Weird laws in Kim Jong Un's North Korea



  1. 1. Making international calls is a crime. In 2007, a man who made several international calls was killed.

  2. 2. Listening to foreign music or watching films in a foreign language are considered criminal activities. In 2015, Kim Jong Un issued a decree to scrap all cassette tapes and CDs that had state-banned songs in order to contain dissent. The sentence depends on the place of origin of the film: someone watching an American movie may be executed, while watching Indian films may lead to imprisonment.

  3. 3. Only male government officials are allowed to drive. Women are not given permission to drive, even if working as traffic officers. The government restrictions allow only one in a hundred people to have a car.

  4. 4. School-going children are required to get their own desks and chairs, others are forced to do labourious tasks for the government.

  5. 5. School-going children are required to get their own desks and chairs, others are forced to do labourious tasks for the government.

  6. 6. Tourists visiting the country have to deposit their phones and computers and are allowed to take them back only before returning. Guides accompany tourists who must religiously follow what guards say.

  7. 7.  Freedom of religion is a myth in North Korea. It is officially an atheist state. Western religious practices and literature are forbidden. People who distributed Bibles have been executed in public. In 2014, American Jeffrey Fowle was imprisoned for five months because he forgot the Bible in the bathroom of a restaurant. Churches are controlled by the state.

  8. 8. Internet can only be accessed through their intranet, which is called "Kwangmyong" or Bright, launched in 2000. For professional use, only 28 websites may be accessed under government supervision. The list of people with Internet access includes political leaders and their families, students attending elite schools, and the military’s cyber-warfare department.

  9. 9. On July 8, when North Korean President Kim Il-sung died in 1994, smiling is strictly prohibited. Talking loudly, dancing, or drinking alcohol on this day is restricted. Disrespecting the rules may have people sent to labor camps or killed. Kim Il-sung’s body is preserved in a glass tomb and tourists are required to bow down at his feet.

  10. 10. North Korea offers only three television channels for people to choose from and all of them are government-controlled.