North Korea is very different than anywhere
else in the world, to put it mildly.
While other countries get more connected,
North Korea pushes itself further away.
Here are some of the weirdest things that
only exist in this Asian nation.
North and South Korea are separated by a thin
strip of land serving as a buffer, since the
two countries are technically still at war
with each other.
It's called the Korean Demilitarized Zone,
or DMZ.
South Korea built a village on its side of
the DMZ, meant to show North Koreans how great
life could be if they escaped.
The residents who live there get major perks,
like paying fewer taxes, free farmland, exemption
from compulsory military service, an incredible
school system, and abnormally large household
incomes.
North Korea also built a propaganda town,
known as "Peace Village," just in case anyone
actually wants to defect to the totalitarian
regime.
Unlike the South Korean version, this village
is a complete sham.
First and foremost, no one lives there despite
North Korea's claim that it houses 200 people.
While there are houses, schools, daycare,
and a hospital, every building is just a concrete
shell.
Lights turn on and off, but observers say
that they seem to be on an automatic timer.
The only human activity is people brought
in to sweep the streets and sometimes tend
the surrounding fields to keep it looking
nice.
North Korea isn't known for many things that
aren't absolutely horrible, which makes their
iconic traffic girls a nice change of pace.
Back before stop lights were common, North
Korea, as well as many other places, used
humans to direct traffic.
In the capital of Pyongyang, young, attractive,
single women were selected for the task.
While North Korea can now afford traffic lights
on every corner, the women are still everywhere,
with about 50 of them working in the capital.
"There's a rumor that Marshall Kim Jong-un
handpicks them himself."
It's an extremely coveted job.
The traffic officers are reported to get better
pay and more food than the average North Korean,
as well as free housing and health care.
They wear crisp, military-style uniforms and
stay at their posts in all weather.
Kim Jong-il was said to take a "personal interest"
in the girls, and he bought them all new equipment,
including fancy, umbrella-covered platforms
to stand on.
In general, traffic women are supposedly highly
desired by single North Korean men, thanks
to their good looks and high social status.
When the world discovered that Kim Jong-un
and Dennis Rodman were besties, there was
a collective shock around the world.
But basketball is an absolute obsession of
the current supreme leader and his late father.
Kim Jong-il was said to have installed full-size
courts at most of his palaces and supposedly
built a library containing videos of almost
every game Michael Jordan played with the
Chicago Bulls.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright knew
about the late Kim's love and brought him
a basketball signed by Jordan as a gift in
2000.
However, Jordan turned down the chance to
travel to North Korea and meet Kim in person.
The younger Kim, who would have to eventually
settle for a visit from Rodman, went to school
in Switzerland, where he was said to be "fiercely
competitive" on the court.
And it turns out that North Koreans love basketball
so much that they changed it to make it more
to their liking.
While they play by the rest of the world's
rules in international tournaments, at home
they have their own.
Slam dunks are worth three points, and a three-pointer
is worth four if the ball doesn't touch the
rim.
Adding some serious excitement, baskets made
in the last three seconds of the game score
a whopping eight points.
And if a player misses a free throw, they
lose a point, a rule that would surely send
shivers down Shaquille O'Neal's spine.
"You already know the end of the story.
Boing.
Miss."
North Korean founder Kim Il-sung has an almost
godlike status in his country.
Even decades after his death he's still officially
known as the "Eternal President."
North Koreans even have their own calendar,
based around his date of birth, April 15,
1912.
Known as the Juche calendar, it's used alongside
the Western calendar, so one would say, "We
are now in Juche 108, the year 2019."
Juche, which means "self-reliance," only came
into being in 1997 on the third anniversary
of Kim Il-Sung's death.
Since then, all North Korean publications
have included both years, and every citizen
is expected to use it.
The government makes it easy to remember,
though, since so much is based around the
birthdays of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
So if a new bridge was being built, the goal
would be, for example, to finish it by the
60th birthday of the General.
There's a serious food shortage in North Korea.
Part of this is because the Kims spend money
on the military and nuclear bombs rather than
agriculture, but the country also lacks chemical
fertilizer.
They don't have the ability to make their
own, and sanctions mean they can't get any
from the outside world.
With farmers desperate for help with their
crops, there's a huge market for something
called "night soil."
In other words, they put human poop on their
fields.
"S---.
Yes it is."
Shops selling human excrement started popping
up in 2010.
Farmers had been using their own families'
waste for a long time, but poop had become
such a precious commodity that it made sense
to sell it openly.
By 2014, Kim Jong-un officially told his people
to use human and livestock manure on crops.
Since livestock was scarce, the human version
was favored.
Perhaps trying to make the best of a bad situation,
human excrement became known as the best fertilizer,
and vegetables grown in it are considered
especially yummy.
If farming families can't produce enough poop
and they can't afford to buy any, they've
been known to steal waste from other homes.
Alas, using untreated human poop as fertilizer
isn't sanitary.
Many North Korean defectors have been found
to have intestinal worms, including a soldier
who had one that was 10.6 inches long.
These parasites sap nutrients and lead to
an even unhealthier population.
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