North Korea is the most isolated country in the world, though have some weird facts that all of us should know about the ‘hermit kingdom’.
- North Korea is the only country in the world currently carrying out nuclear tests.
- Kim Jong is a huge basketball fan. He has even brought former NBA star Dennis Rodman to North Korea for visits.
- The government uses “three generations of punishment” rule in which the children, parents, and the grandparents of a criminal or political offender can be sent to work with them in a labor prison camp.
- North Korea spends as much as a quarter of its national budget on its military.
- North Korea has the world’s largest stadium- Rungrado May Day Stadium, which has a capacity of 1,50,000 people.
- Most estimates claim that North Korea has the fourth largest active military force on Earth, despite ranking just 52nd in the population.
- According to leaks from Chinese diplomats, Kim Jong had plastic surgery to resemble his grandfather. Kim Il-Sung.
- The border between North and South Korea is the most militarized in the world. North Korea has 12 million active personnel in total while South Korea has 6,80,000.
- North Korea’s internet can be used with the country’s official browser, Naenara, a modified version of Firefox that forces automatic updates upon all users.
- Since the 1990s, North Korean personnel visiting the United Nations in New York City have amassed more than 1,000 parking tickets totaling $1,56,000- and paid none of them.
- The North Korean government maintains a reportedly uninhabited propaganda city known as “Peace Village” right on the border with South Korea in hopes of presenting a good face to outsiders and encouraging defection from the South.
- About one in fourth North Korean is unemployed.
- The North Korean government created their own time zone, 30 minutes behind that of South Korea and Japan, even though both countries are actually in the same time zone as North Korea.
- Less than one in 1,000 North Koreans has access to Internet, which only includes a few dozen government-approved, heavily restricted sites.
- Only 2.8 percent of roads in North Korea are paved.
- Possessing a Bible, watching foreign movies, and disturbing pornography can be punishable by death in North Korea.
- North Koreans need permission from the government in order to purchase a computer.
- North Koreans must have one of 15 approved haircuts. Unmarried women must have short hair while married women have more options.
- Because of generational malnutrition, North Koreans are, on average, between one and four inches shorter than South Koreans.
- Due to international sanctions and resource shortfalls, North Korea sometimes uses human feces for fertilizers.
- Fewer than one in five North Koreans are estimated to have a mobile phones.