of government
propaganda.
While unbeknownst to you officials in your
country might be free to use Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn, there’s no way you’re getting
on those social media platforms.
You do have a computer, though, and it’s
online.
What you can see is only what the government
allows you to see.
Let’s have a look at what kind of sites
you might see when using the internet in North
Korea.
We should first point out that up until recently
no one really knew much about what North Koreans
do online.
People’s surfing habits were kept almost
as secret as the country’s missile development.
What happens in North Korea stays in North
Korea might be the appropriate expression,
but in 2016 there was a leak, and that leak
showed us roughly 28 different websites available
in the country.
So, what information was available on those
sites?
Let’s take a look and you will certainly
agree that we saved the best until last.
10.
Weapons Education
There’s a site for a university called Kim
il Sung University.
That doesn’t sound strange at all, universities
around the world have websites after all,
but it’s what you see on the landing page
as we write this that sets this one apart.
That’s because the first thing you see is
something called “Supreme Leader's Activities”
where you’re shown a list of things Kim
Jong Un has been up to lately, and it appears
that all his activities are related to either
some form of violence or testing weapons.
We clicked on the link “Supreme Leader Kim
Jong Un Guides Test-Fire of New-type Large-caliber
Multiple Launch Guided Rocket System.”
Here is a snippet from the text:
“The officials, scientists and technicians
were filled with great pride and excitement
for having developed and making the first
test-fire of the new-type guided ordnance
rocket, which will play a main role in ground
military operations, in a short span of time
according to the strategic policy of artillery
modernization for the building of armed forces
set forth at the Seventh Congress of the WPK.”
The rest is all about how great the working
classes who helped make this happen are and
how proud everyone is of the country.
It’s straight out of the dictator’s handbook.
In fact, we looked at all of the supreme leader’s
activities and each time the text stated how
proud everyone was of the country and how
everyone clapped and cheered when they saw
this magnificent guy.
We looked at other links on that page and
another good name for the institution could
be the University of Propaganda.
You find phrases such as “Immortal Leadership”
and “achievements of President Kim Il Sung”
and “noble intentions.”
You get the picture.
Everything we looked at was along these lines.
9.
Sporting Heroes
Again it’s not that weird that people can
look at a website full of sports stars, but
it’s what said that makes this website distinctly
North Korean.
The reports are all about how these great
sporting heroes give their all for this magnificent
nation.
One young athlete was even described as being
a “competent revolutionary talent of a socialist.”
Imagine if a great soccer player scored a
goal and was then described in reports as
a revolutionary talent of a democratic capitalist.
Here’s a snippet from one report.
“The Korean athletes who participated in
the youth and youth women's competitions won
the gold medal by winning all the teams that
competed with high collectivism and physical
skills.”
Good stuff.
It looks like North Korea leads the way in
sports.
8.
Spiritual Guidance
This one is rather weird both on its face
and in the small print.
It’s all about, well, just how great everything
is.
One page tells the story of a woman who celebrated
her 100th birthday and the officials turned
up and rejoiced in harmony.
The woman then talked to everyone about the
many benefits of the socialist system.
She also said how much she loved the “masters
of the country,” Around this time we at
the Infographics Show were becoming slightly
concerned about visiting these websites and
who might be looking at our IP address.
We then clicked on a video with the translated
title of ‘Hot Hand job’.
It wasn’t what we thought though, it was
a very moving song played while a video of
families sat around the TV embracing each
other and clapping at the feats of other North
Koreans.
Everyone looked so happy.
It then cuts to men in suits jumping up and
down and clapping like a toddler after a gallon
of Coke, and you find out their clapping is
directed at the supreme leader who is seen
arm-in-arm with two smiling young girls.
You’ve never seen such joy in people.
Then it all made sense.
The video and the song was all about the great
leader shaking hands with people and other
folks clapping their hands.
You’ve got to hand it to those North Koreans,
they certainly do a great hand job.
7.
Fake News
Of course there had to be a news website and
we had absolutely had to see what was going
on in the world through the lens of North
Korean news.
The front page of this site is all about the
great supreme leader, are you detecting a
trend yet?
And there’s not a photo without him in it.
But what has he been up to?
Well, he certainly gets around.
It seems he’s been fixing things after a
recent typhoon, and also congratulating comrades
around the country for the great work they’ve
been doing.
The beloved supreme master in fact has been
doing a lot of congratulating of late, and
according to this news site everyone in the
country has a lot to be proud of.
All news is good news internally, but then
we looked at international news and it looks
like a lot of bad stuff is going on in the
world outside of North Korea.
It seems there is growing conflict between
the USA and France because the French hate
U.S. big tech.
In a weird change of topic the report then
just states, “American wine is worse than
French wine.”
Try telling that to Californian wine growers.
On top of that there is another report that
discusses how dangerous it is to drive in
Nigeria and how happy North Korea is with
the Spanish Communist Party.
The USA was also blasted for its alleged part
in the Hong Kong protests.
