Bizarre Things You Didn’t Know About North Korea ‘The Strangest Place on Earth’

By Michael Avery in Facts and DIY On 3rd March 2017
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1. There are a LOT of statues of the country's revolutionary leader, Kim Il Sung.

There are around 34,000 statues of "The Supreme Leader" in North Korea. That's one every two miles, or a statues for every 750 residents of this strange nation.

2. All residents must wear a pin featuring the nation's revolutionary leader.

These pins may be the only piece of jewlry that many North Koreans can afford to wear. These pins are very valuable on the black market.

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3. There are only 28 hairstyles allowed in North Korea.

Men's haircuts should be similar to their supreme leader. Married women are expected to wear their hair short. Single women may "cut loose" by letting their hair grow longer, but within strict government-approved limits.

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4. Kim Jong Un wasn't the first in line to take over leadership of the Republic after the death of Kim Jon Il.

Un's older half brother, Kim Jong Nam, was denied his position in the line of succession after he was arrested in Tokyo in 2001. Apparently Nam was attempting to travel to Disneyland using a forged passport.

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5. Kim Jong Nam was recently assassinated by a woman wearing an "LOL" shirt.

The Toronto Star describes the strange February 2017 assassination of the would-be dictator: "Kim was walking through Kuala Lumpur’s cavernous budget airport terminal, a few steps past a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop, when a pair of women, who Malaysian police say were recruited by a team of North Koreans, approached.

"At least one of the women suddenly wiped a powerful toxin on Kim’s face, smearing him with VX nerve agent before quickly walking away.

"Minutes later, after walking to the airport’s medical clinic, Kim went into convulsions.A few minutes after that, as an ambulance rushed him to a hospital, Kim Jong Nam died. He was 45 years old."

6. North Korea is a great place to take in a massive sporting event.

The ‘Rungrado 1st of May Stadium' in Pyongyang, North Korea can seat 150,000. The massive stadium hosts the annual “mass games,” an event that includes 100,000 participants involved in artistic and gymnastics competition.

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7. You can identify North Korea from outer space by its lack of light.

North Korea has massive issues with supplying electricity outside of the capital city of Pyongyang.

8. Smoke'em if you've got'em in North Korea.

Marijuana has not been criminalized in North Korea, in fact, some have said that it's been encouraged as a healthier alternative to tobacco,

9. North Korea has an "elite" "Pleasure Squad."

There are some 2000 women who have been conscripted into a ‘Pleasure Squad,’ who, well, please the country's government, military, and economic elite.

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10. North Korea has a stolen fleet of Volvos.

In 1974, Kim Il-sung took 1,000 Volvo sedans worth €300M from Sweden to North Korea and never paid for them. They were never returned and are currently still being used.