Dive into the secretive world of North Korea with our latest video! Discover the bizarre realities of daily life, from government-approved hairstyles to a unique calendar system. Uncover stories of economic struggles and the lengths people go to for survival and prosperity. With tales of underground surgeries, counterfeit markets, and cyber exploits, this is an eye-opening journey you don't want to miss. Don't forget to subscribe and drop a comment on your favorite part! #NorthKorea #Secrets #Economy #Lifestyle #Mystery
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with @kramola_online
00:00:00 - Intro and Juche Calendar
00:00:36 - Economic Realities
00:02:15 - Social Inequality
00:03:57 - Corruption and Bribery
00:04:51 - Political Repression
00:06:46 - Black Market and Counterfeiting
00:08:50 - Illegal Operations and Cybercrime
00:12:16 - Human Trafficking and Conclusion
👉 This channel was created in collaboration with @kramola_online
00:00:00 - Intro and Juche Calendar
00:00:36 - Economic Realities
00:02:15 - Social Inequality
00:03:57 - Corruption and Bribery
00:04:51 - Political Repression
00:06:46 - Black Market and Counterfeiting
00:08:50 - Illegal Operations and Cybercrime
00:12:16 - Human Trafficking and Conclusion
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NewsTranscript
00:00North Korea is the most closed-off country in the world and the most unpredictable.
00:05Here, people live by the Yucha calendar, where the starting point is the birth year of Kim Il-sung.
00:11That's why this country is just a little over 100 years old now.
00:15In North Korea, there are officially approved hairstyles, 18 for women and 10 for men.
00:21You can't buy Coca-Cola, Choco Pie, or Blue Jeans here, because these products are considered symbols of imperialism.
00:28Let's take a look at what lies behind the facade of the country with its ever-smiling leader.
00:33Let's start with a story from five years ago.
00:36American student Otto Warmbier visited this country in 2015, where he received 15 years of hard labor for stealing a
00:45propaganda poster.
00:46Under international pressure, North Korea released the student after administering heavy medication, which put him in a coma.
00:54He later died.
00:56In the United States, at the suggestion of the brilliant comrade, the genius of geniuses, and simply the leader of
01:02the Workers' Party of Korea.
01:04It is believed that local residents do not need money, since the state fully provides for all their needs.
01:10The monthly salary in the public sector for ordinary workers is $1,500 to $2,500 won.
01:16At the official exchange rate, that's $12 to $25.
01:20Peasants work according to a completely different principle.
01:23They receive their earnings in kind, as a percentage of the harvested crop.
01:27Such a meager income doesn't even cover basic food needs.
01:31According to United Nations data, about 70% of the population suffers from chronic food shortages.
01:37The average North Korean's diet consists of rice, wheat, and corn.
01:41And at best, he gets a small piece of meat only on holidays.
01:45The main ones are the birthdays of Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung.
01:49In these conditions, most North Koreans look for additional income, but only in their free time from work.
01:55The country has full employment, and for idleness, you can end up in labor camps.
02:00So people work their whole lives, even after retirement.
02:03The retirement age is 60 for women and 65 for men.
02:08It is known that the pension amount in North Korea is about $30 for almost 85% of the population.
02:14The government takes care of retirees and doesn't let them get bored.
02:18In villages, the elderly are given land to plant and share the harvest with the state.
02:24In cities, they voluntarily maintain yards or public spaces.
02:28In the country, despite the official absence of private business, there are quite a few large private enterprises owned by
02:34people close to the country's top leadership, which are registered as state-owned.
02:39Here, workers have a completely different income level, about $300 a month.
02:45These are mainly residents of Pyongyang and a few major cities.
02:48Inequality in North Korea is significant and growing, with a wide gap in living standards between the upper and lower
02:55classes, despite initial appearances.
02:57Premium goods are sold in elite stores, for the top 1%, in so-called Singapore shops in Buxa, or in
03:05Ryugan.
03:06Rich people shop there, for whom it's no problem to spend several hundred dollars on a Chanel handbag.
03:13One of the signs of prosperity in North Korea is the ability to go to a plastic surgeon.
03:19Among the most popular procedures is blepharoplasty.
03:22But changing the shape of the eyelids and giving the eyes a European look is not that easy.
03:27Plastic surgery is banned in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, so North Korean residents are forced to go to
03:33underground surgical clinics.
03:35Education is also considered a luxury.
03:38Only about 15% of all high school graduates enter higher education institutions, mostly from privileged families.
03:45It's difficult to get into a North Korean university.
03:47Because of this, the tutoring industry has flourished.
