Buzz
If the Kim family had its way, the world would believe that North Korea is a flawless utopia, with every leader regarded as a divine blessing sent straight from the heavens. Needless to say, North Korea’s media has a strong bias, and due to their strict tourism policy (anyone can visit once they’re already within the country), it's hard to get a clear understanding of what truly happens behind the walls of this isolated, authoritarian regime.
However, thanks to a few courageous undercover reporters who managed to infiltrate, alongside harrowing testimonies from defectors who escaped, we’re starting to get a clearer, more unsettling picture of life behind the curtain of this vast propaganda machine. And it’s anything but pleasant.
10. Forced Labor Camps
Currently, North Korea runs around 16 labor camps—vast complexes scattered throughout the mountainous regions, surrounded by electrified fences topped with barbed wire. It is estimated that approximately 200,000 prisoners are held in these camps at any given time.
These prison cities are often likened to the infamous Gulag camps of Soviet Russia—brutal labor camps where inmates endure harsh conditions and face execution for crimes as minor as stealing a few grains of corn. The prisoners are typically a mix of defectors, traitors, and former officials who have fallen out of favor with the government—a relatively easy mistake to make.
9. The Three Generations of Punishment
North Korean law enforces a “three generations of punishment” rule: if you commit a crime, your children and grandchildren will bear the consequences of your wrongdoing. This means that if your grandfather committed a crime, you will inherit the full extent of his punishment. As mentioned earlier, this often results in entire lifetimes spent in labor camps. One of the gravest offenses in North Korea is attempting to flee the country, which could result in either immediate execution or a lengthy prison sentence.
Even the slightest criticism of the government is considered an act of treason. Merely gaining knowledge of other cultures can be punishable by death. Recent smuggling operations along the North Korea-China border have enabled people to acquire illegal DVDs of Western movies. The North Korean National Security Agency has started raiding villages in the northern regions by cutting off electricity to entire areas, then storming houses to check for DVDs stuck in players.
8. Insurance Scams
North Korea’s economy is, by all standards, in complete disarray. Exports are nearly nonexistent due to their reluctance to engage with foreign markets, coupled with the struggle to feed the population within its own borders. With a population of roughly 25 million, the average GDP per person is about $500 (for comparison, the US GDP per capita is around $50,000).
In an attempt to boost their struggling economy and generate more revenue, North Korea has resorted to international criminal activities. One of these illegal ventures is large-scale insurance fraud: They’ve successfully scammed Western insurance companies out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Exposed in 2009, it was revealed that the North Korean government had been taking out hefty insurance policies on properties and equipment, only to later claim they had been destroyed.
In 2005, several of the world’s largest insurance companies, including Lloyd’s of London, sued North Korea over a purported helicopter crash involving a $58 million insurance claim. When North Korea’s state-run courts “reviewed” the case, they declared it a legitimate claim. The insurance companies ultimately settled because their contract was subject to North Korean law, which is akin to playing “I win” with a toddler.
7. Arms Trafficking
Aside from insurance scams, the United Nations has also accused North Korea of trafficking in illegal weapons and nuclear technology, often selling to the highest bidder, typically countries in Africa and the Middle East. For instance, in 2012, the UN intercepted a North Korean shipment headed to Syria, which contained almost 450 graphite cylinders intended for ballistic missiles. In 2009, shipments to both Iran and the Republic of Congo were also seized—one contained 35 tons of missile parts, and the other held Soviet-era tanks.
Under UN sanctions, North Korea is prohibited from trading or selling missile technology, but the country responded by claiming the sanctions themselves were illegal, insisting they could act as they pleased. Unsurprisingly, North Korea’s arms trade shows no signs of slowing down. Like the insurance fraud, this trade provides much-needed revenue for the regime—though, according to Blaine Harden of the Washington Post, much of that money ends up in Kim Jong Un’s personal funds, not in providing for the people.
6. Electricity
Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, is a carefully constructed paradise designed for the elite class. Armed guards vigilantly monitor the borders, preventing the lower classes from entering, and most residents of the city live in a form of luxury—by their standards (while they may not have sufficient food, they receive more than the rest of the population). However, even the three million upper-class citizens typically receive only one or two hours of electricity per day.
At times, particularly during the winter, power outages become complete blackouts, leaving millions to endure frigid temperatures that can drop below -17.8°C (0°F). In rural areas outside Pyongyang, the majority of homes have no electricity at all. The satellite image taken at night starkly illustrates this—while China and South Korea are lit up to the north and south, the dark expanse in between marks North Korea’s lack of light.
5. The Three-Tiered Class System
In 1957, when Kim Il Sung was facing challenges to maintain control over North Korea, he initiated a massive investigation into the country's population. The result of this inquiry was a complete restructuring of the social hierarchy, dividing the people into three distinct classes: “hostiles,” “wavering,” and “core.” These classifications were not based on the individual but on their family background.
