North Korea's Craziest Laws

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. Nicknamed "The Hermit Kingdom", it’s famous for its isolation and independence, but also for its shocking lack of human rights.

Because it exists under the iron-fisted rule of a dictatorship, headed by Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un, its laws are some of the most extreme in the world. So, with that in mind, let’s expose some of the craziest laws that’ve ever been enforced here, that we know of.

Execution For Sleeping

We’ve all fallen asleep when we’ve not meant to. Maybe it was in a Zoom meeting, or on a school desk, and while you may expect some sort of punishment, you’d never expect capital punishment for it. But you would in North Korea.

In 2015, Minister of Defense Hyon Yong-chol was reportedly ordered to be dispatched for napping during military rallies. Kim Jong-Un had him removed from his post immediately, and the sentence was carried out in public to send a message that laziness and insubordination will not be tolerated to everyone in the country.

The crazy thing is, this isn’t the only time it’s happened. Just one year later, in 2016, North Korean education minister Kim Yong-Jin was dispatched in front of hundreds of people for having bad posture during a party rally. The supreme leader was so displeased with his poor posture, Kim Yong-Jin was interrogated before being labelled an anti-party, anti-revolutionary agitator, and sentenced to capital punishment.

Banning Bicycles

Bicycles are an essential transport option for many people that live or work in busy cities. Yet, in North Korea, bicycles were actually banned in the streets of its capital city, Pyongyang. 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. How? By banning bikes and insisting its citizens rely on motor vehicles to get around.

This might have worked, if their economy hadn’t completely tanked in 1991, leaving most North Koreans too poor to afford enough to eat, let alone a car. 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’re used on the empty roads.

After this, you’d expect transport options would have improved, but sadly not. From 1995, the state decided to ban women from owning and riding bicycles. The regime’s reasoning for the ban was that the sight of an attractive woman on a bike was deemed too suggestive, and would damage public morality. That says more about the ruling party being perverts than anything else.

They also argued women were genetically incapable of handling traffic, making them a danger to others. But the truth is men are universally responsible for more traffic related accidents and fatalities than women. In 2021, in the US alone, women were responsible for around 6,000 fatal crashes, that number was 3 ½ times higher at more than 21,000 for men. So, the "genetically incapable" argument just drove itself into a wall.

Anyway, the ban was briefly lifted in 2012, but then reinstated in early 2013. Today, the rule is flexible, thanks to the lack of motorized public transportation in the country’s main cities. But we can’t say as much for the state of women’s rights in the country.

Banning Jeans

Since mid-2020 Kim Jong-Un has announced a crackdown on "Western influences", including all styles of jeans. 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. Ever since the division, citizens in the North have been taught to view American capitalism, and the wider western world, as the enemy, along with all their influences and values.

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. The law is still enforceable to this day, but it’s hard to enforce on a nation of 26 million people. If women are caught wearing them, a patriotic youth league member can and will interrogate the individual and force her to write a letter confessing to the crime.

They even have the power to access government-controlled loudspeakers, releasing the woman’s name, home address and place of work to the public! If you can get doxed just for wearing trousers, imagine the sentence they’d pass down for what TikTok influencers think are trendy these days!

State-Approved Hairstyles

In the west, hair’s often used to express your individuality. Some of us choose to have a spiky mohawk, or bright blue hair, even the mullet is back in fashion. Never thought I’d see the day. But in North Korea, extreme hairstyles are heavily discouraged. It’s likely you’d find yourself stopped by the patriotic youth league again, and then forced to remove or cut your chosen style. In 2013, the state released a guide of 28 appropriate hairstyles: 10 for men, 18 for women.

Although there are a few more styles to choose from nowadays, it’s still forbidden for men to have hair longer than 2 inches, and you’re only permitted to grow it as long as 3 if you’re over 60 years old. How generous of them. As a result, young men are required to cut their hair every 15 days before it grows out! 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 1980’s, allowed when you’re young and single.

Banned From Using Leader's Name

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 all North Koreans are prohibited from sharing it. Everyone called Jong-un were forced to completely change their name in 2011; the year he became the Supreme Leader. He’s also recently extended this rule to include his daughter’s name, Kim Ju-ae, who, at this point, appears to be his successor.

While there is no exact number on the amount of people who had to rename themselves, Jong-Un was an extremely common name among North Koreans. So basically, he’s made himself the one Kim Jong-Un to rule them all.

Blocked International Calls

Thanks to the advancement of cellphone technology, you can call just about anyone anywhere in the world unless they’re in North Korea. As standard, the country’s popular domestic mobile phone service, Koryolink, blocks all international calls, signal jammers are used at the country’s boarders, and just about all electronic communications are monitored.

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. North Korea’s government specifically censors and prohibits the spread of information so that outside influences don’t get in, and vital information can’t get out.

As such, any form of international communication without specific government authorization is forbidden. The fear is that 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 en masse.

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’d defected to South Korea. He sadly didn’t have enough time to hide the phone before officials locked onto his signal and came knocking on his door. His demise was used to make a very public example of those who break the rules, in the worst way possible.