03:51A course with a good tutor costs from $10 to $30 a month, so their income is quite high.
03:57Interestingly, a teacher in North Korea is required to know how to play the accordion.
04:02This musical instrument is considered folk, since you can take it with you to work in the fields.
04:07Luxury in the North Korean way, of course, is different from luxury in the Western sense.
04:12But in a nation of 25 million people, only 3 million own mobile phones.
04:17The ability to eat well and heartily, get a gym membership, and own fashionable leggings is already a great privilege.
04:24In Pyongyang, there are restaurants, sushi bars, and coffee shops for the wealthy, where you can order beef steaks.
04:31For the amount of money that an average North Korean works hard for half a year to earn, namely $50.
04:38It's not uncommon for guests in restaurants in the North Korean capital to eat behind bamboo curtains,
04:43so that foreigners can't see what the local wealthy people have on their plates.
04:47The level of corruption in North Korea is one of the highest in the world.
04:51According to a report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
04:55which is based on 214 interviews with people who fled the country,
04:59the right to life and freedom in North Korea depends primarily on the ability to bribe government officials.
05:05Widespread corruption has impacted the education system.
05:09Bribes greatly boost the likelihood of university admission,
05:12including for the Seoul Law faculty at Kim Il-sung University.
05:16Without a bribe, you can only get in after serving in the army or through powerful connections.
05:21The threat of arrest, detention, and prosecution gives government officials powerful ways
05:26to extort money from the population, said United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
05:32Michelle Bachelet.
05:33There is a punishment for three generations in the country.
05:36This means that when a person is sent to prison, their entire family goes with them,
05:41and the next two generations are born in captivity.
05:44After the death of Kim Jong-il, thousands of North Koreans were sent to camps
05:49because they did not mourn the loss of their leader properly.
05:52The number of prisoners ranges from 80,000 to 120,000.
05:56Kim Jong-un's regime is harsh towards both the country's citizens and his own family members.
06:02In 2013, Kim Jong-un's aunt fell victim to the repressions.
06:07She and her husband were among the most influential people in North Korea when power passed to Kim Jong-un.
06:13Jang Song-thayek, her husband, was considered the second most powerful person in the state
06:18during the early period of Kim Jong-un's rule.
06:21However, two years later, he was unexpectedly removed from all his positions
06:25and detained during one of the meetings.
06:27In official statements, it was said that he confessed to attempting a coup d'etat.
06:32He was executed immediately after being sentenced by a military court.
06:37Few people have any doubts about the reasons for the crackdown.
06:40The influential Chan Song-thayek was perceived as a threat to the power
06:43of the new Democratic People's Republic of Korea leader.
06:46International economic sanctions have been imposed on North Korea multiple times.
06:51It is believed that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
06:53received significant income from the black market.
06:56For this purpose, Kim Jong-il's regime has a secret department called Bureau 39,
07:01a special organization that directly oversees illegal foreign trade.
07:05Among the illegal exports of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,
07:09drug trafficking is the most well-known.
07:11Drug production in North Korea was put on stream back in the mid-70s.
07:15Mainly, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
07:18specialized in synthesizing heroin from poppy seeds.
07:22However, in 96, heavy rains almost completely destroyed the poppy crop,
07:27and North Korea had to look for new sources of income.
07:30After converting their existing laboratories,
07:33the country began producing 10 to 15 tons of high-quality amphetamine,
07:37mainly for export.
07:38By the mid-90s, North Korea's main partners had become Japanese mobsters
07:42from the Yakuza and members of the Chinese triads.
07:46A little later, North Korea began looking for new ways to make money,
07:50and amphetamines were left for domestic use.
07:53According to defectors, local residents used them as a stimulant for fatigue,
07:57as a painkiller, and even in the form of cold medicine tablets.
08:01Smoking marijuana is also completely legal.
08:04Gradually, North Korea shifted its focus to another type of illegal activity,
08:08laundering counterfeit money printed on its own territory.
08:11The local Franklins turned out to be of such high quality
08:14that they were quickly dubbed superdollars.
08:16Expert analysis showed that the banknotes were printed on paper,
08:20identical to that used by the United States Federal Reserve System.
08:24The first such superdollar was spotted in 1989 in Manila,
08:28and again in 2016.
08:30A North Korean agent was detained in China with counterfeit $100 bills,
08:35which he intended to spend on electronics and household appliances.
08:39Today, there are fewer and fewer counterfeit bills,
08:42and those that do appear can't boast high quality.
08:45The reason for this is the economic problems that the republic has faced due to sanctions.
