North Korea is very different than anywhere else in the world, to put it mildly. Here are some of the weirdest things that only exist in this Asian nation.
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00:00North Korea is very different than anywhere else in the world, to put it mildly. While
00:05other countries get more connected, North Korea pushes itself further away.
00:10Here are some of the weirdest things that only exist in this Asian nation.
00:15North and South Korea are separated by a thin strip of land serving as a buffer since the
00:19two countries are technically still at war with each other. It's called the Korean Demilitarized
00:24Zone, or DMZ. South Korea built a village on its side of the DMZ, meant to show North Koreans how
00:31great life could be if they escaped. The residents who live there get major perks, like paying fewer
00:36taxes, free farmland, exemption from compulsory military service, an incredible school system,
00:42and abnormally large household incomes. North Korea also built a propaganda town
00:47known as Peace Village, just in case anyone actually wants to defect to the totalitarian
00:53regime. Unlike the South Korean version, this village is a complete sham. First and foremost,
00:58no one lives there, despite North Korea's claim that it houses 200 people. While there are houses,
01:04schools, daycare, and a hospital, every building is just a concrete shell. Lights turn on and off,
01:11but observers say that they seem to be on an automatic timer. The only human activity is
01:16people brought in to sweep the streets, and sometimes tend the surrounding fields to keep
01:21it looking nice. North Korea isn't known for many things that aren't absolutely horrible,
01:27which makes their iconic traffic girls a nice change of pace. Back before stoplights were
01:32common, North Korea, as well as many other places, used humans to direct traffic. In the capital of
01:38Pyongyang, young, attractive, single women were selected for the task. While North Korea can now
01:44afford traffic lights on every corner, the women are still everywhere, with about 50 of them working
01:49in the capital.
01:51There's a rumor that Marshal Kim Jong-un handpicks them himself."
01:55It's an extremely coveted job. The traffic officers are reported to get better pay and
02:00more food than the average North Korean, as well as free housing and healthcare.
02:04They wear crisp, military-style uniforms and stay at their posts in all weather.
02:09Kim Jong-il was said to take a personal interest in the girls,
02:12and he bought them all new equipment, including fancy umbrella-covered platforms to stand on.
02:17In general, traffic women are supposedly highly desired by single North Korean men,
02:22thanks to their good looks and high social status.
02:25When the world discovered that Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman were besties,
02:29there was a collective shock around the world. But basketball is an absolute obsession of the
02:34current Supreme Leader and his late father. Kim Jong-il was said to have installed full-sized
02:38courts at most of his palaces, and supposedly built a library containing videos of almost
02:43every game Michael Jordan played with the Chicago Bulls.
02:47Secretary of State Madeleine Albright knew about the late Kim's love and brought him a basketball
02:51signed by Jordan as a gift in 2000. However, Jordan turned down the chance to travel to
02:56North Korea and meet Kim in person. The younger Kim, who would have to eventually settle for
03:02a visit from Rodman, went to school in Switzerland, where he was said to be fiercely competitive on
03:07the court. And it turns out that North Koreans love basketball so much that they changed it
03:11to make it more to their liking. While they play by the rest of the world's rules in international
03:16tournaments, at home they have their own. Slam dunks are worth three points, and a three-pointer
03:22is worth four if the ball doesn't touch the rim. Adding some serious excitement,
03:26baskets made in the last three seconds of the game score a whopping eight points.
03:30And if a player misses a free throw, they lose a point,
03:34a rule that would surely send shivers down Shaquille O'Neal's spine.
03:37You already know the end of this story.
03:42Boring myths
03:44North Korean founder Kim Il-sung has an almost godlike status in his country.
03:49Even decades after his death, he's still officially known as the Eternal President.
03:54North Koreans even have their own calendar, based around his date of birth, April 15, 1912.
03:59Known as the Tuche calendar, it's used alongside the Western calendar,
04:03so one would say we are now in Tuche 108, the year 2019. Tuche, which means self-reliance,
04:10only came into being in 1997, on the third anniversary of Kim Il-sung's death.
04:16Since then, all North Korean publications have included both years,
04:19and every citizen is expected to use it. The government makes it easy to remember,
04:24though, since so much is based around the birthdays of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
04:29So if a new bridge was being built, the goal would be, for example,
04:32to finish it by the 60th birthday of the general.
04:36There's a serious food shortage in North Korea. Part of this is because the Kims spend money on
04:41the military and nuclear bombs, rather than agriculture, but the country also lacks chemical
04:46fertilizer. They don't have the ability to make their own, and sanctions mean they can't get any
04:51from the outside world. With farmers desperate for help with their crops, there's a huge market
04:56for something called night soil. In other words, they put human poop on their fields.
05:02"[Bleep], yes it is."
05:07Shops selling human excrement started popping up in 2010. Farmers had been using their own
05:12family's waste for a long time, but poop had become such a precious commodity that it made
05:17sense to sell it openly. By 2014, Kim Jong-un officially told his people to use human and
05:23livestock manure on crops. Since livestock was scarce, the human version was favored.
05:29Perhaps trying to make the best of a bad situation, human excrement became known as
05:33the best fertilizer, and vegetables grown in it are considered especially yummy.
05:38If farming families can't produce enough poop, and they can't afford to buy any,
05:42they've been known to steal waste from other homes.
05:45Alas, using untreated human poop as fertilizer isn't sanitary. Many North Korean defectors have
05:50been found to have intestinal worms, including a soldier who had one that was 10.6 inches long.
05:57These parasites sap nutrients and lead to an even unhealthier population.