Housing System

A lot of us dream 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. Like so much else here, the government controls all property in the country. All buildings are technically owned by the state, and citizens are assigned their housing by them, too.

Inside a North Korean home by CNN

It’s even harder to make a life for yourself in a big city. North Koreans have to be granted permission to live in the country’s capital, Pyongyang. It’s also illegal to lease or trade your home, but since 2000, North Koreans have utilized a clever loophole in the system. While they don’t have property rights, they do have residency rights. This is confirmed by a certificate known as ipsajung, a document proving the person lives in a specific place.

North Koreans have been issuing new certificates under other names and cancelling the old ones, thereby passing on the ‘ownership’ to another person. But, because it skirts the law, citizens need enough money to bribe the city official into looking the other way, a pack of cigarettes or a good bottle of liquor apparently does the trick. In cash, you may be expected to pay as little as $50-100 to secure the exchange.

No Fun On July 8

Of all the totally unhinged laws enforced by the North Korean government, this next one might be the most insane. Kim Jong Un and his regime have completely banned smiling on July 8th, every year. This date is significant in the country as the death date of founder and former president Kim Il-sung, who passed in 1994.

On each anniversary of his death, citizens are not allowed to smile, talk loudly, dance or drink alcohol. No fun celebrations or activities can be held either, so if it’s your birthday that day, you’re completely out of luck. Disregarding these rules will send you to the labor camp, and may even be cause for your dispatch. Who would have thought smiling could be a capital crime?

In recent times, it’s only gotten worse. In 2021, the government banned laughing for eleven days straight, in a show of mourning. This rule was enforced to honour the 10th anniversary of Kim Jong-Il’s death, the predecessor and father to Kim Jong-Un. This has got to be the weirdest family tradition ever.

Intranet

It’s extremely hard to picture our lives without the internet now. Over 65 percent of the world’s population has access to it, and it’s actively used by 5.3 billion people. You’re using it to watch this video right now, and yet, North Koreans can’t use it the way we do at all.

Instead of the internet, North Korea provides its citizens with access to an intranet, a domestic-only network known as Kwangmyong, which, back in 2014, boasted it gave its users access to 5,500 websites, including things like video games, though, all communication and activity on them is monitored; no privacy here! Certain state officials can be granted access to the wider internet, but with the suppression of information being so important to the regime, even this can be limited.

In 2016, a security engineer discovered North Korea had actually created 28 websites available on the wider internet! These include "friend.com.kp", a kind of hyper political Facebook page which apparently has some 18 million members. There’s also "cooks.org.kp", a recipe website, and "korfilm.com.kp", where you can watch hundreds of North Korean films, documentaries and even anime. It’s believed more sites have been added in recent years, but still, compared to the 2 billion sites on the world wide web, it’s barely anything at all.

Assigned Jobs

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up? An astronaut? A ballerina? Unfortunately, North Korean kids don’t get to dream, because everyone’s lifelong job is delegated by the government. To maintain the rigid control of resources under its collectivism system, the government researches how many people are needed in each industry and location, then assigns people accordingly.

When kids graduate high school, the government assigns each and every graduate with jobs they think proper or necessary. What the kids or their parents want isn’t taken into consideration, unless big bribes are involved. And once you’re assigned work, its almost impossible to be transferred.

For example, during Kim Jong-Il’s reign, he supervised an area called Taehongdan-gun, which had a good potato supply but had few people living in it. So, thousands of graduates were relocated to Ryanggang to become lifelong potato farmers. 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 but there was nothing they could do.

No Freedom Of Faith

In the west, freedom of religion is a pretty essential human right. You can choose to believe whatever you want, being that the Son of God walked among us as the Bible teaches, or that galactic warlords invaded our volcanoes 75 million years ago, as Scientology claims. But in North Korea, freedom of faith isn’t a thing.

In 2014, an American was imprisoned for five months for leaving his Bible in a North Korean restaurant toilet. The outrage this incident caused stems from the fact that North Korea is a largely atheist state, with an enormous 70 percent of its citizens having no religion. Although there are churches located in Pyongyang, these buildings are fully operated by the state.

Tourists have reported that churches can be closed during advertised sermon times, and when they are open, they’re filled with political propaganda and fake believers. 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. You can’t believe in both, according to North Korea, it’s the Kim family or nothing.

One extreme case in 2023 involved the arrest of a family, including their two-year-old daughter, for possessing a Bible. All family members, including the toddler, were apparently sentenced to life in prison. Yes, Kim Jong Un’s definitely going to hell for this one.

Triplet Babies

Many things may be considered good luck: a symbol, a number, or even worshipping a particular god. In North Korea, triplets are supposed to represent good fortune. Not only are they venerated because of the falling birth rate in the country, but they’re also signs of luck and prosperity. This is why, when triplets are born, they’re automatically taken away by the state!

The regime will have the mother fly into Pyongyang to receive the best care when giving birth. The government will then give the parents gifts in exchange for the kids, a gold ring for girls and a silver knife for boys. 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.