08:50In the early 90s, Pyongyang set up the production of counterfeit cigarettes.
08:55Selling counterfeit cigarettes is a much less risky business than drug trafficking,
08:59and at the same time, it is extremely profitable.
09:01It takes about $70,000 to produce one standard shipping container of cigarettes.
09:07Selling such a container can bring in $3 to $4 million.
09:10By the mid-2000s, there were about 12 such factories operating in North Korea.
09:17They counterfeited such well-known brands and even sent them to the United States.
09:22Shipments occasionally surfaced, such as in 2006.
09:26In Greece, a shipment of such cigarettes worth about $3.5 million was seized.
09:31At the moment, the illegal cigarette market is estimated at several billion dollars,
09:36and North Korea controls a significant part of it.
09:39In the mid-2000s, Pyongyang started actively producing counterfeit medicines
09:43like clonazepam, phenethylene, and Viagra.
09:47In 2004, Arab Republic authorities arrested the import of 150,000 North Korean clonazepam tablets into the country.
09:55But the valiant North Koreans, led by the brilliant Kim Jong-un,
10:00launched a new production line and started making Neo-Viagra brown granules,
10:04which were declared as a traditional medicine remedy.
10:07The manufacturers of real Viagra studied the tablet from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
10:12and stated that it could actually be effective,
10:15since it contains about 50 mg of sildenafil, the main active ingredient in Viagra.
10:20Now, Neo-Viagra is freely sold in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
10:25and in the northeast of China.
10:27And of course, illegal arms trading.
10:29How could it be without that?
10:31After all, among other things, North Korea has unprecedented experience in servicing,
10:36upgrading, and repairing Soviet and Chinese models of weapons.
10:39Many of them remain in service used by poor countries.
10:43North Koreans cooperate with Somalia, Uganda, Iran, Syria, Mongolia, and a number of other countries.
10:50Despite the wide geography of trade, it is difficult to estimate the income from it
10:54due to a lack of information, as well as the fact that some deals are conducted through barter.
10:59For example, in 2013, the authorities of Panama detained a Cuban ship that was heading to North Korea.
11:06On board, border guards discovered weapons, Soviet equipment, and two MiG-21 fighter jets,
11:12which were covered by a cargo of 200,000 bags of sugar.
11:16The Cubans said they were taking everything to North Korea for repairs.
11:20As technology developed, North Korea acquired an entire staff of its own hackers,
11:24who helped the authorities earn money for the country.
11:27For this purpose, back in 1998, special units called Bureau 121 and Office 91
11:33were organized in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
11:36It is believed that today, the cyber unit consists of between 2,000 and 6,000 hackers.
11:41North Korean hackers gained worldwide fame in 2014 after an attack on a film studio
11:47whose comedy, The Interview, angered Pyongyang in 2016.
11:51They stole $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh and also hacked an exchange from
11:58which more than 4,000 bitcoins were withdrawn.
12:01Democratic People's Republic of Korea hackers are also involved in mining cryptocurrencies.
12:06In 2017, the attackers took over a South Korean company's server and used its resources for mining.
12:12And at the beginning of January, 2018, it became known that they were spreading malware
12:19that takes over other people's computers and forces them to mine cryptocurrency.
12:23However, the global network only serves to meet the needs of authorities and government organizations.
12:29North Koreans cannot access the Internet.
12:32As of 2015, the number of active Internet protocol addresses with Internet access
12:37did not exceed 1,500.
12:39But what does it matter?
12:40After all, every North Korean household and business is equipped with a special radio
12:45that is controlled by the government and cannot be turned off.
12:49North Korea does not shy away from the world's oldest business,
12:53actively engaging in human trafficking.
12:55There are two options here.
12:57Either women and girls are the goods being traded,
13:00or North Korean workers are being sold.
13:02They work in the mining industry, logging and construction.
13:06North Korea supplies labor to over 40 countries worldwide,
13:11with estimates ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 workers.
13:15Meanwhile, the workers give most of their earnings to benefit the nation and its leader.
13:20This activity brings from $1 to $3 billion to the country's budget annually.
13:27However, even this source of income had to be shut down by the North Korean authorities
13:32after United Nations sanctions required all member countries to expel North Korean workers.
13:37In general, no one can even estimate the legal income of this country,
13:41since the official economic statistics were classified back in the early 60s.
13:46And it's even harder to estimate illegal income.
13:49Well, we'll talk about the relationship with South Korea another time.
13:54Set up alerts to catch new episodes.
13:56See you on Cremola.