Those with a history of loyalty to the government were placed in the “core” class, where they received the best opportunities. This class now consists mainly of politicians and individuals closely tied to the regime. The “wavering” class represents those who are neutral—neither for nor against the government. It’s possible, though unlikely, for them to move into the core class. Generally, individuals tend to fall down the social ladder rather than rise. The “hostiles” are those whose families have been associated with state crimes, such as practicing Christianity or owning land. They are considered the enemies of the state, and according to Kim Il Sung, they pose the biggest threat to the regime. These individuals are denied education, prohibited from living near Pyongyang, and forced into dire poverty.
4. Human Waste as Fertilizer
North Korea's landscape is rugged and dry, with long, bitterly cold winters and brief, monsoon-soaked summers. Around 80 percent of the country is either mountainous or located on a mountain top, making most of the land unsuitable for agriculture. Historically, North Korea has relied heavily on foreign aid to supply the fertilizers needed for farming: Before its collapse, the Soviet Union provided fertilizer, and until recently, South Korea sent 500,000 tons of fertilizer annually to help with food production.
In 2008, South Korea ceased its fertilizer aid, leaving farmers to find alternative sources. One such source became human waste. The government even organized a program that required factories to contribute their waste to meet a mandatory quota of two tons. Recently, black-market shops have taken advantage of this demand, turning human waste into a commodity.
3. Torture Prisons
Few individuals have managed to escape North Korea's labor camps and survive to share their experiences. Of those who have fled, only one person is known to have made it out of the notorious Camp 14, considered to be the most brutal labor camp in the country, reserved for the most serious political criminals. This person was Shin Dong-hyuk, whose harrowing story is recounted in the remarkable book Escape From Camp 14.
Shin was born in Camp 14 because his uncle had deserted the army and defected to South Korea. When he was 14, his mother and brother attempted to escape, but they were caught. Shin was then taken to an underground torture prison, a “prison within a prison.” He recounts being suspended upside down by metal shackles around his ankles as guards interrogated him about the escape attempt. When this failed, he was hung by his hands and feet, forming a “U” shape, and slowly lowered over a vat of hot coals. A gaffing hook was driven into his stomach to prevent him from squirming as the skin on his back began to blister and burn.
Between interrogation sessions, Shin was thrown into a small concrete cell with a light on at all times. His back, covered in blisters, festered with infection. While confined, he could hear the screams of other prisoners undergoing torture, and estimates that hundreds of people passed through the prison. Shin spent seven months in this hellish prison and is the only known person to tell of its existence. His betrayal of his mother’s escape plan was discovered when he informed a guard, but the guard chose not to report Shin’s role. After the story came to light, the guard disappeared, and Shin was released just in time to witness his mother and brother’s execution.
2. Cannibalism
From 1994 to 1998, North Korea was struck by a devastating famine. The country was battered by widespread flooding, rendering much of its farmland unproductive. In addition, mounting debts to the Soviet Union prevented the import of food, pushing entire cities into a desperate struggle for survival. It's estimated that around million people perished during this period—over 10 percent of the population.
With the military seizing whatever food remained due to the Songun policy, many North Koreans were forced to turn to increasingly grim sources of nourishment. They began with their pets, then moved to eating crickets and tree bark, and, ultimately, resorted to consuming children. The saying “Don’t buy meat if you don’t know where it came from” emerged as a grim reminder of the brutal reality. Defectors from that era recount horrifying tales of people who would capture vulnerable children from train stations, drug them, and take them home for unspeakable purposes.
There is at least one documented case of a man being executed for cannibalism during the famine. While it's believed that fear of cannibalism may have been more widespread than the actual occurrences, there are enough firsthand accounts to give these horrifying stories a grim plausibility.
1. South Korean Citizenship
To put it bluntly, there are so many North Koreans fleeing their homeland that there's simply no place to accommodate them all. China’s policy is to send these defectors back over the border, where they face either execution or years of grueling labor in camps, often leading to a fate as final as death. South Korea, however, stands out for its policy of almost unconditional clemency. North Korean defectors who aren’t criminals are granted immediate citizenship, job training, housing, and psychological support if necessary. They also receive $800 a month to help them start their new lives. Additionally, businesses are incentivized to hire refugees with a bonus of $1,800.
While North Korean defectors technically need to prove their citizenship, this requirement is often overlooked. Many refugees from labor camps have no documentation, and those born in the camps never had any papers in the first place. Since 1953, over 24,500 North Koreans have reached South Korea, and since 2002, the country has been welcoming over 1,000 new defectors each year. This is only the number that made it to South Korea—estimates from the Chinese government suggest there may be as many as 200,000 North Koreans living illegally in rural China. Tragically, many of those who manage to escape North Korea still die on the dangerous journey.