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. Handing out special benefits is nice, but taking away the kids from their families because they’re considered lucky? Ironically, most would perceive that as pretty unlucky.

Three Generations Of Punishment

If you have siblings, you’ve probably been blamed for something they did at some point. Whether it was deliberate or an accident, taking the heat for your family’s mistakes feels unfair. But in North Korea, you can be jailed just for being related to a criminal! This is what’s known as the three generation sentence, or Kin punishment. 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.

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. Children born in prison are actually raised as prisoners too, because their blood is deemed "guilty" by association.

This law began after World War II ended, in an effort to eliminate the blood lineage of North Korean rebels. However, World War 2 ended almost 100 years ago, and this rule is still in effect, making it as old as it is horrifying.

Juche Calendar

168 countries use the Gregorian calendar, but some use their own, and North Korea is one of them. They have their own system called Juche; an ideology centered on self-reliance and independence from the outside world.

The Juche calendar is unique; in that it only goes back as far as April 15th 1912, the birth date of North Korea’s founding father, Kim Il-sung. This was turned into year number 1, and all the years since are now numbered that way. For instance, the year 2010 was actually the year 99 in North Korea.

There are also no "before Juche" days, which means history before 1912 is not well spoken of or learned, meaning that children’s education is full of propaganda. The calendar was officially implemented on 9th September 1997, and on that date, all North Korean newspapers, radio stations, birth certificates and other media were converted.

Family Regime Portraits

Anything that disrespects the Kim family in particular is considered blasphemy, and would be met with severe consequences, even a minor jibe. This doesn’t have to be verbal disrespect, either. Portraits of the leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-Il are hung in every house, and it’s obligatory to wear party badges with their images on their clothes. Not taking the care to maintain them, or even dust them properly can get you in trouble.

To combat this, each family is given a special duster specifically for cleaning these portraits. The Kim 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. Luckily, we’re outside this insanely egotistical joke-free jurisdiction.

Pop Culture Ban

Back in the 1960’s, TVs became must have items in western homes, with a total of just 3 channels to watch. Of course, there’s hundreds of TV broadcasts to spoil yourself with now but, unsurprisingly, North Korea is stuck in the past. It offers just 4 state-owned TV channels to choose from, exclusively showing programs glorifying the regime and its achievements. Anything else is banned.

This goes for all foreign media, including movies, music and even books. If the propaganda department finds just one article from the big, banned list in a citizen’s possession, their entire collection can be destroyed! Punishments vary depending on the content and background of the contraband, too. Watching an Indian film may send you to prison, but an American movie can sign your dispatch certificate!

In 2021, a man was dispatched for distributing copies of the South Korean thriller series Squid Game. This offence 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.

However, experts have debated whether this report is real or not, as COVID lockdown of the country, which saw its boarders close to all trade, would have made it impossible to smuggle in. 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! That’s as smart as it is sinister.

Banned Brands

Nowadays, you won’t find many things without a huge brand slapped on it: we drink Coca-Cola often, we pick up McDonald’s now and again, but North Korea hates brands, especially American ones. Branding is related to capitalist living, the exact opposite of the communist, socialist dream The Kim Dynasty is striving for.

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. They do have fast food chains of their own, such as Samtaesong; a burger joint whose locations are limited exclusively to Pyongyang. But this is only for tourists and the elite, as it’s a business venture owned and operated by Kim Jong Un’s aunt.

Instead of relying on fast foods, the vast majority of the population relies on traditional staples like Kimchi and potatoes. 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 non-existent. However, there’s a huge Mount Everest-sized level of hypocrisy to this rule.

The Daesong Department 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. Kim Jong Un’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, likes wearing these expensive western brands herself. So, brands are banned if you’re poor, but fine to buy if you’re part of the elite? That sounds less like communism, and more like a new brand of capitalism!

Portrait Protectors

In a fire, what’s the first thing you’d grab? Obviously, it would be what’s most precious to you. A parent would instantly grab their child, or a loving owner might grab their pet. In North Korea, however, the first thing you have to take with you are the regime portraits. 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. Respect for the leaders, as we’ve all come to realize, is no joke.

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. We can hope that she’s no longer being held by the state, but the North Korean government loves to hold a grudge.

Basketball Rules

If you’re a basketball fan, you might feel a little confused when watching a North Korean game. As we’ve learned, North Korea has its own way of doing things, so, naturally, their basketball games are vastly different. Firstly, the famous three pointer is worth four 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 three instead of two. That’s not all.

A point can be deducted for every missed free throw and any field goal made in the last three seconds of a game can not only earn your team extra, it can completely change the outcome, with a bump up of eight points. Games can also end in a tie against opponents, something that’s rare in the normal rulebook.

Kim Jong-Il supposedly added these amendments because he thought he could improve the rules of the game. By God, this man’s ego is unbelievable. Also, it turns out he was a fan of the 1990s Chicago Bulls team, you know, that famously American team. That’s a slam dunk for hypocrisy right there.

If you were amazed at the craziest laws in North Korea, you might want to read more of our articles exploring bizarre North Korean facts. Thanks for reading!