Here is a snippet from that story, in translation,
“In response to the recent protests by some
Americans in Hong Kong that the protests in
Hong Kong were never a matter of internal
China, the spokesman said that the US ignored
the basic rules of fact and international
relations.
It was condemned to be seriously interfering
with Chinese affairs.”
6.
Blessed Movies
What’s going on in the world of cinema in
North Korea?
A country yet to win the Oscar for Best Foreign
Film.
Well, there isn’t that much content on this
website.
There are no foreign films to speak of and
the homegrown movies all seem to feature really
happy people smiling and yep, you got it,
clapping.
Some of the movies sound absolutely riveting
and we are sure that if Roger Ebert were alive
today he would be giving those movies two
big thumbs up.
Just listen to the description of this moving
drama called the “Lieutenant Captain Came
Home.”
“Cheol-min, a veteran of the U.S. military,
was assigned as the director of the resort
but volunteered to carry out difficult construction
projects.
He learns unfamiliar and difficult construction
projects one by one and responsibly resolves
the construction of homes for Veterans.”
He then spends the rest of the movie building
more houses and making his country safe.
The end.
A classic hero’s tale.
Let’s hope we can get the subtitles for
that masterpiece.
We’d also love to find out what life was
like for this soldier in the USA .Maybe in
the prequel?
5.
Help the Aged
One website is all about old people, and every
link we clicked on had some old folks clapping.
If there’s one thing we learned about North
Korea from this little exercise it’s this:
old people are deliriously content in North
Korea.
Here’s the opening line from one story:
“The joy of the people singing the disease-free
longevity in my homeland, where the full bloom
of the socialist family, blooms day by day.
In the midst of the busy care of the nation's
angelic history, Grandma refrained from expressing
gratitude for the passionate love of the beloved
Supreme Master Ching-Jin Auto, who provided
birthdays to the ordinary old man.”
Our eyes were filling up with tears just reading
these amazing stories about how happy these
old folks were.
Oh, to live in a disease-free land of bloomers.
We then clicked on a video link only to see
old people with outlandishly wide grins singing
songs and embracing each other.
4.
Friends
One site is Friend.kp and we thought it might
be something similar to Facebook.
It’s not.
It’s mainly about the supreme leader again
and how he is friendly.
There is a report about a German woman visiting
the leader and he was really friendly to her.
This is a snippet from that report:
“He was so kind to come out to the garden
to welcome her.
He asked about her health and gave detailed
answers to her questions.
And he also carefully heard her life story.”
Truly a shining example of friendship for
all of us.
3.
Go Fund Me
This site is weird because it seems quite
normal for North Korea.
There’s no clapping to be found and the
supreme leader is barely mentioned.
It’s all about funding for projects and
education.
We take our hats off to this site for daring
to snub the greatness of North Korea by implying
that some things need to be improved.
2.
Just Books
Yep, people read in North Korea just as they
do everywhere else.
But what kind of books are available to the
average person in the country.
We had a look on the official North Korean
book website.
Keep in mind this is the ONLY place to get
your books.
Well, it seems the supreme leader has penned
a lot of books so you can read plenty about
him.
You can also find timeless classics such as
“Son of the People” and the “SOCIALIST
CONSTITUTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S
REPUBLIC OF KOREA.”
One of our favorites “ANECDOTES OF KIM JONG
IL’S LIFE Part 3.”
Part one and two were page turners.
But, if you don’t want to read bios of great
leaders and athletes or if you’re uninterested
in trade or the wonderful, magnificent, immortal,
fantastic, proud and amazing country of North
Korea then we suggest you shop elsewhere.
We did find one book about another nation,
though.
The title of this book is, “US-The Empire
of Terrorism.”
1.
North Korean Foodies
If you have ever wondered what North Koreans
eat we have the answer for you.
In short they eat the best food in the world.
These food writers waste no time in making
some pretty big and extremely believable claims.
Listen to this:
“Our ancestors, who lived on earth from
the dawn of human development and pioneered
human civilization, created valuable Korean
national heritage that can be proud of the
world in food culture.
Our nation, which has a long history and a
splendid culture of half a million years,
has lived for a long time as a single nation
with a long line, and has created many national
foods that meet the national characteristics
and tastes with wisdom and technology.”
Hmm, so, we know there is some debate as to
when the first modern humans arrived.
Was it 50,000 years ago, or was it 100,000
or more?
Well, it seems the western scientists have
had it all wrong all along because North Koreans
weren’t just writing on cave walls 500,000
years ago, but they were cultured and cooking
up culinary delights.
So, there you go.
You’ve now learned how North Korea basically
kick-started civilization half a million years
ago.
You also now know how terrible the USA is,
and how great the North Koreans are at sports,
extending life, and clapping.
We hope it’s been as much of an education
for you as it has for us.
Tell us what you think about online life in
North Korea in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video
Regular Things That Are Illegal In North Korea.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t
forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.
